European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                4 cartoon in a russian newspaper mocks president Boris Yeltsin and his use a in Chechnya. They re faced with a situation that s not in the Mold of what they were trained for when figh Ting on the Plains of Germany they just Don t know How to handle  Trainer also gave Low Marks to senior russian military officers who he said Are knowledgeable about military theory but generally do their Best to avoid combat command duty which is viewed As a potential career killer Quot a a   a a a a in the storming of Grozny Forward columns of the russian armoured assault were Cut off from their backup units. Surrounded by chechen they were ripped to shreds with anti tank weapons. Their incinerated vehicles and bodies remain on the streets of Grozny it is still a mystery Why the russians used tanks to storm the City a similar mistake by the soviet red army which entered Budapest in tanks in 1956, resulted in an embarrassing initial setback. Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev seemed to realize that such a tactic would be Folly. Quot i would never allow tanks and artillery to participate in combat within a City Quot he said in november. Quot it s the height of  despite that statement Grachev inexplicably ordered precisely such an assault. Moreover a portion of the troops sent into the City were raw recruits some with barely a month s service ire ind them. In the weeks leading up to the storming of the City their living conditions reportedly were primitive and morale was terrible. In last week s assault there were reports of units getting lost on their Way into the City and of russian tanks mistakenly firing on each other. What was lacking in the fight for the City was infantry Tough tested foot soldiers who would fight House to House Street to Street. Quot the russian army simply has too Many aging tanks and not enough Well trained infantry Quot Felgenhauer wrote in the Moscow times. He said the soviet army s failure in Afghanistan and the russians dismal experience so far in Chechnya have punctured the myth of Moscow s military Power that survived the cold War largely intact. Quot if an attack on Western Europe had indeed taken place russian tanks would have burned in the streets of Germany just As they Are burning now in Grozny Quot he a a said. Quot our forces not Only would not have made it to the English Channel they would have been Defeated before they even reached the  in the final years of soviet Power and the three years since communism s collapse the army s health has declined sharply As severe budget cuts and withdrawals from Eastern Europe and the Baltic have taken their toll. Today Felgenhauer wrote Quot the russian army does not really have any elite divisions. All units Are understaffed under trained and not Battle ready. Those that Are currently fighting in Chechnya Are practically the Best we have . Battle hardened chechen fighters listen to their commander s plans to defend Centra  and a determination the two sides in Chechnya by Michael Specter the new York times / r o understand the confusion anger and depression i of the average russian Soldier fighting the chechen rebels one has Only to look into the o frightened eyes of 19-year-old Vitaly Donvin pro or have a Tak with 18-year-old Artur Ivanov who winces when he describes his combat t a experience. Or watch the two of them forage for firewood to throw some heat on the mud Trench that has become their Home at a makeshift russian artillery base five Miles from Grozny Chechnya. Quot we Don t know Why we Are Here Quot said private Donvin who never before has travelled this far from his Home in a Small Toi amp we near Moscow. Quot they Don t Tell us anything about what is. Happening Bovy we Are doing or when we will be finished. Sometimes they just Tell us to get in the tanks and  that is when they Are most Likely to die victims of grenades tossed by Chechnya s stubborn defenders. O More than 40,000 soldiers from the russian army once so deeply feared that its existence helped Mold five decades of. Foreign policy making in the West have quickly been humbled by a few thousand Urban guerrillas w to mostly live at Home Wear jeans use castoffs weapons and have almost no coherent Battle plans or organization. It has become Clear through interviews and statements released by regular russian army units that the troops had no special preparation for the storming of Grozny on dec. 31. The Forward units quickly lost Contact with their base and were Cut off and surrounded by chechen fighters. The troops did not even have Street maps of the City to show them where they were. A v a a a a a 7 a a a a a a Russia has no units specially trained for Urban combat against a committed enemy like the chechen of Grozny three russian soldiers Ages 18 and 19, Are displayed by their captors in the breakaway province. Where nearly every family is said to own an automatic weapon. A a a a a ,.������ a a a a a a a a a a the russian army has Many Well known special forces battalions but they have never been used for Battle in cities. Their main task is to conduct reconnaissance and rapid assaults on a Small scale. Russian military leaders have Long had the philosophy that if they Send enough troops and equipment into a fight they can defeat anyone. But the City of Grozny and the mainly Muslim chechen who have 300 years of intermittently hostile history w Ltd the russian Empire present special obstacles. The army will almost certainly have to raze the City to control it fully. Even if. Tens of thousands of soldiers storm the capital Many would die and Many of the chechen rebels would easily slip away to the mountains outside of town to fight another Day. Not surprisingly the russian infantry has quickly become demoralized by an enemy that knows what it wants and is obviously willing to die for it. A the chechen also have a number of tactical advantages not least of which is Grozny s Cloudy foggy Winter weather which hampers russian air Power. And they know Grozny and its hiding places inside out Many of the chechen fighters Are veterans of the soviet army and Are Well equipped with assault rifles and rocket / launched anti tank grenades. Attacks into the City Are met by snipers in windows drawing a Bead on approaching russian vehicles. Quot we will wait for them wherever they Are Quot said Khasan Aliyev a chechen Soldier wearing Street clothes and hiking boots and. Carrying a pistol in his Waist band Quot How Long will it have to go on before they realize w e won t 7. Surrender Quot. A a. The Washington Post contfi&ut�3 to this of amp port. Foy january 11,1995 the stars and stripes 19