On May 9th, the Russian Federation will celebrate Victory Day over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 — the main and decisive period of the Second World War. What would the reader think if one expressed the opinion that without this event, the independent state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan might not have appeared on the world map on August 14, 1947? But what does Pakistan itself have to do with this? To clarify, let us turn to history. The year is 1941, the second year of the Second World War. All of Europe has fallen before Nazi Germany. Poland and France have been crushed. Great Britain is desperately fighting off attacks from German aviation.
Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis, has ambitions for world domination, including the capture of British India and the subjugation of all of Southeast Asia. It seemed there was no force capable of stopping this terrible war machine. The only obstacle to the realization of these plans remained the Soviet Union – present-day Russia. On June 22, 1941, the German Army launched attack on its borders. For the peoples of this country, the ‘great patriotic war’ had begun. The famous politician of that time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was never a consistent friend of Russia but rather its fierce enemy, spoke on the radio to the entire world that very same day.
Understanding the danger looming over Great Britain and all of humanity, he expressed support for the USSR in its struggle against fascism. Here is an excerpt from his speech: “Everything that I know at the current moment indicates that the Russian people are defending their native land, and their leaders have called for resistance to the last. Hitler is a vile monster, insatiable in his thirst for blood and plunder. Not content with having all of Europe either under his heel or intimidated into a state of humiliated submission, he now wishes to continue the carnage and devastation on the vast expanses of Russia and Asia.”
The main battles of the Second World War took place near the Russian cities of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk. After the expulsion of the Nazis from the territory of the Soviet Union, the Red Army began the liberation of Europe. This was also acknowledged by Winston Churchill. In a letter to the head of the USSR, IV Stalin, dated September 1944, he wrote: “Without the enormous efforts of Russia, we would never have been able to break the enemy.” It is worth noting that the fight against fascism was of a general nature. It was waged by the forces of the anti-Hitler coalition, which also included troops of the British Indian Army.
PUNJABI WARRIORS
For example, a battalion of the Eighth Punjab Regiment carried out combat missions in Iran, where units of the British Indian Army ensured the protection and operation of the southern road for military supplies to the USSR from Great Britain and the United States through Iran. On May 2, 1945, the Red Army entered the capital of Germany, Berlin, and broke the last pockets of Nazi resistance. On the night of May 8 and 9, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany was signed. The Soviet Union played the main role in the defeat of Nazism, paying the highest price for it — 27 million human lives. These were mostly civilians.
For the fascists, only peoples of Aryan origin had the right to live; they considered all others to be ‘subhumans’ subject to extermination in gas chambers and crematoria. The victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany intensified the struggle of the peoples of British India against colonial oppression. After complex political processes, Pakistan became an independent state. But dear reader, let us reflect. If the Soviet Union had not been able to withstand the onslaught of German fascism, would Pakistan have appeared on the world map? And most importantly — what fate would have awaited its inhabitants?
The writer, Shamir Faraz, a sociologist, is a Lahore-based writer
