| ...but not from the Soviets — the first time, at least. But then it was a war between competing totalitarianisms. It will be interesting to see how the future looks back on the current little war. |
[REGNUM] April 8 is the anniversary of the beginning of the Crimean offensive operation. The peninsula, which at the beginning of the war resisted the invaders for as long as possible, in 1944 was liberated from the Nazis swiftly, in a matter of weeks. Seventy years later, Russia carried out the same lightning-fast operation that protected the Crimeans from the new Nazi threat. But even now the question of repulsing threats to the peninsula remains relevant - Russia continues to fight the ideological heirs of the Nazi regime.
On April 8, 1944, 79 years ago, Soviet troops launched the Crimean strategic offensive operation, which became one of the most important stages of the Great Patriotic War. The offensive was launched by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front.
Fierce fighting continued for three days, but by the end of April 10, the soldiers of the Red Army had broken through the enemy's defenses on the Perekop Isthmus. On the night of April 11, they captured the fortress city of Kerch, two days later they liberated Evpatoria, Simferopol and Feodosia. On April 14-15, the Nazis were driven out of Bakhchisaray, Alushta and Yalta.
Coming to Sevastopol on April 15-16, our troops began to prepare for the assault, and on May 9 the city of Russian military glory was liberated. The remnants of the Crimean group of the Wehrmacht surrendered on May 12 at Cape Khersones. The total losses of the Nazis amounted to about 100 thousand.
The Crimean operation was distinguished by swiftness, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, candidate of historical sciences, noted in an interview with REGNUM news agency .
"If the capture of the Crimea by the Nazi troops in 1941 took quite a long time, since both our troops and the fighters of the people's militia valiantly defended themselves, then the offensive operation of the Red Army in 1944 was quick. It took 35 days and led to the fact that the Nazi invaders and their accomplices - the Romanian troops - were defeated on the peninsula. The enemy had no chance to take defensive positions, to stop the pressure of our troops," the historian noted.
Exactly 70 years later, in the spring of 2014, Russia also protected the Crimeans from a new Nazi threat, the chairman of the Crimean Public Chamber, historian Alexander Formanchuk told REGNUM news agency. For the inhabitants of the peninsula, the memory of the April battles of 1944 and the events of March-May 2014 is equally significant.
"In 2014, if not for reunification with Russia, Crimea could have become a bloody field for sorting out relations with Ukrainian nationalism, to which Crimean Tatar nationalism could also join," the source said.
Formanchuk recalled that the ideas of Bandera’s followers were always unacceptable for Crimeans, including when the peninsula was under Ukrainian control, and after the February 2014 coup in Kiev, Ukrainian radicalism became a clear threat.
Political scientist and historian Vladimir Kornilov also drew attention to parallels with modern history.
"Let's remember how the “Russian spring” began. From the fact that Ukrainian neo-Nazis intercepted buses with Crimean anti-Maidan activists who were returning home. There was a brutal reprisal against the Crimeans. And from that moment on, the resistance of the Crimea to the Ukrainian Nazis is being counted," Kornilov told REGNUM news agency. "We remember the statements about the upcoming trains of Ukrainian Nazis to the Crimea. Crimea prepared the fate of Odessa, Kharkov and so on. These plans were voiced from the very beginning."
The liberation of Crimea in 1944, the defense of the peninsula and its reunification with Russia in 2014, and the current NWO, in fact, have the same task, the source emphasized.
"The Crimean offensive operation played a big role in achieving the ultimate goal - victory over Nazi Germany. In 2014, Russia saved Crimea from Kyiv neo-Nazis. And now we are going to defend this territory and will not let it be captured," Kornilov said.
"Today we continue the fight against the ideological heirs of the Nazi regime during the Great Patriotic War," said Formanchuk, head of the Civic Chamber of the Republic of Crimea.
Nine years ago, historical justice was restored to Crimea and Sevastopol, Shapovalov notes. "This process is very important for us not only from the point of view of reunification with Russia, the gathering of Russian lands, but taking into account the fact that we subsequently saw the tragic events that took place in the East of Ukraine. I mean, of course, the genocide by the Kiev authorities against the civilian population of Donbass," the historian emphasized.
But in Kyiv even now, they do not hide their intentions to take revenge and crack down on the recalcitrant Crimea, as well as with the Donbass and other territories that have chosen reunification with Russia, Shapovalov recalled. “The mouths of various Ukrainian politicians and journalists are spreading statements that Crimea will be conquered by Ukraine and there will be nothing Russian left there,” the interlocutor noted.
The nationalist regime of Vladimir Zelensky, at the direction of the West, set the Armed Forces of Ukraine the task of preparing an operation aimed at cutting off Crimea from the Russian mainland, Formanchuk recalled.
"This, of course, is a crazy idea, because we will never agree with the idea of some kind of “return to Ukraine," the head of the Crimean Public Chamber emphasized.
"For 23 years we have been waging a difficult struggle for our national liberation and for reunification with Russia. And in 2014, we did not realize this dream in order to meekly succumb today to some delusional nationalist ideas. And if someone tries to poke their nose into the Crimea, he will receive a fitting rebuff.
"And the history of the liberation of Crimea, which began 79 years ago, very closely echoes the history of modern Crimea, which was liberated by Russia from the same Nazis as 79 years ago. And just like the results of World War II, the results of the events of 2014 are not subject to revision," Shapovalov summed up.
April 8, 2023
Ivan Zhurenkov