Khakhanian, Grigorii

Born Dec. 29, 1895 (Jan. 10, 1896), in the village of Ruisi, Gori District, Tiflis Province; died Feb. 22, 1939. Soviet military commander. Corps commander (1935). Member of the Communist Party from 1917.

The son of a teacher, Khakhan’ian was conscripted into the army in 1916 and graduated from ensign’s school. He took part in the October Armed Uprising in Petrograd. During the Civil War of 1918–20 he was commissar of the Pskov Rifle Division, chief of defense for the city of Sviiazhsk, and assistant commander of the operations section of the Fifth Army. Between 1919 and 1921, Khakhan’ian commanded a brigade of the 27th Rifle Division in the battles for Omsk, in the Soviet-Polish War of 1920, and in the suppression of the Kronstadt Anti-Soviet Rebellion of 1921.

After the war, Khakhan’ian commanded first a division and later a corps; he was put in charge of the courses at Vystrel, a higher educational institution in the Soviet armed forces. In 1929 he became head of the political directorate and member of the military council of the Ukrainian Military District. In 1936 he was appointed head of the political directorate of the Special Red Banner Army of the Far East. Khakhan’ian was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner and an Honorary Revolutionary Weapon.