In Russia, every second Sunday of September is Tankman Day. On September 11, 1944, Soviet tank forces made a legendary breakthrough in the enemy’s defenses, turning the tide of the East Carpathian operation in favor of the Soviet army. After World War II, Tankman Day was established in the USSR, which until 1980 was celebrated on September 11, and after that, by Decree of the Presidium, the date was set - the second Sunday of September. The five most high-profile exploits of Soviet tank crews during World War II will be discussed below.
The feat of tank crews near Raseiniai
From the very beginning of the war, the Germans invaded the Baltic states, they had a huge advantage over the Soviet troops. The enemy expected a quick breakthrough, but near the Lithuanian city of Raseiniai the German army had to face Soviet tanks and their brave crews. KV-1s were the heaviest vehicles, absolutely impregnable. Conventional anti-tank artillery did not cause any damage to them; the KV tanks simply crushed the enemy guns with their tracks.
There were 20 of our tanks in total, and many times more German ones. But Soviet tankers were able to destroy dozens of anti-tank guns, howitzers and the fascist tanks themselves. The Germans, after a while, repelled the counterattack and went on the offensive. And then one of the crews accomplished a feat that went down in history.
Stylish, young, voluminous: shaggy haircuts for thin hair for ladies over 50
With a biker jacket, heels and more: what to wear with trendy jeans this spring
Names must be unusual: Polar bear cubs are asked to come up with names
On June 24, 1941, a lone KV appeared on the road. After driving a few meters, he stood up. Perhaps there was a breakdown or the crew made this decision on purpose, but in the end the tank blocked an important road connecting the advanced units of the German division with the rear. The Germans had difficulty evacuating the wounded and bringing in supplies. The Soviet KV single-handedly stopped the advance of the German division.
Incredible feats of Soviet tank crews
The history of the Great Patriotic War is inscribed in golden letters with hundreds of names of heroes who, as part of tank crews, carried out daring operations almost every day. Many of them sacrificed their lives to stop the fascist occupiers.
Subscribe and read Express Newspaper in:
Senior Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov commanded a company of heavy tanks on the Northern Front. In August 1941, on the outskirts of Leningrad, near the Voyskovitsy state farm, a tank battle took place, in which Kolobanov’s crew destroyed an enemy column of 22 combat vehicles! This battle made it possible to delay the German advance and save the Northern capital from a quick capture by the Nazis.
Dmitry Lavrinenko is considered the most successful Soviet tanker. He knocked out 52 enemy combat vehicles! So, in November 1941, a young officer fought a unique battle with fascist armored vehicles that broke into the Soviet rear. Lavrinenko hid the car right in the middle of the field. Painted white, it was invisible to the enemy in winter. As a result, the crew destroyed six Nazi tanks.
In June 1942, senior lieutenant Vladimir Khazov was tasked with stopping the German advance in the area of the village of Olkhovatka, Voronezh region. Having reached the indicated area, the crew decided to operate from cover. Three Soviet T-34s managed to disable 27 German vehicles! Numerical superiority did not help the enemy emerge victorious from the battle, and the platoon of hero Khazov returned to the battalion in full force.
Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Ermolaev
In 1943, near the village of Zanki, Zhitomir region, the crew of junior lieutenant Vasily Ermolaev entered into battle with three “tigers”. Soviet soldiers let the Nazi vehicles get closer and opened fire. Two enemy tanks caught fire, but the third managed to knock out our T-34. There was nothing left to fire at him - the shells had run out. However, the crew continued to fight, the T-34 rushed towards the “tiger” at full speed and crashed into its side. Both cars exploded. The commander of the guard tank, junior lieutenant Ermolaev, and the driver-mechanic, sergeant Andrei Timofeev, were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In July 1943, scouts under the command of Captain Dmitry Zakrevsky stole a German tank from enemy lines! During a reconnaissance operation, they discovered a Nazi combat vehicle, and in it were commander cards and other secret documents. The scouts overcame the German and Soviet defense lines and returned to the battalion's location in full strength and with a trophy.
Grigory Brazhnikov distinguished himself in the battle of Kursk. In one of the battles, he managed to shoot four “tigers”, spending only eight shells on them. True, the lieutenant got carried away and did not notice the fifth, who managed to strike his “thirty-four”. Fortunately, the crew remained intact.
Ivan Golub can safely be called a destroyer of heavy fascist tanks . In December 1943, in the battles near Zhitomir, his “thirty-four” destroyed three “tigers”, two “panthers” and five guns. In January 1944, in a battle near the village of Gordievka, Zhitomir region, where his crew disabled several guns of an enemy battery, the officer died. In his last attack, he directed the tank into enemy firing positions after expending ammunition.
