Ukraine’s counter-offensive: Why early failures aren’t Russian victories | Defence in Depth

As ever when it comes to combat, the Second World War offers valuable lessons. This week marked the 79th anniversary of the D-Day battle at Villers-Bocage when German armoured warfare expert Michael Wittmann led a force of six Tiger tanks against allied troops. During the frantic action, he destroyed 14 Allied tanks, two anti-tank guns and 15 personnel carriers. Although his actions inflicted catastrophic losses they were not enough to change the course of events in Normandy and Wittmann was killed a few days later. We would do well to remember this as news of the early days of Ukraine’s counter-offensive starts to come through. Find our Defence in Depth playlist here: For our podcast Ukraine: The Latest, visit: #ukraine #russia #ukrainewar #counteroffensive #Україна Subscribe to The Telegraph with our special offer: just £1 for 3 months. Start your free trial now: Get the latest headlines: and are websites of The Telegraph, the UK’s best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.