Hamazasp Babadzhanian

Hamazasp Khachaturovich Babadzhanian (Համազասպ Խաչատուրի Բաբաջանյան; Амазасп Хачатурович Бабаджанян; 18 February 1906 – 1 November 1977) was Chief Marshal of the Mechanized Forces of the USSR (from 1975) and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Biography
Babadzhanian was born in an Armenian peasant family, in the village of Chardakhlu near Yelizavetpol (later Kirovabad, now Ganja, Azerbaijan), then part of the Russian Empire, attending school there. Ivan Bagramyan, another Armenian Marshal of the Soviet Union, was born in the same village.

In 1925, Babadzhanian joined the Red Army when he was accepted into the Aleksandr Myasnikyan Unified Military School (which was later relocated to Tbilisi and renamed the Transcaucasus United Infantry School) in Yerevan. He first joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1928. One year later, in 1929, he graduated from the military infantry school. He served as an assistant for the army corps based in the Transcaucasian Military District. He then participated in the Finno-Soviet Winter War of 1939-1940. In the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, he commanded a rifle regiment from June 1941 to April 1942. From September 1942, he was the commander of the Third Mechanized Brigade (starting from October 1943, Soviet Guards). The Third Brigade was part of Third Mechanized Corps.

For the skillful management of the brigade during the retaking of the river Dniester, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. While commanding a group of brigades of the 1st Guards Tank Army, Babadzhanian was seriously wounded on 18 August 1944. From 25 August 1944 through May 1945, he commanded the 11th Guards Tank Corps, succeeding Andrei Getman. Babadzhanian was mentioned in orders from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union 15 times, the 23rd most of all commanders. He graduated from the military academy of the general staff in 1948, and was appointed with critical command posts. Babadzhanian was the 1st Deputy Commander of the Carpathian Military District from 1950 to 1951.

In November 1956, Babadzhanian led the 8th Mechanized Army in Budapest, during the Soviet intervention that led to the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. From 1959, he was commander-in-chief of the forces in the Odessa Military District. From 1967 to 1969, he was the head of the Rodion Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces and from May 1969, chief of the tank forces. Babadzhanian was a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR during the sixth and seventh convocations. From 1969 to 1977, he was head of armored forces of the Soviet Army. Babadzhanian became Chief Marshal of Armored Forces on 29 April 1975 and held the position until his death two years later

He died in Moscow on 1 November 1977 and was buried with full honors at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Memory
In 1978, an area in the North-Western Administrative District of Moscow was named after Babadzhanian. One of the streets in Yerevan is named after Babadzhanian. A street in Odessa was renamed the Marshal Babadzhanian street in 22 December 2012.

Honours and awards

 * Soviet Union
 * Hero of the Soviet Union (26 April 1944)
 * Order of Lenin, four times
 * Order of the October Revolution
 * Order of the Red Banner, four times
 * Order of Suvorov, 1st class
 * Order of Suvorov, 2nd class
 * Order of Kutuzov, 1st class
 * Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class
 * Order of the Red Star, twice
 * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"
 * Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
 * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
 * Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Medal "For the Capture of Berlin"
 * Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
 * Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands", twice
 * Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
 * Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
 * Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
 * Foreign
 * Order of the Red Banner
 * Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution"
 * Medal "30 Years of Victory over Japan's military"
 * Medal "30 Years of Victory Halkin-Gol"
 * Medal "40 Years of Victory Halkin-Gol"
 * Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Army"
 * 🇵🇱 Order of Polonia Restituta, 5th class
 * 🇵🇱 Virtuti Militari

As well as countless other medals.

Published works

 * Дороги Победы (The Road to Victory). Moscow: Molodaia Gvardiia, 1972.
 * Tанки и Tанковые Войска (Tanks and Tank Forces). Moscow: Voenizdat, 1970.