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Armenian officers and soldiers sacrificed their lives in these battles without hesitation. Winston Churchill, in his interesting investigation of the war on the Russian front, wrote about the Armenian presence in the Third Russian army, whose heroic units led the victory of the Russian army at Vistol (October 1914). 18

On the Caucasian front, the Armenians were on the front line, playing a crucial role in defeating the Ottoman armies who advanced towards the Caucasus at the beginning of 1915. Armenians subsequently participated in a number of unique operations undertaken in inaccessible mountain passages, which resulted in the victory of the Russian Caucasus army and the conquest of Van in 1915, and Erzurum, Trabizond and Erzinjan in 1916.

Apart from the Armenian officers and soldiers who served in the units of the Russian army, the Armenians also ran six volunteer battalions which, under the leadership of commanders such as Andranik, Dro, Armen Garo Pasdermadjian, Tchékho, Hamazasp, Keri, Avsharian, Vartan and Prince Argoutian, were awarded glorious titles for their work at the Caucasian front. 19

These battalions participated in the battle of Sarighamish (Fourth Battalion, led by Keri, who later was killed during the battles at Rovalodz); subsequently in the battles in Bayazid and Alashkert (Second Battalion, led by Dro and Armen Garo, and Third Battalion, led by Hamazasp), and in the battles at Dilman (First Battalion led by Andranik).

In 1915, the Second, Third and Fourth Battalions participated in the liberation of Van, and afterwards the First Battalion and the Fifth Battalion (led by Prince Argoutian) participated in the operations around Lake Van. The Sixth Battalion (led by Avsharian, killed in action) formed part of the Russian army which defeated the Turkish offensive on Manazkert. In 1915, the First Battalion participated in the defence of Bitlis and later in the operations around Bitlis, together with the Third Battalion. In 1917, the Fourth and Sixth Battalions participated in the operations of the Russian forces in the Caucasian area of Persia.

The Ottoman government, at that time, did not deny the Genocide of 1915-1916; indeed, it used the presence of Armenian forces in the Russian army as justification for its inhuman annihilation of the Armenians. Let us look more closely at the composition of these Armenian units and their roles. The 10 000 Armenians who constituted these battalions were mostly Eastern Armenians who, having been exempted from military service, had signed on for volunteer service. As each day passed, an increasing number of Western Armenians were added to this number. They belonged to the 150 000 Ottoman Armenians who, prompted by the massacres of Sultan Abdul Hamid, his oppressive regime and the persecutions of 1912-1914, had fled to Transcaucasia; and those who had survived the 1915 Genocide and later been able to reach Transcaucasia. These groups joined the Armenian battalions hoping to avenge the murder of their families and countrymen.

The existence of the Armenian battalions at the Caucasus front did in no way justify the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government. At the same time there were Czechoslovakian battalions in the Russian army at the Austrian front, but the Austria-Hungarian government had no thought of exterminating the Czechoslovak people in its empire. Similarly, the Russian government were aware of a Polish battalion, led by the future Marshal Pilsoleski, in which a group of Poles from Russia were fighting against Russia in the Austria-Hungarian army, but would not perpetrate genocide against the Poles. Indeed, this was a hypocritical claim from the Turkish government itself. From the very beginning of the First World War, Turkey used a Georgian unit for the war against the Russians. Moreover, chronologically, it was the very act of genocide which led to the survivors of the Armenian genocide fighting alongside the enemies of Turkey. As Mazarik, founder of Czechoslovakia, said: "No action in the defence of its decency and its people can be considered as treason against its country."