“when the Germans fly over, the English duck. When the English fly over the Germans duck. And when the Americans fly over, everyone ducks!"
Well, indeed.
It's a compliment though, and rather one that has a deep understanding of Warfare behind it - that war
is chaotic, that if 20% of your plan/assumptions bare even a passing resemblance to what actually happens you're doing well, that command, control and communications are sometime things and that anyone who thinks they will be able to successfully run a war with a plan, a map, and a radio is going to be bitterly disappointed.
That one of the strengths of western military thought is the Strategic Corporal/Major/Lt Col - the acceptance that the plan, and the ability to manage the plan in action, are going to turn to dog-shit on day one, and that what will be left is a force that knows it's commanders intent, and knows how they
roughly want it to go - and that whenever there's a problem/obstacle/breakdown, your people at whatever level the problem occurs at have the training, the confidence and the moral authority to improvise, to adapt, to change the plan and to crack on in persuit of the objective.
One of the things that cripples the Russian Army is a very top down command style - and when that chain of command gets messed with, whether by killing the commander or fucking up communication, they simply stop. They haven't been told the plan, and they don't have a leadership culture where, when you stop being told what to do, you look at what's happening and make decisions based on your commanders intent, and everyone follows what the 'new' leader says.
It's a system that has advantages - it's really cheap compared to the western system of training and education, you can put 4 or 5 'automons' in the field for the price of one well trained Gunner - but when it meets a system that's designed to cut off and kill the command chain, it grinds to a halt. It can stil overwhelm through mass, but it doesn't half make a meal of it.
www.theguardian.com
www.romea.cz
