The War Against Islamic State: The Kurdish Stalingrad -- The Economist
Kobane has acquired huge symbolic significance for all those fighting for it
“WE WILL resist to our last drop of blood together… if necessary we will repeat the Stalingrad resistance in Kobane.” The words of Polat Can, a Syrian Kurdish commander, to describe the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists for the town on the Syrian-Turkish border may exaggerate the scale of the fighting, but makes plain the emotional and strategic symbolism now attached to Kobane.
On October 29th about 150 Iraqi Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, dispatched by cheering crowds in Irbil, set off through Turkey to reinforce their brother Kurds. The deployment was sanctioned by the Turkish authorities, after much haggling.
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My Comment: My father was part of the pincer movement that surrounded Stalingrad during the Second World War .... his descriptions of that siege still stick with me today. So with this viewpoint .... in terms of scope, loss of life, and the intensity of the battle .... I ahve to say that Kobane is not Stalingrad .... not even close. But it is true that the battle of Kobane has become a symbolic as well as pivotal battle against the Islamic State, and everyday that Kobane resists the onslaught of IS forces .... the more the reputation of this city will grow .... especially for the Kurds.
10 comments:
Wow thats an honour, so your father was a part of the Stalingrad battle, how old was he? Also I agree the battle of Kobane is not comparable with Stalingrad. I don't know how you Russians managed to win it but in my eyes I see the Russian people havibg the ability to overcome very dire times. Also just to ask do you think Volgograd should change the name back to Stalingrad?
I despise Stalin, but the name "Stalingrad" is a badge of honor that the Russian/Soviet people will wear for eternity, untarnished. For that reason I would think the name should never have been changed.
I agree with you Black Knight. There is a historical value to the name "Stalingrad", because of the battle that was fought there. Also i think we have the same opinion about Stalin, after all the bad things he did I am glad the soviet union got destalinized.
My father was 21 in 1943 and because he was studying math in university when the war broke out, they put him in charge of an artillery unit.
As to the name change. It was decided that on a certain day of the year (I think it is on the day that the Germans surrendered), Volgograd is officially named Stalingrad for one day. As to the name .... I personally prefer Stalingrad .... definitely not because of the man, but because of the history.
21, a good age to be part of events that shake the world.
James .... my father's war experience .... I do not even know where to start. He saw it all .... from Day One when Kiev was bombed .... to the end of the war where he found himself 30 kilometers west of Berlin. And even at the end of the war .... where he was a senior officer for about 500 hardened Soviet fighters .... the last three days of the war resulted in almost 350 of his soldiers being killed. As he put it .... the German army did not want to surrender to us .... they wanted to surrender to the British or to the Americans .... and we were just in their way.
He was wounded multiple times, and received multiple medals for his service. But there is one personal memory that I will never forget. An American friend of mine who lives in Montreal had served with the Navy SEALs in Vietnam (he did two tours). When he heard of my father's World War II experience he wanted to meet him .... I guess to trade war stories. I said sure .... come on over ... which he did .... and they started talking (while drinking of course). I had to go somewhere but when I came back a few hours later there were two extra cars in front of my house. I went in and noticed two big guys with my friend talking to my dad (they were working on my second bottle of Johnny Walker Blue). OK ... they are drinking the good stuff .... let them be. They talked and got drunk and left at around 3:00 AM.
I learned the next day from my friend that the other two visitors were his friends and fellow SEALS who had served with him in Vietnam. They were always curious on what war was like on The Russian front .... and now they had a living eye-witness to talk about it.
Sighhh .... my friend told me later that he (and his buddies) were overwhelmed with my father's experiences. Wow .... when battle-hardened SEALS are impressed with another soldier's war experiences .... what can one say after that. Especially when that person is your dad.
Yes, all very true. For your Dad was one of the ones who was in and survived a great ebb and flood tide of history. I would have enjoyed that conversation.
On a personal note, before I die one of the things I really want to do is see the Steppe. Where Attila, Subatai, Timur, and so many more passed. And I want to see the Shoe Factory, if it still stands, if it does I know not.
The Steppe .... thinking of my father like I am today .... yeah .... I miss it now. The air, sunlight, the soil, the smell, the energy of the place. And my father .... he and his fellow soldiers fought to preserve that .... not to save communism.
WNU,
"the smell" funny you should bring that up. My mother has said that even beyond the mother/infant smell imprint process, people also imprint the smell of where they were born and spent their first 3 to 4 years of life.
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