Mikhail Denisenko

Mikhail Denisenko (Russian: Михаил Иванович Денисенко; 24 July 1899 – 7 April 1949) was a Red Army Major general and Hero of the Soviet Union. He fought in World War II with the Soviet airborne, leading the 36th Guards Rifle Division and 12th Guards Airborne Division. Postwar, Denisenko commanded the 103rd Guards Airborne Division, before his death in 1949 in a parachute accident.

Early life Denisenko was born on 24 July 1899 to a peasant family on the Temchenko farm, which is now the village of Kozelnoe in Nedryhailiv Raion in the Russian Empire's Sumy Oblast. The division participated in the elimination of the encircled German troops in Stalingrad in early 1943, and then fought in the Third Battle of Kharkov. In January 1945, the division became the 105th Guards Rifle Division. Denisenko commanded the division during the Vienna Offensive and the Prague Offensive. There is also a memorial plaque in honor of Denisenko in Nedryhailiv.