From my dad's book My Life: A Story of Survival, An Autobiography of Grischa Bedrosian

World War II     

In 1940 the Germans attacked Russia. They did a lot of damage and took a lot of towns and cities. In 1941 the government recalled former soldiers to fight. They called me too. For three months we trained, going on maneuvers. In October, all Armenian soldiers were brought to Yerevan to the train station, and loaded into train cars. The train traveled two days and nights. Suddenly the train stopped. Armenian officers came and told our battalions the Germans had cut the train line. Almost half an hour we walked along the track past empty railroad cars. The officers told us all these cars had brought soldiers to go fight. Then all the soldiers stood in the line. Each soldier got 35 bullets for his gun, and four pieces of stale bread. The officer told us this track led to a town where the Germans were.