Pavle Abramidze

Pavle Abramidze (პავლე აბრამიძე; Павел Ивлианович Абрамидзе, Pavel Ivlianovich Abramidze) (March 19, 1901 – April 3, 1989) was a Georgian commander in the Soviet military. Promoted to major general in 1940, he commanded the 72nd Mountain Rifle Division during the Battle of Uman in World War II. He was taken prisoner by the German Wehrmacht in August 1941 and remained in captivity until May 1945, when he was repatriated to the Soviet Union.

Biography
Pavle Abramidze was born into a peasant family in the western Georgian village of Vani, Kutaisi Governorate, then part of the Russian Empire. Drafted in the Red Army in 1923, he graduated from a military college in Tbilisi in 1926. He rose through the ranks, eventually being promoted to major-general on June 4, 1940. He commanded a division in the Winter War with Finland from 1939 to 1940. On August 8, 1940, Abramidze was appointed commander of the 72nd Mountain Rifle Division, which fought the Axis invasion in Ukraine. He was taken prisoner along with many other high-ranking Soviet officers at the battle of Uman on August 8, 1941. On May 27, 1945, he was repatriated to the Soviet Union, where he was arrested, but soon cleared of charges. Thereafter, he lived and lectured in Tbilisi until his retirement in 1956. He died in Tbilisi in 1989.