Newspaper articles
Armenia
ARMENIA PREPARED
FOR A HARD FIGHT
Maintains Forces Under General
Dro Able to Make a Strong
Defense Against Bolsheviki
TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, July 17
(Associated Press). - Armenia temporarily
is in no danger of going Bolshevist unless
the Moscow Government sends a
great Russian force against it, in the
opinion of observers who have just returned
from Shusha, Erivan and Nakhitchevan, after a careful study in the field of the military situation.
Both the Georgians and Armenians, say these observers, had a terrible object lesson of what espousal of Bolshevism may mean in the frightful way the Tartars of Azerbaijan were slaughtered by the Russians when they resented Bolshevist domination. The observers point out that the Bolsheviki must actually fight their way into Armenia through the mountain forces of General Dro, an experienced Russian Armenian leader, who has barely 10,00 mountain tribesmen in Nakhitchevan, waging a ruthless war on Tartars who cross the Armenian boundaries.
General Dro threw a bomb at the
tyrannical Governor of Baku in 1904. He fought with the Russians in the early part of the European war, and when he visited the hospital at Tiflis, where Dro was recovering from wounds. He is a magnetic, small man of about 40, wears no uniform, and his soldiers call him merely Dro.
The General does not disguise his hatred
for the Bolsheviki. He operates
independently of the main Armenian
Army, and is generally respected and
feared by the rough bands which blindly
follow him. These bands wage guerrilla
warfare mercilessly. They lack ammunitition, and consequently use the bayonet freely.