Semyon Sakhnov

Semyon Pavlovich Sakhnov
Sakhnov, likely during World War II
Born	15 February 1900 Samoylovka, Balashovsky Uyezd, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	8 March 1950(1950-03-08) (aged 50) Moscow, Soviet Union
Buried	Vvedenskoye Cemetery
Allegiance	Russian SFSR Soviet Union
Service/branch	Red Army (later Soviet Army)
Years of service	1919–1948
Rank	Major general
Commands held	71st Rifle Division 56th Rifle Division 23rd Reserve Rifle Brigade (became 23rd Reserve Rifle Division)
Battles/wars	Russian Civil War World War II
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner

Semyon Pavlovich Sakhnov (Russian: Семён Павлович Сахнов; 15 February 1900 – 8 March 1950) was a Red Army major general who commanded the 56th Rifle Division in the early stages of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa).

After fighting as an ordinary soldier in the Russian Civil War, Sakhnov graduated from an officer training school and served there during the 1920s before rising to division command in the late 1930s. He was commanding the 56th Rifle Division in Belarus when Operation Barbarossa was launched. Stationed close to the border, his unit was destroyed in the first days of the war. After more than two months behind German lines, Sakhnov reached the Soviet lines with a small group of other officers, but was expelled from the Communist Party for burying his documents when he was encircled by German units. As a result of this censure, he never held a combat command again and spent the rest of the war in command of a training unit.