Konstantin Yefremovich Anokhin was born on June 1, 1913, in the village of Pokrovka (now in the Nikolsky district of the Penza region) into a peasant family. At that time, rural youth were eager to move to the city after finishing school, seeking new knowledge and interesting work. Konstantin, like his peers, also moved to the city, and since he was fascinated by technology and mechanics, he got a job as a locksmith at a locomotive depot. In 1934, technical libraries began to be organized at all railway enterprises in Ruzaevka, and Konstantin Anokhin, as a literate worker, was appointed head of the depot library. It should be noted that even then, libraries served as centers of cultural leisure for railway workers, where, in addition to issuing technical literature necessary for improving knowledge, various events were held, including those aimed at patriotic education.
In 1936, he was drafted into the Red Army. While in the army, Konstantin decided to enroll in the Orenburg Military Aviation School of Pilots. After successfully graduating in 1938, he was sent to serve in the fighter aviation units of the Kiev Military District.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Konstantin Anokhin was already a celebrated pilot and, holding the rank of lieutenant, commanded a flight of the 170th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 23rd Mixed Aviation Division of the Western Front. On July 6, his flight was scrambled. Lieutenant Anokhin took off in his Yak-1 aircraft on a mission to intercept German bombers. Engaging in an aerial battle with five enemy planes, he managed to shoot down one of them but was hit. Losing control, Anokhin was able to steer his burning fighter into an enemy tank column, destroying it near the village of Zubovo in the Orsha district of the Vitebsk region of Belarus. It was the fifteenth day of the war. Fighter pilot Konstantin Anokhin repeated the feat of Nikolai Gastello.
For courage and heroism shown in battles against the Nazi invaders, and for exemplary fulfillment of combat missions at the front, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 22, 1941, Konstantin Yefremovich Anokhin was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the village of Zubovo, where he is buried, a bust of the Hero has been erected; in the village of Kraitsy in the Lepel district of the Vitebsk region, an obelisk has been built. In his homeland—the village of Pokrovka and the city of Nikolsk—streets are named after the Hero. In Nikolsk, a monument to K. E. Anokhin—a bust at the Memorial Complex dedicated to the soldiers from Nikolsk who died during the Great Patriotic War—has also been installed. This memorial is located in the Central Square of the city (the memorial was opened on May 9, 1985).
