Ryzhkov, Afanasy Nikolayevich

Athanasius Ryzhkov was born in the village of Filonovskaya Oblast of the Don Cossack Army ^[3] .

Civil War

December 15, 1917 voluntarily joined the self-defense unit of the city of Shakhty. January 3, 1918 with a detachment of miners joined the 1st Soviet Black Sea detachment A. V. Mokrousov. In its composition he fought with the troops of the Volunteer army of generals P. N. Krasnov, A. M. Kaledin, A. I. Denikin. February 23 in the battle of Novocherkassk was contused and hospitalized. After treatment in March, he was also enrolled by the Red Army in the 1st reserve (guard) battalion. As part of the combined detachment of the Novocherkassk garrison, together with the detachment of the Don Revolutionary Committee and the 5th Army, he retreated through Kamenskaya, Likhaya to Tsaritsyn, leading heavy battles with the rebels of the Don Cossacks of General A. P. Bogaevsky. Upon arrival in Tsaritsyn on August 10, the detachment was disbanded, and A. N. Ryzhkov was enlisted by a Red Army man in the railway battalion of the Southern group of armored trains of the Southern Front, which operated in the area of ​​Gryazi, Kozlov, then in the direction of Voronezh, Millerovo, Rostov-on-Don. From November 12 to December 14, 1919, he was in the hospital due to illness in the city of Millerovo, then in the same place he was registered in the guard battalion. May 5, 1920 was sent to study at the 1st Moscow artillery command courses of the Red Army. From October 8, as part of the combined detachment of cadets was sent to Ukraine to eliminate banditry in the areas of us. points Cherkasy, Zolotonosha, Bobrinka. On February 22, 1921, on the basis of the detachment, the 42nd Cherkassy Command Infantry Courses of the Red Army Commanders were formed, which he graduated in April 1922 ^[2] .

Interwar Period

After completing the courses, he served as commander of a separate platoon of special purpose in Izyaslavl. From August 1922, he commanded a special-purpose letter platoon in the city of Slavuta, then commanded a platoon in a separate special-purpose company in Izyaslavl and in a separate special-purpose Shepetovskaya company1, and since October 1923 he commanded a special-purpose rifle-and-machine-gun platoon destination in Korosten. In August 1924, he was transferred to the 132nd Infantry Regiment of the 44th Infantry Division in Zhytomyr, where he served as commander of a machine-gun platoon, vrid political officer of the company, commander of a rifle platoon. From August 1925 to August 1927, he studied at the Kiev United Military School of the Commanders of the Red Army named. Commander-in-Chief S. S. Kamenev. After its completion, he was appointed to the 221st Infantry Regiment of the 74th Infantry Division of the North Caucasian Military District, where he served as platoon commander, chief of a company commander and political officer. In October 1929, sent to the Military Political Course in Kiev. Upon graduation, in June 1930, he was assigned to the 22nd Infantry Division, where he consistently held the positions of political officer of the company of the 65th infantry regiment, commander and political officer of the company of the 64th infantry regiment, chief and commissioner of senior and middle political personnel of the reserve, commander and political instructor of the training company of the 64th infantry regiment. From February 23 to April 15, 1932 was on the courses of staff workers at the courses "Shot". Upon returning to the regiment, he served as chief of staff and head of the training battalion commander. From March 1933 he served in the district headquarters in the position of aide. Head of the 4th Sector of the 6th Division. From February 1934 was a pom. chief and parade chief of the 1st part of the staff of the 28th mountain rifle division. From June 1934 to December 1937 he was studying at the Military Academy of the Red Army named. MV Frunze, at the end of which he was sent by the chief of staff of the 97th rifle division of the KVO. In June 1938 he was transferred to D. Vostok by the Chief of Staff of the 40th Order of Lenin Rifle Division of the 1st Separate Red Banner Army. From July 28 to August 12, 1938 took part in the battles on the lake. Hassan. On August 6, Zaozernaya was wounded when attacking the fells. By the decree of the PAS of the USSR of October 25, 1939, for courage and heroism in battle, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. At the end of November 1938, a pom. commander of the combat unit of the 21st rifle division in the city of Spassk. From February 1939 he commanded the 34th Infantry Division. VV Kuibyshev as part of the 20th Rifle Corps of the 2nd Separate Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front. However, at the end of April 1941 he was dismissed from his post and sent to the ZOVOVO deputy. commander of the 56th rifle division in the city of Grodno ^[2] .

Great Patriotic War

At the beginning of the brigade commander Ryzhkov in his previous position. In the first hours of the war, the division entered into heavy fighting with superior enemy forces in the Augustow area as part of the 4th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Army of the Western Front. Being cut off from the main forces of the division and corps, the brigade commander, A. N. Ryzhkov, organized a detachment of up to 1.5 division regiments with two artillery divisions and fought with him to Grodno and Osovets. During the heavy fighting, from July 1 to July 5, in the area of ​​the Osovets fortress, the detachment suffered heavy losses, after which A. N. Ryzhkov, at the head of a small detachment, managed to break through the encirclement and in 2 days to unite with the operational group of the front of General I. Boldin. At the end of July, General I. V. Boldin united the surrounded separate detachments and groups into a consolidated partisan division, and the brigade commander A. N. Ryzhkov was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy. commander of this division. On August 11, the consolidated division managed to break through the front line and get out in the area of ​​the 19th army. After leaving the encirclement, she was disbanded, and the brigade commander, A. N. Ryzhkov, was appointed commander of a separate motorized brigade of the 29th Army. As part of the army, she led defensive and offensive battles in the area of ​​the cities of Bely, Kalinin. On December 25, the commander of the brigade, A. N. Ryzhkov, was appointed as the commander of the 355th Infantry Division ^[4] . The 39th Army of the Kalinin Front. The division participated in the Rzhev-Vyazma offensive, attacked Sychevka. In February-June 1942, army troops, including the 355th Infantry Division, fought in the area of ​​Bely, under the threat of being surrounded. From July 2 to July 5, the enemy cut off the army’s communications with two counter blows and completely surrounded her. Against the 355th Infantry Division, which was defending in the Shisderovo area (east of Nesterov), part of the enemy’s 5th Panzer Division was advancing. The encircled units of the division fought hard with superior enemy forces. On July 10, at the breakthrough from the environment, the brigade commander was seriously wounded. On July 14, he was captured by an enemy reconnaissance group that was combing a forest in the Nesterovo area. Contained in POW camps. On April 2, 1945, he was released by parts of the American army and sent ^[5] to the head of the Soviet military mission in France (Paris) ^[2] , after which he was sent to Moscow among several other captured Soviet generals ^[5] .

After the war

From May 26, 1945, he passed a special inspection at the General Directorate of Counterintelligence Smersh. Upon its completion, December 31 was reinstated in the personnel of the Red Army and enlisted at the disposal of the NOC. In March 1946, sent to refresher courses for commanders of rifle divisions at the Military Academy. MV Frunze, after which he was appointed deputy. commander of the 180th Infantry Division OdVO. In September 1950, he was transferred to the reserve ^[2] .

He lived in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky of the Rostov region ^[6] .

The further fate of Colonel Ryzhkov is unknown.

Awarded the Order of Lenin, 2 orders of the Red Banner, medals ^[2] .