Drastamat Kanayan

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General Dro

General Drastamat Kanayan (Armenian: Դրաստամատ Կանայան, known as General Dro, Դրո, 1 May 1883–8 March 1956), was an Armenian politician and commander of the Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht.

[edit] Biography

Kanayan was born in Iğdır (Tsolakert), Russian Empire (present-day Turkey). He served in the Russian army during World War I. During the Armenian Genocide, Dro fought off Turkish aggression against Armenian civilians. In 1918-1920, Dro became the Defense Minister of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Armenia and commanded Armenian troops in various successful wars against Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Dro had already became a popular military leader after the victories over the Turkish forces in 1918 which essentially saved the Armenian Republic from total destruction. In 1920, after the incorporation of the Republic of Armenia into the Soviet Union, Dro immigrated to Iran and later to Germany.

During World War II, representatives of the Armenian Dashnaks within Europe decided to ally themselves with the German war effort and fight the Soviet Union with hopes of liberating the Armenian Republic from under Bolshevik rule. In 1941, the Armenian volunteers formed the "812th Armenian Battalion" within the German Wehrmacht and, as their numbers grew, they eventually became known as the "Armenian Legion." The Armenian Legion was put under the command of Dro and was made up of a number of committed Armenian political activists and a larger number of Armenian POWs (prisoners of war) taken by the Germans in their sweep eastwards.

Drastamat Kanayan during the 1940s

Early on, the total number of Armenian volenteers within the German Wehrmacht was approximately 8,000. It is worthy of mention that the Armenian Legion was credited with saving the lives of many thousands of Armenian POWs on the Eastern Front. [1] These troops fought in Crimea, North Caucasus and served as police units for internal security duties in the occupied territories, and later on in Western Europe against the Allies.

With the end of the World War II, Dro was arrested by American forces, but soon released. Dro settled within the large Armenian Diaspora of Lebanon. When traveling to the U.S. for medical treatment, he died in Boston on 8 March 1956.

With much pomp and ceremony, Dro's remains were taken to Armenia for final burial after Armenia gained independence from the Soviet Union. Dro, along with his famous comrades in arms Garegin Njdeh and Andranik Toros Ozanian, is considered to be a great Armenian leader by Armenians worldwide.