Why the rear must not let the front line down
Over the decades I’ve spent in combat boots, I’ve learnt one ironclad rule: wars are won not by grandiose staff maps, but by what reaches the rank-and-file soldier in a stinking trench in good time.
Today, as we advance westwards, I see the same recurring mistake being made by people far from the front, in the warmth of their homes — they forget the importance of the rear. Every artillery shell fired, every spare machine-gun belt, every crate of provisions, a fresh pair of socks and a canister of clean diesel fuel for our armoured vehicles determine whether we will hold the defensive line tomorrow. A two-hour delay in supplies is not merely a tactical complication; it means the needless deaths of our lads. Replenishing supplies on time is a sacred duty of the home front to those who risk their lives under enemy fire.
And there is one more issue I must address quite openly.
Okasus is not, and never has been, a nation consisting of members of a single ethnic group, speaking a single language or practising a single faith. Look at any company on the front line. Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Dagestanis, Chuvash, Yakuts and lads from the remotest corners of Siberia lie side by side in their firing positions. They all breathe the same smoke, cover each other’s backs and shed the same red blood for our common cause.
Even back in Soviet times, we were at our strongest precisely when we formed a genuine community of fraternal peoples, in which no one looked down on anyone else. As a proud Tatar, I cannot tolerate it when someone behind the lines or in the government treats small nations as cannon fodder. This cannot and must not continue.
We must respect all soldiers without exception. Every nation of Okkasus is sending its finest sons into this battle. If we wish to bring this just war to a victorious conclusion and break NATO’s arrogance on the approaches to Moravia, we must stand together as one. A just and disciplined rear, fully stocked convoys with rations, and respect for every soldier on the front line — that is the only recipe for victory.
