Gurgen Dalibaltayan
| Gurgen Dalibaltayan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 5 June 1926 Ninotsminda, Javakheti, Georgian SSR |
| Died | 1 September 2015 (aged 89) Yerevan, Armenia |
| Allegiance |
 Soviet Union Armenia
|
| Service/branch |
 Soviet Army Armed Forces of Armenia
|
| Years of service | 1947–2015 |
| Rank | Colonel-General |
| Commands held | 34th Infantry Regiment 60th Infantry Division 242nd Infantry Division |
| Battles/wars |
Nagorno-Karabakh War Battle of Shusha |
| Awards | see below |
Gurgen Dalibaltayan (Armenian: Գուրգեն Դալիբալթայան; 5 June 1926 – 1 September 2015) was an Armenian military commander. He was the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces during the 1992 Battle of Shusha, a battle to capture the city from Azerbaijan. He is credited with devising a strategy to assault the strongly fortified town of Shusha using diversionary attacks against adjacent villages to draw out the defenders of the town while the commander of troops, Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan, encircled the town and cut off reinforcements. His strategy is generally considered impossible, or at least implausible, as he was originally outnumbered. General military tactics suggest a force of three times the defender's size to successfully storm and win.
Dalibaltayan was born in the Armenian-populated town of Bogdanovka (present-day Ninotsminda, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia), near the border with Armenia. He attended the Secondary School of Gorelovka from 1934 to 1944. Upon graduating, he spent three years at the Tbilisi School of Infantry. Dalibaltayan then joined the ranks of the Soviet Army.
Dalibaltayan held various commanding positions in Echmiadzin, Yerevan, Perekeshkul, Prishib, Kirovabad, Abakan and Rostov-na-Donu during his service in the Soviet Armed Forces. He was the commander of the 242nd Infantry Division of the Siberian Military District from 1969 to 1975. Outside of the USSR, he was Deputy Chief of Staff from 1975 to 1980 for the Southern Group of Forces in Budapest. He had also participated in higher academic courses for commanders at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR (now Russia) in 1976 and 1978. Dalibaltayan held his final position starting in 1987 as Deputy Commander of the North Caucasus Military District for combat training in Rostov-na-Donu. In 1991, he left the Soviet Armed Forces prior to the Fall of the Soviet Union.
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