Afonin, Ivan Mikhailovich

Ivan Mikhailovich Afonin was born on April 20, 1904 in the village of Kreshnevo, now in the Vesyegonsky District of the Tver Region, into a peasant family.

He worked as chairman of the village council.

Pre-war time

In November 1926 he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army and sent to the 26th Artillery Division ( 2nd Artillery Division ) by the Red Army, and in October 1927 he was sent to study at the Borisoglebsky Cavalry School .

In 1928 he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b) .

After graduating from school in 1929, he was sent to the 51st Cavalry Regiment ( Ukrainian Military District ), where he was appointed commander of a cavalry platoon, and then - commander of a platoon regimental school.

After completing refresher courses at the United Military School named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in Moscow, from October 1932, he temporarily held the post of chief of the 6th division of the headquarters of the 9th Cavalry Division ( Ukrainian Military District ), and then was promoted to the post of assistant commander of a separate cavalry squadron 51- Rifle Division .

In April 1933, he was sent to study at the Military Academy named after MV Frunze , after which, from October 1936, he temporarily held the position of chief of the operations department of the 1st Army Group , where from July to September 1939, he took participation in the fighting at Khalkhin Gol .

Since December 1939, Afonin served as assistant chief and temporarily served as chief of a special group for special assignments under the commander of the troops of the Odessa Military District , in September 1940 he was appointed senior assistant inspector of infantry of the same district, in February 1941 Senior Adjutant Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army , and in March of the same year - to the post of commander of the 469th Infantry Regiment ( 150th Infantry Division , Odessa Military District).

Great Patriotic War

With the beginning of the war Afonin was in his former position. The regiment under his command took part in the course of the border battle on the southern front .

From September 9, 1941, Afonin served as the commander of the 333rd Infantry Division as part of the North Caucasian Military District . From January 1942, the division as part of the 9th Army of the Southern Front took part in hostilities in the area of ​​the city of Izyum .

In April, he was appointed to the post of chief of staff of the 5th Cavalry Corps , who soon took part in the Donbas defense operation . On June 22, Afonin was wounded in a battle on the Seversky Donets , after which he was sent for treatment to the military hospital of the city of Kamyshin , where four fragments were found in the body of Afonin.

After recovering in August, he was appointed commander of the 300th rifle division as part of the South Urals Military District , which in October was incorporated into the 5th Shock and then the 2nd Guards armies of the Stalingrad Front , after which it took part in Battle of Stalingrad .

From February 1943, Afonin was at the disposal of Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov for particularly important operational orders, after which he traveled to the areas of the Demyan salient and Belgorod .

On April 17, 1943, he was appointed commander of the 18th Guards Rifle Corps , who soon took part in the Battle of Kursk and the liberation of Left-Bank Ukraine , and then in Kiev defensive and offensive operations . In 1944 Corps under the command of Major General Afonin took part in the Zhitomir-Berdichev , Rivne, Lutsk , Proskurov-Chernovtsy , Lvov-Sandomierz , Eastern Carpathians , Carpathian-Uzhgorod and Budapest offensives , as well as the liberation of the cities Shepetivka , Izyaslav , Monastyriska , Tlumach , Stanislav and Budapest .

On April 12, 1944, Afonin personally shot the intelligence chief of the 237th rifle division, Major Andreev. On this occasion, Colonel-General F. I. Golikov, the head of the Central Personnel Directorate of the Red Army, wrote to G. M. Malenkov , secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) On April 30, 1944 ^[1] :

Marshal of the Soviet Union Comrade. Zhukov (ciphering No. 117396 of April 28 of this year) reported to the People’s Commissar for Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union comrade. Stalin about a hand-to-hand execution by the commander of the 18th rifle corps, Major General of the Intelligence Division, 237 rifle division, Major Andreev.
I present to you on this subject a copy of my report addressed to comrade. Stalin.

Stalin Golikov reported the day before, April 29:

Marshal Zhukov reported to you about the autographic execution by the commander of the 18 rifle corps, Major General Afonin, to the head of the Intelligence Division of the 237 rifle division, Major Andreev (the Afonin corps was part of the 1st Ukrainian Front commanded by Zhukov).

Despite the fact that this arbitrary execution was carried out on April 12 with. The report was made only on April 28, that is, after 16 days. Contrary to the petition of Marshal Zhukov - not to bring Afonin to trial of the Military Tribunal, but to limit myself to measures of social and party influence, I very much ask you to bring Afonin to trial.

If, contrary to all regulations, orders of the Supreme Command and the principles of the Red Army, General Afonin considers it permissible to strike a Soviet officer, then he can hardly expect that every officer of the Red Army (and even more so combat) can remain after such a physical and moral insults and upheavals within a discipline so ugly and easily disturbed by the general himself.

