War on the bank of Araks river

There is an opinion that despite Armenia’s active involvement in WWII and sacrifices, its territory did not become an active arena for war. This is an assumption only. War historians assert that Armenia was an arena for war during the WWII as well. For this purpose below are some examples from the war to show that the war geography expanded to this area as well.

Russian soldier Grigori Karpov, who served on the territory of Armenia during the war, says that the first one to hear news during the war were soldiers. On the same day soldiers strengthened their positions on the bank of Araks river immediately. The operation was at night, and even one of the military divisions did not orient in the area and strengthened their position on the territory of Turkey. In the morning the Turks discovered that but there was not clash. Later the division commander was forced to death execution by the division court. He was shot in front of the entire division.

Everyone knew that Turkey wanted to use the bad condition the Soviet Union was in and occupy South Caucasus. The Turks were building airports, military bases, engineering strengthened positions along the border. There were 18 divisions along the bank of Araks river. Turkish airplanes were making surveillance flights over the territory of Armenia. The authorities of Armenia had to announce a state of emergency and turn off lights at night to discover planes in the sky. Food was being given to people in Yerevan with quota cards. Later evacuated groups of people from Ukraine came to Armenia, and life became even worse.

During that summer there were several clashes with Turkish forces. Official statements wrote that the Turkish army had bombed Armenian border protection points 8 times. In one year the army caught 47 Turkish agents at the border line.

Besides the external threat, the inner enemy was activated too. There was huge tension. Rumors were spread that war with Turkey was inevitable. The panic and unclear situation was even making people to panic more. On the same day the special forces discovered a number of cases of treason in different areas of the country. The traitors were strictly punished.

In November 1941, in the region of Akhta (Hrazdan) the security service discovered an undercover organization of Musafat followers, which was headed by Aziz Badaloghli. The members of the group were spreading rumors that the Soviet Union would collapse soon and were trying to fail defense initiatives in Akhta. The group’s 13 members were persecuted according to the rules of the army of that time.

In December of the same year the security forces arrested 16 traitors in Alaverdi and Stepanavan region, who were acting under the control of Avag Gikolian. They were soldiers of the 138^th army division. Knowing that they would be sent to the border to fight, they took armaments and run away from the military base. During the further days the group attacked village farms for several times. In 1941 the special services discovered 3 such groups with 37 members.

The situation was difficult at the border with Iran as well. The Soviet security services had information that Germany was going to make revolution in that country and use it to attack from the South. Knowing that such scenario would have tragic consequences, the Russian army formed its South Caucasus defense in 1941. The local population was mobilized and local people were recruited in the army forces, and most people in that force were local Armenians. There were Kurds and Azeris too. New soldiers were being trained and sent to fight.

On August 25^th, early morning Soviet foreign affairs Molotov invited the Iranian Ambassador and passed him a diplomatic note to let him know that the Red Army was going to enter Iran’s territory. While the diplomats were accusing each other and demanding explanations, the plan was already launched. It was 3:30a.m. when he gave that note, and the army’s 65 armed groups crossed the river at 2 o’clock. During two hours they annihilated 121 Iranian border points. At that time five Iranian planes dropped bombs around the bridge in Meghri, but they could not damage the bridge.

There is a story that illustrates the military spirit of those times and extreme actions taken for reaching goals. The story is about 12 brave soldiers of Meghri armed division. The plan for intruding Iran’s territory had to be implemented secretly at night. According to the military leadership, it was the only possible way to attack with surprise and get more with less loss. The military units of Meghri were instructed to cross Araks river by boats and attack the soldiers on the other side of the river immediately. When the boats were trying to cross the river, one of the boats was hit by a wave and overturned. Twelve soldiers sank and passed away, but neither of them cried for help. The heroism through such silence shocked everyone. After the soldiers’ death prizes were awarded in their names, and the army built a monument in Meghri to give credit to the brave soldiers.