Authorities manipulated us into going to war, Campaign Journals

[Info-Prim Neo article from the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?”] Ion Doloscan from Chetrosu, Anenii Noi, was 35 when the war on the Nistru began. He was married and worked. As many other participants, he said the war stated much earlier than March 2, 1992. “I heard about the war on TV. President Mircea Snegur declared a state of emergency in Moldova. It would have been better if I hadn’t heard it...,” volunteer Ion Doloscan remembered. It was the summer of 1991. There was an atmosphere of patriotism everywhere, which was fueled by the authorities. The man said that after the President made the statement, a group of men from the village and the neighboring villages gathered together and went to Chisinau by a car of the mayor’s office. “The authorities manipulated us into going to war. Then they started to pull out the Soviet Army from Chisinau. We blocked Grenoble St. We stayed there for about 14 hours and then they took us to the Great National Assembly Square, gave us by a cake and sent us home,” said the man. [“I went to war voluntarily-forcibly”] The volunteer said it was quiet for a while. In the spring of 1992, the situation in Bender became tenser. On May 6-7, he was mobilized. A car came and the mayor said that he was ordered to gather a certain number of people in Chetrosu. “We went to war voluntarily-forcibly. The mayor told us that we must lend a hand. I know that in a village the men took the mayor with them, saying: you should go to if you call us. It is the only case I know when the mayor went to the war together with the volunteers,” said the man. Ion Doloscan remembered that they were taken to the shooting range in Bulboaca. They gave them military clothes and guns there. They even received training for a while. “Afterward, buses took us to Bender. We got into a cannonade. That evening, the men who were on positions went away and we replaced them in the trenches on the outskirts of Bender,” said the man. [“The authorities did not inquire about us. Instead, Urschi and Sadovnic came to us”] Ion Doloscan said the trenches were 4-5 kilometers long and there were about 400 persons there. The attacks were launched mainly in the evening. In the morning and during the day it was quiet. They used grenade launchers and cannons that are now used to destroy ice clouds. Nobody slept at night. It was a battalion with kitchen. Those who were from villages of Anenii Noi district could go home for 3-4 hours once in several weeks. If they did not manage to, they asked fellows to tell their wives and parents that they were fine. The man said that the snipers were most often injured, some of them fatally. “It was joyously on the front sometimes. We had our orchestra. There were men who sang. One day, Gherghe Urschi and Iurie Sadovnic came to see us and entertain us. I don’t know who sent them. They told us jokes and played the guitar. That small performance made us forget about the war for a while. Journalists also came. Several journalists from Italy remained for the night. But the authorities did not inquire about us,” said the volunteer. [“If a similar war starts, I will go to war with the gun butt turned upside down”] The man said they stayed there until July, when the peacekeeping forces came. He still does not know who started that war. “The authorities pursued the goal of appropriating property. They are now millionaires. The sacrifice brought by the people cannot be forgotten. The authorities had not been on the front. They shared the seats and bags,” said the volunteer. Ion Doloscan said that if a similar war started, he would go to war with the gun butt turned upside down. “I received no concessions for taking part in the war. We went to the Great National Assembly Square last autumn to speak to the Premier, but he did not go out. We received no answer since then. Nobody would go to war nowadays because those who fought suffered only injuries, while those who protected the people’s patrimony shared it between them,” said the volunteer. [Elena Nistor, Info-Prim Neo]