The Legacy of the Armenian Legion

Special for the Armenian Weekly

Much ink has been spilled on the atrocities the Armenians witnessed during World War I. As the centennial of the Great War approaches, Turkey and Armenia are preparing to commemorate the victorious Gallipoli Campaign and the still-denied Armenian Genocide, respectively. The harsh years of the war installed dreadful images of brutal massacres and deportations in the collective memory of the Armenian nation. Yet, little is known, or at least remembered, of the heroic acts of the Armenian Legion (or the Legion d’Orient, as it was known), which served under the flags of French and British troops and spearheaded the victory of the Allied forces in the Levant.

Volunteers from Tomarza fighting in the Armenian Legion. Photo taken in Cyprus.
Volunteers from Tomarza fighting in the Armenian Legion. Photo taken in Cyprus.

In the following article, I provide an overview of the history of the Armenian Legion, from its establishment to the heroic Battle of Arara. I first describe the important contributions of the Armenian troops in the Levantine campaigns conducted by the Entente forces; second, analyze its formation in light of the geo-political negotiations among the Entente powers; and third, examine the motivations, the enthusiasm, and the mindset of the volunteers in view of the advancing the Russian/Armenian coalition forces, on the one hand, and the ongoing destruction of the Ottoman/Cilician Armenians, on the other.

According to Guevork Gotikian’s article, “La Legion d’Orient et le Mandat Français en Cilicie (1916-1921),” the history of the Armenian Legion can be divided into three main periods: The constitutive stages of the Legion were undertaken from September 1915 to November 1916; its organizational efforts were made from November 1916 to October 1918;and the period of disillusion, desperation and distrust spanned October 1918 to September 1920.This last period falls outside of the scope of this article, as it occurred after the Battle of Arara.

The formation of the Armenian Legion cannot be understood unless one returns to the massacres and deportations of the Cilician Armenians initiated in the summer of 1915. The history of the formation of the Legion is interwoven with the heroic acts of self-defense in the Musa Dagh (Djebel Moussa) region in August 1915. During the black days of that summer, when the Armenians of Cilicia were being dragged from their homeland, the inhabitants of the Musa Dagh region took up arms as an alternative to the certain death that awaited them. The heroic resistance was ended and approximately 4,000 Armenians were rescued when the French Warship, the Guichen, miraculously appeared on the coastline on Sept. 12, 1915, and saved the Djebelis from extermination. The history of the Legion d’Orient begins with the subsequent arrival and encampment of the deportees at Port Said in Egypt.

After the disastrous campaign at Gallipoli (April 1915-January 1916), the Entente Powers were in a search of a new front to outflank the Ottoman forces and knock them out of the war. The plans for conquering Constantinople turned out to be a complete fiasco, and came at a great price. Thus, the military maneuvers and operations upon a new territory were considered to be crucial by the British and French authorities. Furthermore, although France and Britain were military allies at the time, and were together fighting the Ottoman Empire, which was on the side of the Central Powers (Austria, Germany, and Bulgaria), there was acute competition over control of the Levant. The former intended to expand its control and colonize Cilicia and Lebanon, yet it feared the presence of British troops, which outnumbered French forces in the Levant and had the high hand in taking control of the region. In order to compensate for this deficit, the French authorities deemed it necessary to form additional fighting units to counter-balance British forces in the Levant. The utilization of the Armenian deportees—mostly from Musa Dagh—were thus settled at Port Said as a counter-balancing measure.

The idea to form an Armenian unit surfaced in the early months of 1915. In February and March of that year, Mikael Varantian proposed the formation of a 15,000-20,000-strong unit—comprised of Armenian volunteers from the U.S. and the Balkans—to the Russian, British, and French ambassadors in Sofia, Bulgaria, on behalf of the ARF Western Bureau. After receiving military training in Cyprus, the force would land on Cilician territories and continue the war against the Ottomans. Despite the approval of the Russian and British ambassadors, the French refused it.

The usage of the Egyptian-Armenians as fighting units was likelythe result of efforts by the Armenian National Delegation, which was formed in Egypt and led by Boghos Nubar Pasha. Nubar Pasha was relentless in his attempts to secure significant amounts of provisions, arms, and munitions for the Cilician Armenians, in view of the initiated destruction in Cilicia. The Allied forces at the time were not able to send additional troops to bolster the quasi-resistance of the Cilician Armenians, since they had focused most of their military strength on the Gallipoli campaign.

