Phore (Christopher) Mosulishvili was born on 20 July, 1916 in the village of Kvemo Machkhaani, in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti. He was serving in the Red Army when Nazi Germany invaded the USSR. During one of the battles Phore was wounded and taken prisoner.
In 1944 Mosulishvili, together with other Georgian POWs, was transferred to Italy.
In Stresa Phore managed to contact the partisans of the 118th Brigade Garibaldi. Soon Mosulishvili, accompanied by a group of fellow Georgian soldiers, escaped from the Nazi camp taking with him considerable military ammunition and joined Italian resistance.
The Georgians 2nd Battalion quickly gained a reputation for toughness and bravery successfully conducting various military operations.
In November, 1944 the Nazis decided to unleash a violent counter-offensive in the area of the Mottarone-Vergante, in low Verbano, operative sector of the Brigade “Servadei”. This caused the partisans to separate into small groups, in an attempt to avoid reprisals.
On 3 December, 1944 Phore Mosulishvili, together with sixteen partisans, was surrounded by Nazis. They stated that if the commander surrendered, the others would be spared, otherwise everyone would be killed.The commander Edo Del Gratta did not respond. Phore Mosulishvili, who was already wounded, told partisans to disarm and discard their weapons. Then he exited the hut and shouted: ‘I am the Commander’ and with the words: ‘viva l’ Italia libera!’ he put the revolver to his throat and pulled the trigger.
Phore Mosulishvili saved the lives of 16 guerilas. In April 1945 they were released by the Italian partisans.
Phore was posthumously awarded with the Italian Gold Medal of Military Valour and the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ (only by president Gorbachev in 1990) for his heroic self-sacrifice during World War II.
Photo: Phore (center) with Italian resistance fighters.
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