Michael B.
Programmer at A Healthcare Company Jul 12

Would it be effective for Ukrainian resistance to randomly plant
artillery shells that blow up in the Russian cannons when fired?
It would be effective, if they could pull it off.

Green Berets in the Vietnam war.

During the Vietnam War the Green Berets undertook a covert operation
called Project Eldest Son. They acquired boxes of ammunition used by the
Viet Cong, replaced a few rounds here and there with exploding
cartridges, and then snuck back into the Viet Cong supply chain. The end
result was that every so often a Kalashnikov would explode in the hands
of the soldier using it, and hopefully take his head off.

This tactic wasn’t a very effective way of killing enemies, but it did
breed paranoia and mistrust. You were never certain if your gun would
fire, or if it would kill you. And it raised tensions between the
Vietnamese and Soviets, with the former believing the latter were
providing them with faulty ammunition.

In theory something like this could be done with Russian artillery
shells. Moral among the Russians is already abysmal. Swap a few shells
with high explosives, and you can sink it even further. As an added
bonus, you’re taking out artillery, the one part of the Russian army
which is still doing its job as intended.

The only problem is how are you going to do this?

The Russian supply chains are a mess, but they still have some level of
security. Project Elder Son only worked because it was being used
against guerillas. Russia would have a much easier time tampering with
Ukrainian munitions than the other way around.

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Sean Kane