But isn't it called the Russo-Georgian War? Nope. Wars are named either for location, or in agressor-defender format, and Russia didn't fire the first shot. 2008 South Ossetia War is what Wikipedia calls it, and I'm too lazy to look up other titles.
Now here 2 ORBATs exist. First off, over 70% of the fighting took place in South Ossetia. So here's the South Ossetian ORBAT:
Initially the Georgians assaulted with 16,000 men against 1,700 Russian Peacekeepers and 2,500 Ossetian Volunteers, thus outnumbering the Russo-Ossetian forces four to one. The Georgian forces consisted of 3 infantry brigades, (roughly 3,500 to 4,000 men each) an artillery brigade, a tank regiment, an engineer battalion and an air defense battalion. The Georgians had 82 T-72s, 65 of which were captured by the Russians. Over 100 BMPs and BTRs were used. In addtion 27 Grad Units shelled Tskhinvali mercylessly.
Against this force, the Russians had 1,700 Peacekeepers and 2,500 Ossetians, all were light infantry. Gradually the Russo-Ossetian number increased to 13,000. The Russians did not outnumber the Georgians in South Ossetia, until the Georgians were routed. Russians recieved 8,300 re-enforcements with heavy equiptment, and Ossetians recieved 500 re-eneforcements. The Russian reenforcements were:
Two battalions of the 135th Motorised Rifle Regiment.
503rd and 693rd Motorised Rifle Regiments of the 19th Motorised Rifle Division.
70th and 71st Motorised Rifle Regiments of the 42nd Motorised Rifle Division.
Units of Airborne Troops (VDV): 104th and 234th Paratroop Regiments of the 76th Airborne Division (Pskov).
Units of 98th Guards Airborne Division (Ivanovo)
Units of GRU: Spetsnaz of 45th Detached Reconnaissance Regiment of VDV (Moscow): 10th Spetsnaz Brigade 22nd Spetsnaz Brigade
One company of Special Battalion Vostok of 42nd Motor Rifle Division (Chechnya)and one company of Special Battalion Zapad of 42nd Motor Rifle Division (Chechnya)
Ossetians recieved 500 more men, all were light infantry.
The Russians also had over 100 tanks, that were mostly T-60s and T-72s, with a company of T-80s. They had multiple APCs, the BMP-1s, BMP-2s and BTR-80s. In additions some SS-21 and 2 SS-26 missiles were launched.
A key point here is that despite media idiocy, who of course reported this inaccurately, all of the Russian soldiers have been baptized by fire. There was no panic in the infantry. (Also, since I was asked this, the Russians had 8-12 T-90s in reserve, that were not used in the war.)
The overall ORBAT looks similar. The Russo-Ossetian and Russo-Abkhaz forces totaled no more than 27,000 men, against 37,000 Georgian forces, (35,000 until the 1st bridage was flown in from Iraq). The Russians didn't win this by numbers. Here is the structure of Georgia's military:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La...of_Georgia.png the bases were changed, and all brigades, except for the 1st brigade, lack men, due to the 2008 South Ossetia War.
An interesting "what if" theory exists. The Russians still have a force, over 25,000 strong, while the Georgian force was dwindled to 5,000 (including the first brigade). What if the Russians attacked Tbilisi? Medvedev ordered not to, because the Russians were trying to keep civilian casualties low, and attacking Tbilisi would have been counter-productive to that. Even counting the 1,000 to 2,000 strong American force in the city, the Russians still enjoyed the number advantage by a ratio of 25 to 7, or roughly 3.5 to 1. In addition the Georgians were demoralized, while the Russian morale exceptionally high.
Anyways guys, please comment away. Also, please no politics, I don't want to get this one locked too. *Looks suspiciously at C_of_Red*
The ORBAT of the 2008 South Ossetia War
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