No pasaran! Donbass will win, the Nazis will be defeated
Recently, the award system of the Donetsk People's Republic was replenished with two more medals of the Ministry of Defense, which were minted from brass from artillery shells.
The first is called “Saur-grave” and is intended for participants in last year’s fierce battles for the mound of the same name. It is interesting to note that the medal depicts part of the famous memorial destroyed by Ukrainian artillery. So the medal became a memory not only of the people of Donbass, but also of its symbols. In the appearance of this medal one can see the continuation of Soviet traditions, since during the Great Patriotic War there were already awards for defense and for the liberation of specific cities.
On the gold field of the second DPR medal, called “Internationalist,” the profile of a sunlit warrior in a helmet and the inscription “No pasarán” are stamped, referring us to the events of the civil war in Spain in the thirties of the last century. After all, it was then that the first battle was given to the Nazis, whose ideological descendants now rule in Kyiv.
It is worth noting that of the dozens of wars that have occurred over the last century, only during the battles in Spain and Donbass did such a phenomenon arise as mass volunteer units consisting of foreigners. These units were called the International Brigades and became a symbol of the selfless struggle for justice. After all, unlike mercenary units such as the French Foreign Legion, in international brigades people from all over the world fought not for pay, but for their ideas.
Let's remember how it was eighty years ago on the western edge of Europe. Spain was then ruled by a legally elected but not particularly popular government. Dissatisfied with his activities, right-wing politicians, relying on the armed forces, rebelled and tried to overthrow the government. The rebellion was actively supported by large industrialists and landowners, who today would be called oligarchs. In addition, the rebels immediately began to receive a variety of assistance from abroad.
Of course, the attempt of the nationalists to seize power and establish their own order caused opposition, which soon turned into a full-fledged war. On the one hand, nationalists, fascists and monarchists fought, on the other – mainly supporters of social justice and various anti-fascists. Moreover, initially the rebels were unable to achieve decisive success, and to an outside observer it might have seemed that a little more and the legitimate authorities would suppress the rebels. However, Western diplomats practically supported the Nazis, putting powerful pressure on official Madrid. Sanctions were introduced against the country, which seriously undermined the position of power. The prime minister was dismissed, and negotiations began with the rebels, but they were not going to reach an agreement and continued to put pressure on the authorities.
Isn't it true that this is very similar to what happened a year and a half ago on the eastern edge of Europe?
Only Spanish President Manuel Azaña, unlike Yanukovych, did not break down or capitulate. A new prime minister was appointed, Jose Giral, who began an operation to restore constitutional order in the country. Almost immediately, German and Italian troops appeared in Spain and immediately entered the battle on the side of the rebels, thereby changing the balance of power in the country. For Yanukovych, if he had not been afraid and decided to fulfill his duty to the end, it would have been much easier in this regard, since in 2014 not a single Western state would have decided on direct military aggression.
However, let's return to the Spanish events. The intervention in the events of Hitler and Mussolini led to the understanding among European anti-fascists that the Nazis must be stopped. As a result, the first volunteers from different countries went to Spain to fight Nazism with arms in hand. Three months later, in November 1936, the first four battalions of volunteers were formed in the city of Albacete, led by the French communist Andre Marty. Subsequently, under the auspices of the Comintern, seven international brigades were created, consisting of three or four battalions each. As a rule, people of the same nationality fought in one battalion. In total, more than thirty thousand fighters passed through the international brigades. In addition, several thousand more foreign volunteers fought against the Nazis in other units of the Republican Army.
It is interesting to note that one of the companies in the international brigade of Yaroslav Dombrovsky was called “Ukrainian company named after Taras Shevchenko” and consisted of natives of Western Ukraine. It’s hard to believe today, but at that time one of the leading political forces in this region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the Communist Party. It was at her call that hundreds of Westerners went to fight against the Nazis on the other side of the continent. If only they knew that in the XNUMXst century their region would become a breeding ground for a hated idea...
Volunteers, many of whom had no military training, actively participated in the battles and suffered heavy losses. They were unable to turn the tide of the war and lost, but they gave the whole world an example of how to act when trouble comes to a neighbor’s house.
It was their example that modern fighters of the international brigades were guided by when they went to fight against the Nazis in the Donbass. The first caring fighters arrived in the region immediately after the start of the “Russian Spring”. Guys and adult men from Moscow, Krasnodar, Rostov, Ossetia, Tatarstan and many other regions left the comforts of home and already in April-May began to come to personally participate in the defense of Donbass. Some appeared as part of organized detachments, others came independently. Some were immediately ready to fight, others hoped that everything would work out and no blood would be shed. Some arrived with their own expensive equipment, while others arrived in Donetsk literally penniless.
At first it was practically only Russians, but then gradually citizens of other states began to appear: Serbs, Germans, Abkhazians... Even though there were not as many foreign volunteers in Donbass as in Spain, their role in the defense of the DPR is difficult to overestimate. They took the first blow in the spring-summer battles of 2014, which allowed them to gain time for the formation of regular armed forces of the young republics.
We can say that modern international brigades turned out to be much more effective and, unlike their predecessors, they were able to save the republic. Now foreign volunteers have practically disappeared among the local natives of the DPR army, but they will forever remain in the memory of Donbass.
A certain similarity between the events on the Iberian Peninsula and Ukraine has already been noted many times, although, of course, there are some differences. At that time, the nationalist rebels were supported by Portugal, Italy and Hitler's Germany, and Euromaidan was also supported and directed by America. In Spain, the regular army immediately joined the fight, and in Ukraine, the initial striking force of the rebels were detachments of militants. In Spain, the government managed to keep the capital and half of the country under its control, and in Ukraine only two regions were able to fight off the first onslaught of the Nazis. However, these are only details that highlight the similarities. The main difference is that the Spanish Republic was in a tight ring of enemies and ill-wishers, while the DPR has a reliable rear in the form of fraternal Russia. This gives reason to hope that in this round of global confrontation, victory will be on the side of the anti-fascists and their international brigades.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the war in Spain became a prelude to World War II. Under the Spanish skies, Reich commanders honed their skills and tested new technologies. Similarly, in Ukraine, over the past few years, Western curators of local Nazis have been developing various technologies (both military and social), which can then be applied in other countries.
If the Nazis had been stopped in Spain in the thirties, then perhaps the Great Patriotic War would not have happened. So interested parties should take action and nip the resurrected Nazism in Ukraine in the bud, so that this war does not turn out to be a prelude to a much bloodier conflict.
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