89th Infantry Division (2nd formation)

• Formed on December 14 ^[1] 1941 in Yerevan ( Armenian SSR , Transcaucasian Military District ), as the 474th Infantry Division (by Decree of the GKO No. 935 of November 22, 1941 ).
• On December 26, 1941 it was renamed the 89th Infantry Division.
• In the army: from August 10, 1942 to August 31, 1944 , from October 19, 1944 to May 9, 1945 .
• Since August 10, 1942, the 89th division has been participating in the Battle of the Caucasus .
• In October 1943, for the performance of combat missions on the Taman Peninsula, the division was awarded the title of Taman . One of its regiments under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Ervand Karapetyan (originally from the village of Khndzoresk ) broke through the enemy’s defensive line on Mount Dolgaya in the Taman Peninsula . Here, in the battles for the liberation of the Kuban, Sgt. Hunan Avetisyan , saving his comrades, covered the embrasure of the bunker with his body and stepped into immortality. In addition to him, the titles of the Hero of the Soviet Union in these battles were awarded to Suren Arakelyan and Jagan Karakhanyan .
• From the third decade of November to December 1943, the division engages in fierce battles to hold and expand the bridgehead captured during the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation and liberate the Kerch Peninsula. During the Crimean offensive that began on April 11, Kerch was liberated.
• On April 18, 1944, the 89th Infantry Division, which at that time was part of the Separate Primorye Army, participated in the liberation of the city of Balaklava , then the city of Sevastopol (on May 8 - 9, 1944, the Nazis were knocked out of the Gornaya height, on May 12 - from the bay "Cossack").
• More than 300 fallen for the liberation of Sevastopol, the soldiers of the division were buried at the city cemetery and at the foot of the "Mountain".
• For participation in the liberation of the Kerch Peninsula and the city of Kerch, more than 2 thousand soldiers of the division were awarded orders and medals. The 89th Taman Rifle Division itself received the Order of the Red Star . For the liberation of Balaclava and Sevastopol, the division received the Order of the Red Banner . For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of Sevastopol, orders and medals were awarded to more than 6 thousand division soldiers, 5 most distinguished soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union , and two division regiments - the 390th and 400th - received the honorary titles "Sevastopol" .
• It was disbanded in 1956 , in connection with the dissolution of the national divisions of the USSR Armed Forces.

• 390th Infantry Regiment,
• 400th Rifle Regiment,
• 526th Rifle Regiment,
• 531st artillery regiment,
• 154th separate anti-tank fighter division,
• 167th mortar division (until 10.25.1942),
• 219th Separate Reconnaissance Company,
• training infantry battalion,
• 280th Separate Engineer Battalion,
• 467th separate communications battalion (until 10.05.1943),
• 789th separate communications battalion (from 05/11/1943 to 04/04/1944),
• 476th Separate Communication Battalion (from 05.11.1944),
• 197th Health Battalion,
• 550th Separate Chemical Defense Company,
• 184th motor transport company,
• 466th field bakery,
• 931st Division Veterinary Hospital
• 1662th Field Post Station,
• 1108th box office of the State Bank.

• Semen Georgievich Zakiyan (12/15/1941 - 02/09/1942) - Colonel ,
• Andranik Sargsyan (03/23/1942 - 11/01/1942) - lieutenant colonel , colonel from 16/10/1942,
• Artashes Arshakovich Vasilyan (11/05/1942 - 02/10/1943) - Colonel ,
• Nver Georgievich Safaryan (02/19/1943 - 05/09/1945) - colonel , from December 20, 1943 major general ,
• Hayk Hovhannesovich Martirosyan (1946 - 1951) - major general ,
• Sergei Arkadyevich Miansarov (1951 - July 1956) - Colonel , since 1953 Major General .

The 89th Armenian Taman three-time-bearing rifle division, the only one of all national formations, took part in the Sturm of Berlin ^[3] , and defeated a strong garrison that strengthened in the center of the capital, in Humboldt-Hein . For this operation, the division was awarded the Order of Kutuzov II degree .

A major role in the success of the division was played by its commander, Major General Nver Safaryan , a man comprehensively trained militarily and constantly increasing the combat training of personnel during the lull period.

His ability to get out of difficult situations and make the only right decisions was happily complemented by personal courage and undeniable authority among the soldiers of the division. The division commander and its personnel, along with the other 6 national Armenian divisions, glorified the power of Armenian weapons, defeated fascism in its very den and forever entered in May 1945 the Kochari dance of victory at the walls of the Reichstag.

After the war, the Taman division returned to Armenia and became part of the Transcaucasian Military District . In total, during the war the division traveled 7250 km, of which 3640 - with battles. Freed more than 900 settlements. More than 12 thousand soldiers were awarded orders and medals, 9 of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union. In 1956, the national divisions of the USSR Armed Forces were disbanded, including the 89th.

Heroes of the Soviet Union

The honorary title "Hero of the Soviet Union" in the 89th Rifle Division was awarded 9 people in total:

Full Knights of the Order of Glory

  Knights of the Order of Glory of three degrees ^[4] :

• Vopanyan, Ginevan Misakovich , sergeant, gunner of 45-mm guns of 526 rifle regiment.
• Hovhannisyan, Hovhannes Mentorovich , sergeant, machine gunner of the 390 rifle regiment.
• Karakhanyan, Isaak Pogosovich , senior sergeant, foreman 2 rifle battalion 400 rifle regiment.
• Kulikyan, Varazdat Makarovich , corporal, division commander 280 of the separate combat engineer battalion.
• Melkumyan, Ashot Galustovich , private, scout of the 526 rifle regiment.
• Osipov, Osip Saakovich , sergeant, squad leader 526 rifle regiment.
• Sevoyan, Sanasar Semenovich , sergeant, gunner of the battery of 120-mm mortars of 390 rifle regiments.
• Seropyan, Kerop Petrosovich , corporal, commander of the engineer department of 280 separate engineer battalion. He died in battle on May 2, 1945.
• Stepanyan, Israel Galustovich , private, reconnaissance platoon of foot reconnaissance 390 rifle regiment.

In 1944, an obelisk was erected at the foot of the mountain at the mass grave of 250 soldiers of the 89th Rifle Division in the city of Balaklava . In 1961, at the expense of the Armenian SSR, it was replaced with a new monument: a stele 10.5 meters wide, expanding upwards, lined with gray Pambak granite. On the front side of the monument of forged copper, a relief symbolic image of the Motherland is made. In her hands she holds a cup with the Eternal Flame. The stele has inscriptions in Russian and Armenian: “The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, “Eternal glory to the soldiers-heroes of the Armenian 89th Taman Rifle Red Banner Order of the Red Star Division who fell in battles for the freedom of the Soviet people, for the liberation of Sevastopol” and "A mother of men will never forget her dear sons." The authors of the project are architect D.P. Torosyan, sculptor A.A. Harutyunyan. ^[five]

• List of Armenians awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War
• Crimean operation
• Storming Berlin
• 408th Infantry Division
• 390th Infantry Division (1st formation)