Grigory Petrovich Kotov (Russian: Григорий Петрович Котов; 21 October 1902 – 7 November 1944) was a Red Army lieutenant general killed by American bombing in the Niš incident.

In July he became chief of the operations department of the headquarters of the front group of forces and in this position took part in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol.

From December 1939 he was chief of staff and briefly acting commander of the 8th Army of the Northwestern Front in the Winter War, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1940.

He took command of the 163rd Rifle Division of the 34th Army on the Northwestern Front on 30 September, leading it in defensive battles near Staraya Russa.

In January 1942 the division went over to the offensive and in conjunction with the 1st Guards Rifle Corps took part in the attacks which encircled German forces in the Demyansk Pocket.

[1][3] On 29 May, Kotov took command of the 47th Army, evacuated to the Kuban after its heavy losses at Kerch and assigned to the North Caucasian Front.

Kotov deployed a brigade and tank battalion to defend the area, but these troops were forced to retreat to positions seven kilometers north of Novorossiysk on 21 August.

Maintaining an aggressive defense of the port, Kotov ordered a costly counterattack by the 77th Rifle Division on 25 August that retook the Neberdzhayevskaya station.

With the worsening situation, Kotov's orders to defend Novorossiysk "at all costs" were repeated on 30 August, and the 47th Army was reinforced by another rifle brigade and division, and smaller naval infantry units on 1 September.

In their report, Beria, Tyulenev, and Bodin described Kotov as having become "overwrought and unnerved and lost the trust of those who were encircled," and as being unable to "provide leadership due to the state of his health.

[7] In his postwar history of the battle of the Caucasus, Grechko wrote that Kotov and his headquarters were "unable to establish communications with the frontline units and failed to mobilize all troops to repel the enemy.

Although the port was lost, its prolonged defense diverted Army Group Ruoff from the drive towards the more strategic Caucasian oil region.

[6] Kotov was left without an assignment until he became deputy commander of the 44th Army of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front in October.

For his performance as deputy commander of the 58th Army in the early 1943 Soviet counteroffensive in the North Caucasus, Kotov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 1 April 1943.