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I have heard of similar disaster that occured with the VDV that befell the British Paras at Arnhem but can't find any specific details of it.

Does anyone have any info?

Is this the operation that you mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Dnie ... _operation

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I wouldn't have called the Dnieper River Crossing a "Arnhem type disaster"... the battle for that river crossing was an bloody epic clash the likes of which were never seen in Western Europe... The VDV element was just a footnote...

More Heroes of the Soviet Union were awarded for that action than any other FYI...

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"I saw cities in Europe that were practically untouched by the war, countries that capitulated to the more powerful enemies even before war was declared, but we are not like that. Our grandfathers, our fathers, our older generation, our great leaders, fought here for each building, for each street." - First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on the 70th anniversary of victory at Stalingrad

Well it was similar to the extent that it was an airborne operation launched with insufficient, intel, preparation and airlift capacity.

It was different to the extent that the force was ultimately relieved, after what remains the longest airborne operation in history.

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Comrades, It is Operations like this which likely decided the Post GPW VDV after it was reformed would be fully Mechanized, as it is now.
VDV, Urrah!, Urrah, Urrah!.

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"Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer?, Ja! .. Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!"
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"We have internal enemies. We have external enemies. This, comrades, must not be forgotten for a single moment"
( Comrade Stalin, 1928)

"Who watches The Watchmen?"... The NKVD.

"The Devil came to me one night, he struck his claws into my hands, I prayed for him to stop but he wouldn't .....so I told him to F' off..... he did".
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(Soviet folk-saying)

"Gesplitzenblitz !" ( Peter Sellers)

"To err is to be arrested ".
"To forgive is not within the Scale of Norms".

You can get Glantz's Soviet Airborne Experience as a free pdf here.

http://carl.army.mil/resources/csi/csi.asp#surveys

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The problem for all airborne operations is, you are dropping essentially light infantry behind enemy lines in an coup de main on some objective. Unless conventional forces link up with the airborne troops very quickly, they are in big trouble.

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Panzer Lehr 130 Aufklarungs Batt
" Regimenter sterben zehnmahl, aber es bleibt....das Regiment."
Unsere Ehre ist, wenn sie unsere Aufgabe erfüllt
Schweiß speichert Blut
"...the future is clearly known, only the past has to be rewritten"

Which is what Comrade Viktor is talking about above - post-war the VDV overcame this limitation faced by all wartime airborne units and became a combined arms force in its own right, but still was air mobile! A fearsome strategic tool that...

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"I saw cities in Europe that were practically untouched by the war, countries that capitulated to the more powerful enemies even before war was declared, but we are not like that. Our grandfathers, our fathers, our older generation, our great leaders, fought here for each building, for each street." - First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on the 70th anniversary of victory at Stalingrad

Yes, I've seen the promotional film, light armour, howitzers dropping under multi-parachutes with rocket assisted landing etc. T-62s driving off the ramp of some Antanov transport(asuming you've captured the airfield), awesome stuff.
My money is still on the ground forces.
Helicopter-borne vertical envelopment, another RKKA development, looked the greater threat.

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Panzer Lehr 130 Aufklarungs Batt
" Regimenter sterben zehnmahl, aber es bleibt....das Regiment."
Unsere Ehre ist, wenn sie unsere Aufgabe erfüllt
Schweiß speichert Blut
"...the future is clearly known, only the past has to be rewritten"

Yes, the DShB was a later thing but whilst it did/does have its purpose, you are back to the "light infantry surrounded by the enemy" thing again as the DShB weren't able to use BMD's or AS85's (both specialist VDV air assault armour) or carry artillery and air defence units.

The DShB units were held at army level (maybe massed and combined into frontal level) but the VDV remained a strategic resource assigned to Stavka itself. So the former is for frontal/tactical deployment, the latter is to influence things on an entire theatre....

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"I saw cities in Europe that were practically untouched by the war, countries that capitulated to the more powerful enemies even before war was declared, but we are not like that. Our grandfathers, our fathers, our older generation, our great leaders, fought here for each building, for each street." - First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on the 70th anniversary of victory at Stalingrad

Even the big lifters can operate from rough fields...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-22

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