Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan, 20 November 1897 – 21 September 1982, was an ethnic Armenian, Soviet military strategist, two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Baglamyan was the only Armenian marshal of the Soviet Union. Also the only marshal of the Soviet Union of a non-Slavic nation.
Baghramyan was born on November 20, 1897 in Elizabethpol County, Elizabethpol Province, Tsarist Russia, in the present-day city of Kirovabad, Azerbaijan. He came from a poor family of railroad workers and spent his childhood in a local church primary school.
In 1907, at the age of 10, Bagramian came to study at the Tbilisi Railway School in Georgia, and after graduating, in 1912 he entered the Technical School of Railways to continue his studies. In 1915, at the age of 18, Baghramyan graduated and joined the local railway department as a technician.
Within a few days of work, Baglamyan was drafted into the tsarist army and was incorporated into the local reserve infantry battalion. After the completion of recruit training, he was assigned to serve in the 2nd Frontier Infantry Regiment. In 1917, he entered the Caucasian Reserve Cavalry Battalion and was selected for admission to the Cadet Academy, after which he received the rank of warrant officer.
After the outbreak of the February Revolution, the tsar was overthrown. Baghramyan at that time favored Dashnak Chujong (Armenian Revolutionary Union) and joined the army of the independent Democratic Republic of Armenia, founded by the party, as a company commander in the 3rd Armenian Infantry Regiment, and later incorporated into the 1st Cavalry Regiment.
After independence, Armenia suffered from internal and external troubles, internal famine for many years, external wars with Azerbaijan and Georgia, and after defeat in the war with Turkey, the country was on the verge of collapse. In May 1920, Baglamyan took part in the armed uprising against Dashnak Chujun, serving as a squadron leader of the 1st Regiment of the Armenian Red Army.
In 1921, the Red Army entered Armenia and Soviet power was established. Baghramyan's troops were incorporated into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and were subordinate to the 11th Army, where he served as the commander of a cavalry company.
In February 1921, he stepped down from the position of company commander and became the assistant to the company commander in charge of the company's financial work. Soon after, Baglamyan became the head of intelligence at the regimental headquarters. His outstanding work was appreciated by his superiors, who recommended him to study at the Senior Commander's Refresher Course. In 1923, after graduating, Bagramyan was assigned to the head of the cavalry regiment of the Armenian infantry division Leninakan (the second largest city in Armenia).
In 1924, Baghramyan was given the opportunity to study at the Leningrad Cavalry School, where he successfully passed the entrance exams. Zhukov, Rokossovsky, and Yeremenko, the three future marshals, were all his classmates, and among others were excellent commanders of the army groups during the Great Patriotic War. This really helped him in his later development, especially Zhukov, allowing Baghramyan to avoid becoming one.
Two years later he graduated, and in 1926 he returned to the Leninnacan Cavalry Regiment, where he continued to serve as commander. In 1931, Baglamiyan again chose to pursue further studies, this time at the Frunze Military Academy, the highest military academy in the Soviet Union. In 1934, after graduating, he was assigned to the Kiev Military District as chief of staff of the 5th Cavalry Division.
In 1935, the Red Army reinstated the military rank system, and Bagramyan was awarded the rank of colonel. In the autumn of 1936, Baghramyan went out to study again, and he was assigned to study at the newly created Military Academy of the General Staff. During the school day, it was the climax of the Great Purge. Baghramyan was nearly framed for joining the army of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as a young man, but he escaped the disaster.
After a few years, Baghramyan successfully passed the graduation exams, and this time he was not arranged to return to the combat unit, but was arranged to stay at the university to teach and serve as the chief instructor of the tactical teaching and research department of the senior corps. Bagramyan taught here for two years, and his work was normal, and together with the department, he got acquainted with his new responsibilities. In the past ten years, Bagramian has almost just left this school gate and entered that school, constantly studying and enriching himself, although his promotion speed has been affected (several of his old classmates, Zhukov is already a general, Yeremenko is a lieutenant general, Rokossovsky is a major general even though he entered the prison of the Ministry of Internal Affairs once, and Bagramian was only a colonel until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War), but the solid level of military theory laid a solid foundation for his future strategy.
The calm teaching environment did not attract Baghramyan, who was eager to return to the army. He tried to raise it several times with his superiors, but he was politely refused. And once his classmate, Major General Rubtsov, came to Moscow to visit him, and the two of them studied together at the Military Academy, and then worked together as instructors, and then Rubtsov was transferred to the troops. When the two were chatting, Bagramyan understood that the other party was serving as the chief of operations under Zhukov, who had just been appointed commander of the Kiev Special Military District, the largest military district in the Soviet Union, and Baghramyan was very envious of the other. Rubzov asked Baghramyan if he would try to write a letter to Zhukov, he could be the messenger.
Bagramyan really wrote a letter to Zhukov: "I spent my entire military career in the army, and I was eager to go to the army and agree to any post. (From the memoirs of Baghramyan). After writing this letter, Baglamiyan was given the opportunity to take a vacation, but there was no news until the end of his recuperation. Just when Bagramyan was about to lose hope, he received a telegram. General Zhukov informed him that the People's Commissar of Defense on his recommendation had appointed Baghramyan to work in the Kiev Special Military District. To get him to go to Kiev immediately.
At that time, the head of the department of the Military Academy of the General Staff was Lieutenant General Vasily Konstantinovich Mordvinov, who was very strict with both cadets and young lecturers, and Bagramyan described him as "hot-mouthed". When he went to the academy leaders to get an appraisal of his departure, Baghramyan recalled: "I didn't expect good reviews at all. But when I started reading the testimonials he wrote in his own handwriting, I couldn't believe my eyes anymore. There are so many words of praise that I can't help but wonder: Is this about me? The conclusion at the end of the appraisal was: 'Fully competent, the rank of major general can be awarded.' These are beautiful words from the mouths of those who have always been thought to be the least fond of good words! ”
One day in September, Baghramyan came to Kiev, where he was appointed chief of the operations section of the command of the 12th Army. Arriving in Kiev, Zhukov told him not to rush to the army group, because in December there was an important meeting in Moscow, and Stalin would personally attend it. The Chief of the General Staff will make a major report on the summary of combat and campaign training over the past year. All relevant departments and all military regions should speak. The report that Zhukov was going to make was "On the Nature of Modern Offensive Campaigns", and because Baghramyan had been at the Military Academy for many years and had a wealth of research results, he was asked to help Zhukov draft the report. After more than a month of hard work, Baghramyan's report was highly praised by Senior General Zhukov.
In October, Baghramyan officially took up his post at the command of the 12th Army. In an exercise that began shortly after, Baghramyan put forward his point of view: Troops should be concentrated to make a breakthrough in a narrow area. The commander of the army group vetoed his arguments and finally decided to make a breakthrough on the front with double this. After the exercise, the commander of the military region criticized the group army's approach in his commentary, citing that the breakthrough area was too wide.
As a result of his outstanding performance, Bagramian was promoted to deputy chief of staff and chief of operations of the military district after only two months in office.
As soon as he took office, a large number of affairs awaited Baghramyan: it was necessary to quickly draw up a draft of a new plan for the cover of the state border (the troops were already impatient to wait for this draft), to organize the leaders of the military region and various group armies to take turns for training, to draw up a plan for the implementation of the exercises and campaign training operations of the headquarters of the military district, and to carefully study the situation in the theater .........
While Baghramyan was dealing with these urgent matters with his great talents, the war was approaching day by day.