Leonid Gobyato

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Leonid Nikolaevich Gobyato

Born	6 February 1875 Taganrog, Russian Empire
Died	21 May 1915 Przemyśl, Russian Empire
Occupation	general

Leonid Nikolaevich Gobyato (Russian: Леонид Николаевич Гобято) (6 February 1875 – 21 May 1915) was a Russian lieutenant-general (posthumously in 1915) and designer of the modern, man-portable mortar.

Leonid Gobyato was born in the city of Taganrog into the noble family of Gobyato. His father, Nikolai Konstantinovich Gobyato, was a gentleman by birth, member of the Taganrog County Court and alderman at the Taganrog City Council (Duma).

Leonid Gobyato studied in the Cadets Corps in Moscow and in 1893, was recommended as one of the best student to the Mikhailovskoe Artillery School that he graduated in 1896, and later to the Mikhailovskoe Artillery Academy, which he graduated in 1902. In May 1902, Gobyato returned to the home city of Taganrog, where in 1903 he submitted for review his first work Instructions on Use of Deflection in Batteries Equipped with 3-inch Rapid-Firing Guns of 1902 written in cooperation with Colonel Demidov.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, both Leonid and his brother Nikolai were participating in the events. Nikolai served on the Russian Navy's cruiser Gromoboi (1899) in Vladivostok, while Leonid arrived in Port Arthur with a supply-ship on 27 April 1904 and stayed to defend the city. In Port Arthur, Leonid for the first time applied deflection from closed firing positions in the field and designed together with General Roman Kondratenko the first mortar that fired navy shells in the close range under angle of 45 degrees. The garrison of the fortress surrendered on 2 January 1905 and Gobyato was made a prisoner of war. In May 1905, Gobyato was released and awarded with 5 orders and a Golden St. George sword. In 1906, he published an article on the first mortar.

Leonid Gobyato commanded an artillery battery, later lectured artillery science at the Academy of the General Staff in 1908-1914. After the outbreak of World War I, General-Mayor Gobyato was made Commander of the South-West defense range of the Przemyśl fortress, where he was killed on 21 May 1915.