Misrata becomes Libya's Stalingrad

[al bupp]

Source: The Independent

The "dawn chorus" came in on time, salvos of missiles crashing down with shattering noise, burning buildings, killing and maiming people. It was the start of another day in Misrata, the city whose fate may decide the military outcome of this brutal civil war.

The besieged and battered bastion has become Libya's Stalingrad. The fall of Misrata would not only be a huge symbolic and psychological triumph for Muammar Gaddafi, but also end significant opposition to his rule in the west of the country.

It is this defiance and determination only 150 miles from where he sits in Tripoli that seem to enrage the dictator of Libya. The daily rocket and artillery attacks are vengeful and often indiscriminate, destroying homes and killing and maiming civilians. More than 200 attacks have been launched in the past 48 hours, killing 40 people and injuring 105 others.

Even by the standards of Misrata, the bombardment at the end of the week was particularly brutal. Missiles landed in residential areas, on a school, and in a street on which a queue outside a bakery had formed. Some people waiting for bread escaped the initial onslaught and fled to a garage that promised protection. But the next round hit the entrance, starting a fire from which they could not escape. Among those to die was a mother aged 33 and her two daughters, both under 10.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/misrata-becomes-libyas-stalingrad-2269008.html

[madrchsod]

1. yup, looks like the west is going to lose their little war on big mu....

[al bupp]

2. Libyans are fighting and dying in Misrata, not Westerners

You may also recall that Stalingrad marked the beginning of the end for the aggressors in that city. Whether or not history repeats in that sense, seems hard to say.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. Proxy war.

I can't believe we risked getting involved in this shit, with political promises at the outset like 'we won't go in on the ground'.

[damntexdem]

13. What's this? More kissing of Muamar's ass?

It's a battle that LIBYANS are fighting and dying in against a tyrant. The only way this is a win or loss for the @west@ is that it is the west of Libya.

[EFerrari]

16. It's always "fighting and dying against a tyrant" when our government wants

regime change.

I note that Hillary Clinton and others told the Egyptian rebels to be patient instead.

[joshcryer]

17. They are not fighting and dying against a tyrant?

Are you saying that?

[BOG PERSON]

3. stalingrad with a difference

unlike the red army, libyan rebels could not shoot their way out of a paperbag

[joshcryer]

4. Hmm, that's why Gaddafi, after a month and a half, finally had to besiege it with tanks this week?

That's why Gaddafi, after a month and a half, in the past few days has fired more Grad rockets than in the previous weeks combined? C'mon. He's clearly seeing Misrata as the dividing line for Libya. If he keeps it he has a chance to force a two state solution. If he loses it all bets are off for Tripoli.

[BOG PERSON]

5. i didn't say NATO wasn't doing a competent job

but it's very clear the rebels themselves are useless as fighters.

[joshcryer]

7. I think that the Misrata fighters are far more hardened than those from Benghazi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/world/africa/17misurata.html?hp

You look at the reports out of Misrata and you wonder how the fuck they have lasted half as long as they did. Az Zawaiya was another city that was besieged by Gaddafi's forces for 3 weeks before finally falling (through late night kidnappings, which are happening in Bahrain, but we'll believe it happened in Bahrain but we refuse to believe it happened in Libya, of course).

2 months of being sieged by forces vs 2 weeks worth of fighting interspread over 2 months (the first Benghazi fighting only lasted about a week before Benghazi was largely liberated, then the second fighting happened in late March, thanks to the French it was stopped for the most part).

It's natural selection, those who made it this long in Misrata are going to be fucking hard core.

[CJvR]

18. I doubt that they are better.

They just have an easier fight inside the city than the Bengazis have out in the deserts.

[meow mix]

6. meanwhile: "Libyan rebels push on Brega"

they have made good advances.. despite the alarmist attitudes here at DU lol

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFLDE71Q0MP20110417

[joshcryer]

8. Yeah, it'll be a short lived war to be sure.

No doubt, of course, because of NATO's and the international communities willingness to act. But why should that be used to sully and denigrate the revolutionaries? Because they weren't well-equipped militants we should let them die a horrible death?

[BOG PERSON]

9. judging from details in the article

the rebels there seem to have adopted the Zapp Brannigan style of warfare.

[joshcryer]

10. The defining characteristic of Stalingrad was that it was seen as pivotal, and was protracted.

I personally do not see Misrata as stragetically significant, but Gaddafi has had the power and water cut from there for almost two months, so he must view it that way.

[tabatha]

11. Fighting in the desert with no cover

where many of them had never fired a rifle before, naturally led to some "Zapp Brannigan"-like efforts.

But with better weapons and some communication equipment, they are beginning to do better - and have destroyed quite a few tanks.

Btw, Gaddafi had to go to Tunisia to kidnap Libyan refugees for his "army". That smacks of desperation.

[defendandprotect]

12. kr

[tuckessee]

14. That means there's a lot fighting left after Misrata if they win there.

Stalingrad simply marked the end of the German advance. The real turning point came during the battle for the Kursk salient six months later.

Of course, after Kursk there was almost two years of the bitterest fighting mankind has seen including colossal battles during Bagration and Berlin.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Absurd statement - at least a million died at Stalingrad.

Aside from which this is an editorial. :(

Its actually offensive and hopefully will encourage Russia to veto any further Micky Mouse loosely worded UN resolutions on the subject of Libya.

[BOG PERSON]

20. agreed

[Baclava]

21. Agreed. More ridiculous sensationalist journalism - Stalingrad my ass

The Battle of Stalingrad took place in and around the present day city of Volgograd between July 17, 1942 and February 2, 1943.

The Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest in modern history, with combined casualties estimated at over 1,530,000 killed, wounded or captured. Historical reference regarding Stalingrad casualties varies greatly, so while this figure is just an estimate, it may be conservative. Soviet archives put military casualties closer to 2.6 million (excluding civilians).

790,000 Soviet casualties (750,000 Soviet military, 40,000 civilians)
740,000 Axis casualties (91,000 captured)
The battle took a toll of roughly 7,700 casualties per day
Of the 91,000 German troops taken prisoner, less than 6,000 lived to return home

http://www.russia-ukraine-travel.com/battle-of-stalingrad.html

[plumbob]

24. You're right - the current generation is hard up for sensationalism

to compare one of the bloodiest engagements of all time with the ongoing battle which has killed fewer people than drunk drivers last year in the US.

[PurityOfEssence]

23. When you're "good" and "right", any amount of embellishment is justified

In fact, anything is justified.

Yes, this is ridiculous. Stalingrad was a meatgrinder of well-armed professional armies going at it hammer-and-tongs for months. Huge numbers of troops were poured into it, some barely armed, but many were the best available. It was an ordinance free-for-all. This is a small group of hastily organized militia fighting small elements of a professional peacetime army augmented with green troops. There's no comparison.

With every effort to beat on their breasts and proclaim the horrendousness of it all, the interventionists show their words to mean less and less; they're literally anything they can latch onto at the moment to sway sympathy.

For such an undeniably evil popinjay, Qaddafi still seems to get many to lay down their lives for the current government.

[daleo]

22. Stalingrad was between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany

i.e. - it was neither a civil war nor a rebellion. It doesn't really pertain to Libya.