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1. Resistance: a Diary of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1922 is available in the NAASAR bookstore. In it, you will find information not only about the resistance battles, but also about Dro and Hagop, and Mardig, and Markar, who were from Bash Aparan. It is the only seven-year primary source documentation of the Armenian Genocide and the beginning of the Russian Revolution written by a resistance fighter who kept a daily diary of the events he participated in or witnessed as they were happening. It is a front-line report on the period from 1915, when Misak Seferian’s village in historical Western Armenia was invaded by the Ottoman Turks, to 1922 when he escaped from a Bolshevik prison.

   Misak Seferian came to Canada in 1923 and immediately began to write from his notebooks. Hundreds of his articles were published in serial form in the Armenian edition of The Hairenik newspaper in the 1930s and early 1940s. This book is a translated and edited version of those writings. It is available in the NAASAR bookstore.
   Here is an excerpt from May 1918.
   Enemy artillery shelled us the entire night of May 21, 1918. Both of
   our regiments remained at their positions the entire night without rest,
   becoming very fatigued and less able to resist. At dawn on May 22, the
   Turks doubled their artillery and attacked us. After a furious battle of
   three or four hours, their much larger forces invaded the heights on our
   left wing. Both of our regiments retreated to the north after losing many
   martyrs. Hamamlou Station was invaded later the same day. That night, all
   of our forces retreated to a point very close to Gharakilisa and formed a
   new front. Several battalions from Gharakilisa joined us. They told us that
   the entire population had vowed in one voice, “Either liberty or death.”
   “Boys,” said Ardoush, one of the new arrivals, “tomorrow morning,
   these fields and mountains will be filled with Armenian soldiers. Fifteen
   to sixty-year-olds will come, and together, we will defend our fatherland
   against the Turk.”
   I was so happy that I did not know what to do with myself. I ran from
   position to position, repeating the joyous news coming from Gharakilisa.
   “Our positions here are advantageous for both offensive and defensive
   tactics,” said Officer Arshag. “I’m sure the enemy will not succeed here, but
   I’m very concerned about our right wing.”
   That night more than one thousand youths arrived from Gharakilisa.
   Our battalion of seventy soldiers rose to 150, and our general regiment
   went from four hundred to seven hundred. With the newly arrived forces
   from Gharakilisa, the First Division’s regiments nearly doubled. We also
   expected to receive assistance from new forces coming from the rear. Our
   greatest hope was that we would not be attacked for one or two days, so we
   could organize our troops. However, the enemy did not ignore us.
   Before noon on May 24, 1918, Turks attacked the entire length of
   our front with tremendous force. The battle that then took place was
   later commonly known as the Great Battle of Gharakilisa.39 As soon as
   enemy advance guards appeared, we forced them back with a strong fire.
   They returned in three ranks, their cannons shelled our first and second
   positions simultaneously. They moved to the outer range of our rifles and
   machine guns, where the most intense battle then followed. The roar of
   machine guns and the screaming of rifles intermingled with the thunder
   of cannons. The world became only what I could see before me. There was
   nothing beyond that, not even thought.
   Officer Arshag directed our machine gun fire, and I commanded the
   battalion. The position holders on my right side were soldiers from the
   Eighth Regiment. Our regiment’s three other battalions protected our left
   side. We were holding a front with a length of about twenty-five miles.
   Two hours after the battle started, I ordered my men to advance. They fired
   while moving forward on their knees. The enemy sifted their bullets on us.
   We had barely gone fifteen to twenty steps when they killed two of our men
   and injured five. We returned to our positions and continued to fire with
   the same

2. For those not able to attend the lecture at NAASR, Resistance: a Diary of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1922, is also available at Abril Books in Glendale, California.

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