YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Renowned military and public figure, Armenian Colonel-General Gurgen Dalibaltayan passed away September 1, 2015. “Armenpress” was informed about the aforementioned from the Department of Information and Public Affairs of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia.

Gurgen Dalibaltayan was born on June 5, 1926. He is an Armenian Colonel-General. He was the Chief of General Staff of Republic of Armenia Armed Forces during the Battle of Shusha, a battle to capture the city from the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, often called the Marriage in the Highlands by Armenians. He is credited with devising a strategy to assault the strongly fortified town of Shusha using diversionary attacks against adjacent villages to draw out the defenders of the down while the command of troops, "Komandos" Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan, encircled the town and cut off reinforcements. His strategy is generally considered impossible, or at least implausible, as he was originally outnumbered. General military tactics suggest a force of three times the defender's size to successfully storm and win.

Gurgen Dalibaltayan was born in Ninotsminda, Javakheti (modernSamtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia), near the border with Armenia. He attended the Secondary School of Gorelovka from 1934 to 1944. Upon graduating, he spent three years at the Tbilisi School of Infantry. Dalibaltayan then joined the ranks of the Soviet Army.

Dalibaltayan held various commanding positions in Echmiadzin, Yerevan, Perekeshkul, Prishib, Kirovabad, Abakan andRostov-na-Donu during his service in the Soviet Armed Forces. He was the commander of the 242nd Infantry Division of the Siberian Military District from 1969 to 1975. Outside of the USSR, he was Deputy Chief of Staff from 1975 to 1980 for the Southern Group of Forces in Budapest. He had also participated in higher academic courses for commanders at theMilitary Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR (now Russia) in 1976 and 1978. Dalibaltayan held his final position starting in 1987 as Deputy Commander of the North Caucasus Military District for combat training in Rostov-na-Donu. In 1991, he left the Soviet Armed Forces prior to the fall of the Soviet Union.