Allies Against Two Evils: Georgian P.O.W.s in World War II’s Bergmann Units and the Quest to Liberate the Caucasus from Russian Imperialism

By Givi Gabliani MD 488 pages. Softcover with 50 black and white photos and maps. July 2023. Ebook also available.9781954600911 | $32.95 (pb)9781954600249 | $49.95 (hc) An eye-witness account of the Russian/European conflict at the heart of WWII, relevant today as war rages again along similar battle lines in Ukraine, Crimea and the Caucasus. Dr. Givi Gabliani, a Georgian exile from a noble family living in the United States since the 1950s, recounts his conscription into the Red Army as a young man shortly after his father was killed in Stalin’s purges, and his coordinated efforts in the “Bergmann” Units. These mountain troops, uniquely composed of fellow P.O.W.s from the Caucasus, fought against Stalin’s forces on the Eastern Front in Ukraine and Crimea. Their goal: to liberate their homelands. Gabliani finds unlikely allies among a group of German officers in the German Resistance, some later executed after their failed plot to assassinate Hitler, who promise to support Georgia