Description
Book SynopsisA fascinating account of Russia''s Five-Day War against Georgia in 2008, notable for its strategic mistakes which prompted President Putin to undertake major military reforms.
After Georgia''s independence from Russia in 1991, President Saakashvili invited NATO advisers to assist in military reforms. Separatist groups in Georgia''s border provinces rebelled which led to fighting in South Ossetia during August 2008. The Russian Army invaded Georgia alongside these forces, stripped it of these rebellious provinces, and garrisoned them to maintain a threat over Georgia. But despite the inevitable outcome of this hugely unbalanced conflict, it revealed serious Russian military weaknesses and incompetence, and the NATO-trained and partly Western-equipped Georgian Army put up a much more successful local resistance than Russia had expected. The conflict also demonstrated the first use of Russian cyber-warfare, and its so-called ''hybrid warfare'' doctrine.
Author Mark
Trade Review
This book augments the Georgia War chapter in the writer’s recent Osprey release “Putin’s Wars” with extra information, photos and eight detailed uniform plates. Recommended. * Tankette *
I came away from this book far more informed than I was before I read it and I recommend it to those with an interest in this topic or as a primer. * Army Rumour Service *
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION - Background - Medvedev’s War? REFORMING THE GEORGIAN ARMY - Expenditure - Contingents for multi-national forces and Western training - Rearmament - Contradictory doctrine - Additional armed personnel - Organization of infantry brigades - Georgian Army order of battle, August 2008 RUSSIAN & ALLIED FORCES - Forces in readiness and in place - South Ossetian forces - Abkhazian forces THE STRATEGY OF TENSION THE WAR: DAY ONE, AUGUST 8 - The Georgian plan - Major-General Zaza Gogava - Initial bombardment - Confusion in Moscow - The advance on Tskhinvali - Street fighting - The turning-point - The Russian ground advance DAY TWO, AUGUST 9 - Moscow strikes back DAYS THREE TO FIVE, AUGUST 10-12 - The South Ossetian front - Russian order of battle - Continuing Russian advance - Georgian failures of command - Ceasefire - The Abkhaz front - Russian order of battle - The Kodori Gorge THE WAR IN THE AIR - The combatants - Operations and losses THE WAR AT SEA - The naval combatants - Operations and losses ANALYSIS - Summary - Georgia - Russia AFTERMATH - Russian gains - Georgians in Afghanistan FURTHER READING INDEX
