Drastamat Kanayan (; 31 May 1884 8 March 1956), better known as Dro (Դրօ), was an Armenian military commander and politician. He was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He briefly served as Defence Minister of the First Republic of Armenia in 1920, during the country's brief independence. During World War II, he led the Armenian Legion, which consisted of Armenian POWs who opted to fight for Nazi Germany rather than face the brutal conditions of the Nazis' camps.
Early life
Drastamat Kanayan was born in Igdyr (present-day Iğdır, Turkey) in the Surmalu uezd of the Russian Empire in 1884. He was the son of Martiros Kanayan, the head of the Kanayan clan in Igdir, and his wife, Horom. At an early age, Martiros enrolled his son to the parish school of Igdir. Drastamat would skip school, preferring to visit the military barracks of Igdir because of his interest in its military exercises. Igdir at the time was an important military post where between 8,000 and 10,000 Russian troops were stationed (including infantry, Cossacks, cavalry and border guards). Most of the inhabitants of the village thrived by trading with the soldiers. Noticing that his son had no interest in books and learning, Martiros pulled him out of the village school and enrolled him to the Yerevan Gymnasium school.
Drastamat was no better in the Gymnasium school as the grades he achieved were barely enough for a promotion. Like all government schools in the provinces of Russia, there was a policy of Russification that limited education in the Armenian language to religion only. Inspired by stories of General Andranik's triumphs in the Ottoman Empire and the spread of nationalism by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Drastamat joined a secret youth movement in his school that opposed the tsar's government and promoted Armenian nationalism.
Edict on Armenian church property and Armenian-Tatar clashes
On 12 June 1903, the tsarist authorities passed an edict to bring all Armenian Church property under imperial control. This was faced by strong Armenian opposition because it perceived the tsarist edict as a threat to the Armenian national existence. As a result, the Armenian leadership decided to actively defend Armenian churches by dispatching militiamen who acted as guards and holding mass demonstrations. This prompted Drastamat to join the ranks of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in order to defend churches from confiscation through public demonstrations and guard duty. In May 1905, using a bomb he carried out the assassination of the governor of Baku, Prince Mikhail Nakashidze, whom the ARF blamed for inciting Tatar attacks against Armenians in Baku. During the Armenian–Tatar clashes of 1905–1907, Dro participated in the organization of Armenian defense militias in the regions of Kotayk, Nakhijevan, and Zangezur. In 1907, Dro assassinated Tsarist general Maksud Alikhanov in Alexandropol. Prior to the Russian Revolution, Dro had killed more than one Russian official.
World War I
He served as detachment commander in the Russian Caucasus Army during World War I. He was one of the commanders of the Armenian volunteer units and was decorated by the Tsar.
In November 1914, he commanded the second battalion of the Armenian volunteers. The second battalion of the Armenian volunteers engaged in battle for the first time near Bayazid during the Bergmann Offensive. In the course of a bloody combat which lasted twenty-four hours, Dro, commander of the battalion, was seriously wounded. From that day to March of the following year, he remained in critical condition, but his battalion participated in eleven battles near Alashkert, Toutakh, and Malashkert, until Dro recovered and returned to resume the command. Kanayan had already become a popular military leader after the victories over the Ottoman Empire at the Caucasus Campaign.
Between March 1918 and April 1918 he was appointed by the Armenian National Council military commissar to the occupation of Turkish Armenia of the Ararat region. He was the commander of the Armenian forces in the Battle of Bash Abaran. The Armenian victories at Bash Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad stopped the advance of the Ottoman Army and are credited with preventing the destruction of the Armenian nation and allowing the creation of the First Republic of Armenia.
First Republic of Armenia
Dro was one of the chief military commanders of the First Republic of Armenia. He commanded Armenian forces during the brief Armeno-Georgian War in December 1918 over the disputed Borchaly (Lori) and Akhalkalaki uezds ("counties").