The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili paid tribute to the memory of the young military cadets who fell defending the country during the February 1921 Red Army invasion that put an end to the three-year First Democratic Republic of Georgia.
The President laid wreaths on the cadets’ memorial in Kojori and the cadets’ memorial plaque on the facade of the Parliament Palace.
“Unfortunately, due to the fact that the President of Georgia was not invited by the Parliament, she was not given the opportunity to attend the memorial service for the spirit of the cadets in the Khareba chapel located in the courtyard of the Parliament and to pay respect to the memory of the cadets together with other representatives of the state institutions,” the information spread by the President’s administration reads.
The Red Army invaded Georgia between February 15 and March 17, 1921, with the goal of overthrowing the Georgian Government and annexing the country into the Soviet Union.
During the clashes that followed the invasion, Georgian cadets won a defensive battle near the village of Tabakhmela, outside the capital Tbilisi, while seeing 118 of their ranks killed.
In the overall campaign, the Red Army ultimately prevailed through a multi-pronged assault that occupied the capital and the rest of the country, and forced its Government into exile.
