Amazasp Khachaturovich
Babajanyan
1906-1977
Amazasp Khachaturovich Babajanyan was the commander of the 20th Guards Mechanized Brigade (1st Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front), a colonel of the Guards. He was in the army since September 1925. He studied at Armenian United Military School (Yerevan, Armenia) until 1926, in 1929 he graduated from Transcaucasian Military Infantry School (Tbilisi, Georgia). He served as a platoon commander of a rifle regiment, platoon commander, party bureau secretary and company commander of a separate local rifle battalion (in the Transcaucasian military District). He participated in the liquidation of armed gangs in Transcaucasia as the platoon commander of the 7th Caucasian Rifle Regiment in 1930. He was wounded during the war. He was a participant of the Soviet-Finnish War. In November 1939 – March 1940 he was the assistant commander of the 2nd anti-aircraft machine gun regiment in the combat unit. On February 18, 1940 he was wounded. He graduated from the accelerated course of M.V. Frunze Military Academy in September 1942, which was in evacuation in the city of Tashkent (Uzbekistan). In September 1942 – August 1944 he was the commander of the 3rd mechanized brigade. He fought on the Kalinin (October 1942 – February 1943), Northwestern (February-March 1943), Voronezh (April-September 1943) and 1st Ukrainian (November 1943 – August 1944) fronts. He participated in the Rzhev-Sychev and Demyansk operations, the Battle of Kursk, Belgorod-Kharkov, Kiev defensive, Zhytomyr-Berdichev, Proskurov-Chernivtsi and Lviv-Sandomierz operations. He was seriously wounded in the throat and sent to the hospital on August 19, 1944. He especially distinguished himself during the Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. Small advance groups under his command rapidly liberated the cities of the present Ternopil region – Terebovlya (March 22, 1944), Kopychyntsy (March 23, 1944), Chortkov (March 23, 1944) and Zalishchiki (March 24, 1944). After capturing the city of Zalishchiki, under enemy fire, he personally reconnoitered the ford across the Dniester and was the first to cross to the right bank of the river on his tank, where the brigade captured a bridgehead. Colonel Amazasp Khachaturovich Babajanyan was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for his skillful command of the brigade and courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi invaders. After the war, he continued to command the 11th Guards Tank Corps until June 1945. In June 1945-January 1947 he served as the commander of the 11th Guards Tank Division (in the Group of Soviet Troops in Germany). Since May 1969 he was the Chief of the tank forces of the Soviet Army.
Address: Moscow, 1st Krasnokursantsky ave., 3/5, bldg. 2
