Lt. Col. Dimitri Amilakhvari, 3rd Commander of the 13th DBLE

Amilakhvari as a Captain in the 13th DBLE

" We foreigners have only one way to prove to France our gratitude: to be killed.."

Amilakhavri, Bir Hakeim, February 1942

Lt. Col. Amilakhvari North Africa 1942
Amilakhvari's Uniform at the "Musee de l'Odre de La Libertation"

Dimitri Amilakhvari was born Dimitri Zedguinidze on October 31, 1906. He was a Georgian Prince from the village of Bazorkino in present day North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. Amilakhvari was from a long line of Georgian military professionals. He was the grandson of General Ivane Zeguinidze, a general in the Russian army during the 19th Century. His father, Prince Giorgi Zeduinidize, served as colonel in the Army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which was a "White Russian" anti-bolshevik army, representing the first modern state of Georgia, which was overrun by the Red Army in 1921. Following the defeat, his family journeyed to Istanbul, before settling in Paris, France, in 1922.

Officers of the Army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1919

Two years later, Dimitri Zeguinidze changed his name to Dimitri Amilakhvari to cover his aristocratic past, and entered the French Military Academy "Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint Cyr". In 1926, he finished his studies, and was posted to North Africa. In 1932-33 he participated in the French operations south of Morocco and was commended for valor. From 1934-39, he headed the Agadir French Military School, in Morocco. He was commonly referred to as "Bazorka" for the town in which he was born. The start of the Second World War found him serving in Algiers. When the 13th DBLE formed he was a captain commanding a company in the 2nd Battalion, and served with the unit in Norway, remaining with the unit in England, and joining the Free French cause. On October 1, 1941, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and became the new commander of the 13th DBLE. At Bir Hakeim, in the Spring of 1941, Amilkhvari served as General Koenig's chief adjutant, as well as commander of the 13th.

On August 10, 1942, Amilakhvari received the Cross of Liberation from General De Gaulle for his services at Bir Hakeim, and on September the 9, 1942, he received the Campaign of the Liberation Medal. The same year, he was also awarded the Norwegian War Cross, the highest military award of Norway, for his service in Norway. Before the war, he had already received the Croix de Guerre, with two additional citations for valor. At the Second Battle of El Alamein, on September 24, 1942, he was killed by a German shell burst. In 1955, he was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honor.