In a dispatch sent to the All-Armenian Catholicos of Etchmiadzin on July 27, 1915, Nubar Pasha wrote that “by the time we wait for Constantinople to fall and the landing of allied forces on Cilician territories afterwards, no Armenians will be left in Cilicia. Therefore, it is a matter of life and death for us, to prevent the destruction and deportations of Cilician Armenians at all cost.” Yet by the time General Maxwell, the commander of British troops in Egypt, proposed the formation of an Armenian unit at Port Said on Sept. 19, 1915, it was too late. This time it was Boghos Nubar Pasha who refused the proposal, as he thought it would only serve to stimulate the Muslims of Egypt and stir anti-Armenian sentiments. It should be noted, however, that the formation of an Egyptian-Armenian unit comprised of volunteers from France and the United States was first suggested to Maxwell on July 20, 1915by the Armenian National Security Council of Egypt, in view of the growing enthusiasm of both the local Armenians and the deportees to participate in the war. They saw it as the perfect opportunity to avenge their historical enemy.

The decision to establish this Armenian unit and incorporate it into the Legion d’Orient of the French Army, came only in 1916, when the disastrous outcome of the Gallipoli campaign was obvious to the Entente Powers. This time, it was General Clayton, the director of the Intelligence Office at Cairo, who suggested the formation of a unit based in Cyprus (and under the French flag) to Paul Camban, the French ambassador in London. The proposal was approved by the Armenian National Delegation under Boghos Nubar Pasha. What led the Delegation to accept the proposal was the news of victory by the Russian army on the eastern front, together with seven Armenian voluntary units. The formation of additional Armenian units was thus seen, at least by the Armenian side, as being a counterpart to the Russian-Armenian battalions, which would attack the Ottoman Empire mainly from the southern part of Cilicia. The Delegation approved the proposal on the condition that the prospective Armenian Legion fight only in Cilicia and be exempt from participating on other fronts. For the Entente side, especially the French, the Armenian Legion would counter-balance the British troops in the Levant and facilitate the Entente forces’ move into Ottoman territory from the south, as an alternative to Gallipoli.

The zeal of the Armenian deportees at Port Said to fight had a two-fold psychological element: They wanted to avenge the enemy that was responsible for the death of their loved ones in Western Armenia and Cilicia, and at the same time they were eager to be a part of the final victory against the Turkish-German forces. Thus, on the one hand, they felt anger/revenge/mourning, and on the other conquest/triumph/enthusiasm/motivation. This preceded the formation of the Legion and played an important role in the successful operations of the Armenian recruits.

On Sept. 21, 1916, General Pierre Roques, the French Minister of War at the time, dispatched a team led, by General Ferdinand Romieu, to investigate the military prospects in Cairo and Alexandria, and look into the possibility of establishing an Armenian military camp in Cyprus. The team was tasked with recording the first association of 500 men, comprised of the refugees at Port Said and the Armenian POWs interned at a camp near Bombay. It would also look into the possibility of including Syrians and other Ottoman subjects who were ready and willing to fight the Ottoman forces. The team was supposed to complete its task by October 1916.

On Nov. 15, 1916, the Legion was finally formed. Against the demands of the Armenian National Delegation, it was first called the Legion d’Orient as a precautionary measure and as a disguise against possible reprisals from the Muslims and in view of its potential to include those Christian Syrians who showed a preparedness to fight the Turks. However, it was clear that the Legion was destined for the Armenians especially. Hence the Egyptian Armenians, the Djebelis, and the Armenian POWs came to form the first battalion of the Legion d’Orient.

However, despite the official declaration by the French authorities on the Legion’s formation, the judicial status of the Armenian soldiers was still ambiguous by October 1917. They were deemed auxiliary forces, and were not yet completely incorporated in the French army. In addition, whereas Article 3 of the Legion’s authorizing French document stated that “special instruction will fix their allocations which would be in principle equivalent to that of the regular French soldier,” the Armenian soldiers receive neither familial allocations, nor any other benefits.

