Ivan Bagramyan - World War I

World War I

Bagramyan was well aware of the military situation at the Caucasus front during the first months of the world war. In the winter of 1914-15, the Imperial Russian Army was able to withstand and repel the Ottoman Empire's offensive at Sarikamish, and to take the fight to its territory. Bagramyan also began reading harrowing reports in the Russian press of what was taking place against his fellow kinsmen across the border: the Ottomans had embarked on a campaign to annihilate systematically their Armenian subjects. He desperately attempted to join the military effort but because he was only seventeen and a railway mechanic, he was not liable to be drafted. This did not dissuade him from trying, as he later remarked, "My place was at the front."

His opportunity came on September 16, 1915, when he was accepted by the Russian Army as a volunteer. He was placed in the 116th Reserve Battalion and sent to Akhaltsikhe for basic training. With his training complete in December, he joined the Second Caucasus Frontier Regiment of the Russian Expeditionary Corps, which was sent to dislodge the Ottoman Turks in Persia. Bagramyan participated in several battles in Asadabad, Hamedan and Kermanshah, the Russian victories here sending Ottoman forces reeling toward Anatolia.

Learning about the exploits of the men in the outfit, the chief of staff of the regiment, General Pavel Melik-Shahnazaryan, advised Bagramyan to return to Tiflis to enroll in the Praporshchik Military Academy. But in order to attend the school, Bagramyan needed to satisfy the academy's requirement of having completed school at a gymnasium. This did not deter him and, after preparing for the courses in Armavir, he passed his exams and began attending the academy on February 13, 1917. He graduated in June 1917 and was assigned to the Third Armenian Infantry regiment stationed near Lake Urmia. But with the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government in the midst of the October Revolution of 1917, his unit was demobilized.

However, with the creation of the newly established Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918, Bagramyan enlisted in the Third Armenian Regiment of that country's armed forces. From April 1, 1918, that is, after the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) with the Russian SFSR, he was in the First Armenian Cavalry Regiment, which put a halt to the Ottoman 3rd Army, which was bent on conquering the remains of the republic, in Karaurgan, Sarikamish and Kars. He most notably took part in the May 1918 battle of Sardarapat, where the Armenian military scored a crucial victory against Turkish forces. He remained in the regiment until May 1920.