Vartumyan, Garnik Barsegovich

Pre-war period

• Garnik Vartumyan was born in the village of Shagali, Kirovakan region (now Gugark ) of the Republic of Armenia, in a peasant family. After graduating with honors, he enters the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute to graduate which he was not destined to do.
• In August 1941, in connection with the general mobilization of Vartumyan, only the third year student was drafted into the Red Army and sent to an infantry school in the Georgian city of Telavi . After a year of training, he was promoted to junior lieutenant and sent to further military service on the Soviet-Turkish border, where after a year of service he received the rank of lieutenant and was appointed to the post of commander of a mortar battery .

Baptism of Fire: Kursk Bulge

• In July 1943, Lieutenant Vartumyan, as part of the 459th mortar regiment of the 63rd Army, participated in battles on the Kursk Bulge , where active defensive operations ended and the Soviet offensive began. He participated in the battles for the cities of Oryol , Navlya , Novozybkov , fired at the firing points of the enemy during the crossing of the Iput River and, together with other units, went ashore of the Sozh River north of the city of Gomel . As part of the regiment, he participated in the liberation of the Oryol and Bryansk regions .
• In November 1943, the 459th mortar regiment was transferred to the 25th tank corps of the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front , operating in the Korosten direction. Here, in the vicinity of the village of Chopovichi, Zhytomyr Region, the battery of Vartumyan spent 5 days, from December 20 to 24, 1943 , together with the rifle units, had to repel the onslaught of the Hitler tank group, supported by large infantry forces. Many died in these difficult battles. Vartumyan repeatedly had to personally replace retired gunners. All the enemy’s counterattacks were repulsed, and when he became exhausted, the assault on the city of Korosten began , ending with his release on December 29, 1943 . Mortar men , meanwhile, as part of the tank corps, attacked the city of Novograd-Volynsky . On January 1, 1944, they intensively fired at the firing points of the enemy in the city’s buildings contributed to his complete liberation, for which the 459th mortar regiment received the honorary name “Novograd-Volynsky”. For the difference in these battles, Lieutenant Vartumyan was awarded the medal “For Courage”

Rivne-Lutsk operation

• With the beginning of spring 1944, the Rivne-Lutsk operation began . During it, Lieutenant Vartumyan and his group of mortars helped the rifle regiments to liberate settlements. There were heavy and fierce battles, so on March 16, 1944, during the battle for the village of Demidovka located on the Ternopol - Dubno highway, a large column of Hitler’s tanks and self-propelled guns approached from the city of Brody , which immediately tried to recapture the village and the highway section, but all attempts were repulsed The 25th tank corps , which also included the battery of the young lieutenant. In this battle, Vartumyan was wounded and sent to the medical battalion .

Lviv-Sandomierz operation

• On July 17, 1944, the Lviv-Sandomierz operation began . On this day, the battery of Lieutenant Vartumyan participated in breaking through the enemy’s defense north of the city of Brody and in capturing the large stronghold of the enemy’s defense in the town of Kamenka Bugskaya . Further, bypassing from the north Lviv , which was targeted by the 3rd Guards Tank and 4th Tank Armies , tankers of the 25th Corps rushed to the city of Przemysl . The attached means of amplification, including the mortars of the battery of Vartumyan, barely kept pace with the rapidly developing offensive. On July 27, 1944, his mortar battery assisted the soldiers of the 22nd Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 6th Guards Tank Corps in mastering this city, the first on Polish soil. For the difference in these battles, Lieutenant Vartumyan was awarded the Order of the Red Star and accepted into the ranks of the CPSU (b) / CPSU ^[2]
• In August 1944, fierce battles unfolded at the Sandomierz bridgehead; a direct participation was made by the battery of mortars of Vartumyan, which at the end of August was distinguished by the fact that it managed to turn the counterattack of Hitler’s submachine gunners several times during these actions, leaving Vartumyan leaving his battery behind leading positions from where the mortar fire corrected. For his actions, the lieutenant received the second order of the Red Star . In battles on the bridgehead on September 25, 1944, Lieutenant Vartumyan was seriously wounded and evacuated to the hospital. He returned to his regiment in early January 1945 , but immediately upon his return, failure again awaited him and on January 13, 1945, during a breakthrough of defense at the Sandomierz bridgehead, Vartumyan was wounded from the battle, after which he proceeded to the medical unit and missed further participation in the Vistula-Oder operation . Nicknamed by fellow soldiers “the enchanted lieutenant” returned to the location of the Vurtumyan unit on February 20, 1945 .