After successful negotiations, the British authorities gave their approval on the establishment of a military camp in Cyprus. Although the British were suspicious of French propaganda in the region, especially in Syria, the high commissioner of Cyprus, Sir John Clausen, gave his approval for the camp. General Romieu decided to establish it in Monarga, 24 km. north of Famagusta, and far from Turkish or Greek elements, to prevent clashes. A certain number of men from Djebel Moussa with physical aptitude were engaged in the building of the camp. General Romieu had given numerous tasks to the men to keep the best, as far as physical aptitude and military discipline were concerned. Thus, in December 1917, from a total of 182 recruits, 54 were called off, namely the 30%. The camp was ready to welcome recruits by Jan. 1, 1917.

The camp had three major sections, because of the lack water in one place. The first camp was located at the center, was built by the Djebelis, and was called Camp Souédié. The second was in the north and was called Monarga, since it covered the town of Monarga, emptied from its civil population. This was reserved for the officers, the bureaus, the generals, and the canteen of the 2nd battalion. The third camp was nameless and was referred to as“the camp of the new well,” as it was a close to a well that was dug in the spring of 1917 to satisfy the water demands of the Legionnaires. It was essentially comprised of the Syrians. The scarcity of water was a problem for the whole Legion. The choice of Cyprus came with a clear purpose: The congregation of an Armenian force near Alexandretta, which was a point of junction and communication between the Caucuses, Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Levant, threatened the significant communication lines of the Ottoman forces. General Romieu, who was familiar with the “Oriental mentality,” took command of the Legion.

The expenses of the Legion were paid for by the French government. As for the military leadership, the command was assumed by French generals and officers, who chose Armenian adjutants among the Legionnaires. The junior officer staff was mainly made up of Armenians, including experienced officers such as Jim Chankalian (U.S.), John Shishmanian (U.S.), Sarkiss Boghossian (Ottoman Army), among others. Some of these Armenian officers, had already a high reputation as captains, sergeants etc. in foreign armies.

Those who wanted to join the Legion had to first meet the conditions: Ifa candidate’s physical aptitude was deemed acceptable, he then had to pass a medical test. Medical centers varied according to the candidate’s location. For those coming from France and the U.S., they had to pass by the medical centers in La Havre, Bordeaux, or Marseille. After passing the medical tests, he had to procure an official document from the Armenian committees operating in his country or the French government justifying his honest intent for serving in the Legion. The volunteers who came from America were to have an official paper from Mihran Sevalsky, who represented the Armenian National Delegation in the U.S. Those coming from the Orient were required to procure the document either from the French embassy at Port Said in Egypt or the Legion’s commanding office in Cyprus. Those who were unfit had the choice of returning to their home country or being sent to France to work in the war factories or to perform agricultural labor.

In January 1917, three Armenian delegates, Ardavast Hanemian, Stépan Sabahgulian, and Mihran Damadian—representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Hnchakian Party, and the Ramgavar Party, respectively—went to North America to organize the recruitment process. However, J. Jusserand, the ambassador of France in Washington, was against the recruitment efforts; he feared a diplomatic crisis given that the United States was still neutral. Although the U.S. entered the war on April 2, 1917, on behalf of the Entente powers, the problem remained; the U.S. government had declared war only on Germany, and was not hostile to the Ottoman government. General Roques therefore recommended that the recruiting campaign be carried out with extreme caution through the Armenian and Syrian committees, and without the involvement of consular agents, to avoid any diplomatic tensions or problems. In any case, the men were mostly recruited from America, Egypt, France, and Western Armenia. Eight men also reportedly came from Ethiopia.

Although in the preliminary negotiations, it was agreed that the Legion d’Orient (or as it later became known, the Armenian Legion)would participate in the battles waged only on the Cilician territories, by 1917 it had become clear that the soldiers were being trained to participate in the campaigns at the Palestinian front, where the French Army was very weak. The political intrigues among the Entente Powers thus affected the deployment and the actions of the Legion, and diverted it from its initial target—Cilicia. Insofar as the British troops outnumbered the French in the Levant, the Armenian forces trained in Cyprus constituted a significant reinforcement for the French. According to the Armenian National Delegation, the Armenian Legion would thus constitute the nucleus for a future Armenian Army, which would be established on the emancipated territories of Cilicia. The Legion was seen as the precursor of an autonomous Cilicia. However, as we have seen, the formation of the Legion pursued both military and subtle political interests.