In June 1944, T-34 commander Lieutenant Dmitry Komarov and driver-mechanic Mikhail Bukhtuev . They got into a fight with an armored train! One of the shells hit the turret of the T-34, seriously wounding the gunner and loader. Having handed over their wounded comrades to the orderlies, the lieutenant and driver continued the battle. They used up almost all their ammunition. Another shell hit the T-34 and the tank caught fire. The commander decided to stop the enemy at all costs and gave the order to the driver to ram the armored train. A burning car hit a train at full speed. The armored train was immobilized, and the Nazis eventually abandoned it.
Vladislav Khrustitsky distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front. In 1944, the enemy retreated from the Northern capital, but attempted to counterattack. During one of these battles, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap. Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered the offensive to continue. He addressed the crews on the radio with the words: “Fight to the death!” - and went forward first. Vladislav died the death of the brave. But the village of Volosovo was nevertheless liberated from the enemy.
Lieutenant Ivan Khitsenko took part in breaking through enemy defenses in the area of the Polish city of Ruzhan. In January 1945, the crew of his tank entered into an unequal battle with ten heavy enemy tanks and knocked out five of them. In that battle, the brave tanker died.
Yaroslav Filippov
#18/2019 Great Patriotic War tanks
Several failed enemy missions and the death of the Soviet crew
4 guns were deployed against the tank. They opened fire, there were several direct hits, the Germans decided that the tank was finished. But he turned the turret around, and all 4 guns were immediately destroyed. An 88mm anti-aircraft gun was delivered, but the KV crew noticed it and fired first. The gun was destroyed, but the road remained blocked.
German sappers tried to blow up the tank with mines, but the mission also failed. The division commander called the Junkers to destroy the tank, but they refused. The Germans decided to try their luck with the anti-aircraft gun again. They began to distract the Soviet tankers with their guns, forcing them to constantly shoot back, while they themselves installed an anti-aircraft gun and fired. Nevertheless, the Soviet crew defended the road alone for two whole days. It was incredible and worthy of the highest awards.
The feat of Zinovy Kolobanov
German units broke through the front in August 1941 and marched towards Leningrad. No one offered resistance to them; there was a threat of the capture of Gatchina. The Soviet army did not have the resources to defend the city; only one tank company was transferred there. It was commanded by Zinovy Kolobanov, who had 5 KV tanks at his disposal. The task was to block three main roads. Kolobanov sent two tanks to the outer access roads, and he himself stood on the central one.
How to find love online? Tips that will suit almost everyone
Good deeds and donations: a quick and easy way to become happier
Jewish money wisdom: possession of information is an indispensable weapon in business
The position was chosen very well: swamps stretched on both sides of the road, the tank was camouflaged by greenery. First, the Germans scouted the road from above, but did not notice the tank, then motorcyclists drove by. At the end, they sent a tank column along the road, thinking that it was free. And then the Soviet KV opened fire.
Complete defeat of the enemy
The German tank crews did not expect the attack, and panic began. The tanks went downhill and got stuck in the quagmire. Others, trying to turn around, bumped into each other, crew members jumped out of the burning cars in horror, rushed and fell, shot at by machine guns from a Soviet tank. For a long time, the Nazis did not understand at all from what position they were being shot. Soon they managed to detect a camouflaged KV, and a real tank duel began.
A hail of shells hit the Soviet KV, the battle lasted 30 minutes, but Kolobanov’s crew did not surrender. The tankers knocked out all 22 enemy vehicles, the Germans asked for reinforcements, but still could not destroy Kolobanov’s tank. After the battle, more than 100 hits were counted on the vehicle. Surprisingly, the commander himself did not receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for such a battle. He was nominated for an award, and the document was signed by division commander V.I. Baranov. But then the decision was changed for some unknown reason. Kolobanov was nominated for the Order of the Red Banner, and gunner A.M. Usov was nominated for the Order of Lenin.
Designers tried to create a modern oasis in the desert: the results
Which planet influenced your destiny and character: determined by time of birth
Stylish, light and cozy: a couple made a two-tier residential house from an old barn
Who is the best tank sniper of World War II?
Some time ago I wrote an article dedicated to the valiant Stalinist falcons, which was called “Why the best German aces lost to bad Russian pilots.” It caused a very lively response among my readers. Now the time has come to pay tribute to the intrepid Soviet tank crews. Moreover, it was tank formations, according to many historians, that turned out to be the decisive force in World War II... It must be said that already at the very beginning of the campaign on the Eastern Front, the German hordes rushing to Moscow encountered unprecedented resistance from the Russian army. For the Nazis, this was a real shock - the blitzkrieg plans (based, among other things, on the widespread use of mobile tank armies that brought defeat and death) simply crumbled into dust...
