75 Years Ago This Week A Great Struggle Took Place

---

On June 6th the European and other countries remembered the 75th anniversary of the famous invasion of Normandy, France in 1944 - an invasion that led to the liberation of most of western Europe from Nazi German occupation.

The D - Day landings are a  huge part of the history of WW2 told in the west.

However, this time the Russians (who were present at the ceremonies in Portsmouth, England) have made it known that the D-Day landings were not fully decisive in winning WW2 in Europe.

Of course the Russians (the Soviet Union at that time) had already begun defeating the Germans (since the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 and the Battle of Kursk in 1943) and were already pushing the Nazis back to Germany.

Here is some news from The Star :



Russia told West D-Day did not play decisive role in ending WW2Allied war effort should not be exaggerated
75th anniversary ceremony in Portsmouth attended by Queen, Trump, Merkel
Moscow appreciated Allied war effortIt should of course not be exaggerated
diminish Soviet Union's titanic effortswithout which no victory 
Normandy did not have decisive impact on outcome of WW2pre-determined as a result of Red Army's victoriesmainly Stalingrad (late 1942), Kursk (mid-1943)
attack on Normandy June 6, 1944 led to liberation of western Europe from Nazis
Moscow fighting German forces for 3 years before D-Daypushing Germans  back from 1943urging Churchill to open second front in Aug 1942
(Allies) wish for maximum weakening of Germanyfrom enormous losses in eastwhile reducing losses in the west
My comments :

They say that the Russians suffered 20 - 25 million dead in WW2. Germany carries with it the stigma of being the biggest mass murderers of the human race. Period.   
In just one foreign country they killed 25 million people.

The only consolation (perhaps) is that Hitler and the Third Reich were an aberration. They are not a permanent condition of the German DNA that needs constant treatment  and constant observation. The Nazis created havoc between 1933 and 1945 - a period of 12 years. There were also about SIX attempts on Hitler's life - all of which failed.  (Meaning there were many 'good' Germans).

Germany is now one of the most benevolent and benign nations ever in human history.  They just took in almost TWO million refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

Back to the Russians, they fought some of the toughest campaigns to defeat Nazi Germany.  If the Allies had not landed in Normandy, the Soviets would have certainly liberated the rest of Europe all by themselves.  

And the Normandy landings were actually quite late - coming in June 1944. The war in Europe would end 10 months later on 30th April 1945 (when Hitler committed suicide).

The western media also seldom highlights the fact that just one day before D-Day  the Allies had already liberated Rome (on June 5th 1944).  While Allied soldiers were splashing ashore in Normandy, Rome had already been liberated. 

One year before, between July to August 1943 American troops landed on and liberated the island of Sicily in Italy.  Hence Sicily was the first West European territory to be liberated by the Allies. In September 1943 the Allies landed on the Italian mainland at Salerno, Calabria and Taranto.  And from there they liberated Rome on June 5th, 1944 (one day before the Normandy landings on June 6th).

So the D-Day landings in Normandy were indeed among the final nails in the Nazi coffin in western Europe. 

Since WW2 there have been few or almost no massive wars with nations invading each other with huge armies to gain territory.  

The Arab-Israeli Wars were (and still are) political in nature. If peace treaties are signed (like between Israel - Egypt - Jordan) the "wars" can stop. More land can be returned - as in Sinai, Gaza and the West Bank.

The Korean and Vietnam wars were wars of unification, not of territorial expansion. Korea ended in a stalemate whereas Vietnam has been united. 

The Indo-Pak wars and Iran-Iraq war are not worth mentioning.

Since then the world is seeing "internal" wars.  Low intensity conflicts where combatants stay in houses and ride to the 'war front' when needed and return home to their families to sleep at night.

This has been going on in Iraq, Syria, now Libya, Afghanistan and around Africa.  Often the combatants do not sleep in military barracks. 

They just bomb and explode their own countries, one building at a time or one block at a time for years on end. They decapitate people they "capture".  

Then you have rather insane aggression where a country like Saudi Arabia just keeps bombing its neighbour Yemen.  That is not a war. It is just an insanely criminal act.

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait followed by the American invasion of Afghanistan (still ongoing after 18 years) and Iraq all fall under this category. The Americans now ask 'what were we doing over there?"

Mass warfare is tied to the degree of civilisation of people or the lack thereof.

For people who think they are civilised who wish to wage war, the question to ponder  is  what is their desired outcome from shedding human blood ?

To force your neighbour to accept that they should not eat meat?
Or that they should not have dogs in their homes?
Or that their mobile phone is getting too advanced?


What is your preferred insanity?


Posted by Syed Akbar Ali 

---