Talk:Eritrean War of Independence

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Contents 1 Military Commanders 2 Foreign involvement 3 Infobox 4 Something is missing 5 500,000 Ethiopians

[edit] Military Commanders

Perhaps only military commanders should be listed in the box. --Merhawie 23:08, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Foreign involvement

This link [[1]] Gives an excellent decomposition of many military aspects about the Eritrean War of Independence. Russian and Cuban involvement is one of the topics discussed. Here are some select quotes:

The Ethiopian Air Force (EtAF) became active in Eritrea again already before the Ogaden War was concluded. In December 1977, and in January 1978, a squadron of F-86s, few of newly-arrived MiG-21s and – reportedly – even the sole remaining Canberra B.Mk.52 bomber, were in action against the EPLF, hitting five towns between Asmara and Tessenei, again mainly by napalm. Simultaneously, Soviet Navy warships lent crucial naval fire support from the Red Sea to ensure the harbours would not fall to the rebels. These attacks successfully held off the final rebel offensive, enabling the main units of the Ethiopian Army to concentrate on fighting back the Somali invasion in Ogaden. (snip...)

The Eritrean forces proved ill-prepared to withstand air raids now launched by the reinforced EtAF and soon all the substantial separatist gains of 1977 had been lost to a military campaign reinforced by Cuban training of Ethiopian troops, Soviet military direction and massive provision of military equipment. However, this campaign failed to eradicate the EPLF: it even failed to dislodge rebels from Nakfa even in two subsequent offensives, lasting well into December 1978, and January 1979. The EPLF remained stubborn and the Ethiopian offensive increased the cause of Eritrean independence. The ruthless Soviet-backed assaults (Cubans refused to left their troops become involved in the fighting in Eritrea) drove scores of new recruits into EPLF, whose military commander, Ibrahim Affa, could thus count as many as 45.000 fighters in the field by the end of the year. This force had no significant problems to withstand another large Ethiopian offensive – a Soviet-devised attack by 40.000 Ethiopian troops in the Naqfa area, from 16 to 31 July 1979. In this operation the main Ethiopian force advanced from the south, moving overland, while one division was landed on the Red Sea coast in the back of the Eritreans. In major confrontations the Ethiopians suffered a loss of 6.000 troops killed and injured, and the operation was cancelled prematurely. (snip...)

The EtAF – now actively supported by Cuban-flown MiG-23BNs and Mi-24 helicopters – was completely reorganized and flew dozens of larger and smaller air strikes, mainly hitting a number of fortified village complexes known to have been occupied by the EPLF. The Eritreans returned fire from small arms, but obviously lacked proper anti-aircraft weapons, and thus very few losses were suffered by Ethiopian fliers. (snip...)

In the end, the Operation "Red Star" failed, with the Ethiopian Army and the Soviets suffering (according to contemporary Eritrean sources) as many as 100.000 casualties. Additionally, the Eritreans, now also armed with SA-7s, claimed an An-26 transport shot down near Asmara, on 14 January 1982, and then began attacking the local airfields by artillery as well. (snip...)

The final phase of this war began when in late 1987, the regime had formed a new command, the “Nadew” (Destruction) Command, based in Af Abet, a major logistics and support base for three infantry divisions reinforced with elements of a mechanized division and additional artillery. The offensive was launched in late February 1988, resulting in a series of pitched battles during March. The EPLF was ready: it pre-empted the attack and outmanoeuvered it: between 17 and 19 March, the main body of Ethiopian force was encircled and trapped in a valley near Af Abet, and then subjected to heavy artillery bombardments. By 19 March, the Nadew Command and its three infantry and one mechanized divisions were annihilated, with the loss of 15.000 troops, and the Eritreans captured no less but 50 tanks, 60 artillery pieces, 200 vehicles, and much other equipment intact, together with three Soviet advisors (a fourth was killed in battle). Af Abet was captured on the same evening, and the Eritreans then found themselves on the heels of Ethiopian units that were retreating to Keren. (snip...)

In the last quote they recall the capture of "three Soviet advisors (a fourth was killed in battle)". I did a little digging and I seem to have found this picture [[2]] which is titled:

"Thousands of Ethiopian prisoner of War, including three of their Russian advisors.(From left to Right, Lieutenant Covaldin Alexander Victrovich, Colonel Kalistrov Yuri Petrovich and Colonel Churayef Yevigniew Nicolayevich)"

I have not been able to find out anything further on these people, but here is what the link has to say about the end of the Soviet and Cuban involvement:

By the summer 1989, the TPLF launched the operation “Peace in Struggle”, resulting in the capture of Maychew and a large-scale invasion of northern Wello. The military force responsible for this success was now designated the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which was an umbrella-group for several insurgency movements – most led by Tigreans. After success in Wello, in September the fighting spread into northern Gonder, and on the 30th of the month, the Cuban regime declared its intention to pull the last 2.000 troops out of Ethiopia. The Soviets have had enough as well: openly questioning the wisdom of financing Cuban “internationalist” adventures in Africa, they declared their unwillingness to continue supplying arms, ammunition and equipment. Soon enough, the Ethiopian Army was in total disarray

Mesfin 18:14, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox

Do you believe it is wholly accurate to have a 3 sided infobox as opposed to a standard 2 sided. After all...both organizations were fighting for the same cause...just different ideaologies. --Merhawie 12:47, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Something is missing

What about the american und israeli support for ethiopia? Why isn't that mentioned in the text??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.163.120.142 (talk) 14:09, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 500,000 Ethiopians

maybe the number refers to the whole Ethiopian Civil War--TheFEARgod (Ч) 15:22, 7 March 2008 (UTC)