Filipp Feodosyevich Zhmachenko was born on 26 November 1895 to a Ukrainian peasant family in the village of Mogilno, Ovruchsky Uyezd in the Volhynian Governorate.

During World War I, Zhmachenko was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army in May 1915 and enlisted as a ryadovoy to a reserve pontoon bridge battalion.

In this position he took part in the suppression of Stanislav Bulak-Balakhovich's forces in the Ovruch region, and the fight against the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

Zhmachenko transferred to the Kharkov School for Red Starshinas in August 1924, serving as assistant chief for the political section.

In February 1938 he received the rank of kombrig, but in June was dismissed from the army on a false denunciation and imprisoned during the Great Purge.

Zhmachenko was freed and restored to the army in July 1939, and in November of that year appointed chief of the 2nd Department of the staff of the Kharkov Military District.

He rose to chief of the district combat training department in September 1940, and took command of the 67th Rifle Corps in March 1941.

In October 1943, Zhmachenko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for crossing the Dnieper River and holding the bridgehead south of Kiev.