Guben City Assault

• On February 26, 1945, the assault on the city of Guben began , both sides suffered heavy losses, fierce battles took place literally for every meter of land. The German positions located at the main altitude of the city caused great trouble to the attacking Soviet troops, in the current situation Vartumyan, under the destructive fire of machine guns and mortars of the enemy, advanced forward in the battle formations of the infantry and adjusted the fire of his battery, as a result of which the battery of mortar bombers made Hitler take advantage of this Lieutenant Vartumyan who, with a group of scouts, organized his observation post. Having lost an important height, the Nazis received an order to repulse it, concentrating their main blow with the support of strong artillery and mortar fire, they, having squeezed our infantry, surrounded the height and began to advance to its top with a chain. The scouts, led by Lieutenant Vartumyan, organized skillful defense for 2 hours, fighting with superior enemy forces, when the Nazis approached, several times went on the attack by throwing grenades and destroying the approaching enemy with automatic fire. During the defense of the heights, Lieutenant Vartumyan threw battery fire on himself three times. The Nazis, faced with the stubbornness and heroism of the defenders, having suffered heavy losses, retreated saying goodbye to the idea of ​​conquering such a desirable height. In total, in the battles for the city of Guben, the fire of the battery of Vartumyan destroyed 400 enemy soldiers and officers. Also, 4 easel machine guns and 1 mortar battery were destroyed, the fire of 3 mortar batteries and 7 firing points was suppressed. For the heroism shown in this battle, Lieutenant Vartumyan was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ^[4] .

Berlin and Prague operations

• In April 1945, the 3rd battery of Lieutenant Vartumyan, as part of the 459th Novograd-Volyn mortar regiment of the 25th tank corps of the 3rd Guards Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, participated in the Berlin operation . The regiment was given the task of extermination by refusing to surrender Hitler's soldiers encircled west of Guben. Mortar bombers simply shot the forest and the surrounding territories in which the Nazis hid.
• In May 1945, despite the capture of Berlin in Czechoslovakia , Nazi soldiers who refused to lay down their arms remained, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front were ordered to defeat enemy formations. In Czechoslovakia, the battery of Lieutenant Vartumyan was particularly distinguished on May 8, 1945 in the area of ​​the city of Chomutov , it destroyed about 150 German machine gunners who were struggling to break into the American occupation zone. For this battle, Lieutenant Vartumyan was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree.

Post-war period

• On May 11, 1945, the war for the 3rd mortar battery of Garnik Barsegovich Vartumyan ended in the area of Pilsen
• By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1945 for exemplary performance of command missions on the front of the struggle against Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown to them, Lieutenant Vartumyan Garnik Barsegovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal (No. 8800 ^[5] ).
• After the war he continued to serve in the army. In 1953 he graduated from the V.V. Kuybyshev Military Engineering Academy . Since 1968, Lieutenant Colonel G. B. Vartumyan is in stock. He lived in the city of Kirovakan of the Armenian SSR (the city of Vanadzor of the Republic of Armenia since 1993. He worked as a senior engineer at a knitting factory.

Participated:

• In 1943 he participated: in the Battle of Kursk , in the liberation of the cities of Oryol , Navlya , Novozybkov , in battles for the cities of Korosten , Novograd-Volynsky
• In 1944 he participated: Rivne-Lutsk and Lviv-Sandomir operations , including the liberation of the cities of Dubno , Kamenka Bug , Przemysl , in battles at the Sandomir bridgehead
• In 1945 he participated: in battles for the city of Guben ( Poland ), in Berlin and Prague operations

• Hero of the Soviet Union (06/27/1945)
• Order of Lenin (06/27/1945)
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree (03/11/1985)
• Order of the Patriotic War II degree (03/10/1946)
• Four Orders of the Red Star (08/09/1944, 11/09/1944, 5/06/1945, 12/30/1956)
• Medal "For Courage" (4.01.1944)
• medal "For Military Merit" (11/19/1951)
• other medals

• Amirkhanian M.D. Armenians - Heroes of the Soviet Union. Er., 2005. - 202 p.: ISBN 99930-4-342-7
• Heroes of the Soviet Union. Brief biographical dictionary. Volume 1. M.: Military., 1987

• List of Armenians of the Great Patriotic War Heroes
• The Great Patriotic War
• Battle of Kursk
• Lviv-Sandomierz operation
• Berlin operation
• Prague operation
• 1st Ukrainian Front

• Vartumyan, Garnik Barsegovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Vartumyan Garnik Barsegovich on the website of the Armenian Encyclopedia of the Hayazg Foundation
• VARTUMYAN Garnik Barsegovich