Filipp Feodosyevich Zhmachenko (; ; – 19 June 1966) was a

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

and

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

Early life, World War I and Russian Civil War

Filipp Feodosyevich Zhmachenko was born on 26 November 1895 to a Ukrainian peasant family in the village of

Mogilno Mogilno (; ) is a town in central Poland, seat of the Mogilno County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. History Mogilno is one of the oldest settlements along the border of the Greater Poland and Kuyavia historical regions. Since the turn o ...

Ovruchsky Uyezd Ovruchsky Uyezd (''Овручский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northeastern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Ovruch. Demographics At t ...

in the

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

. After graduating from the village school in 1906, he became a railway repair worker. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Zhmachenko was conscripted into the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

in May 1915 and enlisted as a '' ryadovoy'' to a reserve pontoon bridge battalion. In August of that year he was sent to the Southwestern Front, where he fought with the 1st Pontoon Bridge Battalion. In March 1917, after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, he was elected a member of the regimental committee, and in May became chairman of the soldier's committee of the battalion. In July he was arrested for Bolshevik activities, but was soon freed at the request of soldiers. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, Zhmachenko joined the 1st Red Guard Socialist Detachment in November at

Khotin Khotyn (, ; , ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. According ...

. With the detachment, Zhmachenko fought against German troops and the

Ukrainian People's Army The Ukrainian People's Army (), also known as the Ukrainian National Army (UNA) or by the derogatory term Petliurivtsi (, ), was the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921). They were often quickly reorganized units of the former I ...

. He served in the political department of the 17th Rifle Division from June 1918. In November of that year, he became chairman of the revolutionary committee and deputy chairman of the governorate

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

in Volyn Governate. From July 1919, he commanded a company in the 393rd and 5th Tarashchansky regiments of the 44th Rifle Division of the 12th Army of the Southwestern Front. In November he rose to command a battalion of the 418th Rifle Regiment. With the 44th, Zhmachenko fought against the

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Armed Forces of South Russia The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920. On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Ar ...

near Kiev and

Chernigov Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukrain ...

. He was transferred to the 47th Rifle Division in February 1920, commanding a battalion of the 422nd Rifle Regiment. Subsequently, as part of the 58th Rifle Regiment of the 7th Rifle Division of the 14th Army, Zhmachenko fought in the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

. He was captured but escaped and in late 1920 returned to the 7th Rifle Division, serving as an instructor of its political department. In this position he took part in the suppression of Stanislav Bulak-Balakhovich's forces in the

Ovruch Ovruch (, ) is a city in Korosten Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine, first mentioned as Vruchiy in 977. It was the capital city of the Drevlians in the 900s, later conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century, then later part of the Grand D ...

region, and the fight against the

Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (; RIAU), also known as ''Makhnovtsi'' (), named after their founder Nestor Makhno, was an Anarchism, anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainians, Ukrainian peasants and workers during the Russian C ...

Interwar period

After the end of combat operations, Zhmachenko continued serving with the 7th Rifle Division in the

Ukrainian Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

as military commissar of the 56th and 62nd Regiments. After graduating from the Kharkov Courses for Military Commissars in 1923, he became military commissar of the 2nd and 4th Regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division. Zhmachenko transferred to the Kharkov School for Red Starshinas in August 1924, serving as assistant chief for the political section. After graduating from the Vystrel course in November 1926 he was appointed assistant commander of the 69th Rifle Regiment of the 23rd Rifle Division. Rising to command the 239th Rifle Regiment of the 80th Rifle Division in November 1928, Zhmachenko was sent to the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

in March 1932 to command the 207th Rifle Regiment of the 69th Rifle Division of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army. He was promoted to command the 5th Separate Rifle Brigade in March 1937 and in July of that year took command of the

92nd Rifle Division 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

of the army. In February 1938 he received the rank of ''

kombrig () is an abbreviation of Commanding officer of the brigade (), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR from 1935 to 1940. It was also the designation to military personnel appointed to command a brigade sized formation (X ...

'', but in June was dismissed from the army on a false denunciation and imprisoned during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

. Zhmachenko was freed and restored to the army in July 1939, and in November of that year appointed chief of the 2nd Department of the staff of the Kharkov Military District. He rose to chief of the district combat training department in September 1940, and took command of the 67th Rifle Corps in March 1941.

World War II

After the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the 67th Rifle Corps became in July 1941 part of the 21st Army of the Western Front and under the command of Zhmachenko, participated in the Battle of

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

during the Battle of Smolensk. In mid-July 1941, he was replaced as commander by Kuzma Galitsky. He then received command of the 42nd Rifle Division, but was wounded and out of action until September 1941. From September 1941 he was Deputy Commander of the 38th Army of the Southwestern Front. In February–May 1942, he became commander of the 3rd Army of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

. In September 1943 he was appointed commander of the

47th Army The 47th Army () was a field army of the Red Army during World War II, active from 1941 to 1946. History The 47th Army was formed in late July 1941 in the Transcaucasian Military District as part of the Soviet Union's border defenses with Iran. O ...

of the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

. From October 1943 until the end of the war, he commanded the 40th Army. With his army, he fought in the

Battle of Kiev (1943) The Second Battle of Kiev was a part of a much wider Soviet offensive in Ukraine known as the Battle of the Dnieper involving three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army and its Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak units and one operational cou ...

, Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive,

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

, Bucharest-Arad Offensive, Battle of Debrecen,

Siege of Budapest The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapes ...

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Greater Fatra, Veľká Fatra, and t ...

and Bratislava–Brno Offensive, Prague Offensive, and the capture of Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In October 1943, Zhmachenko was awarded the title

for crossing the

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

and holding the bridgehead south of Kiev.

Postwar

He was promoted to the rank of colonel general on 29 May 1945. After the war, he was appointed deputy commander of the Central Group of Forces in Austria. Since 1949, he was the deputy commander of the Belarusian Military District and in November 1953 of the

Carpathian Military District The Red Banner Carpathian Military District (, ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period. It was established on 3 May 1946 on the ...

. In 1955–1960, he was Chairman of the Central Committee of the

DOSAAF DOSAAF (), full name ''Volunteer Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy'' (), was a paramilitary sport organization in the Soviet Union that was concerned mainly with weapons, automobiles and aviation. The society was establ ...

of the Ukrainian SSR. He retired in 1960 and died in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

on 19 June 1966. A street in the city was named after him.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * *

Sources

Generals.dk
* the article in the

Russian Wikipedia The Russian Wikipedia () is the Russian language, Russian-language edition of Wikipedia. As of , it has :ru:Special:Statistics, articles. It was started on 11 May 2001. In October 2015, it became the sixth-largest Wikipedia by the number of ar ...

, Жмаченко, Филипп Феодосьевич. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhmachenko, Filipp Feodosevich 1895 births 1966 deaths Soviet colonel generals Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of World War II Russian people of World War II People from Volhynian Governorate Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class Commanders of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Military Order of the White Lion Burials at Baikove Cemetery Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union People from Zhytomyr Oblast