Hambartsumyan, Mkhitar Adamovich

Mkhitar Adamovich Hambartsumyan was born on December 29, 1921 in the village of Chakaten (now - Syunik region of Armenia ). Member of the Komsomol since 1937. He graduated with honors.

On August 19, 1941, he was called up for service in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army by the Kafan District Military Commissariat of the Armenian SSR. Until the end of December 1941 participated in the hostilities on the Southern Front. Then, until the end of the war, he fought in the 390th Infantry Regiment of the 89th Infantry Division , which was formed in December 1941 in Yerevan as a national Armenian compound. As part of the North Caucasus Front , the Separate Primorsky Army and the 1st Belorussian Front, the division participated in the battle for the Caucasus, the Battle of Stalingrad , the Rostov offensive operation, the Donbass offensive operation , the Crimean offensive operation, the liberation of Sevastopol, the Lviv-Sandomierz operation, the Berlin operation , the Prague operations , the storming of Berlin .

On June 19, 1944, by order of the 390th Rifle Regiment No. 019 / n of the coherent 4th Rifle Company of the regiment, the Red Army soldier M. A. Hambartsumyan was awarded the Medal For Courage. The description of the feat stated: “... on 11.5.44, in the area of ​​80.0 mark in the Sevastopol direction, he was one of the first to attack the trenches with a rifle platoon, where he destroyed one corporal and, having been wounded, was out of order.”

On July 11, 1944, by order of the 89th Infantry Division No. 043 / n, the gunner of the 2nd machine-gun company of the 390th Infantry Regiment, Red Army soldier MA Ambartsumyan was awarded the Order of the Red Star . The award sheet dated June 12, 1944 stated: “On 9.5.44, during the assault on the Gornaya hill in the Sevastopol region, without waiting for the completion of artillery preparation, he advanced forward with his easel machine gun, set it in position and blinded the embrasure with a hurricane fire enemy bunker, ensured the successful advancement of the unit. During this time, Comrade Hambardzumyan destroyed the machine gun point located in the bunker , and up to 15 German soldiers. “On 10.5.44, in pursuit of the retreating enemy, he captured 2 serviceable machine guns and 5 captured Germans.”

On April 1, 1945, by order of the units of the 89th Infantry Division No. 015 / n, the commander of the machine gun crew of the 2nd machine gun company of the 390th Infantry Regiment, Sergeant M. A. Hambartsumyan was awarded the Order of Glory of the III degree. The award sheet dated February 19, 1945, with the initial submission for awarding the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree, stated: “In battles on the western bank of the Oder River on February 7, 1945 Hambardzumyan proved himself to be a courageous brave cold-blooded calculation commander, during a strong counterattack of the enemy under a strong artillery mortar machine-gun fire of the enemy, saving an easel machine gun, quickly, skillfully and covertly transferred to a reserve position and destroyed two machine-gun crews with a sudden fire from his machine gun and up to 18 German soldiers and officers. ”

On May 14, 1945, the calculation commander of the 2nd machine gun company of the 390th Rifle Regiment, Senior Sergeant M. A. Hambartsumyan, by order of the troops of the 38th Rifle Corps of the 33rd Army of the 1st Belorussian Front No. 040 / n, was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree. The award sheet dated April 29, 1945 stated: “In the battles on the outskirts of Frankfurt on 04/18/45, during the capture of the 243 mark. Under heavy enemy fire, Hambardzumyan put forward his machine gun on the right flank, replacing the wounded gunner personally fired at the machine gun points of the enemy, put down 3 firing points. "With flanking fire on enemy trenches, he exterminated 10 German soldiers and officers."

In the battles, M. A. Hambartsumyan was wounded four times - on December 28, 1941 near Rostov-on-Don , on September 26 (according to other sources, December 10), 1942 near the village of Prokhladnaya , on August 7, 1943, near the village of Krymskaya , on May 11, 1944, in battles for Sevastopol.

In 1945, at the front, M. A. Hambartsumyan became a candidate member of the CPSU (B.) . He participated in the Victory Parade , where he was one of two hundred soldiers who carried the banners of the German units to the Mausoleum ^[1] .

After the war ended, until October 1945 he served in the 227th Army Guards Heavy Tank Regiment as an assistant platoon commander. Demobilized as a senior sergeant.

He worked in institutions of the fruit and vegetable industry of the USSR. Since the mid-1970s, he headed one of the largest, not only in Moscow, but throughout the USSR, Dzerzhinsky fruit and vegetable base. He was a deputy of the Moscow City Council of several convocations.

As follows from the materials of the criminal case, at this time he began to take bribes from the heads of warehouses and refrigerators, store directors for the release of products of his base with artificially low standards. Underestimation of the condition of fruits and vegetables brought large unaccounted incomes, which partially went to Hambartsumyan and other heads of the base. In addition to his own subordinates involved in criminal schemes, Hambardzumyan was able to establish corrupt ties with the head of the Glavmosplodooshpromprom association Uraltsev and his deputies, prominent party workers. In turn, he received cover from the inspection bodies, the opportunity to agree on the delivery, including unscheduled, to his base of products of only good condition, forwarding and priority delivery ^[2] .

During the “purges” in Moscow’s trade initiated by Yu. V. Andropov, Hambartsumyan was detained on charges of embezzlement of state property and bribes to officials. In addition to him, another 15 employees of the Glavmosplodoopaprom institutions were taken into custody, who, according to the investigation, were connected with strong criminal ties with Hambartsumyan. A court in 1985 sentenced all defendants to long terms of imprisonment (from 12 to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony), and Hambardzumyan himself - to capital punishment . The trial in the year of the 40th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany did not take into account either sincere recognition, repentance and voluntary surrender of all values, or participation in the Great Patriotic War. During the period of imprisonment on death row he was deprived of visits or written communication with his family and relatives, despite the absence of any comments. The sentence was carried out on November 8, 1986 ^[2] .

According to historians ^{[ what? ]} , Hambartsumyan was shot precisely because he began to cooperate with the investigation - he gave names and surnames, announced the amount of bribes. All this information led directly to the echelons of the highest power of the Soviet Union. Hambardzumyan was promised the indulgence of the court in exchange for the disclosure of "theft schemes", but this did not help him.

• Order of the Patriotic War , 2nd degree
• Order of the Red Star
• Order of Glory 3rd degree
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor
• Medal "For Courage"
• Medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus" ,
• Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw" ,
• medal "For the capture of Berlin" ,
• medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 "
• medal "For Labor Distinction"
• badge "Excellent machine gunner."
• "badge of honor",
• "Sign" Friendship of Peoples "

In connection with the conviction deprived of all ranks and awards.

The Hambardzumyan case is described in the documentary film "The coffin with parsley" from the series "Soviet Mafia".

Official website in memory of Hambardzumyan Mkhitar Adamovich http://ambartsumyan.su/