| Marshal Hovhannes Bagramian |
| Hovhannes Bagramian was born in 1897 in the ancient Karabakh town of Ganja, then called Elizavetpol. He was a great military man, a man who can be proudly called a perfect example of the Karabakh military tradition. Between the years 1907 and 1912, Bagramian studied in non-military fields, and finished school as a qualified technician. He had no idea that his future was to be a military one. His job as a technician was to be cut short in the bloody year of 1915, when the Turks began their most vicious act of genocide against the Armenian people. He decided to enter the military, and eventually recieved his post on the Caucasian front. He was smart and brave, and showed his military genious in the Cavalry Regiment. After the end of the war he remained in Armenia to join the Red Army. By 1923, he became the Commander of the Cavalry Regiment. Knowing that if he wanted to rise in the ranks he must study in the best Soviet military academies. So between the years of 1924-25, Bagramian studied in Leningrad in the best Soviet military academy. Between the years of 1931-34 he studied in the military academy of Frunze, in which he served as a leader of the Kiev Military Circle. When he finished his studies at the academy, he was made an instructor. In 1939 Bagramian felt that it was time to return to the military. So in 1941 when the German army invaded, Bagramian was one of the leading officers in the defense of Kiev. For his brilliant actions he was made a Major-General and decorated. In 1942 Bagramian was made a Commander of the 16th army of the Western Front, and for his superb actions on that front he was made the Commander of the 11th army. In the Battles of Orlom and Bryansk, he proved his talent very well again, and for his actions he recieved the great Order of Suvorov of the 1st degree. (Generalissimo Suvorov was of course the greatest Russian general of all time, and who was half Armenian; his mother coming from the Manougian family.) In 1943 he served in the 1st Baltic Front as a General. In April of 1945 he was pushed up to the 3rd Belorussian Front. For his actions during the Second World War, Bagramian was awardered his second Order of Suvorov of the 1st degree. After the war he was a commander of the Baltic Circle. In 1955 Bagramian was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and recieved the highest medal of the Soviet Union twice: "The Hero of the Soviet Union" in 1944 and 1977. Marshal Bagramian was one of the greatest marshals in the Eastern Front during the Second World War. He proved that a Karabakh warrior could be a European warrior as well, with his victories against the Germans taking place almost a hundered years after Madatov defeated the Saxons of Napoleon's Army. |