By Alan Smith
This article mainly deals with the purpose of celebrating the end of the World War II, the purpose which is incredibly significant in the liberation of Europe. As a matter of fact, Ethiopia was also a victim of the war, where it was offered as sacrifice to Fascist Italy for Italy was able to launch its invasion without any opposition from the West. This was primarily because the United Kingdom and France placed a high priority on retaining Italy as an ally in case hostilities broke out with Germany. Be that as it may, this May marks the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the memory of the war, which is referred to as the Great Patriotic War. It is particularly honoured in Russia. The 74th year defeat of fascist Italy is also marked here in Ethiopia on May 5, 2015. As these victory days are to be celebrated just in early May, this article raises few points about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and some detailed points about the World War II.
The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) passed through unprecedented hardship in the years 1941-1945 battling with the Nazi Germany, while Ethiopia also spent the years 1936-1941 bitterly resisting the occupation of the colonizing forces of Italy. In the USSR, the end of the war was considered to be on May 9, 1945, in early morning in Moscow following the German Instrument Surrender on May 8, 1945 in in Berlin. The date has become a national holiday-Victory Day and is commemorated in a grand military parade on Red Square in Moscow.
In a similar manner May 5, 1941 signified in Ethiopia the end of Italian temporal occupation following the reinstatement of Emperor Haile Silassie to his throne accompanied by Britain forces and the Ethiopian patriots who battled with the enemy all the way for five consecutive years.
To give just a glimpse of the facts that humanity experienced and the price paid to end the atrocities followed the invasions, let us list down some facts.
History has it that the Italians had extra ordinary superiority in all military requirements while they invaded Ethiopia. For instance, the Italian side equipped with approx. 500,000 combatants (approx. 100,000 mobilized), 595 aircrafts, and 795 tanks.
According to Italian estimates, on the eve of hostilities the Ethiopians had an army of 350,000-760,000 men. But only about one-quarter of this army had any kind of military training and the men were armed with 400,000 rifles of every type and in every kind of condition. Sadly enough the Ethiopian side had only 3 aircrafts and 3 tanks. These were Fiat 3000 World War I-era tanks.
In general, the Ethiopian armies were poorly equipped. They had about 200 antiquated pieces of artillery mounted on rigid gun carriages. There were also about 50 light and heavy anti-aircraft guns (20 mm Oerlikons, 75 mm Schneiders, and Vickers). The Ethiopians even had some Ford truck-based armored cars.
The big weapon they had was determination and patriotic spirit to defend their motherland. Even though historical documents recorded the causalities of the invasion differently, the damage was quite intense both in terms of human lives and properties. Without considering the total damage on economy, some documents indicate that approx. 275,000 Ethiopian combatants killed, 500,000 wounded only on the war front.
Having reflected on this historical fact, let us look also at the historical facts that led to the emancipation of Europe from the complete disaster of Nazism.
The Nazi invasion of the USSR was ignited in June 1941 and it was turned to be the most titanic battle in the history of humanity, even though it ended in a complete defeat of the Nazi Germany four years later with the fall of Berlin on May 9, 1945. Over 26 million Soviet citizens and soldiers died during the World War II.
The war, which lasted for 1,418 days and nights, began on Soviet territory at 4:00 a.m. on June 22, 1941. By November, the German army had seized the Ukrainian Republic, begun its siege of Leningrad, and threatened the security of Moscow itself. By the end of 1941, however, the German forces had lost their momentum. At the same time the Red Army, after recovering from the initial blow, in December launched its first counter-attacks. The defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow in the end of 1941 was the first major victory of the Soviet army in the war.
After a lull in active hostilities during the winter of 1941-42, the German army renewed its offensive, scoring a number of victories in Ukraine, Crimea, and southern Russia in the first half of 1942. Then, in an effort to gain control of the lower Volga River region, the German forces attempted to capture the city of Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd). The Stalingrad battle lasted for 199 days, costing an estimated 1.5 million lives from both sides. Finally, Soviet forces led by General Georgiy K. Zhukov surrounded the German attackers and forced their surrender in February 1943. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad proved to be very decisive as the Germans lacked the strength to sustain their offensive operations against the Soviet Union after losing this battle.
