THE UNIT OF BRAVE

Gurgen Hovhannisyan, senior sergeant of the Armenian army. This name has become synonymous with life across the border. Experienced soldiers characterize him briefly: a conscript with independence of a general.

The unit under his command about six hours in an unequal battle held the position, located behind the top, as a result the enemy had more than 50 losses.

– During combat, as if someone was helping me, guiding me, what to do, – says Gurgen. – He told me: you are the commander, do not be silent, talk with the guys, give them strength. When Sergeant Adam Sahakyan reported that a subversive group moves towards them, I decided – we have to help the guys. I climbed the nearest hill and saw that about 200 of the enemy are approaching in our direction.

When the first group of the enemy rushed into battle, I ordered gunner Misak Kirakosyan to shoot. He is serving for 9 months, but he shot as a military, who had experience of war. Six were swept down. Sniper Grigor Grigoryan, my assistant Dantes Jangoyan, thrower Koryun Paplaryan also hit the target. If you want to live, you should not miss it – this is the simple logic of war. Ammunition was on the wane. The company commander gave the order to retreat, but we refused. Psychologically we were not ready to leave the position to the enemy. But the reality was playing against us, there were only two grenades, and we were forced to retreat. Now we have one dream – to release our reference point!

Shoushan Stepanyan

Captain