Photo of Georgians in Polish Army

[Georgien]

Just found this photo of Georgians in Polish Army (1925). Tbilisi photo archives.

[Georgien]

Hi

If anyone has any photos or info about Georgians in Polish Army, please let me know or post them here.

Thanks in advance

[Georgien]

Major Giorgi Mamaladze. He went to Poland following the Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921. Mamaladze graduated from the Polish military school and served as a contract officer in the Polish army. He took an active part in the 1939 Septemeber campaign against both the German and Soviet armies. Mamaladze was then captured by the Soviets and executed along with his Georgian and Polish comrades-in-arms during the Katyn Massacre in 1940

photo: Tbilisi photo archives

[henryk]

Because of this thread's placement in Foreign Volunteers & Collaboration, does it mean that the Polish Army Georgians were:

foreigners (volunteers as well as conscripts) fighting in the German Wehrmacht, those collaborating with the Axis and other period Far Right organizations.

[Allen Milcic]

The thread has been moved to the appropriate section of the Forum.

Allen/

[Georgien]

henryk

everybody can make a mistake, sorry Allen and thanks.

Here is the photo of Dmitry Shalikashvili, a Polish officer of Georgian orogin (former officer in Georgian Democratic Republic ) with his two sons, one of them John M Shalikashvili (former US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff).

photo: photomuseum tbilisi

[Georgien]

When Georgia gained independence from the Russian Empire, Georgia and Poland launched extensive diplomatic, political and military exchanges. The Polish state envoy, Waclaw Ostrowski, was dispatched to Georgia to set up a Polish diplomatic mission in the fledgling democratic republic. Poland firmly adhered to the policy of establishing close diplomatic relations with the states of the South Caucasus, which had escaped the shadow of Russian rule. Marshal and leader of Poland, Jozef Pilsudski, attached great importance to that strategy. Soon Georgia became a pivotal state as the way to Azerbaijan was cut off because of Bolshevic upheaval there. However, all the plans of fast development of Polish-Georgian relations collapsed with intrusion of the Soviet Red Army in independent Georgia on February 1921. After two weeks of merciless fighting, the tiny Georgian corps was crushed and the Soviet flag was raised in Tbilisi. The state was annexed, and the remainder of the leading Georgian military personnel as well as the temporary government fled to Europe via Batumi and Constantinople. Poland did not recognize the annexation of Georgia and kept close relations with the Georgian political and military authorities in exile. Moreover, in autumn 1921 Marshal Pilsudski’s military attaché in Constantinople, Colonel Babicki, addressed an offer to the chief of the Georgian military headquarters, General Alexander Zakariadze, that Poland was willing to accept Georgian officers in the Polish army. Georgian officers – six generals among them – came to Poland and it was to become their second motherland. According to historical data, they quickly grasped the specifics of the Polish military, perfected their Polish and established close relations with their Polish colleagues. “Although Germany announced free passage from Poland for any foreigners, none of the Georgian officer left the country in September 1939, when the fascist army invaded Polish lands. They heroically battled against the fascist occupants as well as Stalin’s Soviet army,” stressed Jerzy Lubach. Some Georgian officers held high military positions in the Polish army. Colonel Valerian Tevzadze led the northern defense of Warsaw. He later was awarded with the Silver Cross for Military Valor. After the Red Army took over Poland, Valerian Tevzadze joined the Polish underground against the communists until his death 1987. “Many Poles knew about Tevzadze who was just a ‘tidbit’ for both Soviet and Polish KGB, but no one gave him in,” underlined the film director in his talk with Georgia Today. As we learned, the current defense minister of Georgia, David Tevzadze, is a close descendent of Valerian Tevzadze. The minister pledged support to the film crew. “There are many other figures from the ranks of Georgian officers who gained fame in the battle for Poland,” Jerzy Lubach narrated. Major Artemi Aronishidze led the 360th infantry battalion in the defense of Warsaw. “He did not retreat until the surrender of the capital to the fascists.” Aronishidze was soon captured by the Germans, and later handed over to the Soviet KGB. Overall amnesty saved him from capital punishment. The major, who was also awarded the Silver Cross, died at 58, in 1950. Giorgi Tumanishvili was born in Poland, to a family of a Georgian officer in exile. In his youth he joined the Polish army in 1939 and had time for taking part in a number of Polish military campaigns against the fascists. Having gained the rank of captain, he was twice awarded with the Silver Cross for Military Valor. Dimitri Shalikashvili gained the rank of major in Poland. After the fall of Warsaw he escaped to America where his sons managed to reach the highest military positions. John Malkhaz Shalikashvili, the eldest son, was the chief of the united military headquarters of the U.S. for years in the early 90s. The younger brother is now taking active part in the Train and Equip Program conducted by the U.S. government in Georgia. “But, such success stories are very rare. A number of Georgian officers fighting in the Polish army died in Gestapo dungeons or Soviet camps,” the film director sighed. Thus, it is obvious that Jerzy Lubach has got a lot to say about the history of the military fraternity between the two nations. Tamara Dularidze, a lecturer at a Moscow cinematography institute and friend of the Polish director is working along with him. Dularidze and Lubach have a good experience in working together on Georgian-Polish history. The film “Seeking the White Angel”, about Grigol Peradze, a Georgian priest and scientist working in Poland, having been killed by the fascists for treating Polish Jews, deserved a high honor. The documentary about Georgian officers in Poland is to be shot in Georgia, Poland, Great Britain and Russia. The Georgian film studio Grifon Film Productions, under Irakli Metreveli, expressed its willingness to work in partnership with Jerzy Lubach on the film. “I hope to invite John Malkhaz Shalikashvili to work in Warsaw as well,” Jerzy Lubach told Georgia Today. The director is going to re-scrutinize the archive of the first Georgian republic of 1918-1921, which should provide a great deal of material for the film.

[henryk]

The Sarmatian Review, January 1995 Issue
Memoirs of Dimitri Shalikashvili
Father of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John M. Shalikashvili.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/195/s ... hvili.html

We are pleased to publish in this issue excerpts from the Memoirs of Dimitri Shalikashvili, a Georgian who left his country when the Soviets conquered it in 1921. Shalikashvili fled to Poland where he attended military schools, later serving in the military in accordance with his family's tradition. His Memoirs offer a refreshingly new view of Polish social life and of Poland's treatment of refugees and emigres from the East who in the 1920s flooded the country. The excerpt from the Memoirs is published virtually unedited except for corrections of typographical and grammatical mistakes.

[Georgien]

Pan handryk

Thanks a lot for that link. I knew about his memoires, here is another:

http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/P ... eorpol.htm

All the best