STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2001/0622/opt4.htm [T]here is no doubt that although the Russian campaign makes grim and upsetting reading, it is necessary that people, especially young people, know all about it. It is a further proof that war is the ultimate lunacy, grossly immoral and a scandalous waste - not just of life but of scarce economic resources. And it should be carefully noted by those who fail to understand that behind every military alliance, be it the 'Pact of Steel,' the Partnership for Peace, Nato or any other flag of convenience lies the financial interests of the armaments industry and the bankers. In the final analysis, they alone are the ones who gain from conflict and war while it is the ordinary people who suffer. The Irish Times Friday, June 22, 2001 An Irishman's Diary By Padraig � Cuanach�in Sixty years ago today on June 22nd, 1941, an astonished world heard that Hitler had launched an attack on his former ally Russia, along a front of 1,800 miles that stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The astonishing thing was that Hitler's plan was not opposed by any of his senior field marshals. Surely, they would have known that the conquest, let alone the occupation of Russia, as Napoleon learned to his cost, was an insuperable task, taking into account its vast population, severe winter climate, and the appalling logistical problems posed in supplying an army spread over vast territories. The attack was spearheaded by 3 million troops, deployed in 143 divisions, supported by 2,500 tanks and 3,000 aircraft. Divided into three army groups, the assault was led by three experienced field marshals - Von Leeb, Von Bock and Von Rundstedt. The invasion met with great successes initially. The Russian formations were rapidly dispersed, some 3 million prisoners were taken and much of the airforce was destroyed on the ground in the initial surprise attack by the Luftwaffe. Stalingrad The Germans drove deeply into Russia and reached the outskirts of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad before grinding to a halt, due not alone to determined resistance, but to the Russian winter, when temperatures dropped to 40C, freezing even the fuel in tank engines. The Stalingrad disaster was instrumental in turning the tide. The German Sixth Army, under Gen Von Paulus, containing some of the finest heavily-armed and highly mobile panzer divisions, was surrounded and forced to surrender after a three-month siege. Some 300,000 men and vast quantities of war material were lost due to Hitler's refusal to sanction the withdrawal of the threatened German army while there was still time. Hitler was obviously no believer in the sound advice contained in the old Irish proverb followed by the British at Dunkirk - Is fearr rith maith n� droch sheasamh. >From then on, it was a question of the Germans endeavouring to delay the Russian advance that was eventually to strike deep into the heart of Germany itself. Hitler committed no less than 80 per cent of his troops and war material to the Russian front. The Italian, African and indeed later on, the Normandy Campaigns were mere side-shows against the great war in the East that was to cost the Russian people 20 million lives and lead eventually to Germany's defeat. Germany also had the support of many of its allies and Nazis sympathisers in the occupied countries. Italy, Romania and Hungary contributed entire armies. France contributed a division that fought in SS uniform and were among the last defenders of Berlin. Other occupied countries contributed smaller contingents because, unfortunately every one of them had its "John Redmond" who acted as a recruiting agent for the German army. Nothing this time about "the freedom of small nations" but the new slogan to fool the gullible - this was a war to save Europe from the "Jewish Bolshevik menace". Slave labour The invasion of Russia was characterised by a complete disregard of the terms of the Geneva Convention. Prisoners of war were ill-treated, Jewish men women and children were exterminated after capture, and the civilian population in the conquered territories were treated as slave labourers. Cristabel Bielenberg, who now lives in Ireland and whose late husband was a member of the anti-Hitler Resistance in Germany, recalls being told by an innkeeper from the Black Forest on leave from the Russian front, "if we are paid back one quarter of what we are doing in Poland and Russia, we will suffer and we will deserve to suffer". German atrocities in Russia ensured that when Stalin's troops entered German territory a terrible retaliation was taken on the ordinary German people. Anthony Beevor, author of Stalingrad and now writing a book on the Fall of Berlin believed that the capture of that city involved even more suffering for ordinary people than the Stalingrad disaster. Very few of the German generals had the courage to stand up to Hitler on these matters. Gen Blaskowitz, a veteran of the French and Polish campaigns, challenged Hitler citing events in the occupied zone that disgraced the honour of the German army. Lucky to escape with his life, he was demoted to a position in charge of troops protecting the mediterranean coast of France. Some of the German generals who served on the eastern front, like Gen Hopner, were subsequently involved in the conspiracy against Hitler and the bomb plot and suffered with their lives as a result. It is of interest to speculate what would have happened if Germany had not attacked Russia. Would Stalin have stood idly by while the Germans went on to further successes, defeating England and extending German supremacy to other countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and even Ireland? Would the USA alone have the capacity to defeat both Hitler and Japan? These are interesting questions to which there is no ready answer. Lunacy of war But there is no doubt that although the Russian campaign makes grim and upsetting reading, it is necessary that people, especially young people, know all about it. It is a further proof that war is the ultimate lunacy, grossly immoral and a scandalous waste - not just of life but of scarce economic resources. And it should be noted carefully by those who fail to understand that behind every military alliance, be it the "Pact of Steel", the Partnership for Peace, NATO or any other flag of convenience lies the financial interest of the armaments industry and the bankers. In the final analysis, they alone are the ones who gain from conflict and war while it is the ordinary people who suffer. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
