Dimitri Amilakhvari

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Prince Dimitri Zedguinidze, known as Dimitri Amilakhvari (დიმიტრი ამილახვარი in Georgian; French spelling: Amilakvari; October 31, 1906—September 24, 1942), was a French officer of Georgian origins, hero of the French Resistance during World War II, and Lieutenant Colonel of the French Foreign Legion. He was commonly known as Bazorka after the place he was born.

Amilakhvari was born in an aristocratic family from the village of Bazorkino (now Chermen, North Ossetia-Alania, Russia). His father, Prince Giorgi Zedguinidze, was Colonel of the Army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia and hereditary Master of the Horse to the Georgian Crown (Amilakhvari in Georgian). Dimitri was a grandson of General Ivane Zedguinidze (1829-1905). After the occupation of Georgia by Bolshevik Russia's Red Army on February 25 1921, his family moved to Istanbul and later, in 1922 to France.

In 1924 Dimitri entered the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr under the pseudonym of Amilakhvari. He graduated in 1926 as a stranger officer, serving in French North Africa until 1933. In 1932-1933 he took part in all important operations in the south of Morocco, and was Head of the French military school in Agadir from 1934 to 1939. In 1940, before the German occupation of France, Amilakhvari served in Algiers. Later, he joined the Free French Forces in the United Kingdom. Throughout 1941, Dimitri Amilakhvari took part in the British and Free French campaigns in Eritrea (against Italy) and Syria (against Vichy France). He led managed the capture of Damascus. In 1941 he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed Head of Brigade.

Amilakhvari fought his last battles during the North African Campaign of 1942. In June, he received a Cross of Liberation. During operations at Bir-Hakeim (January) he wrote: "We, foreigners, have only one way to prove to France our gratitude: to be killed ..."

Amilakhvari fell on the second day of the Second Battle of El Alamein. In 1955 Amilakhvari was posthumously awarded the highest order of France Legion of Honour (Legion d'Honneur). General Charles De Gaulle named him and his legionaries the "honour of France" for their heroic defence of the Allies' positions. In 1942 he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross.

[edit] External links

• (French) Entry on ordredelaliberation.fr

[edit] Literature

• Rayer G., L'Homme qui a étonné la Légion- Paris Match, 1956 18 fevr., N 358, p. 77-82 (in French)
• I. Tabagua and E. Menabde. He fought for the liberation.- Molodyoj Gruzii, Tbilisi, March 10, 1970 (in Russian)
• G. Zhordania. Amilakhvari Dimitri.- The Encyclopedia Sakartvelo, vol. I, Tbilisi, 1997, p. 129 (in Georgian)
• L. Urushadze. Europe and the Georgian Political Emigration, Publishing House Ena da Kultura, Tbilisi, 2005, (in Georgian, English summary)