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Hayk Bzhishkian | |
|---|---|
 Bzhishkian in 1920 | |
| Native name | Armenian:Հայկ Բժշկական |
| Birth name | Hayk Bzhishkian |
| Nicknames | Guy, Gai |
| Born | (1887-02-06)6 February 1887 |
| Died | 11 December 1937(1937-12-11) (aged 50) Moscow,Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |  Russia (1914–1917) Russia (1917–1922) Soviet Union (1922–1935) |
| Branch | Imperial Russian Army Red Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1935 |
| Rank | Comcor |
| Commands | 24th Rifle Division 1st Army 42nd Rifle Division 1st Caucasus Cavalry Division 2nd Cavalry Corps 3rd Cavalry Corps |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | seebelow |
Hayk Bzhishkian (Armenian:Հայկ Բժշկյան,Russian:Гайк Бжишкян, also known asGuy Dmitrievich Guy,Gai Dmitrievich Gai (Гай Дмитриевич Гай),Gaya Gai (Гая Гай), 18 February [O.S. 6 February] 1887 – 11 December 1937), was a Soviet military commander of Persian-Armenian origin who fought in theRussian Civil War andPolish–Soviet War.
Gai was born Hayk Bzhishkian inTabriz,Iran, to a family of teachers. His mother was Persian and his father was an Armenian socialist (a member of the ArmenianSocial Democrat Hnchakian Party) who had taken refuge from thetsarist authorities in Persia during the 1880s.[1][2] He returned to Russia in his teens and was an activist and journalist inTiflis, where he studied at the Armenian Theological Seminary. He joined theRussian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1904 and spent five years in jail for revolutionary activities before he was drafted in 1914.
Because of his background, Gai was assigned to the Russo-OttomanCaucasus campaign, where his repeated acts of bravery under fire earned him the rank ofstabs-kapitan, theCross of St. George (3rd and 4th class), and theOrder of St. Anna, all awarded by GeneralNikolai Yudenich. Captured by the Ottomans, he escaped and returned to Russia badly wounded on the eve of theFebruary Revolution. During World War I, Bzhishkian rose to the rank of captain. Gai, as he came to be known, became aBolshevik before theOctober Revolution.[3]
He became a military commander in 1918, when he fought against theCzechoslovak Legion ("White Czechs") and theOrenburg Cossacks ofatamanAlexander Dutov.
During thePolish–Soviet War of 1920, he helpedMikhail Tukhachevsky drive the Poles back to Warsaw. Gai was appointed commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps ("Kavkor"), attached to the4th Army, and consisting of the 10th Division (N. D. Tomin) and the 15th (Kuban) Division (V. I. Matuzenko), with the 164th Rifle Brigade in support. In Tukhachevsky's plan, the role assigned to the Kavkor was "of the utmost importance". It was to operate on the extreme right wing of the Soviet advance and turn the flank of the Polish defence lines, thus allowing them to be rolled up by the attacking armies. The Kavkor advanced rapidly, takingVilnius on July 14,Grodno (where the Red cavalry encountered tanks for the first time) on July 22, reaching theVistula in the second week of August, and cutting the crucialWarsaw–Gdańsk railway.[4]: 144, 147–150
However, the Polish counter-attack resulted in the encirclement of the 4th Army. Gai's Kavkor attempted to break out. After several engagements, it was finally pinned against the German (East Prussian) border by the pursuing Poles. The Kavkor crossed the border on August 26, and Gai was interned by the Germans in theSalzwedel camp near Berlin.[4]: 207
He was twice awarded with theOrder of the Red Banner; in 1919 for battles in theVolga Region of 1918 and in 1920 for the Polish campaign.
Gai was thePeople's Commissar of the Army and Navy of theArmenian SSR and later a military history lecturer and researcher in 1922. From 1924 to 1925, he was the chief of the military garrison inMinsk. In 1926, he continued his studies at theMilitary Academy of the General Staff. Upon graduation in 1927, Bzhishkian managed the Frunze department. He was a professor and the Head of the Department of War History and Military Art in theZhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy from 1933 to 1935.
In June 1935, he was dismissed from all his posts and the army and was also expelled from the Communist Party. On 3 July 1935, he was arrested and accused of "creating a military-fascist organization in the Red Army" by the Military Collegium of theSupreme Court of the USSR. He was also accused of having a private conversation with a non-party member while drunk and stating, "it is necessary to removeStalin".[5] On 15 October 1935, Gai was sentenced by theSpecial Council of the NKVD on charges of involvement in a counter-revolutionary group to 5 years in detention camps. While being sent to the Yaroslavl prison on 22 October 1935, he escaped,[6] but after a few days he was arrested by the NKVD.[7][8]
He spent two years in detention. On 11 December 1937, during theGreat Purge, Gai was shot.[9] His books were declared politically harmful andbanned. After Stalin's death, he wasrehabilitated on 21 January 1956 and restored to the party posthumously.
The village ofGai inArmenia was renamed in his honor.[10] A USSR postage stamp with Gai's portrait was made in 1967. The passenger rivermotor ship (riverboat)Komdiv Gai (Комдив Гай, 1963) bears his name. There are streets named after him in the cities ofYerevan,Grodno,Minsk,Samara,Orenburg,Tolyatti, andStary Oskol.
 | Cross of St. George, 3rd class. |
 | Cross of St. George, 4th class. |
 | Order of St. Anna |
 | Order of the Red Banner, two times (1918, 1920) |
Bzhishkian was also made an honorary citizen ofMinsk.[11]
Gai commanded some regiments, divisions and higher military formations:
Hayk's first name is sometimes given asGaia, Гая, orGai, as well asGhaia orGhai; thepatronymic is sometimes spelt as "Dimitrievich" or "Dimitriyevich" or "Dmitriyevich"; the last name also spelt as Bzhishkiants (Бжишкянц); in Polish sources related toPolish-Soviet War he is referred to as either Gaj Brzyszkian, Gaj Dimitrijewicz Gaj or Gaj-Chan (Khan), or Gay-Khan (English spelling). His first name, Гайк, is a Russian transliteration of "Haik", which was further corrupted in various Latinizations.
The esteemed Soviet military commander G.D. Gai was born into a family of teachers at Tabriz, in Iran. His mother was Persian and his father was an Armenian socialist who had fled to Persia in the 1880s to escape the tsarist authorities.
Known as Gai Dmitrievich Gai (b. 1887), he had been born in Tabriz, Persia, the son of an Armenian father and Persian mother (...)
