[GELORA45] Desfile militer dalam rangka peringatan 75 tahun Kemenangan di Stalingrad.

[Tatiana Lukman jetaimemuc...@yahoo.com [GELORA45]]

Desfile militer dalam rangka peringatan 75 tahun Kemenangan di Stalingrad.
Desfile militar ruso por el 75° aniversario de la victoria en Stalingrado - 
2018 - Completo (HD)

  
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Desfile militar ruso por el 75° aniversario de la victoria en Stalingrado -...
 En Volvogrado (nombre que se le dió a la ciudad de Stalingrado luego de los 
cambios introducidos por Jruschev). ...  |   |

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STALINGRAD THE TURNING POINT IN WORLD WAR II BY MAO ZEDONG




THE TURNING POINT IN WORLD WAR II

October 12, 1942


 
[This editorial was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung for the LiberationDaily..]


 
The Battle of Stalingrad hasbeen compared by the British and American press to 
the Battle of Verdun, andthe "Red Verdun" is now famous all over the world. 


 
This comparison is notaltogether appropriate. 


 
The Battle of Stalingrad isdifferent in nature from the Battle of Verdun in 
World War I. 


 
But they have this in common--now, as then, many people are misled by the 
German offensive into thinking thatGermany can still win the war. 


 
In 1916 the German forceslaunched several attacks on the French fortress of 
Verdun, two years beforeWorld War I ended in the winter of 1918. 


 
The commander-in-chief at Verdunwas the German Crown Prince and the forces 
thrown into the battle were thecream of the German army. 


 
The battle was of decisivesignificance. After the ferocious German assaults 
failed, the entireGerman-Austrian-Turkish-Bulgarian bloc had no future, and 
from then on itsdifficulties mounted, it was deserted by its followers, it 
disintegrated, andfinally collapsed. 


 
But at the time, theAnglo-American-French bloc did not grasp this situation, 
believing that theGerman army was still very powerful, and they were unaware of 
their ownapproaching victory.


 
Historically, all reactionaryforces on the verge of extinction invariably 
conduct a last desperate struggleagainst the revolutionary forces, and some 
revolutionaries are apt to bedeluded for a time by this phenomenon of outward 
strength but inner weakness,failing to grasp the essential fact that the enemy 
is nearing extinction whilethey themselves are approaching victory. 


 
The rise of the forces offascism and the war of aggression they have been 
conducting for some years areprecisely the expression of such a last desperate 
struggle; and in this presentwar the attack on Stalingrad is the expression of 
the last desperate struggleof fascism itself. 


 
At this turning point inhistory, too, many people in the world anti-fascist 
front have been deluded bythe ferocious appearance of fascism and have failed 
to discern its essence. 


 
For forty-eight days there ragedan unprecedentedly bitter battle, unparalleled 
in the history of mankind--fromAugust 23, when the entire German force crossed 
the bend of the River Don andbegan the all-out attack on Stalingrad, through 
September 15, when some Germanunits broke into the industrial district in the 
northwestern section of thecity, and right up to October 9, when the Soviet 
Information Bureau announcedthat the Red Army had breached the German line of 
encirclement in thatdistrict. 


 
Ultimately this battle was wonby the Soviet forces. During those forty-eight 
days, the news of each setbackor triumph from that city gripped the hearts of 
countless millions of people,now bringing them anxiety, now stirring them to 
elation. 


 
This battle is not only theturning point of the Soviet-German war, or even of 
the present anti-fascistworld war, it is the turning point in the history of 
all mankind. 


 
Throughout these forty-eightdays, the people of the world watched Stalingrad 
with even greater concern thanthey watched Moscow last October.


 
Until his victory on the westernfront, Hitler seems to have been cautious. When 
he attacked Poland, when heattacked Norway, when he attacked Holland, Belgium, 
and France, and when heattacked the Balkans, he concentrated all his strength 
on one objective at atime, not daring to disperse his attention.. After his 
victory on the westernfront, he became dizzy with success and attempted to 
defeat the Soviet Union inthree months. 