Steps to form the Legion were technically taken in December 1916.By February 1917, a squad of 400-500 men, most of them deported from Djebel Moussa and dispersed at Port Said, were joined by dozens of local Egyptian Armenians. Together they constituted the 1st and 3rd companies of the Legion. Until July of the same year, when recruitment ended, 1,400 men had already been recruited. It was not until the end of July that the first group of Armenian-American recruits arrived. Four new companies, of which one mortar unit, were established by October. At the beginning of 1918, 1,700 men were already registered as official Legionnaires. The increase in the number of Armenian recruits can be explained by the repeated promises by the Entente powers of an autonomous Cilicia after the war. Yet, the Armenians were not aware of the already signed Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 1916, which stipulated the partition of the Ottoman Empire among the Entente Powers and excluded all minorities from the scene—hence obstructing the formation of an Armenian nation-state. The Armenian National Delegation did not realize that it was the victim of subtle political intrigue, and was being used by the French authorities as a counter-balancing force against the British. The aspirations of the Powers became clear in July 1917, when General Bailloud, the inspector-general of the French troops in Egypt, after his inspection of the Legion d’Orient, said in a declaration that a military expedition to the north of Syria was no longer envisaged, and that the Legion would be incorporated into a French expeditionary force and deployed to Palestine to fight alongside the British Army.

Numerous complaints on behalf of the Armenians followed, to the point where Georges Clemenceau intervened to assure Nubar Pasha that the French government had nothing to do with it, that the decision had been made by the French War Ministry. He assured Nubar Pasha that the government opposed the deployment of the Armenian Legion in Palestine, since this was a violation of the 1916 agreement. He continuously reminded the Legionnaires that they were pre-destined for northern Syria and Cilicia. The Armenian National Delegation was faced with a new dilemma: disband the Legion, which was contrary to Armenian interests, or conform to the new state of affairs. If the French authorities insisted on sending the Legion to Palestine, the only weapon that the Delegation possessed was the discouragement of further recruitments, starting on Oct. 1.How effective an Allied landing on Cilician territories could be was attested to by German field marshal, L. Hindenburg. He was surprised that the Entente Powers did not benefit from Cilicia—the Ottomans’ Achilles’ heel—as the region did not contain a significant concentration of Ottoman troops. Even Enver Pasha, the Ottoman War Minister, was worried the Allied powers would eventually identify the Turks’ weakness. However, as we have seen, that was not the case. The French were eager to pursue their interests rather than secure significant territories in northern Syria.

Disillusion with the French authorities proved detrimental to the military discipline of the Legion. From a squadron of 140 volunteers, at times only 70 consistently showed up for the military exercises. Some were hesitant to join, and others quit after finding lucrative jobs outside the camp. The British military authorities did not facilitate the task, either; they invited the soldiers to handle army supplies and gave them 1.5 francs per day. Incidentally, those who did join the military exercises did not receive a sufficient amount of food.

The military training beganat the end of 1916, and including shooting, self-defense, battle formations and tactics, and the utilization of the terrain in different military situations. “The best are the Armenians who were former soldiers in the Turkish Army, and were captured in Mesopotamia or have deserted it, followed by the Armenians from Djebel Moussa, and the ones coming from America, and finally the Syrians,” General Bailloud commented.

The legion was called upon for its first mission in the spring of 1918.It was to be sent to the battlefronts of Palestine and was to be incorporated into the French Detachment for Palestine-Syria (Détachment Français de Palestine-Syrie, or DFPS) under the command of Colonel Piépape. The Legion was used to perform minor sabotage campaigns and incursions on the Turkish coast, such as destroying the communication lines or blowing up supplies. In May 1918, the first two battalions were transported to the Ferry Camp of Egypt, near Ismailia. The 3rd battalion, with the logistics company, stayed in Cyprus under the command of Chesnet. From July 10-13, the Legion d’Orient joined the French detachment at Mejdel in Palestine behind the British front.

The Battle of Arara

The Battle of Arara was part of the whole-scale military operations taking place in Palestine, where the German-Turkish alliance had strong fortifications and a significant number of troops. The Armenian Legion fought valiantly in this battle,with the hope of restoring a New Armenia.

The operations in Palestine were supervised by the general commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), General Allenby. With the aim of re-taking the offensive, the latter dispatched a force of 35,000 infantry and 400 artillery units to Palestine against the 8,000 infantry and 130 artillery units of the German-Ottoman forces. The British forces were reinforced by the French Detachment, which include the Armenian Legion. It was decided that the attack would commence on Sept. 19, 1918, at 4 a.m.

