Soviet army general (1890–1943)
Iosif Rodionovich Apanasenko (Russian: Иосиф Родионович Апанасенко) (April 15 (April 3 O.S.), 1890 – August 5, 1943) was a Soviet division commander.
Career
Iosif Apanasenko was an ethnic Russian, born in a village in Stravopol province.[1] His family were poor peasants. As a teenager, he worked as a labourer and a shepherd. In 1911, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army, and fought in World War I, at the end of which he was commander of a machine gun regiment. After the Bolshevik Revolution, he returned to his native village, where he was elected chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee. In May 1918, he organised a partisan detachment to fight against the White Army. Later in 1918, he took command of the Sixth Cavalry Division of the Red Cavalry, commanded by Semyon Budyonny, and fought in the Civil War across south Russia and Ukraine to Lviv, but during the Polish–Soviet War, members of the Sixth Cavalry Division committed particularly serious atrocities against the Jews, and the political commissar who tried to restore order was killed, and Apanasenko was dismissed from his command for failing to keep his men under control. Afterwards, 153 pogromists from his unit were executed.[1]
Apanasenko was allowed to re-enlist in the cavalry as commander of the Fifth Cavalry Division in 1924, after undergoing military training. In 1935-38, he was deputy commander of the Belarus military district. He was one of a number of former cavalry officers to receive rapid promotion during the Great Purge, being appointed Commander of the Central Asian Military District in February 1938. In 1941, he was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, promoted to the rank of General, and appointed Commander of the Far Eastern Front. As it became clear that there was no risk of another war with Japan on the Chinese border, he made numerous requests to be transferred to the front to fight the Germans, and was appointed deputy commander of the Voronezh Front. He visited units on the frontline and led them during the fighting. He was killed by an airstrike during the Soviet counteroffensive at Kursk. He was a recipient of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner.
References
- ^ a b "Апанасенко Иосиф Родионович Генерал армии". 154 отдельный комендантский Преображенский полк книга почета (154 Preobrazhensky Regiment Book of Honour). Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
Sources
- Социокультурный состав советской военной элиты 1931—1938 гг. и её оценки в прессе русского зарубежья
- Командный и начальствующий состав Красной Армии в 1940-1941 гг pages 112—113
Military offices
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Preceded by Savely Negovora
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Commander of the 6th Cavalry Division March–June 1919
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Succeeded by Semyonov
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Preceded by Boris Solovyov
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Commander of the 6th Cavalry Division July 1919
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Succeeded by Alexey Polyakov
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Preceded by Grigory Baturin
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Commander of the 6th Cavalry Division October–November 1919
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Succeeded by
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Preceded by Semyon Timoshenko
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Commander of the 6th Cavalry Division August–October 1920
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Succeeded by Yakov Sheko
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Preceded by Leonid Petrovsky
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Commander of the Central Asian Military District 1938–1941
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Succeeded by
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Preceded by
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Commander of the Far Eastern Front January 1941 – April 1943
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Succeeded by
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