Giorgi Gotua

Georgy Semyonovich Gotua (; 1871 – 13 January 1936) is the only high-ranking officer of the Imperial Russian Army who performed allied duty until the end of the World War I.

Biography Gotua was born on 1871, in Guria. He graduated from the Kutaisi progymnasium in 1889 and the in 1896.

Gotua served in the Russo-Japanese War. Later he served in various military units in Central Asia, and was awarded the Order of the Rising Star by the Emir of Bukhara.

With the outbreak of World War I, Captain Gotua, as part of the 8th Turkestan Rifle Regiment, was sent to the Russian North-Western Front of World War I.

Later George Gotua formed and then led a special Russian Legion. This unit, as part of the French Moroccan Division was the first of the allied armies to breach the Hindenburg Line. His son, Georgy Gotua, who died in 1971, was buried with his father. Due to the impossibility of family reunification, the remaining children (Elena, Nina, Tamara and Konstantin) lived with their mother Elena in Georgia.

Awards and honors

Golden Weapon for Bravery (18 March 1915) Order of Saint Vladimir, 4th class (19 December 1915) Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd class (2 September 1916) Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class (12 November 1916) Cross of St. George, 4th class (6 September 1917) Legion of Honour Croix de Guerre (1916) Bukhara Order of Rising Star