600,000 Armenians served in World War II, half of whom did not return

600,000 Armenians served in World War II, half of whom did not return

Armenia had a population of 1,320,000 at the beginning of the war in 1939 and an estimated 600,000 Armenians served in World War II, almost half of whom did not return.

Benjamin Mirzoyan, who is a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, recalled the war years at a meeting hosted by the Sputnik international press center.

Mr Mirzoyan joined the front in June 1941.

Born in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1923, he came to Yerevan to receive education at Yerevan State University.

He was taking his examinations during the first year at the university when the Great Patriotic War broke out.

According to Mr Mirzoyan, more people went missing during the war than were killed.

“I was in the trench with my commander, and a blast killed the lieutenant who was beside me. I took part in the liberation of Ukraine and Poland and was seriously wounded twice,” he said.

“I am not proud of decorations, but I can be proud of my active public and political life after the war. I was a member of the Journalists’ Union and have 81-year length of service now because a year on the front is equal to three in peacetime,” Mr Mirzoyan said.

More than 600,000 Armenians took part in the Great Patriotic War, with ten thousand women-volunteers.

“The number of Armenian generals was the fourth highest number, 152 generals,” Mr Mirzoyan said.

Unfortunately, the Armenian people’s victory was not crowned with their return to the historical homeland that had been seized by Turks.

“That was one of the evils done by Joseph Stalin, and not only by him, but also by Churchill. Five regions were joined to Ukraine after the war, which was not the case with Armenia,” Mr Mirzoyan said.