ChrisO_wiki
@chriso-wiki.bsky.social
Independent military history author and researcher. If you find my writings interesting or useful, any tips are appreciated: http://ko-fi.com/chrisowiki
6/ Burying soldiers neck-deep is a punishment, or more accurately torture, which has been filmed before. The Russians call it a "tight pit" (as opposed to a regular pit, an open-air hole in the ground covered by a grating where men are held for days).
November 10, 2025 at 8:00 PM
6/ Burying soldiers neck-deep is a punishment, or more accurately torture, which has been filmed before. The Russians call it a "tight pit" (as opposed to a regular pit, an open-air hole in the ground covered by a grating where men are held for days).
1/ A wounded Russian soldier was buried up to his neck in a so-called "tight pit" to 'remotivate' him to go on an assault. In a video, the man names his commanders, whom he says are running an extortion racket, and appeals for help from the military authorities. ⬇️
November 10, 2025 at 8:00 PM
1/ A wounded Russian soldier was buried up to his neck in a so-called "tight pit" to 'remotivate' him to go on an assault. In a video, the man names his commanders, whom he says are running an extortion racket, and appeals for help from the military authorities. ⬇️
1/ Russian soldiers are once again finding themselves being targeted by the hated military police for petty offences, including "driving with dirty tires" in the middle of the muddy season in Ukraine. "Are we fighting or just wanking?" asks one aggrieved soldier-blogger. ⬇️
November 10, 2025 at 10:16 AM
1/ Russian soldiers are once again finding themselves being targeted by the hated military police for petty offences, including "driving with dirty tires" in the middle of the muddy season in Ukraine. "Are we fighting or just wanking?" asks one aggrieved soldier-blogger. ⬇️
1/ Eleven Dutch parties across the political spectrum from socialist to conservative have issued a joint appeal to a provincial government to build a memorial to Black American soldiers who died in World War II, to replace one removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery. ⬇️
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
1/ Eleven Dutch parties across the political spectrum from socialist to conservative have issued a joint appeal to a provincial government to build a memorial to Black American soldiers who died in World War II, to replace one removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery. ⬇️
7/ The diggers had to cope with the smell of decomposing bodies, rain, snow, wind, mud and flooding. The ground was so sodden that machinery couldn't be used.
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
7/ The diggers had to cope with the smell of decomposing bodies, rain, snow, wind, mud and flooding. The ground was so sodden that machinery couldn't be used.
4/ One of those roles was burying the dead, a highly traumatic duty as many of the bodies were severely mutilated. The cemetery was constructed by the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, an all-Black unit of 260 men under the command of a White officer (as was usual).
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
4/ One of those roles was burying the dead, a highly traumatic duty as many of the bodies were severely mutilated. The cemetery was constructed by the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, an all-Black unit of 260 men under the command of a White officer (as was usual).
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
1/ A Russian soldier fighting near Pokrovsk says that the area is a scene of carnage, with dead Russians lying everywhere. Soldiers' families are being sent death notices even before the men go into assaults. Only four out of his group of 120 men survived one assault. ⬇️
November 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
1/ A Russian soldier fighting near Pokrovsk says that the area is a scene of carnage, with dead Russians lying everywhere. Soldiers' families are being sent death notices even before the men go into assaults. Only four out of his group of 120 men survived one assault. ⬇️
8/ The true comparator for Trump's style is not modern dictators, but the 17th century French monarchy. Compare the White House photos to Louis XIV's office at Versailles from the 1680s and you'll see a very close match:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
8/ The true comparator for Trump's style is not modern dictators, but the 17th century French monarchy. Compare the White House photos to Louis XIV's office at Versailles from the 1680s and you'll see a very close match:
7/ Mussolini was a lot grander, though he can be excused for that considering that he worked out of a Renaissance palazzo:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
7/ Mussolini was a lot grander, though he can be excused for that considering that he worked out of a Renaissance palazzo:
6/ Stalin was pretty minimalistic:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
6/ Stalin was pretty minimalistic:
5/ Adolf Hitler was more of a traditionalist, as might be expected:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
5/ Adolf Hitler was more of a traditionalist, as might be expected:
4/ Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has a somewhat more florid office, albeit within broadly standard lines for modern Arabic decor:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
4/ Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has a somewhat more florid office, albeit within broadly standard lines for modern Arabic decor:
3/ Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un both go in for the "professor's study" look:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
3/ Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un both go in for the "professor's study" look:
2/ Vladimir Putin's Kremlin office is actually pretty restrained:
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
2/ Vladimir Putin's Kremlin office is actually pretty restrained:
1/ New photos of the gaudy decorations that Trump has installed in the White House have once again raised claims of "dictator chic". But actual dictators, past and present, haven't gone in for this kind of style. Read on to see the true inspiration.
