Article from TourInfo Magazine
Glorious Victories of May 9
The history of the Armenian people is full of heroic pages. Two glorious victories, which we celebrate on May 9 – the liberation of Shushi and the victory in the Great Patriotic War – come to complete these heroic pages. The liberation of Shushi has great historical significance which is connected with one of the most valiant pages of the newest history of Armenia – the victory in the liberation battle of Artsakh. The city of Shushi played a great strategic role and its liberation sharply changed the motion of the war. During those days Shushi became the gate to Stepanakert, and giving up Shushi would mean the immediate invasion by the enemy to the capital of Karabagh. So, one of the most perfectly organized operations of Armenian military art – the liberation of city-fortress Shushi was realized on May 8-9 of 1992. The military operations were organized and directed by the Armenian talented commanders and the heroes of liberation struggle by the management of legendary general A. Ter-Tadevosyan (Commandos). Taking into consideration the predominant forces of the rival it was a “crazy” thing by the Armenians to begin the battle but as it is said the best way of protection is attacking. The implementation of this heroic step was carried out by the commanders of the 4 fronts who put the glorious end to the military operation named “Wedding in the Mountains”, and at dawn of May 9 they entered Shushi. The Armenian Tricolor waved on the dome of Ghazanchetsots Cathedral – the ornament of Shushi, and Karabagh gained its factual independence by which the Armenians reaffirmed their right to live in the Armenian land. It is interesting that the name of this city-fortress which is situated at 11 km from Stepanakert derives from the word “Shosh” which in the dialect of Artsakh means “the highest sprout of the tree”. So, the city was named Shushi due to its high geographical position. The 9th of May is the day of victory and peace, the victory which was erected by the army of Soviet Union in the World War Two.
During the war 500 000 Armenians replenished the army of the Soviet Union; 106 of them became the heroes of the Patriotic War. Besides, the Armenian army gave three marshals and one admiral. Nowadays, all the former Soviet countries celebrate May 9 as the day of victory, and the Armenians will always celebrate this glorious day as a double holiday, as the victory day in World War Two when in Berlin the Armenian soldiers danced our national dance “kochari”, and as the day of 20th anniversary of liberation of Shushi. Each year on this day the Armenians visit the Victory Monument to pay their homage to the victims of the war at the “Monument of the Unknown Soldier”. Then, after visiting the Mother Armenia Military Museum all people begin celebrating the holiday with great solemnity.
