Dmitry Safonov

Dmitry Potapovich Safonov
Dmitry Potapovich Safonov
	Safonov in 1940
Born	22 September 1895; Tsaritsyn, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	26 June 1941 (aged 45); near Baranovichi, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus)
Allegiance	Russian Empire; Russian SFSR; Soviet Union;
Branch	Imperial Russian Army; Red Army;
Service years	1915–1917; 1918–1941;
Rank	Major general
Commands	143rd Rifle Division
Conflicts	World War I; Russian Civil War; World War II;
Awards	Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class; Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army";

Dmitry Potapovich Safonov (Russian: Дмитрий Потапович Сафонов; 22 September 1895 – 26 June 1941) was a Red Army major general.

He served in World War I and the Russian Civil War as an artilleryman, and rose to command artillery regiments in the 1930s. Despite this background, he was given command of the 143rd Rifle Division and led it in the opening days of the war in Belarus after Operation Barbarossa began. Safonov was killed four days into the war in an attempt to escape from encirclement.