Saturday, May 6 2017 14:12

ArmInfo. A veteran of the Great  Patriotic War, a retired colonel, a 93-year-old native of  Alexandropol, now Gyumri Petros Petrosyan was wounded three times  during the war.

"When the war break up, I was a pupil, secretary of komsomol, I was  17. Learning about the general mobilization, my comrade and I rushed  to the military enlistment office to join the ranks of the Red Army.   But, to my great regret, I was not taken into the army then. The then  military commissar Petrosyan told me to come as soon as I turned 18.  So it happened, on December 19, on my birthday, I ran and enlisted in  the ranks of the Red Army. I was sent to Tbilisi artillery military  school, after graduation as lieutenant, I was sent to the Kursk  Bulge, where I received my baptism of fire. I was then appointed  commander of an artillery platoon. Initially, I thought that the  commander should give all the orders standing up, and during the  fight I shouted: "For the Fatherland, for Stalin, fire!", When saw  this all, the division commander shouted to me: "Lay down you fool!  Or you decided to dye the very first day", and indeed, a few minutes  later a shell exploded near me," recalls the retired Colonel with a  smile.

According to him, after 5 months of service he was heavily wounded  and was sent to rehabilitation to the hospital in Slavyansk. "After I  recovered from wound, I was sent to the 3rd Ukrainian Front were my  career started. I participated in the liberation of Ukraine. It was a  very hard period, the groups of firers were everywhere, and  everything was on fire. I was wounded there as well but recovered  fast. We were there liberating Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and  met the victory in Berlin", tells the veteran with pride.  He adds  that the third time he was wounded was in Hungary.  

Petrosyan on the chest has a lot of awards and medals, of which he  speaks with special warmth. "That is we were given in 2015 in Moscow  in connection with the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II,  and it is presented in the same year, the President of Armenia Serzh  Sargsyan ", proudly tells Petrosyan - "But for me the most expensive  reward - The Order of the Red Star - I obtained at the cost of blood  at the liberation of the Ukrainian village of Alexandrovka and will  not exchange it for any other medal or order," the veteran told  ArmInfo in the fields of the International Forum of Winners "Great  Victory, won by unity: the courage of the front - rear resistance"  organized by the Political Science Center "North-South" and  Development Foundation "Institute of Eurasian Studies", with the  support of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS  member states.