Tweet
CRUSADERS OF SHUSHI
Lragir.am
07/05/10
In the evening of May 7, 1992 Armenian troops moved towards Shushi.
Director Tigran Khzmalyan recalls a filmed episode: "I still shiver.
Military uniforms of the Armenians and Azeris were identical, and
our, in order to differ - made crosses with bandages or anything
else on their backs: it was easy. When the order "to go" sounded,
the soldiers formed up in a row: imagine 400 people in the twilight,
with crosses on their backs, and they go to die ... It was a real
crusade. And the most fantastic was that it was accidental".
To plan the operation in Shushi, the Karabakh forces started
immediately after Khojalu. On April 28, the main directions of the
attack were set. The attack was to take place on May 4, but because of
sudden snow it was delayed for a couple of days. On May 7, Karabakh
forces started the attack in 4 directions. The operation was headed
by the commander of Karabakhi military forces Arkadi Ter-Ghukasyan.
The place of arms was near the village of Shosh from where the eastern
attack started headed by the first commander of self-defense forces of
Karabakh Arkadi Karapetyan. The northern direction (Stepanakert-Shushi)
was headed by Valeri Chitchyan, northwestern (Dzhangasan-Kesalar)
- Seyran Ohanyan. Yuri Hovhannisyan directed the 26 reserve teams
(near the village of Krkzhan, near Stepanakert). The commander of
the South direction or the direction of Lachin was Samvel Babayan.
Babayan affirms, "On May 8, the Azeri started leaving the city of
Shushi in the morning of May 9. No resistance was shown, no fight
happened. Hostages became those people who were hiding not knowing
what was happening".
Every year, on May 9, Armenians celebrate the liberation of Shushi.
Celebrations start at the memorial complex in Stepanakert, then a stop
near the tank-monument on the road taking to the city of Shushi. In
2000, the British journalist Thomas de Waal also participated in
these celebrations.
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev fought in the 90 years in Karabakh,
where he arrived to accomplish a jihad - holy war. His mujahideens
left Shushi among the latter ones. In July 2000, in the mountains of
Chechnya, Basayev assured an Azerbaijani journalist that Shushi was
taken only because there was no order and control in the Azeri army.
Then, in Baku, the version that the Armenians took Shushi without
fights only because of a betrayal by the Azerbaijani military command
and political power was spread. Even the Azerbaijani former Defense
Minister Ragim Gaziyev was trialed.
In the course of military actions, the Karabakh party lost 58
soldiers. None of them died in Shushi. The Armenians let the enemy
leave by Shushi-Lachin road.
Gaziyev, who was accused in the treacherous surrender of Shushi, during
the trial confirmed that in May 1992, in Shushi and in the suburbs
there were up to 2500-3000 soldiers, 3 T-72 tanks and a T-55 tank,
12 armored vehicles, three multiple rocket launchers Grad BM-21 and
6000 shells for them, three guns, four units of the system "Alazan",
30 units of anti-aircraft missile complexes "Igla and Strela-2",
twenty units of 82-mm mortar fire, 50 hand mortars more than five
million munitions.
Babayan remembers, "We took Shushi with the help of our tactics not
with force. We decided to take the enemy into a circle: when the circle
tightened the danger to be surrounded enhanced and the Azerbaijani
army and population started to panic. This is why they escaped from
Shushi. The same tactics was used during other operations too. We
tried to avoid frontal fights. Therefore we were able to avoid large
losses - the attacking side always has big losses".
Lragir.am
07/05/10
In the evening of May 7, 1992 Armenian troops moved towards Shushi.
Director Tigran Khzmalyan recalls a filmed episode: "I still shiver.
Military uniforms of the Armenians and Azeris were identical, and
our, in order to differ - made crosses with bandages or anything
else on their backs: it was easy. When the order "to go" sounded,
the soldiers formed up in a row: imagine 400 people in the twilight,
with crosses on their backs, and they go to die ... It was a real
crusade. And the most fantastic was that it was accidental".
To plan the operation in Shushi, the Karabakh forces started
immediately after Khojalu. On April 28, the main directions of the
attack were set. The attack was to take place on May 4, but because of
sudden snow it was delayed for a couple of days. On May 7, Karabakh
forces started the attack in 4 directions. The operation was headed
by the commander of Karabakhi military forces Arkadi Ter-Ghukasyan.
The place of arms was near the village of Shosh from where the eastern
attack started headed by the first commander of self-defense forces of
Karabakh Arkadi Karapetyan. The northern direction (Stepanakert-Shushi)
was headed by Valeri Chitchyan, northwestern (Dzhangasan-Kesalar)
- Seyran Ohanyan. Yuri Hovhannisyan directed the 26 reserve teams
(near the village of Krkzhan, near Stepanakert). The commander of
the South direction or the direction of Lachin was Samvel Babayan.
Babayan affirms, "On May 8, the Azeri started leaving the city of
Shushi in the morning of May 9. No resistance was shown, no fight
happened. Hostages became those people who were hiding not knowing
what was happening".
Every year, on May 9, Armenians celebrate the liberation of Shushi.
Celebrations start at the memorial complex in Stepanakert, then a stop
near the tank-monument on the road taking to the city of Shushi. In
2000, the British journalist Thomas de Waal also participated in
these celebrations.
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev fought in the 90 years in Karabakh,
where he arrived to accomplish a jihad - holy war. His mujahideens
left Shushi among the latter ones. In July 2000, in the mountains of
Chechnya, Basayev assured an Azerbaijani journalist that Shushi was
taken only because there was no order and control in the Azeri army.
Then, in Baku, the version that the Armenians took Shushi without
fights only because of a betrayal by the Azerbaijani military command
and political power was spread. Even the Azerbaijani former Defense
Minister Ragim Gaziyev was trialed.
In the course of military actions, the Karabakh party lost 58
soldiers. None of them died in Shushi. The Armenians let the enemy
leave by Shushi-Lachin road.
Gaziyev, who was accused in the treacherous surrender of Shushi, during
the trial confirmed that in May 1992, in Shushi and in the suburbs
there were up to 2500-3000 soldiers, 3 T-72 tanks and a T-55 tank,
12 armored vehicles, three multiple rocket launchers Grad BM-21 and
6000 shells for them, three guns, four units of the system "Alazan",
30 units of anti-aircraft missile complexes "Igla and Strela-2",
twenty units of 82-mm mortar fire, 50 hand mortars more than five
million munitions.
Babayan remembers, "We took Shushi with the help of our tactics not
with force. We decided to take the enemy into a circle: when the circle
tightened the danger to be surrounded enhanced and the Azerbaijani
army and population started to panic. This is why they escaped from
Shushi. The same tactics was used during other operations too. We
tried to avoid frontal fights. Therefore we were able to avoid large
losses - the attacking side always has big losses".