Moreover, after the murder of Andreev, it is hardly possible to take on faith the reference of General Afonin to the fact that Andreev tried to strike again and behaved impudently. As for the positive qualities of General Afonin, because of which Marshal Zhukov asks the latter not to judge, then Colonel-General Chernyakhovsky gave me the following characteristic of Afonin the following day (verbally): light-hearted, arrogant gentleman, intolerant of dealing with people; the artillery does not know and can not organize interactions on the battlefield; does not study; a bouncer, a man of crackling phrases.

Tov. Chernyakhovsky (the commander of the 60th army, which included the corps of Afonin) (according to him) all expressed this about Afonin personally to Marshal Zhukov.

Marshal Zhukov Afonin worked as a guardian at the beginning of 1943 and at the group headquarters at Khalkhin Gol.

From January 1945, Afonin was treated at the hospital after being seriously wounded in the advanced forces of the troops during the storming of Budapest, and after recovering from April of the same year, he commanded the same corps, which participated in the Bratislava-Brnovskoy and Prague offensive operations .

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 28, 1945, for exemplary command of the rifle corps in the battles against the German fascist invaders and the personal courage and heroism of the guard, Major-General Ivan Mikhailovich Afonin, he was awarded the title of the Hero of Lenin and the Gold Medal Star .

On the day of the Victory Parade on Red Square, Lieutenant-General Afonin commanded the consolidated regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front .

In July 1945, the corps was redeployed to the Far East , where it soon took part in the Soviet-Japanese war during the Khingan-Mukden offensive operation . For participation in the operation the corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner . On August 19, 1945, General Ivan Mikhailovich Afonin with a battalion of machine gunners on airplanes, before approaching the city of the Trans-Baikal Front, unexpectedly for the enemy landed at the airfield of Mukden , where he captivated the emperor Pu and his retinue, and also ensured the successful entry of troops R. Ya. Malinovsky into Mukden

Post War Career

After the end of the war, Lieutenant General Ivan Mikhailovich Afonin was in his former position.

In May 1946, he was sent to study at the Higher Military Academy named after KE Voroshilov , after which he graduated with honors in March 1948, he was appointed Chief of Operations - Deputy Chief of Staff of the Belarusian Military District , in May 1949 - Assistant Commander of the 1st Separate Red Banner Army ( Far Eastern Military District ), in September 1951 - to the post of commander of the 123rd infantry corps ( Privolzhsky Military District ), in June 1954 - to the post of first deputy commander by the troops of the West Siberian Military District , and in November 1956, to the post of commander of the 14th Army ( Odessa Military District ). In May 1960, Afonin was relieved of his post, after which he was sent to teaching at the Higher Military Academy named after KE Voroshilov, where he was appointed deputy head, and then - as a senior teacher in the department of tactics of higher formations.

Lieutenant-General Ivan Mikhailovich Afonin retired in June 1968 . Died January 16, 1979 in Moscow . He was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery (section 9-3).

• Gold Star Medal (04/28/1945);
• Two Orders of Lenin (1944, 04/28/1945);
• Four Orders of the Red Banner (09/29/1939, 08/27/1943, 09/08/1945, 11/5/1946);
• Two orders of Suvorov 2 degrees (31.03.1943, 10/17/1943);
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2 degrees (01/10/1944);
• Order of the Red Star ;
• Medals;
• Foreign awards:
  • Order of the Red Banner (MNR, 10.10.1939);
  • Foreign medals.

Honorary titles

• Freeman of the city of Uzhgorod .

• The team of authors . Great Patriotic: Komkory. Military Biographical Dictionary / Under the general editorship of M. G. Vozhakina . - M. Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Pole, 2006. - T. 1. - p. 57-58. - ISBN 5-901679-08-3 .
• The team of authors . Great Patriotic: Komdivy. Military biographical dictionary. - M .: Kuchkovo Pole, 2014. - T. 3. - p. 143-146. - 1000 copies - ISBN 978-5-9950-0382-3 .
• Battle of Stalingrad. July 1942 - February 1943: Encyclopedia / ed. M.M. Zagorulko . - 5th ed., Rev. and add. - Volgograd: Publisher, 2012. - p. 55. - 800 p.

• Afonin, Ivan Mikhailovich (Russian) . The site " Heroes of the country ."
• "Afonin Ivan Mikhailovich." "Tver land in the military history of Russia" - the site of the Tver Military-Historical Internet Center.
• Y. Golyshev . “How Captured Pu I” “Pacific Star”, Khabarovsk, July 20, 2005