155
vism are not contrary to Sharia40, expressed their loyalty to the Soviet
power. I presented the basic Bolshevik ideas to the Guba envoys and
reported in due course to the commissars at the troop train. Then I
stayed in Guba for a while. The local residents asked me to dispatch
a military unit to Guba to tackle the people they could not get con-
trol of. I don’t remember the names and family names of those town
residents who asked me to send the troops, the only one I recall was
named Kiragyar, no idea of the family name.
I sent a telegram to Baku communicating the request of sending
a military unit to Guba to restore the law and order. They responded
that the troops had already been dispatched. I went to meet the unit
in Khachmaz, and together with the troops I returned to Guba. The
unit comprised 187 persons, 12 out of them Armenians, several Jews,
and the rest Russians. The unit was equipped with two machineguns
operated under command of an Armenian whose name I cannot re-
call. What I remember is that I had to restrain this commander’s pro-
vocative actions times and again. Captain Kubitski was in charge for
the machinegun team. He is currently serving at the police depart-
ment in Petrovsk.
Soon, our unit was attacked by the Lezghins and Muslims from
adjacent villages. As for the residents of Guba, they did not attack
us. We were reinforced with a 150-strong unit from Khachmaz with
2 cannons. That unit was manned by ethnic Armenians only, led by
lieutenant Aghajanyantz. The next day, he gathered all the Christian
population of Guba, mainly Armenians, to evacuate them from the
town. So we started retreating. A was in the units avantgarde. The
soldiers were fleeing having left the refugees behind. It should be
noted that the refugees were imploring the Armenian soldiers not to
shoot the Lezghins. Part of the refugees was evacuated by my unit,
whereas another part stayed at the Leontyev Garden to be massaced
by the Lezghins.
I was wounded in my hand on the battle’s first day. We left for
Khachmaz and subsequently headed towards Derbend.
Several days after, theMilitary Commissar Korganov dispatched a
2 thousand-strong punitive unit under Amazasp’s command to Guba.
Later on, Japaridze received a telegram signed by Mirjafar Baghirov,
a Guba resident and my former aide stating that the town residents
were asking me to be back since Amazasp was burning and mas-
Documents on the Devastation of Guba
Witness Testimonies of Residents of the Town of Guba