 
He launched an offensive againstthis huge and powerful socialist country along 
the whole front stretching fromMurmansk in the north to the Crimea in the 
south, and in so doing dispersed hisforces. The failure of his Moscow campaign 
last October marked the end of thefirst stage of the Soviet-German war, and 
Hitler's first strategic plan failed.


 
The Red Army halted the Germanoffensive last year and launched a 
counteroffensive on all fronts in thewinter, which constituted the second stage 
of the Soviet-German war, withHitler turning to retreat and the defensive. 


 
In this period, after dismissingBrauchitsch, his commander-in-chief, and taking 
over the command himself, hedecided to abandon the plan for an all-out 
offensive, combed Europe for allavailable forces and prepared a final offensive 
which, though limited to thesouthern front, would, he imagined, strike at the 
vitals of the Soviet Union. 


 
Because it was in the nature ofa final offensive on which the fate of fascism 
hung, Hitler concentrated thegreatest possible forces and even moved in part of 
his aircraft and tanks fromthe North African battle front. With the German 
attack on Kerch and Sevastopolin May this year, the war entered its third 
stage. 


 
Massing an army of over1,500,000, which was supported by the bulk of his air 
and tank forces, Hitlerlaunched an offensive of unprecedented fury on 
Stalingrad and the Caucasus. 


 
He endeavoured to capture thesetwo objectives at great speed for the twofold 
purpose of cutting the Volga andseizing Baku, intending subsequently to drive 
against Moscow to the north andbreak through to the Persian Gulf in the south; 
at the same time he directedthe Japanese fascists to mass their troops in 
Manchuria in preparation for anattack on Siberia after the fall of Stalingrad. 


 
Hitler vainly hoped to weakenthe Soviet Union to such an extent that he would 
be able to release the mainforces of the German army from the Soviet theatre of 
war for dealing with anAnglo-American attack on the western front, and for 
seizing the resources ofthe Near East and effecting a junction with the 
Japanese; at the same time thiswould allow the main forces of the Japanese to 
be released from the north and,with their rear secure, to move west against 
China and south against Britainand the United States. 


 
That was how Hitler reckoned onwinning victory for the fascist camp. But how 
did things turn out in thisstage? 


 
Hitler came up against theSoviet tactics which sealed his fate. 


 
The Soviet Union adopted thepolicy of first luring the enemy in deep and then 
putting up a stubbornresistance.


 
In five months of fighting theGerman army has failed either to penetrate to the 
Caucasian oil-fields or toseize Stalingrad, so that Hitler has been forced to 
halt his troops before highmountains and outside an impregnable city, unable to 
advance and unable toretreat, suffering immense losses and getting into an 
impasse. 


 
October is already here andwinter is approaching; soon the third stage of the 
war will end and the fourthstage will begin. 


 
Not one of Hitler's strategicplans of attack against the Soviet Union has 
succeeded. 


 
In this period, bearing in mindhis failure in the summer of last year when his 
forces were divided, Hitlerconcentrated his strength on the southern front. 


 
But as he still wanted toachieve the twofold purpose of cutting the Volga in 
the east and seizing theCaucasus in the south at a single stroke, he again 
divided his forces. 


 
He did not recognize that hisstrength did not match his ambitions, and he is 
now doomed--"when thecarrying pole is not secured at both ends, the loads slip 
off". 


 
As for the Soviet Union, themore she fights the stronger she grows.


 
Stalin's brilliant strategicdirection has completely gained the initiative and 
is everywhere drawing Hitlertowards destruction. 


 
The fourth stage of the war,beginning this winter, will mark the approach of 
Hitler's doom.


 
Comparing Hitler's position inthe first and third stages of the war, we can see 
that he is on the thresholdof final defeat. Both at Stalingrad and in the 
Caucasus the Red Army has now infact stopped the German offensive; Hitler is 
now nearing exhaustion, havingfailed in his attacks on Stalingrad and the 
Caucasus. 