One of the most harrowing episodes of the Great Patriotic War was the siege of Leningrad, which lasted for 880 days. The capture of Leningrad, the former capital of Russia and the symbolic capital of the Russian Revolution, was one of the three strategic goals in the German plan for the Eastern Front. The siege of Leningrad was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and the most costly war in terms of casualties. It claimed more victims than the combined losses of the US and Britain in the whole of the Second World War. According to some estimates up to 800,000 lives were lost in this siege. During the siege, the daily bread ration for workers was 250 grams, while office workers, dependents and children received half of that amount.
In July and August of 1943, major tank battles of the WW2 took place. The battle of Kursk was the greatest tank battle in history. With nearly 6,000 tanks and 4 million troops involved, the battle was hard fought, reaching its climax with the pitched battle on 12 July between 700 German and 850 Soviet tanks. After Stalingrad and the battle of Kursk, the Soviet Union held the initiative for the rest of the war. By the end of 1943, the Red Army had broken through the German siege of Leningrad and recaptured much of Ukraine. By the end of 1944, the front had moved beyond the 1939 Soviet frontiers into Eastern Europe. With a decisive superiority in troops and weaponry, Soviet forces drove into eastern Germany, capturing Berlin in May 1945. The war with Germany thus ended triumphantly because of the Soviet Union.
The liberation of Europe
About 7 million Soviet soldiers for over a year waged bitter battles with the enemy in the territories of 11 countries in Europe, covering over 1 million sq. km. This includes in full or in part the territories of Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany and 113 million people were liberated. Major European capitals were liberated-Bucharest, Belgrade, Budapest, Warsaw, Vienna, Prague, Sofia, and Berlin.
The victory over fascism was dearly achieved. More than 1 million Soviet soldiers gave their lives in the struggle for liberation of the European people who were enslaved by fascism (Poland-600 thousand, Romania-69 thousand, Czechoslovakia -140 thousand, Hungary-more than 140 thousand, Germany-102 thousand, Austria - about 26 thousand, Yugoslavia-8 thousand).
The cost of Victory
The people of the USSR paid a very high price for the victory. According to official figures, total military losses amounted to 11.9 million people. There were some 13.7 million civilian victims, 7.4 million of whom were deliberately exterminated by the occupying power, while 2.2 million perished performing slave labour in Germany and 4.1 million starved to death during the occupation. The Soviet Union lost a total of 26.6 million people. During the war, 1,710 cities, more than 70,000 villages and 32,000 factories were destroyed. The total damage amounted to $128 billion. By comparison, the damage sustained by France during the Second World War amounted to $21 billion, and for Poland, $20 billion.
Attempts to distort history
On the eve of the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazism, some politicians began to disseminate information contradicting with the entire common sense and well-known historical facts. For example, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk decided to recall invasion of Nazi Germany as "the invasion of Soviet troops on the territory of Ukraine and Germany" causing barrage of criticism not only on Russia but also on the German public. Spiegel magazine even published a satirical commentary on the words of the Ukrainian prime minister calling it "Between us, the democrats". The speech of Yatsenyuk surprised even representatives of the government. The Ministry of Defence uttered that is very good for the Ukraine that the Prime Minister is not responsible for foreign policy.
Next attempt to distort the facts of World War II happened in Poland. Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna impressed the world community on the eve of the 70th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet army. In Schetyna's opinion the camp was liberated by Ukrainians. "In that January day Ukrainian soldiers opened the gates and liberated the camp", Schetyna said. In fact, these statements caused lots of wave of criticism.
Moreover, Polish president proposed that World War II victory celebrations should be moved from their traditional place on the Red Square to Poland. This is yet another attempt to re-write history and diminish the role and sacrifice of the Soviet Army in winning that terrible war. It is also an attempt to paint black as white and vice versa in order to justify fascism again raising its ugly head in Ukraine, Baltics and other European countries.
Source: AllAfrica
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