Georgy Semyonovich Gotua


Georgy Semyonovich Gotua 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. For participation in battles on the German-Russian front in 1915, was awarded orders and the Golden Weapon for Bravery.
As part of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France, In 1916 he fought in France and, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, commanded a battalion of the 2nd special regiment of the 1st brigade. For the last battle in the Russian army, colonel Gotua was awarded the Cross of St. George. However, the Expeditionary Corps suffered heavy losses, was transferred to a camp for reconstruction, but liquidated in the summer.
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.
From the beginning of 1919 Gotua was enlisted in the Volunteer Army.  From November 3, 1919 - commander of the 7th reserve battalion of the  Armed Forces of South Russia, Major-General. In 1921 he went into exile in Yugoslavia, living with the Don Cadet Corps in Bileća.
Gotua died on 13 January 1936. He was buried in the Belgrade New Cemetery, the resting place of many Russian emigrants. His son, Georgy Gotua, who died in 1971, was buried with his father. Due to the impossibility of family reunification, the remaining children lived with their mother Elena in Georgia.

Awards and honors