Aleksi Inauri | |
---|---|
Born | 29 April (12 May) 1908 Gori |
Died | 23 June 1993 | (aged 85)
Allegiance | Soviet Union |
Rank | Colonel General |
Awards |
(34 in total) |
Aleksi Inauri (Georgian: ალექსი ინაური; Russian: Алексей Николаевич Инаури, Aleksey Nikolayevich Inauri) (April 29 or May 12, 1908 – June 23, 1993) was a Soviet Colonel General and Georgian commander who headed the Georgian KGB (Committee for State Security) for over 30 years (1954–1986) and made it one of the most effective of the KGB's regional Soviet branches. He ended his career as a colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Born in Gori (then under the Russian Empire), Inauri was a worker until volunteering, in 1926, in the Red Army and graduated from a Cavalry School for the North Caucasian Mountainous Nationalities in Krasnodar in 1931. From April 1931, he commanded a cavalry platoon and then a squadron of the 16th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Cavalry Division of the Ukrainian Military District. He became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1932. From October 1936, Inauri was put in charge of the regimental schools for the same division, later in 1938 as assistant commander for the commanding officer. Before the outbreak of war, Inauri commanded the same division's 99th Cavalry Regiment as a major in the Kiev Special Military District.
From June 1941 to January 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Inauri led the 99th Cavalry Regiment into combat. The cavalrymen under his command excelled in mid-January 1942 during the Second Battle of Kharkov, which led to another promotion in May 6 of the same year. From August 1942 to the end of the war, Inauri commanded the 1st Cavalry Division of the 15th Cavalry Corps, Transcaucasus Front and had an essential role in the Battle of the Caucasus. Due to outstanding performance, Inauri was promoted to Major General by the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.