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
1/ New photos of the gaudy decorations that Trump has installed in the White House have once again raised claims of "dictator chic". But actual dictators, past and present, haven't gone in for this kind of style. Read on to see the true inspiration.
1/ The Russian Minister of Defence, Andrey Belousov, is reported to have ordered a crackdown on corruption and physical abuse in the Russian armed forces. In particular, the widespread practices by commanders of extortion and murder ("zeroing out") are coming under scrutiny. ⬇️
November 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
1/ The Russian Minister of Defence, Andrey Belousov, is reported to have ordered a crackdown on corruption and physical abuse in the Russian armed forces. In particular, the widespread practices by commanders of extortion and murder ("zeroing out") are coming under scrutiny. ⬇️
7/ In March 2025, a soldier named Vladimir Nikolaevich Kisly recorded a video in which he explained why he was about to be executed by commanders in the 114th Motorised Rifle Regiment. He was one of many Russian soldiers to have recorded similar pre-murder videos.
November 6, 2025 at 5:57 PM
7/ In March 2025, a soldier named Vladimir Nikolaevich Kisly recorded a video in which he explained why he was about to be executed by commanders in the 114th Motorised Rifle Regiment. He was one of many Russian soldiers to have recorded similar pre-murder videos.
3/ "People are being held against their will. They're being handcuffed and pepper-sprayed. Is that normal?", he asks.
November 6, 2025 at 5:57 PM
3/ "People are being held against their will. They're being handcuffed and pepper-sprayed. Is that normal?", he asks.
1/ Russian soldiers are being handcuffed to each other, pepper-sprayed, and beaten to force them to go to the front lines. A soldier says that ex-POWs and badly wounded men on crutches are being forced to fight. "They're just throwing us in for meat," he says. ⬇️
November 6, 2025 at 5:57 PM
1/ Russian soldiers are being handcuffed to each other, pepper-sprayed, and beaten to force them to go to the front lines. A soldier says that ex-POWs and badly wounded men on crutches are being forced to fight. "They're just throwing us in for meat," he says. ⬇️
17/ In September 2025, several groups of Indians trapped on the front lines recorded a video appealing for help. Samarjeet Singh from Ludhiana said that nine Indians, including himself, were being “grossly mistreated”, and denied food, water and other supplies.
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 AM
17/ In September 2025, several groups of Indians trapped on the front lines recorded a video appealing for help. Samarjeet Singh from Ludhiana said that nine Indians, including himself, were being “grossly mistreated”, and denied food, water and other supplies.
13/ The relatives of Mohammed Ahmed from Khairatabad tell a very similar story. He travelled to Russia in April 2025 to take up a warehouse job, but was forced into the Russian army instead.
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 AM
13/ The relatives of Mohammed Ahmed from Khairatabad tell a very similar story. He travelled to Russia in April 2025 to take up a warehouse job, but was forced into the Russian army instead.
9/ Aman Punia from Hisar was promised a securit guard job and residency upon the expiry of his study visa and signed a contract without realising what it was. It was written in Russian and he was stopped from using his phone to translate it.
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 AM
9/ Aman Punia from Hisar was promised a securit guard job and residency upon the expiry of his study visa and signed a contract without realising what it was. It was written in Russian and he was stopped from using his phone to translate it.
1/ Indians fighting in the Russian army have been killed en masse near Pokrovsk. A survivor says in a video that his friends, who included students studying in Russia, died only 10 days after signing a military contract and being sent to the front without any training. ⬇️
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 AM
1/ Indians fighting in the Russian army have been killed en masse near Pokrovsk. A survivor says in a video that his friends, who included students studying in Russia, died only 10 days after signing a military contract and being sent to the front without any training. ⬇️
25/ "Right now, we are chasing UAVs with combat aircraft, like helicopters. But we could deploy the much-heralded “Hunters” [Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik] or Reaper analogues with the same avionics and weapons. Where are the “Hunters” and their analogues?
November 4, 2025 at 6:30 PM
25/ "Right now, we are chasing UAVs with combat aircraft, like helicopters. But we could deploy the much-heralded “Hunters” [Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik] or Reaper analogues with the same avionics and weapons. Where are the “Hunters” and their analogues?