Russian Embassy in Asmara

🎖October 14 marks 81 years since the Sobibor uprising — a special date in the history of World War II. 📅 It was #OnThisDay in 1943, that the only successful mass escape from the Nazi death camps took place — the Sobibor uprising, led by a Soviet prisoner of war, the Red Army lieutenant Alexander Pechersky. ▪️During the war, Nazi Germany established about 14,000 concentration camps, with the so-called death camps among them, used by the Nazis to exterminate people. Sobibor was one those death camps formed in German-occupied Poland with one aim — to ensure the “final solution to the Jewish question.” Sobibor had been in operation since May 1942. It was located near the village of Sobibor in the south east of Poland near the Western Bug River and the Polish-Soviet border. The camp was set up by the Nazis on a railroad haul between towns Chelm and Wlodawa, which made it possible to ship prisoners to Sobibor by train cars. Sobibor was literally a death factory designed to slaughter people in the most brutal and terrifying ways. Each and every day, up to six trains each carrying 2,000 people — both military and civilians, including senior people, women, and children — delivered prisoners to that camp. ▪️Captives in Sobibor were shot, gassed, starved or exploited to the death. People were subjected to heinous medical experiments. Prisoners were brought to Sobibor for further torture and slaughter from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France. It is known that the two so-called "children trains" left the Netherlands for Sobibor in June 1943. During the time the camp was in operation, the Nazis massacred there up to 250,000 POWs. Sobibor was well-guarded by the Nazis. The camp was fenced off by four rows of three-metre-high barbed wire. The territory around was mined. There were sentinels on towers along the perimeter. Sobibor was also cordoned off by 200 guards, with about a hundred SS soldiers among them. Ukrainian collaborators, including those serving in 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), were in charge of maintaining the “order” in Sobibor. Given all that, escaping from Sobibor seemed unthinkable. ⚔️ On October 14, 1943, the uprising in Sobibor under the leadership of Alexander Pechersky took place. Encouraged by the Soviet officer, the prisoners performed a truly heroic feat — in an unequal battle with the Nazis, POWs killed 11 or, according to other sources, 12 SS soldiers and several guards. Having overpowered the enemy literally with bare hands, the prisoners rushed undaunted to the central gate of Sobibor under heavy machine-gun fire from the towers. Nothing could stop the doomed prisoners, neither the minefields surrounding the camp, nor the barbed wire, nor the gun fire. As a result of the uprising in Sobibor, about 300 prisoners managed to escape from this hell on Earth. Many survivors who managed to escape further joined the ranks of the resistance and continued their fight against the enemy. Alexander Pechersky himself joined the Belarusian partisans, and in 1944 fought the Nazis again. ☝️The Sobibor uprising is known to be the only ever successful mass escape from Nazi death camps in the history of WWII. The Nazi SS command, unable to bear the shame and trying to hide the traces of their crimes against humanity in Sobibor, ordered to raze the camp to the ground. The crimes committed in Sobibor were part of the charges against the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials, and the stories told by eyewitnesses and participants of the uprising were depicted in many books and films. Todaythe Alexander Pechersky Foundation in Russia plays an important role in preserving the memory of the Sobibor prisoners’ feat. #Victory79#WeRemember

🗓 On September 19, 1943, one of the largest partisan operations of the Great Patriotic War to disrupt railway communications on Nazi-occupied territories, behind enemy lines, Operation "Concert", commenced. It became a continuation of the "Rail War", conducted in August-September 1943. The partisans were tasked to destroy as many German trains and railway lines as possible to disrupt communications and hinder the delivery of munitions and provisions to the territories occupied by the Nazis. The operation involved 193 partisan units in Belarus, the Baltics, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk and Orel regions with the total number of 120,615 people. In over six weeks, the partisans blew up approximately 150,000 rail lines, 100 railway bridges and about 100 enemy trains, hindering the delivery of Nazi reserves and allowing the Soviet aviation to attack railway junctions, where Nazis became easy targets, more effectively. ☝️ The operation resulted in the reduction of the throughput capacity of the rail lines the Nazis used by nearly 40%. According to military experts, the partisans’ actions in the operations "Rail War" and "Concert" were more than 11 times more effective than all the raids of the Nazi aviation, which dropped more than 10,000 bombs on the railways in the Soviet rear during the same period. 🌟 Operation "Concert" greatly contributed to disrupting logistics and demoralising Nazi troops and to the preparation of the Red Army’s autumn offensive towards Smolensk and Gomel, as well as facilitated its advance towards the Dnieper and Desna rivers. #Victory79

🏅 On September 10, 1943, the Novorossiysk Landing Operation, one of the largest and most successful Soviet operations of the Great Patriotic War, commenced. The Nazi invaders had a firm grip on Novorossiysk, leading to the Soviet command making a decision to storm the city simultaneously from land and sea. After a massive artillery and mortar shelling of enemy positions, the marines broke into the Novorossiysk port. Heavy fighting continued in the city streets, often escalating into hand-to-hand combat. Ultimately, the Soviet soldiers broke the German defence, and on September 16, the enemy was finally driven out of Novorossiysk. The Soviet forces crushed the 73rd German infantry division, the 4th and 101st German mountain rifle divisions, the 4th Romanian mountain rifle division, and the German marine port teams. The liberation of Novorossiysk by the Red Army left the Nazis without the largest Black Sea base and sealed the fate of the German group of troops on the Taman Peninsula: the threat of the Germans using this bridgehead as a base for active military operations in the south was effectively eliminated. 🎖 Following the Novorossiysk Landing Operation, eight army and navy soldiers and officers who distinguished themselves most during the liberation of the city were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. #Victory79

