Mikhail Borisovich Anashkin (; 19 November 1901 – 23 January 1951) was a Red Army lieutenant general and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Rising to junior command positions during the Russian Civil War, Anashkin held command and staff positions. He was arrested during the Great Purge but released, and after Operation Barbarossa began became a division chief of staff. He commanded the 160th Rifle Division from late 1941 to mid-1942 and the 159th Rifle Division in the Battle of Stalingrad. The latter was converted into the 61st Guards for its actions and Anashkin rose to corps command, leading the 19th, 33rd, and 64th Rifle Corps until early 1944. For the rest of the war, he commanded the 129th Rifle Corps, and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of it in the Vistula–Oder Offensive during early 1945. Ill health resulted in his early retirement after the end of the war.
Early life and Russian Civil War
Anashkin was born to a peasant family on 19 November 1901 in the village of Koma, Yeniseysk Governorate, and completed primary school. He joined the partisan detachment of Pyotr Shchetinkin in November 1919 during the Russian Civil War and operated with it in Yeniseysk Governorate. When partisan detachments were reorganized into regular Red Army units in March 1920, Anashkin continued his service with the 239th Kursk Rifle Regiment of the 27th Omsk Rifle Division. After graduating from the divisional school, he served with the 239th as a squad leader and starshina. With the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, Anashkin fought in battles against the remnants of White forces.
In late June the division was relocated to the Western Front and as part of the 16th Army fought in the Polish–Soviet War on the Berezina in the area of Smolevichi and Ozerishche. On 11 July the 27th captured Minsk, then fought in the breakthrough of the fortified positions at Baranovichi, the capture of Slonim, and the crossing of the Bug. In August the division fought in the Battle of Warsaw before retreating back into Belarus. From January 1921, Anashkin served as a platoon commander and acting company commander with the 239th in fighting against anti-Soviet forces in Vitebsk, Minsk, and Gomel Governorates, and in March he participated in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion, then in the suppression of anti-Soviet forces in the Volga Military District.
Interwar period
Anashkin served as a starshina in the 6th Tsaritsyn Regiment of the Volga Military District from May 1922, then in the same position with the 96th and 99th Rifle Regiments. From June 1924 he commanded a platoon in the 99th Regiment, before being sent to study at the Smolensk Infantry School in September. After the latter was disbanded in September 1926 Anashkin transferred to the Ryazan Infantry School. Upon his graduation in October 1927, he was appointed a platoon commander in the 66th Rifle Regiment of the 22nd Rifle Division. Anashkin completed the Moscow Military-Political Course between October 1928 and July 1929, being appointed commander and politruk of a company of the 78th Rifle Regiment of the 26th Rifle Division of the Special Far Eastern Army, with which he fought in the Sino-Soviet conflict later that year.
Transferred to the 118th Rifle Regiment of the 40th Rifle Division in June 1931, Anashkin served with it as a company politruk, company commander, and assistant chief of staff of the training battalion. Sent to study at the Frunze Military Academy for advanced training in February 1932, Anashkin was appointed assistant chief of the 1st (operational) department of the staff of the 7th Rifle Corps in the Kiev Military District upon his graduation in May 1936. He served as chief of staff of the 23rd Rifle Division from May 1937, but was arrested on 1 August 1938 during the Great Purge. Imprisoned under investigation until 27 February 1939, Anashkin was released and reinstated in the army, becoming an instructor at the tactics and staff service department of the Frunze Military Academy in April.