The general offensive began at the appointed hour. Facing the French troops, the 701st, 702nd, and 703rd German battalions, commanded by General Van Oppen, were entrenched and held positions on the hill of Arara. They formed the most solid nucleus of the enemy army. A battalion from the Armenian Legion, commanded by General Romieu, marched and held positions on the right side of the French troops. The 2nd Armenian battalion was kept on hold as reserves.

The day before the attack, the 1st battalion had undertaken preparatory maneuvers. The next day, the 2nd battalion won the rump 26 after five hours of heavy fighting, despite the constant shelling and artillery fire from German forces. The Legionnaires succeeded in capturing the first German defense line. Unwilling to come to terms with this strategic loss, the enemy resorted to counter-attacks. After five hours of battle, the German-Ottoman forces succumbed and began to retreat, giving way for the Legionnaires to capture the 2nd and 3rd German defense lines. The 1st battalion succeeded in taking the summit of Arara.

In total, the French detachment captured 212 prisoners, which included 16 officers. The Armenian Legion lost 22 men, and saw 80 injured and four missing in action; of those killed in action, some were sergeants, captains, and corporals. Their sacrifice and the achievements of the Armenian Legion were truly essential for the success of the operation.

In a dispatch sent to the Armenian National Delegation on Oct. 21, 1918, General Allenby highly evaluated and praised the Armenian Legion and the valor they showed on the battlefield. “I am proud to have under my command a Legion of Armenians,” he wrote. “They performed very well, and had a grand role in securing our victory.” During the funeral of their fellow comrades, General Romieu, too, praised the achievements of the Armenian Legion, and the sacrifice of the martyrs, as well as the full commitment of the survivors.

Although the Legion did not come to represent the nucleus for a future Armenian army, as it was disbanded by the end of 1920, it demonstrated a spirit of devotion and patriotism. And although the political intrigues of the Entente Powers prevented the creation of an autonomous Cilicia, and brought about its acquisition by the European Powers, the legacy of the Armenian Legion continues to shine on the pages of Armenian and French history.

The history of the Armenian Legion, and its achievements under foreign flags, is about the people who attempted to come to grips with the destruction and devastation of their fellow Armenians. It is a story of their valor, honor, duty, and sacrifice. And it shows how hundreds of Armenians, from different social, cultural, and economic backgrounds, could unite for a greater cause and a noble purpose. Thus, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, it is worth remembering the heroic acts of our volunteer units, who fought to keep the vision of an independent Armenia.

Varak Ketsemanian

Varak Ketsemanian

Varak Ketsemanian is a graduate of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (2014-2016). His master’s thesis titled “Communities in Conflict: the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party 1890-1894” examines the socio-economic role of violence in shaping inter-communal and ethnic relations by doing a local history of the Armenian Revolutionary Movement in the Ottoman Empire. Ketsemanian’s work tackles problems such as the development and polarization of mainstream historiographies, inter-communal stratifications, nationalism, and the relationship of the Ottoman State with some of its Anatolian provinces. He is currently completing a PhD at Princeton University, where his doctoral dissertation will focus on the social history of the National Constitution of Ottoman Armenians in 1863, and the communal dynamics/mechanisms that it created on imperial, communal, and provincial levels. Ketsemanian’s research relates to the development of different forms of nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries, revolutionary violence, and constitutional movements.

24 Comments

  1. I have question.
    Is the Armenian American diaspora fighting politically, for its cause and against all Turkish and pro-Turkish propaganda, as hard as the Armenian Legion fought militarily?

  2. Very interesting article – well researched and articulated. I’m writing a film script on the Armenian Legion and am especially interested in the Armenian Americans that volunteered. Can anyone provide a reference, written in English on the subject, especially as it pertains to Armenian American recruits?

    • Robert

      Please contact me. I have information on the Rhode Island volunteers.

    • It was said that my uncle went back to join the Legion. He has since past away although my cousins can likely tell their fathers story. One is in NY the other in So. Cal.