And the reason for this was not the “treacherous General Winter”, which the West loves to remember today (after all, our soldiers suffered from frost no less than the German ones), nor the “folly of the Fuhrer”, who allegedly refused to listen to his “outstanding” generals, but the unprecedented heroism of Soviet soldiers and officers who managed to first stop and then destroy the steel armadas of the Wehrmacht...
As the Chief of the Prussian General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, correctly noted at one time: “Not a single plan survives a meeting with the enemy.” I’ll add on my own behalf: especially with such an enemy as the Russians... Well, let’s see who these miracle heroes were who managed to defeat a colossal military machine that had never known defeat before and literally crushed several European armies...
RUSSIAN HEROES
At one time, the legendary and invincible Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov bequeathed to his descendants to fight not with numbers, but with skill. The feat that I want to talk about today testifies that our soldiers have not forgotten the precepts of the great Russian commander. On August 20, 1941, 5 tanks under the command of senior lieutenant Zinovy Kolobanov destroyed 43 German tanks, 22 of which were knocked out within half an hour by Kolobanov personally!..
That day, several heavy Soviet tanks straddled the highway near Gatchina, holding back the advance of two Wehrmacht tank divisions. Kolobanov cleverly camouflaged his five combat vehicles and, waiting for the German column to approach, with precise shots he set fire to first the first three fascist tanks, and then the last couple. Thus, the column was securely blocked and unable to maneuver...
After this, the Soviet tank crews began to methodically destroy German equipment, which, having no chance to jump out of the firing range, fiercely snapped back. This did not last long, however. After a few minutes of fierce battle, the fascist resistance weakened, and then completely disappeared. Soon it was all over. On the highway, a tank column of the enemy, smashed into rubbish, was burning out, but our tankers did not lose a single vehicle in this battle!..
This is how Zinovy Grigorievich himself recalled that unique battle: “I was often asked: was it scary? But I am a military man, I received an order to fight to the death. This means that the enemy can only pass through my position when I am no longer alive. I accepted the order for execution, and I no longer had or could have any “fears”... I regret that I cannot describe the battle sequentially. After all, the commander sees, first of all, the crosshairs of the sight. Everything else is just explosions and shouts from my guys: “Hurray!”, “It’s on fire!” The sense of time was completely lost. I had no idea how long the battle was going on."
For his feat, Zinovy Kolobanov was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (a great rarity in 1941), but did not manage to receive the award. Soon he was seriously wounded (his spine and head were seriously damaged by an explosion from an exploding shell) and was sent to the hospital, where he was treated almost until the end of the war. Kolobanov returned to the active army only in the summer of 1945 and served in it for another 13 years...
By the way, an interesting fact: inspired by the feat of a Russian tanker (who, by the way, was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of tanks destroyed in one battle), the creators of the popular computer game “World of Tanks” award a prize to the player who single-handedly destroyed five or more tanks enemy, the virtual “Kolobanov Medal”. Whatever you say, this is not the worst way to perpetuate the memory of a hero in the third millennium...
Another equally famous tanker of ours, who became a legend during his lifetime, is Dmitry Lavrinenko. This Russian hero has 52 destroyed enemy tanks! The son of a Kuban Cossack from a village with the telling name “Fearless,” Lavrinenko fought in a tank brigade under the command of Colonel and future Marshal of the Armored Forces Mikhail Katukov. First, they held back the enemy rushing towards Moscow near Mtsensk (where they inflicted the first major tank defeat on the Nazis), then at Serpukhov, and also in the Volokolamsk direction. And everywhere Lavrinenko showed himself as an intelligent, fearless and resourceful commander...
Masterfully using ambush tactics (which were based on a careful study of the smallest folds of the terrain), confidently maneuvering on the battlefield, he suddenly attacked the enemy, not allowing him to come to his senses, and sought to close with the enemy at maximum speed in order to defeat him for sure. Such pressure made a demoralizing impression on the German tank crews - they literally fell into a stupor, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Russian tank crew. Lavrinenko was no stranger to military cunning...
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General D. D. Lelyushenko, in his book “Dawn of Victory,” spoke about one of the techniques that Lavrinenko used in battle: “I remember how Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko, having carefully camouflaged his tanks, installed logs in position, outwardly resembled the barrels of tank guns. And not without success: the Nazis opened indiscriminate fire on false targets. Having let the Nazis get to an advantageous distance, Lavrinenko attacked them from an ambush and destroyed 9 tanks, 2 guns and many fascists”...
