Editing Commander Kubrik Chenkov (section)

===Alternative view===
Remember that quote at the top of the page ''"If we come to a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as if it were not there."'' While it sounds wasteful of human life, it is actually sound military advice (though the statement actually implies something different in the full context - the Red Army's infantry under Zhukov underwent rudimentary mine defusal training and so all of its infantry brigades were theoretically able to clear out minefields themselves). A minefield's primary purpose is to hold you in position and slow you down while you wait for engineers to arrive so the enemy can better get ready to shoot you, meaning the soldiers would almost inevitably take more casualties from enemy fire waiting for the engineers to arrive than they would crossing the thing in the first place. This cold, logical calculation is at the heart of what makes Kubrik both an effective and disliked commander.

Remember what Legion always suffered second highest casualties (right after the crazy berzerkers from the World Eaters) while [[/tg/ gets shit done|getting shit done]]? Yep, the [[Iron Warriors]]. Why? Because wars are won through applying sheer, overwhelming power to the enemy's weakest point. And that's what Chenkov does, but, unlike [[Perturabo]], he only has an infantry regiment, and, in fact, didn't lose a single battle, often fighting without even tanks or artillery against a superior enemy. Those who say "Chenkov isn't capable of anything more than drowning foes in bodies" didn't actually read his fluff - he is more than able to use distraction (the story of ending '''A ONE-YEAR SIEGE IN TWO DAYS''' using conscripts as a lure for the enemy while sappers blew the walls) and flanking attacks. This man would end the Siege of Vraks in a week, ''with more casualties'', but without needing titans, all while not leaving the planet a polluted wasteland. And just like Perturabo, he can't stand cowardice or incompetence. Unlike the Primarch though, he leads from the front, not being protected by some [[Iron_Circle|giant-ass robots]] and being a squishy humie on top of that. All in all, Chenkov has no pity for the enemy, his soldiers, or himself - when the future of Humanity is at stake, you [[grimdark|have no choice but to sacrifice thousands to save billions]]. He is ready to die for the Emperor and Imperium and expects his soldiers to do the same.

There's a scene in the movie "Patton" where the general orders an officer to prepare an amphibious operation to dislodge the Germans from a position while advancing to Messina. The officer replies that he needs more time to organize the operation and ask for a two days delay, but Patton presses on. The operation is ultimately a success but the American forces struggle to reach the landing party in a timely manner and the operation results in high casualties. When Omar Bradley confronts Patton stating that he wasted lives just to get to Messina before Montgomery, Patton asks him how many soldiers would have been killed while bottled up on the street to Messina for two days.

Remember the ''other'' quote at the top of the page? in 40k the killbots are always going to reach their kill limit before they are destroyed, so you can dig in and fight a grueling siege against the enemy and maybe over the course of several years 2 or 3 killbots will be blown up before they hit their kill limit and the planet will be re-taken in bits. '''OR''' you could send in waves and waves of Conscripts to shutdown the Killbots now and re-take the planet in a week, with most of the infrastructure probably still intact and not bombed out and useless.

The lesson here is that the aggressive commander will have more casualties in the single battle, but will end the war sooner saving the lives of millions of his own (and often also enemy) soldiers. In theory, it's sound. In practice, you better hope that the commander actually knows what he's doing and really has the tools to achieve his objectives (which Chenkov clearly does). Otherwise, ask the French at the start of WWI how this theory works out.
[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]][[Category: Imperial]][[Category: Imperial Guard]]

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