THE FACE OF COURAGE

♦ They stopped the breakthrough of enemy forces in the south-east.

♦ They were ready for the heroism, self-sacrifice, but not to give our soil.

♦ They are young boys who fought and won thanks to their patience and determination.

LEVON

Commander of the Special Operations Group,

Senior Lieutenant, has the medal “For Courage”

On the morning of April 2, on the order we moved to the forefront. The enemy took several of our positions. We were four of us, then some more joined us from the unit. Aznavour, from a distance of 50m, from grenade hit armored vehicles. We got a task to liberate the position. We moved forward with the support of the sniper. We destroyed commandos with grenades. We went into the position, but could not keep it long, tanks moved on us. A few meters from us was the anti-tank unit. They hit six tanks. We returned to our position and from there continued to fight until the night of April 4. The enemy could not stand it, retreated. They had dozens of dead. They were tired.

We won!

SEVAK

Soldier of Special Operations Group,

has the medal “For Courage”

 Simonyan Nver, Balayan Aznavour, Sahakyan Gharib fought for three days with grenades. Each one of them fired more than 100 shells. 3 days we resisted, 3 days they were with us. The enemy tank fired and… the guys were killed. I still do not believe that this was our last battle together. Gharib has been awarded the medal “For Courage” during the service, Aznavour’s father, uncle were killed during the first Artsakh war, and Nver died on the hands of his brother… Do not ask me what is war… Just something for which we fought, it was much more precious than life…

Nver Simonyan, Aznavour Balayan, Gharib Sahakyan

GEVORG

Sniper of Special Operations Group,

has the medal “For Courage”

 I do not want to say how many people I shot. This is not for bragging. To shoot on a person is difficult, even if it is your enemy. However, I do not understand the enemy – how far should have gone your hatred that you raise a hand to a corpse. And we have not even passed a car on the corpses of the enemy… I am also full of vengeance (my father was killed in the Artsakh war), but do not allow the war to make me angry… First of all you must remain a man.

 SEYRAN

Soldier of Special Operations Group,

has the medal “For Courage”

 We have been without sleep, without water, without food, it was cold. But we kept the reference point. You should not lose self-control, on the battlefield in the first place is the war of nerves… By our spirit we are hardier. The enemy is fighting not well at night, this is their weak point. And our commander skillfully used this minus. Colonel Ararat Melkumyan very cleverly directed the battle. We looked at him, we received force from him.

If need be, I will go to a battle with him again.

ARARAT

Serviceman of Special Operations Group

What is war? You shoot, they shoot. You smile, you joke, but the idea that you can die, all the time is in your head. 4 days was so. We fought not only against man, but against the armored vehicles…

SERGEY

Serviceman of Special Operations Group

During the fight, I thought about how to go forward, and that at least one more time to go home… I wanted to once again see my parents… That gave me strength.

GEVORG

Serviceman of Special Operations Group

received the medal “For Courage”

In the group I was the youngest, I am 21 years old. One year I serve on contract, I am a scout-sapper. We all grew up in these 4 days… Our group was to bring the wounded out of the line of fire. In one position there were 4 wounded soldiers. We wanted to evacuate them, but they began to argue with us, did not want to leave, wanted to stay to fight. Barely we persuaded them. Unfortunately, I do not know their names.

I am proud to serve in the same army with them.

Shushan Stepanyan

Photos by the author