As we see, in battle Lavrinenko acted extremely resourcefully and courageously. Even while on the defensive, he did not wait for the enemy, but looked for him, using the most effective methods of combat. As a result, during two and a half months of the war, Dmitry Lavrinenko took part in 28 tank battles and destroyed 52 enemy tanks! In December 1941, Guard Senior Lieutenant Lavrinenko was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but did not have time to receive his well-deserved award - a few days before, he was struck by a mine fragment when, after the battle, he was sent to report to the brigade commander...
In front-line newspapers published on the front line, Lavrinenko was called “the bravest of the brave” and there was not a bit of exaggeration in this. He truly was an outstanding tank warrior from God. It is precisely these people who need to be set as an example for our younger generation, and not to look for them among the invented American “supermen” of cinema, saving the planet from aliens... Russians are a nation of heroes, who have no equal in valor, courage and perseverance in the whole wide world. We have proven this with our military exploits over many millennia; it is not for nothing that we have been called Slavs since ancient times (from the glory gained in battles). We have something to be proud of and someone to look up to - so we will be worthy of our great ancestors!..
WEAPONS OF VICTORY
The Soviet T-34 tank (the legendary "thirty-four") was developed by a design bureau under the leadership of Mikhail Koshkin shortly before the war. Its maneuverability and mobility, amazing for those times, even in the most severe mudslides (tanks are not afraid of mud!), excellent weapons, armor protection, as well as ease of operation and repair (allowing massive restoration of damaged vehicles right on the battlefield, without evacuating them to the rear) earned the T-34 a well-deserved reputation as the best tank of the Second World War...
The appearance of these tanks at the front became a real nightmare for the Nazis. In his memoirs, German tankman Otto Carius talks about...
According to the memoirs of the German Major General B. Müller-Hillebrand: “The presence of the Russian T-34 tank was an unpleasant surprise, since due to its speed, high maneuverability, enhanced armor protection, armament and mainly the presence of an elongated 76-mm cannon with increased accuracy firing and the penetrating ability of shells at a long, hitherto unattainable distance, was a completely new type of tank weapon”...
He was echoed by German Major General Willibald von Langemann: “For the first time in the eastern campaign, the absolute superiority of Russian tanks over ours was revealed. Russian tanks typically used a semicircle formation, firing their guns from a distance of 1,000 meters, releasing monstrous penetrating energy with pinpoint accuracy. In addition to better weapons and armor, the T-34 is faster, more maneuverable, and its turret traverse mechanism is clearly better. The wide tracks of this tank make it possible to overcome fords that cannot be overcome by our tanks."
Another German general, Gunther Blumentritt, describes the impressions of German soldiers from meeting Soviet tanks: “In the Vereya area, T-34 tanks, as if nothing had happened, passed through the battle formations of the 7th Infantry Division, reached artillery positions and literally crushed the guns located there. It is clear what impact this fact had on the morale of the infantrymen. The so-called fear of tanks has begun...
The famous German general Heinz Wilhelm Guderian reluctantly confirms this: “The severity of the fighting had its effect on our officers and soldiers. For the first time since the beginning of this intense campaign, they looked tired, and it was felt that this was not physical fatigue, but mental shock. It was disconcerting that the recent battles had such an effect on our best officers. On the battlefield, the division commander showed me the results of battles in which his combat group performed important tasks. The tanks, knocked out on both sides, were still in place. Russian losses were significantly less than our losses."
Wehrmacht Major General Friedrich von Mellenthin regretfully had to admit: “We had nothing of comparable level.” The commander of the 6th Panzer Division, which fought at Stalingrad, Erhard Routh, sadly stated: “The T-34 had the best cross-country ability of all tanks on the continent and could sometimes perform amazing tricks”... And Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist was completely laconic: “ T-34 is the best tank in the world”...
And even the subsequent appearance of the latest German tanks at the front did not greatly affect the situation. As Oxford University professor Norman Davies noted in his book “Europe at War”: “The T-34 was the best tank not because it was the most powerful or heaviest, the German tanks were ahead of them in this sense. But it was very effective for that war and made it possible to solve tactical problems. Maneuverable Soviet T-34s hunted in packs like wolves, which gave no chance to the clumsy German Tigers and Panthers...
