Georgian army flees in disarray as Russians advance
Pastor Dale Morgan
From The Times
August 12, 2008
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Georgian army flees in disarray as Russians advance*
The Georgian Army was in complete disarray last night after troops and
tanks fled the town of Gori in panic and abandoned it to the Russians
without firing a shot.
As Russian armoured columns rolled deep into central and western
Georgia, seizing several towns and a military base, President
Saakashvili said that his country had been cut in half.
For the first time since the crisis erupted last Thursday, Russia
admitted that its troops had moved out of Abkhazia, the other breakaway
region under Moscow’s protection, and seized the town of Senaki in
Georgia proper. Russian officials again insisted that they had no
intention of occupying territory beyond South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia said that the Russian Army was also in command of the towns of
Zugdidi and Kurga in the west, and its tanks appeared to be moving from
the north and the west towards Tbilisi, the capital.
Analysis: roots of the Georgia-Russia conflict
Central cause of the conflict is that Southern Ossetes want to unite
with their counterparts in the North, part of Russia
The retreat from Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, was as
humiliating as it was sudden and dramatic. The Times witnessed scores of
tanks and armoured personnel carriers, laden with soldiers, speeding
through the town away from what Georgian officials claimed was an
imminent Russian invasion.
Residents watched in horror as their army abandoned its positions after
a day of increasingly aggressive exchanges of fire along the border with
South Ossetia, the breakaway region now fully under Russian control.
Jeeps and pick-up trucks filled with Georgian soldiers raced through the
streets, their occupants frantically signalling to civilians that they
too should flee. The road out of Gori towards Tbilisi was a scene of
chaos and fear as cars jockeyed with tanks for a speedy escape.
Soldiers left by any means available. Dozens of troops clung to cars on
the back of a transporter lorry, while five other soldiers fled on one
quad bike.
A tank had exploded on the mountain road leaving Gori, although it was
unclear what had caused the blast. The Times passed an armoured car in
flames, soldiers leaping from the roof of the vehicle. It had apparently
caught fire while trying to bulldoze the tank’s burning shell out of the
way. Columns of Georgian tanks and heavy weaponry filled the road during
the 50-mile journey back to Tbilisi as thousands of soldiers, many
looking totally demoralised, headed for the capital. Police sealed off
the highway from Tbilisi, turning back the few cars that ventured
towards Gori.
The Russian attacks were met with Georgian artillery fire towards South
Ossetia, despite President Saakashvili’s statement that he had called a
ceasefire. Reporters later witnessed at least six Georgian helicopters
attacking targets in South Ossetia.
Elsewhere, Russian armoured personnel carriers swept into Senaki, 20
miles inland from the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, which Russian
troops were also said to be attacking.
Georgia said that Russian forces seized police stations in Zugdidi,
where reporters saw Russian soldiers posted outside an Interior Ministry
building and armoured vehicles moving through the town.
It was unclear last night where the tanks fleeing from Gori were
heading, but many of the troops regrouped on the outskirts of Tbilisi as
if preparing to make a stand to defend the capital. Some artillery
pieces had also been sited on the approach road from Gori.
The panic had been triggered at about 5pm, when troops suddenly started
pouring out of Gori. Officials from the Georgian Interior Ministry
claimed that up to 7,000 Russian troops with tanks were heading for the
town and that it was under imminent threat of bombardment. A similar
panic had ensued on Sunday night as thousands of people poured from the
town, in what turned out to be a false alarm. The fear this time was
more tangible, the sense of threat more real, as Gori’s streets emptied
rapidly.
Not everyone was prepared to leave, however. One man said: “This is my
city. I will never leave it even if the Russians come here and kill me.
Why should I go to Tbilisi and wait for them there?”
The Georgian Government, which appealed for international support,
claimed later that Russian troops had entered Gori, although there was
no independent confirmation of this.
As the noose appeared to tighten around Tbilisi, the US State Department
evacuated more than 170 American citizens. Poland and several other
former Soviet satellites voiced fears that the fighting indicated
Russia’s willingness to use force to regain its dominance of the region.
Even at the height of the chaos, Georgia’s legendary hospitality never
faltered. A 70-year-old woman named Eteri retreated into her home and
appeared moments later to offer apples from her garden to her guests. “I
am not afraid,” she said. “We have lived with the Russians for 100 years
so why do we need this war now? I don’t want to be with America; I think
we should live peacefully with the Russians.”