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129 comments
  • Damn, they're charging headlong into machine gun fire. And I thought meat shield suicide armies only existed in fiction.

    • There were a few occasions when the Romanian fascists machineā€gunned retreaters.

      Officers often threatened to shoot cowards, and commanders sometimes even ordered ā€œblocking detachmentsā€ to machine gun soldiers who retreated, though this was rarely followed through with.

      (Source.)

      • Oh, hey, Enemy at the Gates was projection after all! Who woulda thunk.

      • blocking detachments

        According to Russell Bentley, the Ukrainian government was doing this during the 2015-2018 period of the war in Donbass. The regular army was incredibly demoralized -- they were fighting against a determined and heroic enemy, who in the battle of Donetsk Airport took down Ukrop observation towers not with artillery, but with machine gun fire trained for days at the base -- and to keep these conscripts from retreating, Azov and Aidar troops were kept stationed in their rear.

129 comments