75th Anniversary of Victory: How Armenians Brought Closer Defeat of Enemy

The year of the 75th anniversary of the Victory, the Republic of Armenia has a lot to remember about the war days. Many families keep the relics of that time: letters and documents, photographs and personal items. In 1941-1945, the Armenians, together with the other Soviet people, defended the common Motherland, by all means bringing closer the defeat of Nazi Germany.

From the first days of the war, the government and party authorities of the Armenian SSR snapped into recruitment of persons liable for military duty, replacement of the workers of industrial and agricultural enterprises who departed to the front, restructuring of the Republic’s economy based on the needs of the army. Timely actions of the executive committees of the local councils, city and district military commissioners made it possible to achieve the uninterrupted functioning of the factories and plants, as well asthe formation and reinforcement of military units.

More than 600,000 Armenians were called up to the Red Army. Armenian soldiers fought for Brest, Kiev, Odessa and Sevastopol, defended Moscow and Leningrad, at the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, in the Caucasus and on the Dnieper, liberated Ukraine and Belarus, Moldova and the Baltic Republics.

During the war years, more than 70,000 Armenians were awarded orders and medals. 104 natives of Armenia received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them, Marshal of the Soviet Union Hovhannes (Ivan) Baghramyan, Soviet Union Fleet Admiral Hovhannes (Ivan) Isakov, Grand marshal of the armored forces Hamazasp Babadzhanyan, Major-General Askanaz Karapetyan, Guard Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson Stepanyan, Battalion Commissar Lazar Chapchakhov (Chapchakhyan). Armenia was also glorified by Soviet Union Air Marshal Armenak Hanferyants (Sergey Khudyakov) and Marshal of Engineer Troops Sergey Aganov (Oganyan).

Eight sons of Armenia became the Cavaliers of the highest awards of other countries: USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Latvia. Among them, legendary fighter of the French Resistance Misak Manushyan, an eyewitness to the tragedy of the Armenian people, son of the refugees from the Ottoman Empire.

Today, about 300 war veterans live in Armenia. The Committee of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia operates in the country. It is headed by Petros Petrosyan, who went through the whole war and took part in many key battles.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia provides monthly living allowance to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Tickets to sanatoriums, invitations to the concerts and other cultural events are issued to war veterans annually. Veterans regularly visit schools, where they tell students about their experiences, making an invaluable contribution to military-patriotic education.