🗓 On September 7, 1945, a military parade of the allied forces of the #USSR, US, UK and France took place in Berlin near the walls of the defeated Reichstag on Alexanderplatz Square, marking the end of #WWII. The location of the parade – at the Brandenburg Gate, at the very heart of the German capital – was not chosen by chance. It was right here where the Battle of Berlin ended and the remnants of the Berlin group of German troops surrendered to the Red Army. Scheduled for September 7, the parade was timed to coincide with the victory over militaristic Japan. Representatives of the allied powers responded positively to Moscow's proposal to hold a joint parade in Berlin. However, on the eve of the event, after the date and all the details had been agreed upon, the US, UK and France announced that instead of the commanders-in-chief – Eisenhower, Montgomery and Tassigny – they would send lower-ranking generals, who were already stationed in Germany, to the parade. By doing so, the allies tried to downplay the significance of the parde, which emphasized the decisive role of the Soviet Union in taking Berlin. At that time, no one doubted who bore the brunt of the storming of the capital of the Third Reich. 🇷🇺 The USSR carried out thorough preparations for the parade. The Soviet command attracted the most distinguished soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals who had shown unrivalled courage in taking Berlin and the main centers of the reich – the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery. 🎖On September 7 at 11 am, the Berlin allied parade commenced. It was received by the Commander of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany Georgy Zhukov. The parade was opened by the combined regiment of the 248th Rifle Division of the Red Army, led by Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Lenev. The parade was closed by a column of the Soviet armor, with the latest heavy tanks IS-3 ("Joseph Stalin") marching. 💬 In his welcoming speech to the parade participants, Marshal Zhukov paid tribute to the exploits of the Soviet and Allied forces in the struggle for victory over Nazi Germany: "Fighting friends, comrades in arms, soldiers, officers and generals... <...> The Second World War ended with a decisive and powerful strike from the great allied powers. Our victory is a triumph of an unprecedented military partnership of democratic states. From now on, people <...> will be eternally grateful to the great nations of America, England, the Soviet Union, the French Republic and China, to their valiant soldiers who, in the difficult time of military trials, gave each other helping hands, united to win a victory over a common enemy, to win the long-awaited peace on Earth." #Victory79#WeRemember#WeWereAllies

🗓 September 3 marks the Day of Military Glory in Russia — the day of victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II. On September 2, the representative of the USSR General Kuzma Derevyanko and the allies of the Soviet Union during WWII signed the Instrument of Surrender of militarist Japan. At the Tehran (1943) and Yalta (1945) conferences of the heads of the Big Three Joseph Stalin agreed to help the United States and Britain in the war against Japan, which at that time the USSR had a pact of neutrality with. It was agreed in Tehran that the USSR would enter the war two or three months after the surrender of Germany. The redeployment of Soviet soldiers to the Far East began even before Berlin was captured. According to the plan the Soviet forces were to encircle and defeat the enemy in the Far East within two months but victory was achieved much faster — merely 11 days later. ☝️ The Red Army dealt a crushing blow to the Kwantung Army, which became one of the determining factors of the defeat of militarist Japan. Southern part of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea were liberated from Japanese occupation. 📹The Russian Military Historical Society #Victory79#WeWereAllies

🗓 79 years ago, on September 2, 1945, the Instrument of Surrender of militarist Japan was signed, bringing #WWII to the end. ❗️After the defeat of Germany in Europe, the last stronghold of the "Axis" powers remained in the Asia-Pacific region. The Korean Peninsula, Indochina, Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, part of China, Burma and the Philippines were under Japanese occupation. In order to neutralize the Japanese threat in the Far East and to fulfill the agreements reached with the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition – the USA and UK – the Soviet Union launched an offensive against militarist Japan. On August 9, the Manchurian strategic offensive operation of the Soviet forces commenced. 🌟 As a result of a rapid advancement and coordinated teamwork of the army, aviation and navy, Soviet forces defeated the Kwantung army. During the operation, the territories of China and North Korea were liberated from Japanese occupation. For only just 23 days of combat, the Red Army crushed the Japanese militaristic machine and eliminated the foothold of the enemy's military and economic base in Asia. 📑 The official ceremony of signing the Instrument of Surrender of Japan took place on September 2, 1945, on board the USS "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay. According to this document, "the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, all Japanese armed forces, and all armed forces under Japanese control, regardless of where they are" was declared. On behalf of the Soviet Union, the Instrument was signed by Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko. Japan fully accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration of 1945. According to the Instrument, military actions on Japan's part ceased immediately, all Japanese and Japanese-controlled armed forces surrendered unconditionally. 🎖 The USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium issued an executive order "On Declaring September 3, 1945 the Day of Victory over Japan". Today the date September 3rd in our country is marked as the Day of Military Glory (Victory Day over militaristic Japan and the end of World War II). #Victory79