    • Robert,
      My grandfather was a “Gamavor”. We have pictures of him with the Legion. These were featured in an exhibit at the Armenian Museum in Waterton MA. They still have a traveling exhibition on the Legionnaires and they would be a great source of information. My grandfather, Arsen Samuelian, came to the US from Marash before the Genocide and worked at the Hood Rubber Factory in Watertown, MA with so many other Armenians. He was recruited, trained and fought with the Legion. He met a refugee woman who was fighting the Turks alongside the regular troops with a captured gun. Her name was Arshalous Mourousian (sp?). Her father was Morris Khacher who was ghe general store owner in Zeytoon who was murdered in front of his shop during the Genocide. They returned to the US and settled in the Boston area and had 3 children. The youngest, Kourken is my father. Hope this helps.
      Ken Samuelian, Belmont MA
      samuelian@verizon.net

  3. times have changed, we now have a turkish state with a powerful godfather: America…things are just not that simple anymore as all our efforts encounter diplomatic turbulance, case and point Obama´s campaign promise for genocide recongnition !! we know where that ended dont we…preservation of democracy and social well being within Armenia are the keys to our new BATTLE.

  4. My father Sharam Stepanian joined the Frech Army because they were the ones
    fighting the Turks. His mother and 2 sisters were massacered while he was in America mak

  5. SOME OBSERVATIONS, ARMENIANS WERE USED AND LIED TO,THEY WERE NEVER ALLOWED TO FIGHT IN CILICIA TO TAKE THEIR LANDS BACK! THE FRENCH AND BRITISH DID NOT TRUST EACH OTHER, AND SOMETIMES WORKED TOGETHER, THE ARMENIANS WERE USED AS CANNON FODDER IN THE BATTLE OF ARARA.AND THE GERMANS WERE ALWAYS FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THE TURKS IN ALMOST MAJOR BATTLE,THEY SUPPLIED AND BUILT THE TURKISH ARMY, THEY HAD GENERALS AND OFFICERS IN THE TURKISH ARMY, THEY WERE VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE THEY COULD HAVE PUT A STOP TO IT, BUT THEY DID NOT HAVE THE MORAL COURGE TO DO IT. THEY BUILT THE BAGDAD-BERLIN RAIL-ROAD WITH ARMENIAN MEN THAT WERE STARVED! THOUSANDS OF ARMENIANS DIED BUILDING THE RAIL-ROAD!!! UNDER THE EYES OF THE GERMANS. VARAK THERE IS PLENTY OF INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ON THE INTERNET, WITH PICTURES OF GERMAN CAPMS,LABORERS(IN SHATTERED CLOTHES!!, DEPORTEES ALL FROM GERMAN SOURCES, VARAK PLEASE SEE IF YOU COULD WRITE ABOUT THIS THANK YOU

  6. I can appreciate the detailed information of this article. However, given the subsequent history that transpired, I feel more embarrassed than proud, for the Armenians being the dupes of these two phonies France and England.

    Thanks to France, we don’t have Cilicia. And we may never have it.

    Thanks to England, besides Genocide denial by them and their darling Turkey, we have “Azerbaijan” to deal with. Those Turkophile Brits were the root cause of why we could not secure Artsakh after the war, and had we not listened to their lies the Armenians in Artsakh would not have gone through 70 years of barbaric oppression and a war that cost us thousands of innocent lives trying to undo the damage. That was a joint British-Bolshevik venture. And their damage still lingers over our heads.

  7. Robert

    There is a booklet about the kessabtsi Armenians who volunteered from America. You may contact Kessab Educational Association of LA. Its very likely that they have a copy in their library.

    Dr.Antranig Chalabian has dedicated one of his books titled “Revolutionary Figures to his paternal uncle Nshan Chalabian. You may find Nhan’s picture in the book and Dr. Chalabian’s commentary in the introduction.

  8. If we knew then what we know now – it would have been a different story. The moral of the story – lack of advance knowledge of a fellow-traveller’s agenda can prove fatal.
    The Ottomans had a wise saying – “one does not lower oneself down a deep water-well with that kind of person’s rope.”

  9. Lost in modern day Armenian history is the legacy of the Kessabtsi Armenian volunteers from America in Kessab. They had the training and the materiel and became instrumental in organizing the defense of Kessab at the aftermath of the WWI. For the two years during 1918-1920/1921 the Armenian enclave Kessab established a de-facto self-rule under their protection.

