After
Operation Barbarossa began, Anashkin, now a
lieutenant colonel, was appointed chief of staff of the
282nd Rifle Division, forming in the
Moscow Military District, in July 1941. With the division, he went to the
Bryansk Front and fought in battles in the area of
Pochep and
Trubchevsk as part of the
3rd Army. His tenure with the 282nd proved brief as in September Anashkin was appointed commander of the
160th Rifle Division of the
13th Army. With the latter, he was encircled in the area of Trubchevsk during
Operation Typhoon in October. The division managed to break out and mounted an organized retreat towards
Sevsk and
Lgov. In late 1941 and the first half of 1942, Anashkin, promoted to
colonel on 9 January, Anashkin continued to command the 61st Guards during
Operation Gallop in early 1943. He rose to command the
19th Rifle Corps on 28 February, and in April he became commander of the new
33rd Rifle Corps, which included the divisions of the 19th. After leading the corps in actions in the area of
Starobilsk, Anashkin became commander of the
64th Rifle Corps of the
57th Army in July. From mid-1943 to early 1944, he commanded the corps in the
Belgorod–Kharkov Offensive, the capture of
Chuguyev and
Krasnograd, the attack of the
2nd Ukrainian Front towards
Krivoy Rog in October, the two-month defense on the
Inhulets north of Krivoy Rog from November, the
Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive, and the
Odessa Offensive. Transferred to command the
129th Rifle Corps of the
47th Army of the
1st Belorussian Front in May, Anashkin would remain in this position for the rest of the war. His command of the corps included
Operation Bagration and the
Lublin–Brest Offensive, and from January 1945 the
Vistula–Oder Offensive,
East Pomeranian Offensive, and the
Berlin Offensive. For his "skillful organization" of the actions of the corps in the breakthrough of the German defenses north of
Warsaw and the crossing of the
Vistula, in which the corps captured
Gostynin,
Kowal, and
Mińsk Mazowiecki, Anashkin received the title
Hero of the Soviet Union on 6 April 1945. For his command of the corps in the Berlin Offensive, during which it captured
Spandau in the advance into the city, he was awarded the
Order of Suvorov, 2nd class.
Hero of the Soviet Union citationElements of the 129th Rifle Corps, under the leadership of Guards Major General Comrade Anashkin, acted on the main direction in the area north of Jabłonna-Legionowo, [and on] 15 January 1945 broke through strongly fortified, deeply echeloned, [and] sturdily constructed German defenses and in cooperation with units of the 125th Rifle Corps destroyed units of the German 73rd Infantry Division and up to five guard and sapper battalions. On the move, [the corps] forced the Vistula river and through a deep bypass maneuver captured Warsaw. Thanks to the deliberate and skillful leadership of Guards Major General Comrade Anashkin, units of the corps made a rapid advance, inflicting exceptionally great losses on the enemy in personnel and equipment. [The corps] captured all the enemy artillery and materiel and more than 2,000 soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, in return for minor losses. Units of the corps in the fighting advanced 200 kilometers and liberated more than 600 settlements, including the cities of Gombin, Gostynin, Kowal, Bromberg, and others. For [his] skillful leadership of the combat actions of the units of the corps and personal heroism, displayed in the battles against the German invaders, Guards Major General Comrade Anashkin [is] worthy of the conferral of the title Hero of the Soviet Union. == Postwar ==