Zakaria Bakradze

Zakaria (Shakro) Bakradze (Georgian: ზაქარია (შაქრო) ბაქრაძე, Polish: Zachariasz Bakradze) (22 October 1868, Tbilisi – December 3, 1938) was a Polish-Georgian military officer and the General of both the Polish Army and the Georgian Army.

He was born to the family of Academician Dimitri Bakradze (1826–1890), a prominent Georgian historian and public figure.

Zakaria Bakradze began his military career in the Imperial Russian army and distinguished himself during the First World War. After the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918, he joined the national army and was a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Defence. The Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921 forced him (along with thousands of other Georgian officers) into exile in Poland, where he received further training in the Higher War School. He then served in the Polish Army as Commander of Infantry (de facto deputy commander) of the Polish 15th Infantry Division. He was killed in a road accident on December 3, 1938, near Bydgoszcz.

Notes and references

• (Georgian) Javakhishvili, Niko. "ქართველი მხედრები პოლონეთის დროშის ქვეშ" [Georgian soldiers under the Polish Banners]. Tbilisi, 1998.