Filipp Zhmachenko

Filipp Feodosevich Zhmachenko (Russian: Жмаченко, Филипп Феодосьевич), (Ovruchsky Uyezd, 26 November 1895 - Kiev 19 June 1966) was a Soviet Colonel-General (1945).

Biography

Zhmachenko was born in Volhynia in Ukraine and participated in the First World War and the Russian Civil War.
In 1937-1938, he was commander of the 92nd Infantry Division, until he was arrested in June 1938. He remained in custody until July 1939. He was restored in the Red Army and in November 1939, he was appointed chief of staff of the Kharkov Military District. Since March 1941, he was the commander of the 67th Rifle Corps.

At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the 67th Rifle Corps became part of the 21st Army of the Western Front and under the command of Zhmachenko, participated in the Rogechev-Zhlobin Offensive Operation (or Battle of Babruysk). In mid-July 1941, he was replaced as commander by Kuzma Galitsky. He then received command of the 42nd Infantry Division, but was wounded and out of action until September 1941.

From September 1941 he was Deputy Commander of the 38th Army of the South-Western Front. In February-May 1942, he became commander of the 3rd Army of the Bryansk Front. In September 1943 he was appointed commander of the 47th Army of the Voronezh Front.
From October 1943 until the end of the war, he commanded the 40th Army. With his Army, he fought in the Iasi-Chisinau, Bucharest-Arad, Debrecen, Budapest, Banska-Bystric, Bratislava-Brnovsk, Prague offensive operations, and the liberation of Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

In October 1943, F.F. Zhmachenko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for crossing the Dnieper River and holding the bridgehead south of Kiev.

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. In 1955-1960, he was Chairman of the Central Committee of the DOSAAF of the Ukrainian SSR.

He retired in 1960. A street in Kiev was named after him.

Sources

• Generals.dk
• the article in the Russian Wikipedia, Жмаченко, Филипп Феодосьевич.