2 i Carpathian Uk-

Mders of Czecho-

ol Atmy’s rapid ad- a the activization ded and they i i eninst the ari me new partisan ‘ed, all kinds of and with the

id “Mmunist Party

Opes and aspira- € increasing h there were on Mature, of a WM . Usele, tending ” “Mocratic revolu.

this was RS a Which flared hesicomPanied by for uniting the I stress, it Spread Mh th, wethened the € Soviet Union

at home. Exist-

Fesistance activ-

Partisans from surrounding villages

whose troops opened up an offensive at the Dukla Pass in support of the Uprising.

At the end of April and especially the beginning of May 1945 we witnessed a new stage of anti-fascist resistance: in many places partisan fighting, which took over many villages and some towns and set up three new bodies of State authority — na-

tional committees. : And so like an avalanche the Czech lands

In the history of nations, 30 years is a very short time. Nonetheless since the Second World War, a whole new epoch in the history of the Czechs and Slovaks has been established. Both nations have taken the road to the construction of a_ socialist society which has changed the face of the country beyond recognition.

were falling and the patriotic, revolution- ary movement was gaining strength and changing into the truly popular democratic revolution, which the fascists “so much feared. The culminating point was the May rising of the Czech people which

turned into an uprising in the capital of the Republic, in the very seat of the. occu- pants’ power — Prague.

And then came the ninth of May. About five o’ clock in the morning tanks of the armies of Marshal Rybalko and Marshal Leylushenko, which had covered about one hundred kilometres in the night, rolled into Prague. They received a tremendous wel- come of joy and relief from the astonished Prague people, fighters at the barricades and from the whole population.

With the liberation of Prague and the greater part of Czechoslovakia the Red Army played an exceptionally important role in the further development of our country. Czechoslovakia was not restored by the liberation but was born anew, in a new form. The national and democratic revolution won and of it was born a peo- ple’s democratic state.

It was, therefore, only natural that the

enormous strengthening of the authority of -

this country resulted in a profound shift to the left and marked rise in the authority of

time. And so, very soon after the liberation the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) became the most numerous political party. :

With the defeat of fascism one era of social political struggle ended and another one began, which was characterized by a new regrouping of class forces.

The fight for consistent implementation of tasks of the national and democratic revolution in the course of which the double-facedness of the anti-fascist bour- geoisie was to be seen, was strengthening the socialist revolution and weakening its antagonists. This interweaving of two re- volutions and transformation of one into another was characteristic for the whole period of 1945 to February 1948. Only then did the open conflict come to a head which ended with a defeated bourgeoisie and political power going completely over to the working class and its vanguard — the Communist Party.

«x When recalling the results achieved in the last 30 years, we should not, however,

came to the aid of Prague.

ferget that at their birth, at their cradle, stood the liberation of our country by the Soviet Army.

our own Communist Party. The best proof of this was the tens of thousands of peo- ple who applied to join the Party at that

ig ee

CSSR today, growing in economic strength. Steel works in Kosice.

its, © USsR

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haber the exact date, but Stalin phoned

dquarters.

fe - : g o fascism. The war lasted 1,418 days. Ten 'Cers and men died.

Was involved in virtually every major s 's western front — the defense of D ttle of Moscow, the battle of Stalin- of the Kursk Bulge, the Byelorussian 4 and the battle of Berlin.

Styj : : : i ower's question, “which of these opera- €ply imprinted on your memory?”, Zhukov

Fctly asked that question, and my reply is Pons; the Battle of Moscow. That was one of - oe le movements of the war. | took com- ly ; Nt during the days: when the front lines Oscow's suburbs. It used to take an Set to front headquarters in Perkhushkovo . It's even hard to imagine today how G attles were being fought where young 99 skiing in the winter and mushrooming

YS of great trial. The danger hanging Beton formidable. Its major industrial Orps in government ~institutions and the ol had to be evacuated to Siberia and mi But the party leadership, the State a ©e and the General Headquarters of ce mander in Chief remained in the city. inn ould hold arms, a spade, or operate a 83 ammunition rose to the defense of the -

munist.’

‘Are you sure we'll hold Moscow? It pains me greatly ” to ask you such a question. Tell me honestly, like a Com-

“Every one of Moscow’s defenders. bore a historic res- ponsibility in those days.

Anti-aircraft guns defending Moscow. This photo shows defenses on the site of the Economics Achievements Exhi- bition in the capital. “Battles were being fought where young Muscovites now go skiing in the winter and mush- rooming in the fall,” recalls Soviet Marshal Zhukov.

“The greatness of the exploit near Moscow lay in the fact that we did not have superiority in strength. The Nazis had directed their main blow at Moscow. Their best and picked troops were thrown into the Battle of

“| replied: We'll hold Moscow. Reseroure

Concerning the last great battle — the storming of Berlin—Zhukov recalls:

“The concluding operation of the war was prepared most thoroughly. We concentrated a huge striking force on the bank of the Oder; a supply of shells alone was brought up to suffice for a million artillery rounds on the first day of the storming. To stun the German defenses immediately, it was decided to begin storming at night | with the use of powerful searchlights.

“Finally that famous night of April 16 began. No one could sleep. | kept looking impatiently at my watch. The hands seemed to have stopped. Three minutes before zero hour we left our dugout and took up places at our observation post. To my dying day | will remember the land along the Oder, blanketed with a spring fog. At 5 a.m. sharp it all began. The Katyushas struck, over 20,000 guns opened fire, hundreds of bomber planes roared overhead ... And after 30 minutes of fierce bombing and shelling. 140 anti-aircraft searchlights, sited every 650 feet in-a line, were turned on. A sea of light swept over the enemy, blinding it, and pointing out in the darkness the objects of attacks for our tanks and infantry. The picture of the battle was so impressive that | cannot recall any other feeling in my life to equal it.

“And there was one more moment, when | saw the Red Flag fluttering in the smoke over the Reichstag in Berlin. | am not a sentimental person, but a lump rose in my throat.” ;

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1975—Page 7

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