On October 18, 1918, the hero of the wars for the unification of Bulgaria, Gen. Radko Dimitriev, together with about 100 generals and officers, was shot by the Bolsheviks. His remains were transferred and buried in the church of the city of Pyatigorsk.
Radko Ruskov Dimitriev was born on September 24, 1859 in the village of Gradets, Sliven Region. He graduated from the Aprilov Gymnasium in Gabrovo. He participated in the Kotel national liberation movement, and during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 he was enlisted as a translator in the Russian army. Radko Dimitriev graduated from the first class of the military school in Sofia (1879) and the Nikolaev General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg (1884). On October 18, 1884, he was promoted to the rank of captain.
He participated in the preparation of the Unification. After the historical act, he was the Chief of Staff of the South Bulgarian troops and in the Serbo-Bulgarian War, he commanded the vanguard of the left column during the capture of Pirot.
After the victorious war, he was one of the main organizers of the coup of the Russophile officers of June 9, 1886, which dethroned Prince Alexander I of Bulgaria. After the failure of the coup plotters to hold on to power, he emigrated successively to Romania and Russia.
After the announcement of the amnesty for the officers participating in the coup, he returned to Bulgaria and was promoted to the rank of colonel. In this position he held various posts in the Bulgarian army. On May 1, 1905, he was promoted to the rank of major general and two years later he was the head of the 3rd military inspection district.
During the Balkan War, he took command of the 3rd Bulgarian Army, formed on September 17, 1912 in Ruse, consisting of: 4th Preslav, 5th Danube, 9th Pleven infantry divisions, 3rd cavalry brigade, 3rd howitzer division, militia and auxiliary units.
The total strength of the army in 1912 reached 111,363 people, 26,030 horses, 3,737 oxen, 6,675 carts, 7 cars, 75 bicycles, 72 machine guns and 318 cannons. The army commanded by General Dimitriev carried out the operational-tactical surprise for the Turks of the Thracian military theater in the battles of Lozengrad, Lyuleburgaz and Bunarhisar. During the attack on the Chataldzha fortified defense line, the general took command of the combined 1st and 3rd armies. During the Inter-Allied War, he was appointed assistant commander-in-chief, and a little later he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg. He also held this post at the beginning of World War I.
He left service and joined the active Russian Imperial Army at the head of the 8th Army Corps as part of the 8th Army, operating in Galicia. After successful battles against the Austro-Hungarians in September 1914, he was promoted to the rank of general of the infantry and was entrusted with the command of the 3rd Army. With it, Dimitriev unsuccessfully besieged Przemysl, and by the end of the year he was fighting on the San River and in the direction of Krakow.
As a result of the Gorlice breakthrough in May 1915, his troops were defeated and retreated from the northern Carpathians. A few days after the defeat, Dimitriev was removed from command of the 3rd Army, but in March 1916 he was entrusted with the 12th Army in the Baltics. With it, in the summer of 1916 and the following winter, he conducted bloody but fruitless offensives against the Germans west of Riga. In July 1917, he was removed from army command and enrolled in the reserve. Later, he went to southern Russia for treatment.