BATTLEFIELD DIY:
The creations of the Kurdish people against the "Islamic State"
Isolated from its suppliers, treated as enemies, and outgunned by the invading men of the Islamic State, the people of Kurdistan tries to survive by means of being resourceful such as building its own mecha.
Mostly converted from farm trucks and tractors, the self-defence forces of Kurdistan, known as the Peshmerga, continued the long-honoured tradition of improvisation in the era of remote-controlled drones and state-of-the-art weaponry. And Kurdish people had afforded to take some pictures and posted at social media sites such as Twitter, showing one of their means to defend their communities against the invading foe.
It may sound desperate, or even sucks, for an embattled community in both Syria and Iraq as the "Islamic State" of "Caliph" Al-Baghdadi tries to harass them and the others. The Turkish government treated the Peshmerga, as well as the Kurdish people as their enemies for being separatist, with one of its personalities, Abdullah Ocalan, is still imprisoned being its leader; they had even blocked the boundaries leading to the embattled communities so as to prevent fellow Kurds to join into the battle against the enemy. Meanwhile, Iran did provide support for the Kurdish people the way it had during the 1980s, but that said support seemed too limited to some firearms and ammunition just to beef up the embattled populace.
And the west? Most of them are mere spectators watching news about their plight, so is their struggling resistance.
But in spite of being desperate, the Kurds had to face the music. Reminiscent of the Spanish Republicans during the Civil War, the Kurds had to arm themselves, and that includes improvising anything such as turning every truck, tractor into a vehicle of war no matter how crappy it was in the eyes of others. Some even acquired aged vehicles such as those originally made from the Soviet Union, having it repaired as well as its armor improved.
As according to an article from "The Guardian":
"The result is a mishmash of improvised battle wagons, sometimes with wacky colour schemes. Pictures of the vehicles have drawn some mockery on the internet, from people who presumably have never had to ingeniously cobble together protective vehicles as they go up against well-equipped ISIS militants."
But come to think of this, since they are crappy and desperate just to face the enemy, how come most acknowledge the valour of the Kurdish people? The Turkish government despise them for being separatist, they even imprison Abdullah Ocalan, much more that they block Kurds from joining the battlefield and save their fellow Kurds from the invaders.
Yet, regardless of being blocked, there are some who had afford to take the risk of being captured or even killed by eluding boundary patrols just to join the battle and show their bravery. The vehicles made by the Kurds showed resilience no matter how few repairmen and its foundries had afforded to create these, much more that they have to fix their old Soviet-made guns and load ammunition. In its appearance, they even look like WWI tanks such as the French's Schneider or the German's A7V, if not those from the Spanish Civil War with its Blindados.
And these, regardless of being slow in its movement or crude in its appearance, provides a morale boost to the struggling fighters. In the same article from The Guardian, David Wiley from the Tank Museum at Dorset said that it has a "presence and a fear factor over and above the weapons they carry".
furthermore, it said:
"These DIY vehicles won’t offer much protection against rocket-propelled grenades, but should withstand machine-gun fire, though this depends. Hopefully, somebody stood there and fired an AK-47 at it to see that it’s proof against something.”"
Personally, these showed effort in continuing the resistance regardless of less support from other nations. Old guns had been fixed throrughly, while trucks, tractors, and buses fitted with metal for protection; Kurdish troops were forced to take the initiative and create their own armoured vehicles. They hope to stop the advance of the Islamic State forces, who are armed with high-tech weapons captured from the Iraqi forces, that in turn, mostly from the Americans.
And that means achievement.
And that means achievement.
Salute to these fighting men amidst being outgunned by their enemies.