Related info I posted earlier:
The big chatter (unconfirmed rumors) for today is as follows:
The Russian 3rd Army Corps is being partially deployed to Ukraine right now.
Average estimates of 8,000 troops on the move would appear to be reliable.
The 3rd Army Corps is deploying with thirty to forty year old equipment that has been recently serviced and made adequate for action.
Indications of exactly how the 3rd will be deployed are apparently the source of much conflict between the Red Army leadership and the Kremlin.
Leadership on the ground in Ukraine wants these new and inexperienced forces deployed as replacements who will take up positions with more experienced troops.
Leadership on the ground in Ukraine also covets the fresh equipment of the 3rd Army Corps to replace losses for front-line units.
Kremlin leadership wants the 3rd Army Corps to deploy as cohesive units to prevent the low morale of veteran combat units from affecting the new troops. This move will lead to degraded veteran units eventually being combined or subsumed into other units with deleterious impacts on the careers of the officers whose units are disbanded.
3rd Army Corps is composed of troops with a reported average age of 36. Some troops are reportedly in their sixties.
NATO analysis of the 3rd Army Corps is that if it deploys as a cohesive entity it will likely be used to hold and defend positions which will free up veteran combat units for offensive operations.
MORE FYI 8-31 9P.m. EST
A soldier of the 2nd Army Corps of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Andrei Morozov said that due to the wear of the tanks and ammunition of the corps, weapons and shells of 122 and 152 mm caliber are being deprived.
In his blog Morozov reported important information that the 1st and 2nd Army Corps were deprived of 122 mm artillery due to a lack of shells of this caliber, and now they are taking away 152 mm D-20 guns due to the lack of proper weapons and shells in the frame Woe to the Russian army. I wonder what it could be? The main means of defeat in war are howitzers. Howitzers of two caliber - 122 and 152 mm. If they take 122 and take 152 mm, then there are no other howitzers. Russia probably stores old Soviet howitzers D-1, but they are also 152 mm, and the shells from them fit D-20, so it would not be worth taking the combat kit. So, they are re-armming not to howitzers, but to another caliber.
And of the other calibers, the enemy remains 76 mm ZIS-3 of 1942 model, 85 mm anti-tank guns of D-44 model 1946, 100 mm anti-tanks BS-3 of 1944, 130 mm M-46 rifle of 1951.
Let’s see, if so, the news is GREAT.
First, the shell power of these systems is much less, Second, they do not shoot at the hinge, but at the floor trajectory, this is much less dangerous,
third, Russia does not produce these calibers, stocks are limited, so they will run out even faster tray.
If this happens, it does not mean that the Russian army will completely run out of 122 and 152 mm caliber. Russia produces them, but no production can compensate for such a huge expenditure on such a large front. Therefore, the Russian General Staff concentrates deficit shells to reserve its needs and reduces supplies for army corps recruited from mobilized in the Donbas. But next year, these measures will no longer help, and the entire Russian army will face the need to limit the expenditure of shells.
For us, this indicates that the hits of Ukrainian HIMARS, Point-U and saboteurs on Russian arsenals cause irreparable damage to the enemy. Also, a huge expenditure of shells during the artillery offensive deprives the Russian Armed Forces of major calibers. The USSR missile reserves were not bottomless after all, for 31 years they were consumed worldwide.
Which means another year of war, and at the front there will be only those shells produced by the factories of the Russian Federation and NATO. That is, the multiple gap in the number of shells will begin to decrease. Unfortunately not as soon as we’d like.
Another interesting fragment of Morozov - about the 3rd Corps.
Russian propaganda demonstrates various materials about the 3rd Army Corps, formed in just two months in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and emphasizes that the Corps has received the latest armaments, with Russians claiming the latest SSI battle tanks T-90M Breakthrough, BMP-3 and other modern equipment.
This information initially raised fair doubts. Modern equipment is sharply lacking in personnel connections of the Russian army, who have suffered huge losses, and who are armed with old equipment from storage bases, new equipment from the factories does not cover all losses. Russia throws into battle T-72 and T-80, which were conserved during the USSR. Therefore, transferring the T-90M tank worth over 5 million. Russia cannot afford dollars to some new recruits.
Apparently, the 3rd Army Corps is a reserve compound of 10-15 thousand people, most of whom have no combat experience and had undergone a very short training course.
According to preliminary data, the transfer of its parts to the Zaporizhzhya direction has begun. The task of this little-combatant compound is to take on a quiet section of the front to change the joints, probably the personnel of the 42nd Motor Rifle Division, which is in the Zaporizhzhya direction and can be taken to reserve.
Morozov’s revelations clearly show that the combat capability of the Russian army is gradually decreasing. The superiority in the number and quality of weapons possessed by the Russian Federation is reducing.
When weapons plants are launched at full capacity under the land-lease program, Ukraine will have the opportunity to achieve parity in arms. And this will create a favorable opportunity for full-scale offensive operations.
Of course, all this information is reassuring, but this is by no means a cause for euphoria. At the moment, the Russian army continues to maintain superiority in all types of heavy weapons, artillery, aircraft, tanks, winged and ballistic missiles, and has many times a greater resource of ammunition. However, this resource is not infinite, and after a while the ratio will no longer be so favorable for the enemy.”