Mikhail Afanasyev
Mikhail Afanasyev (13th of February 1884, Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire – 22nd of June 1941, Riga, Latvian SSR) – a major general (1919) of the Northwestern White Army. Was executed by NKVD in 1941.
Mikhail Afanasyev was born in the Novgorod Governorate into the family of an officer. In 1902 he graduated from the Yaroslavl Cadet Corps and entered the Konstantine Artillery School in St. Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1904 with the rank of second lieutenant. He served in the 45th Artillery Brigade. By 1917 he had risen to the rank of colonel and was appointed brigade commander.
At the beginning of 1918, Mikhail Afanasyev was discharged from the army and, while traveling to Riga, was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was released in July 1918. He then lived at the Balinovo estate near Rezhitsa (Rēzekne), which belonged to his mother-in-law. In October 1918 he joined the Northern Corps; however, in the territory of Rezhitsa District his units were not fully formed. In November 1918 he was appointed commander of the Latgale Self-Defense Detachment.
On 9 December 1918, under a special agreement, Afanasyev’s detachment was incorporated into the Armed Forces of the Latvian Provisional Government as Colonel Afanasyev’s partisan detachment. At the end of December, the unit took part in battles near Riga (in the vicinity of Inčukalns), later retreating to Liepāja. In January 1919, following a conflict with the German command, part of the detachment was transported by ship to Estonia, where it joined the Northern Corps (later the Northwestern Army of N. Yudenich). Afanasyev served as artillery inspector of the 2nd Corps and later as artillery inspector of the entire Northwestern Army. He was promoted to the rank of major general in May 1919.
After the collapse of Yudenich’s army, Afanasyev returned to Latvia in February 1920 with the permission of the Latvian authorities. He lived at the Balinovo estate in Rezna Parish as a farmer. He maintained contacts with other former officers of the Russian Army. Until 1928, when he moved to Riga, he was a member of the Aizsargu organization, serving in the Reznas unit of the 17th Rēzekne Aizsargu Regiment.
On 18 October 1940, Afanasyev was arrested by the NKVD. In April 1941, in Daugavpils, he was sentenced to death; the sentence was carried out on 22 June 1941 near Riga, in the Baltezers area. He was buried there in a mass grave. On 23 July, his remains were reinterred at the Baltezers Cemetery in Ādaži Parish.
Awards (Russian Empire):
Order of St. Vladimir, 4th Class;
Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd and 3rd Class;
Order of St. Anna, 3rd and 4th Class.
He was married to Galina Fyodorova (1900).
Son: Alexei (born 1932).
Sources of information:
LVA, ф. 1986, оп. 1, д. 1182, д. 39 218;
Jekabsons Ē. Latgale vācu okupācijas laikā un pulkveža M. Afanasjeva partizāņu nodaļas darbība Latvijā 1918. gadā. – Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Žurnāls. – 1996. – Nr. 1.
См.: Latvijas armijas augstākie virsnieki. 1918–1940. Biogrāfiskā vārdnīca. – Sast. Ē. Jēkabsons, V. Ščerbinskis. – Rīga: Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs, 1998., 59. lpp.
