As promised the next 🧵, about the (now exhausted) Rocket and Artillery Weapons Arsenal in Karabasch.
1/14
55°24'08"N 60°12'36"E
earth.google.com/web/@55.423449…
2/14
Before the invasion, there were 3 clusters of stored towed howitzers.
Aside from that, there were only some buildings and complexes (probably for maintenance and testing) in and around the actual storage base, a train station and a few logistics vehicles.
3/14
The largest cluster in the middle of the forest held exclusively D-30s in their characteristic collapsed transport and stowage configuration.
4/14
The second cluster consists also exclusively of D-30s.
5/14
The third cluster is a bit of a mystery. These are clearly not D-30s but a different model of towed gun. We have only 4 sets of "high" resolution footage of these (two of which later after having been moved inside the base) but none are good enough for a definitive ID.
6/14
From the general size and form factor we can rule all the guns that are too big (like e.g. 2A36), to small (like e.g. D-44), have a shorter barrel than this (like M-30 or all the pre WW2 howitzers) or a longer one (like (M)T-12).
7/14
It also looks like the guns have a muzzle brake, sometimes with what I believe to be white bags over the muzzle to protect against moisture. This rules out all guns without muzzle devices.
8/14
We are fairly certain that these guns are either D-20, D-1, or ML-20. I tend towards D-20, @HighMarsed more towards D-1. Russia supposedly has some ML-20 in storage but not many, so that one is unlikely. But without better footage or pictures it's a guess either way.
9/14
So how many artillery pieces were in Karabasch? There were:
363 D-30
60 other guns (D-20/D-1/ML-20)
@HighMarsed counted these D-30s and the number in his 🧵is still valid. The number of the additional guns has AFAIK not been posted until now.
10/14
Now what happened to these guns?
In short, all D-30s are gone and a single other gun remains, which is most likely non-usable or it would have already been removed as well.
@HighMarsed had already confirmed that the D-30s were all removed by 5.10.23.
11/14
But we only recently got an update from 30.04.2024 from Google Earth. For some reason only in the Pro version and only with the timeline deactivated, sometimes free sat footage sites are tricky.
No matter, we can now show the pictures of the (almost) completely empty base.
12/14
By looking at the Sentinel footage we can also try to figure out a bit more exact when the base was empty. Unfortunatelly no Sentinel-1 (SAR) footage was available, but I'm pretty confident, that the Sentinel-2 footage shows that the large cluster was removed by 13.06.2023.
13/14
It's possible that some guns were still lingering around but nothing really obvious. So most of the base, which was Russia's 4th largest storage for D-30s, was probably already more or less exhausted in June 2023.
14/14
Additionally, the activity around the base has decreased, almost all trucks have left.
But at the moment of the sat picture a train was at the base's train station, so something is still going on there.
There are a few garages that could still house e.g. equipment or ammo.
Final thoughts:
First of all, respect to @Jonpy99 . More info in the tweet below. This kind of selflessness isn't easy to find these days, so if you value that or are interested in counting of Russian AFVs, he's a good address.
@Jonpy99 Outlook:
I will probably soon make another 🧵 about another Russian storage depot, of which we have recently gotten new high resolution footage.
The 7015th Storage and Repair Base in Mulino.
And yes, it's also empty by now.
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