Detainee Mikael Arzumanyan was one of the first to climb the wall to Shush, sit on the prison wall, and slaughter the Turks inside with a machine gun.
Those who know Mikael Arzumanyan, his comrades-in-arms, are determined to fight until the commander, who was detained by mistake or on purpose, is released. Mikael Arzumanyan’s comrade-in-arms Yasha Khachiyan,
who fought together with Mikael Arzumanyan under the command of Artsakh hero Ashot Ghulyan, emphasizing that Misha (meaning Mikael Arzumanyan) became a lieutenant general thanks to his talent, courage, and intelligence. “I have known Misha since childhood. He was a smart, brave, fearless boy. On May 8, the first one from our company went up to Shushi. Ashot Ghulyan (Bekor) said, let someone climb the wall, and he, who was the lightest and most courageous, immediately climbed up, sat on the prison wall, and started slaughtering the Turks inside with a machine gun,” recalls Mikayel Arzumanyan’s comrade-in-arms, a participant in the operation for the liberation of Shushi. Yasha Khachiyan. The freedom fighter emphasizes that Bekor took Misha with him to all battles. whoever it was, Misha was there. “In 1992 There was heavy fighting above the village of Leonarch. For more than an hour, the enemy was constantly attacking. At that time, Misha was wounded in the head. We sent you to the hospital and told you to stay until your wound heals. He went, they bandaged him, he came back. We said, “Why did you come?”, and he said, “I couldn’t leave you alone here.” Khachiyan remembers: during the first Artsakh war, no one thought of retreating, no one thought of leaving the battlefield, leaving a friend, and running away. “Every time before going to battle, Bekor chose who should go with him. Whoever he did not tell to go with him, he got angry. On May 8, when we were preparing for the Shushi military operation, there were 88 people from our company.
Bekor chose the first group, consisting of 45-50 people, which was to climb first. The rest were upset that they would not be the first to enter the battle, they said: why did we come here, we have come, we have to fight. At that time, we were all brave, we didn’t know what it was to run away. If someone suddenly tried to do something like that, we would shoot them,” the freedom fighter says. 1992 In November, the first company of Stepanakert was reorganized into a battalion. Gennady Hakobyan is appointed battalion commander, Mikael Arzumanyan, company commander. Mikael Arzumanyan’s upward military path begins from there. The reserve army officer Armen Petrosyan also assures that the former commander of the Defense Forces earned the rank of lieutenant general fairly and he is a skilled commander who does not give orders to retreat. “I served under the direct command of Mikael Arzumanyan for five years. When he was the deputy commander of the Armed Forces and was responsible for the combat training of the army, I was the head of military training.
Every time he came for inspections, he asked, “What can I do to help improve the level of training of the soldiers?” I remember that in 2017 we also participated in the international army hand-to-hand wrestling championship and returned with prize places. We achieved those results also thanks to Arzumanyan’s great contribution. He did not behave like a general surprised by his shoulder straps, he never looked down on the soldiers. he behaved like a comrade in arms,” says Petrosyan in a conversation with “Pastinfo”. In support of Mikayel Arzumanyan, freedom fighters Armen and Yasha participated in the action held yesterday in Stepanakert, among other comrades-in-arms of the former commander of the Armed Forces.