 
The forces which he managed toassemble throughout the winter, from last 
December to May of this year, havealready been used up. In less than a month 
winter will set in on theSoviet-German front, and Hitler will have to turn 
hastily to the defensive. Thewhole belt west and south of the Don is his most 
vulnerable area, and the RedArmy will go over to the counter-offensive there. 
This winter, goaded on by thefear of his impending doom, Hitler will once again 
reorganize his forces. 


 
To meet the dangers on both theeastern and western fronts, he may perhaps be 
able to scrape together theremnants of his forces, equip them and form them 
into a few new divisions and,in addition, he will turn for help to his three 
fascist partners, Italy,Rumania and Hungary, and extort some more cannon-fodder 
from them.


 
However, he will have to facethe enormous losses of a winter campaign in the 
east and be ready to deal withthe second front in the west, while Italy, 
Rumania and Hungary, becomingpessimistic as they see that it is all up with 
Hitler, will increasingly fallaway from him. 


 
In short, after October 9 thereis only one road open to Hitler, the road to 
extinction.


 
The Red Army's defence ofStalingrad in these forty-eight days has a certain 
similarity to the defence ofMoscow last year. That is to say, Hitler's plan for 
this year has been foiledjust as was his plan for last year. 


 
The difference, however, isthat, although the Soviet people followed up their 
defence of Moscow with awinter counter-offensive, they had yet to face the 
summer offensive of the Germanarmy this year, partly because Germany and her 
European accomplices still hadsome fight left in them and partly because 
Britain and the United Statesdelayed the opening of the second front. 


 
But now, following the battlefor the defence of Stalingrad, the situation will 
be totally different fromthat of last year. 


 
On the one hand, the SovietUnion will launch a second winter counteroffensive 
on a vast scale, Britain andthe United States will no longer be able to delay 
the opening of the second front(though the exact date cannot yet be foretold), 
and the people of Europe willbe ready to rise up in response. 


 
On the other hand, Germany andher European accomplices no longer have the 
strength to mount large-scaleoffensives, and Hitler will have no alternative 
but to change his whole line ofpolicy to the strategic defensive. 


 
Once Hitler is compelled to goover to the strategic defensive, the fate of 
fascism is as good as sealed. 


 
>From its birth, a fascist statelike Hitler's builds its political and military 
>life on taking the offensive,and once its offensive stops its very life stops 
>too. 


 
The Battle of Stalingrad willstop the offensive of fascism and is therefore a 
decisive battle. It isdecisive for the whole world war.


 
There are three powerful foesconfronting Hitler, the Soviet Union, Britain and 
the United States, and thepeople in the German-occupied territories. 


 
On the eastern front stands theRed Army, firm as a rock, whose 
counter-offensives will continue through thewhole of the second winter and 
beyond; it is this force which will decide theoutcome of the whole war and the 
destiny of mankind. 


 
On the western front, even ifBritain and the United States continue their 
policy of looking on and stalling,the second front will eventually be opened, 
when the time comes to belabour theslain tiger. 


 
Then there is the internal frontagainst Hitler, the great uprising of the 
people which is brewing in Germany,in France and in other parts of Europe; they 
will respond with a third frontthe moment the Soviet Union launches an all-out 
counter-offensive and the gunsroar on the second front. 


 
Thus, an attack from threefronts will converge on Hitler--such is the great 
historical process that willfollow the Battle of Stalingrad.


 
Napoleon's political life endedat Waterloo, but the decisive turning point was 
his defeat at Moscow. Hitlertoday is treading Napoleon's road, and it is the 
Battle of Stalingrad that hassealed his doom.


 
These developments will have adirect impact on the Far East. 


 
The coming year will not bepropitious for Japanese fascism either. As time goes 
on its headaches willgrow, until it descends into its grave.


 
All those who take a pessimisticview of the world situation should change their 
point of view.