Safonov was born on 22 September 1895 in
Tsaritsyn and completed primary school. He was mobilized into the
Imperial Russian Army on 15 May 1915 during
World War I and sent to a reserve artillery battalion in
Tiflis as a
private. In December of that year he was sent to the
Caucasus Front, where he served with the 3rd Caucasian Artillery Battalion as a gunner and observer. The battalion was withdrawn to
Prokhladny in September 1917, and a month later Safonov left to return to Tsaritsyn as the army disintegrated following the
Russian Revolution. During the
Russian Civil War, Safonov joined the
Red Guards on 8 December and was at the headquarters of the defense of Tsaritsyn, serving as assistant head of the artillery supply department and instructor for the formation of artillery units. In October 1918 he joined the
Red Army and became a staff officer for errands with the artillery inspector of the
10th Army, and in early 1919 he was sent to the special purpose heavy artillery group of the army in
Don Host Oblast. Near
Yablochny he replaced his battery commander and was wounded, but remained in battle. In May he was sent to
Kamyshin, where the 96th Light Artillery Battalion of the
32nd Rifle Division. With the latter, he fought at
Kamyshin and retreated to
Saratov with the 10th Army. Subsequently, the battalion and the division fought in battles in the Don Host Oblast in the area of
Ust-Medveditskaya,
Kavkazskaya,
Velikoknyazheskaya, and then in the
Transcaucasus at
Baku and
Aghdam. After studying at the Baku Artillery Courses between September and December 1920, Safonov became a battery commander in the
28th Rifle Division. With the latter, he fought in the suppression of an anti-Soviet revolt in the area of
Lankaran and
Astara on the Iranian border. From June 1921 he served as an assistant battery commander in the 79th Light Artillery Battalion. == Interwar period ==