    Ovsia Saghdejian, affectionately known among the Kessabtsis as Daye, was a volunteer from America who took part in the Battle of Arara and became the undisputed leader in organizing the defense of kessab. He opted to stay in Kessab and not return. He sheltered orphaned young men and women, acted as matchmaker to many of them marrying to establish their own families. He remains a much-revered figure for the Kessabtsi Armenians.

  10. There is no doubt that this period of time in our history was full of hope, betrayal and frustration. But let’s not forget it was also an inspiring time when our people had little to cheer. My grandfather was a gamavor from America. Like many of his peers, he had come to New England to earn money and return to western Armenia. Trapped here by the war’s outbreak and hearing the stories of the genocide, they were anxious to serve. He trained in Cyprus, landed in Port and engaged the enemy up the Levant. After the Armistice in the fall of 1918, he remained as part of the occupation army stationed in Adana . As Armenian survivors began returning, I heard stories of the pride felt by local Armenians to see their protection included uniformed Armenian soldiers. Despite the betrayals and the horrors of the French withdrawal, these men served the cause and have been an inspiration to many generations. Learning about my grandfather’s involvement ( from my Dad and uncles) has inspired me to a lifetime of learning and participating in our communities. Thank you for the article and God bless these people.

  11. There are so many interesting and useful comments here! Varak, one of my grandfathers was in the French Army but I’m not sure if he was in the Legion. He was one of the soldiers from the Turkish Army that you mentioned. Was in Mosul for a time and in Jerusalem where he saw train loads of deported Armenians who feared his uniform. He promptly join the British forces and then somehow the French Army. His captain eventually got him papers for him to go to France and eventually the U.S., and even take my grandmother-to-be, her sister, and mother, the only survivors or their large family from Keghi whom he had met in Syria. I have a photo of him in uniform but not sure if it is Turkish or French. Perhaps you can help with the identification?

  12. My father was a volunteer for the freedom of Armenia. His name was Barsoom Bedrossian and lived in Philadelphia. My uncle John Zakarian lived in Watertown , Mass decided to go to France to fight for the cause.
    I have his pictures and discharge papers from France. I proud of his courage along with other Armenians that fought for the freedom of Armenia.

  13. I enjoyed this article very much, I had no Idea of Historical events
    that took place , keep up the good work.

  14. My maternal grandfather, Hagop(James) Hovsep Apelian, was also among the volunteers …he went from Kessab to America and joined the Armenian volunteers.

  15. To Mr. Ken Samuelian, I just came across your interesting note. I have written on Zeytun during the Genocide, and was hoping you could provide me more information about Morris Khacher (maybe with his name Morris spelled in Armenian?) and how he was killed, as well as how your grandmother Arshaloys Mourousian (in Armenian?) left Zeytun and joined the troops. My email is arkuna@earthlink.net.

  16. Recently got into genealogy and found documents that my Grandfather, Georges Abdulkerim Saraf (went by other names as well) served in the La Legion d’Orient. Originally from Armenia, left during the genocide and moved through Beirut, Sidon, Aleppo, France, and New York (this is where he enlisted in the Legion). Other documents show him leaving the Legion in Aleppo and traveling back through France and United States.

  17. My great grand father Kerop Ketsoyan was also in legion at the time
    He was an officer. I have send his pictures to world war 1 museum.
    I don’t have two many documents because they where stolen after migration to Soviet Union Armenian 1946 from Beirut. If any one knows any way to obtain more documentary please
    Let me know

  18. I am researching the stay of the armenian legion in cyprus. It would be wonderful if you have any letters,documents or photographs from that period that could give me an insight.

  19. Wow. Excellent article. My grandfather, Nishan Mathosian, was in the Legion from America. He joined to get revenge on the Turks who killed his parents during the genocide. He was raised in an orphanage in Jerusalem and met my grandmother there, who was also an orphan. He wrote a short memoir many years later about joining and fighting for the Legion. He was at Mt. Arara and lost friends in the battle. He penned his anger against the British for selling the Armenians out after the war.

  20. Proud to report my grandfather, Nishan Mathosian, served as an American volunteer in the Legion. He fought at the battle of Arara and was disheartened over the loss of several of his fighting comrades. He wrote a short memoir in his later years which I had translated into English. He was very angry at the British for reneging on their promise of a new Armenian homeland. Both of his parents, and the parents of my grandmother were killed in the Armenian genocides by the Turks. Both were raised in an orphanage in Jerusalem, Palestine.

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