| Georgy Nikolaevich Viranovsky | |
| Birth Date: | November 13, 1867 |
| Birth Place: | Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Death Date: | 1920 |
| Allegiance: | White Movement |
| Branch: | Imperial Russian Army White Army |
| Rank: | Lieutenant General |
| Commands: | 2nd Guards Corps |
| Battles: | Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Civil War |
| Serviceyears: | 1885–1919 |
Georgy Nikolaevich Viranovsky (; November 13, 1867 – 1920) was a Russian commander, participant in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, Lieutenant General (April 29, 1917), and participant in the White Movement during the Civil War (1918-1920). He was Cavalier of the Order of St. George 3rd and 4th degree.
Georgy Nikolaevich Viranovsky was born to into the noble family of the Viranovsky: His Father was Colonel Nikolai Antonovich Viranovsky (1816-1896) who was a member of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1854–1855, his Mother was Alexandra Vasilyevna, née Belokon .
He had five Brothers: Alexander (born in 1857), Nikolai (born in 1859), Ivan (born in 1861), Konstantin (born in 1866), Peter (1872–1940) and three sisters: Elizabeth (born in 1863), Natalia (1869-1917) and Maria (born in 1870).
He was married to Elena Arturovna, née Luix, daughter of a Belgian citizen. They had three sons: Boris (1893-1968), George (1896-1926) and Nikolai (1910-1985).
Viranovsky graduated in 1885 from the Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps, in 1887 - the 3rd Military Alexander School in the 1st category, in 1897 - the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff in the 1st category.
“In battles near the village of Podbuzh, from October 3 to 11, 1914, he personally controlled the detachment's actions, repelled a number of stubborn attacks of the enemy superior in strength and then went on a decisive attack, took height near the village of Podbuzh, after which the battle took a decisive turn in favor of the Russian troops."[1]
“On May 28, 1916, commanding the 12th Infantry Division, personally leading it, repeatedly, with obvious danger to life, leaving for the regiment's military location, attacked the enemy, advancing from the village of Black Stream, broke through his fortified position and pursuing the enemy, went to the rear with a height of "272" and on the flank of the enemy, defending a height of "458", which made him clear the height of "272" and made it easier for the 32nd division to master the height of "458", as a result of which the Austrians were driven back by the 11th army corps, first R. "The rod, and then to the mountains, and the city of Chernivtsi was occupied and 729 officers, 28021 lower ranks, 30 guns, 92 machine guns, 26 bomb guns, 9 mortars and many other trophies were captured.”[2]
After the February Revolution, on April 2 (15), 1917, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Guards Corps of the 11th Army. April 29, 1917 - lieutenant general.
Letter dated June 30 from General Dukhonin, who was the chief of staff of the South-Western Front, to General Kornilov, then commander of the 8th Army: “Gracious Sovereign, Lavr Georgievich! The Commander-in-Chief on duty, ordered you to provide the following information below about the activities of the commander of the 2nd Guards Corps, General Viranovsky, and the headquarters of this corps, received from military organizations and related to the twentieth of June this year. In the corps, a mood was set against the offensive. General V., himself an opponent of the offensive, told the divisional committees that in no case would he led the guards to slaughter. In an interview with the divisional committees, General V. explained all the disadvantages and difficulties of the offensive that fell to the corps, and pointed out that no one would support the corps either from the right, from the left, or from behind. The ranks of the corps headquarters were generally amazed how the commander in chief could give such tasks, the insolubility of which is clear even to the delegate soldiers. The corps headquarters was not occupied with finding ways to fulfil the difficult task assigned to the corps, but tried to prove that this task was impossible.”[3]
After the dissolution of the front, he lived in the Karpovo estate, but a year later he crossed, circling Asia on the Eastern Front by sea, where he arrived in August 1919. He served in the army of Admiral Alexander Kolchak as chief supply officer of the 2nd and 3rd armies. January 1920, he was captured by units of the 5th Army (RSFSR) in Krasnoyarsk.
He was listed on the lists of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the 5th Army (RSFSR) of the Soviet Red Army on February 4, 1920. It was placed at the disposal of the chief of the General Headquarters, the lists of which are mentioned between May 15 and August 7, 1920. He was executed in captivity in 1920. According to another version, he died of typhus.[4]
Lieutenant General A.S. Lukomsky recalled: "G. N. Viranovsky was at the same time with me at the Academy. He was a good friend, and we all loved him, but he was extremely frivolous and did not differ in particularly firm morality. During the war, as chief of staff of the corps (with V. M. Dragomirov), he received the 4th degree George, and commanding the 12th infantry division, he received the 3rd degree in 1916. During the period of the revolution and the collapse of the army, commanding the corps and the [army], it turned out to be extremely unstable and, under pressure from the “committee”, submitted to the commander in chief of the Southwestern Front General Denikin a note about the need to remove all management concerns from senior commanders, keeping them in their hands as "specialists", only combat and combat command. Denikin immediately ousted him and during the struggle with the Bolsheviks in southern Russia did not want to accept Viranovsky into the army.
"Viranovsky went to the Far East to Kolchak, but he got there already during the collapse and was shot somewhere by the Bolsheviks."[5]
From the memoirs of V.N. von Dreyer: “He was a brilliant man in every way. Officer of the General Staff, well-educated, witty, very prominent, handsome, brave; he perfectly commanded a regiment in the war, for which he received two St. George's crosses and two generals' ranks. At the beginning of the revolution, Viranovsky was already in the position of chief of staff of the Romanian front, with General Shcherbachev. ... Lieutenant General Georgy Nikolaevich Viranovsky suffered from the fact that he could not indifferently see a single pretty woman. Because of one of them, Shcherbachev was forced, one fine day, to replace General Herois in his place ... The last time I saw Viranovsky was in Odessa a year later; like many, he was already an emigrant, running away from the Bolsheviks, but still the same prominent, elegant, who did not take his eyes off beautiful women. They say that he managed to get to Siberia, where he died.”[6]