Grigory Ivanovich Karizhsky (Russian: Григорий Иванович Карижский; 21 November 1895 – 5 February 1971) was a Soviet Army Major general and Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1915, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army and graduated from warrant officer school before being demobilized after the October Revolution. Karizhsky joined the Red Army soon after and became a cavalry commander, fighting in the Russian Civil War. He eventually became a regimental commander by 1932, and was still in that position at the beginning of the Great Purge. In 1938 he was dismissed from the army and imprisoned but was reinstated in December 1939. He was rearrested a month later but reinstated in the spring of 1941. After Operation Barbarossa, Karizhsky became commander of the 32nd and then 202nd Airborne Brigades in the Far East. He was appointed 15th Army deputy commander, still in the Far East, in August 1942. After graduating from tactical courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff Karizhsky became deputy commander of the 36th Rifle Corps in the 3rd Belorussian Front in September 1944. After participating in the Gumbinnen Operation he was given command of the 18th Guards Rifle Division and led it during the East Prussian Offensive and Battle of Königsberg. For his leadership, Karizhsky was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war the division became the 30th Guards Mechanized Division. Karizhsky continued to serve postwar and held various staff posts. He retired in 1958 and lived in Kiev until his death in 1971. Early life, World War I and Russian Civil War Karizhsky was born on 21 November 1895 on the Fitinino farm in Saratov Governorate to a peasant family. He graduated from 6th grade. He was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army in May 1915 and graduated from warrant officer school in 1917. He joined the Red Army in February 1918 and became assistant commander of the Kamyshin Revolutionary Committee. In April 1918 he became a company commander of the Kamyshin Vsevobuch, In September 1918, he became a company commander in the 1st Separate Tsaritsyn Cavalry Squadron. Karizhsky became a squadron commander in the Kamyshin Cavalry Regiment in January 1919. Around this time he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He fought on the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War. In 1920 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his actions.