Military History of Armenia - World War II

World War II

Armenia participated in the Second World War on the side of the Allies under the Soviet Union.

Armenia was spared the devastation and destruction that wrought most of the western Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War of World War II. The Nazis never reached the South Caucasus, which they intended to do in order to capture the oil fields in Azerbaijan. Still, Armenia played a valuable role in aiding the allies both through industry and agriculture. An estimated 300–500,000 Armenians served in the war, almost half of whom did not return. Armenia thus had one the highest death toll, per capita, among the other Soviet republics, Georgia with the highest.

One hundred and nineteen Armenians were awarded with the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. Many Armenians who were living in the areas occupied regions of the Soviet Union also formed partisan groups to combat the Germans. Over sixty Armenians were promoted to the rank of general, and with an additional four eventually achieving the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union: Hovhannes Bagramyan (the first non-Slavic commander to hold the position of front commander when he was assigned to be the commander of the First Baltic Front in 1943), Admiral Ivan Isakov, Hamazasp Babadzhanian, and Sergei Khudyakov. The soviet aircraft designer Artem Mikoyan was also an Armenian. The 89th Tamanyan Division, composed of ethnic Armenians, distinguished itself during the war. It fought in the Battle of Berlin and entered Berlin.