Things got to the point that the German tank crews who fought at the front demanded from their leadership (attention!) to produce copies of the Soviet T-34 tank in order to be able to at least somehow resist the Russian tank crews. The Guderian I mentioned above spoke about this amazing fact after the war. He also said that this requirement did not find support from the designers. But not because they were ashamed to copy the equipment of their opponent, but because of the inability of German engineering to quickly establish the entire production cycle of our “thirty-four”...
Now I will give here fragments of the German “Instructions for all parts of the Eastern Front to combat the Russian T-34”, issued in 1942 by the command of the Wehrmacht mobile forces: “The T-34 is faster, more maneuverable, has better off-road capability than our tanks. His armor is stronger. The penetration ability of its 7.62 cm gun is superior to our guns. The successful placement of inclined armor plates increases the likelihood of a ricochet... Fighting the T-34 with our gun is only possible at short distances by shooting at the side or rear of the tank. It is necessary to shoot so that the projectile is perpendicular to the surface of the armor”...
Of course, the T-34 also had certain disadvantages, which, along with the high assessment of this vehicle, were mentioned by many Soviet tankers. For example, a completely disgusting gearbox, because of which driver mechanics sometimes had to change gears using... a sledgehammer specially reserved for such cases... As tanker P. Kirichenko recalled: “Shifting gears required enormous effort. The entire tank march consisted of the most difficult physical exercises. During the long march, the driver-mechanic lost two or three kilograms in weight: he was all exhausted”...
Another significant drawback was the small turret, which greatly slowed down the well-coordinated combat work of the crew. In addition, the tank did not have a device for ejecting cartridges and they had to be thrown out of the turret by hand. Tankers noted with regret the unfortunate lateral location of the gas tanks, due to which they often exploded when hit by armor-piercing shells, as well as the very limited visibility through the viewing slot of the tank - as a result, the driver mechanics preferred to go into battle with open hatches...
In addition, the internal arrangement of the Soviet tank did not imply any comfort at all - as if the designers had never heard of such a concept as “caring for the crew.” When our tank crews had a chance to get acquainted with the allied tank “foreign cars” (supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease), their admiration knew no bounds. Soviet tank crews could only dream of such a level of comfort...
This is how veteran of tank battles A.V. Bodnar recalls this: “I looked at the American Sherman tanks: my God - a sanatorium! Soft chairs with armrests! If you sit there, you won’t hit your head, everything is covered in leather! Jumpsuits for all occasions are provided. And during the war there was also a first aid kit, and just think – a coffee maker! In a word, everything is there! But, unfortunately, these tanks were not suitable for war. They burned like torches...
And, of course, the almost complete absence of radio communications in our tanks (which began to appear more or less en masse only by 1943) did not add to optimism, which made it extremely difficult to control combat vehicles on the battlefield. Before the attack, Soviet commanders were forced to give the order “Do as I do!” and move forward, indicating the direction. In this situation, it was often enough for the Germans to knock out the lead tank to disrupt the entire Soviet attack...
But in general, the advantages of this vehicle outweighed its disadvantages, and later, when the T-34 was seriously modernized (in particular, to combat the Tigers, a more powerful 85 mm gun was installed on it, the outdated gearbox was changed, and the turret configuration was improved , significantly strengthening its armor) it once again confirmed that it is not for nothing that it bears the title of the best tank of the Second World War...
One of the creators of the T-34, M. Koshkin’s successor as chief designer, A. Morozov, in his memoirs about...
What dangers awaited our tank crews during brutal combat with the Germans? Firstly, the armor fragments that appeared after shells hit the tank posed a great threat to the crew of the combat vehicle. Even if the charge did not penetrate the turret, it caused a heap of small fragments that flew off the armor and hit the tankers inside the tank. There have been cases when large pieces of metal plating led to serious injury or even death of a tanker...
But the most terrible test for people sitting in the cramped space of a combat vehicle was a fire caused as a result of a direct hit to the tank by a shell or detonation of ammunition (which happened all the time). In this case, the death of the crew was terrible - people literally burned alive if they didn’t have time jump out of an armored trap... No wonder the infantrymen, who also had a hard time at the front, called the tankers suicide bombers...
It’s an amazing thing, if at the very beginning of the war the Soviet army, which had such excellent tanks as the T-34 in its arsenal (though not in large numbers), continuously retreated and suffered one defeat after another, then towards the end, when the Germans had their own menagerie - powerful "Tigers" and "Panthers", seemingly capable of seriously competing with our combat vehicles, the German army was already scurrying with all its might, unable to provide worthy resistance to the advancing Soviet troops...
This means that the point is not at all in the quality of tank equipment (although this is, of course, an important factor) but in the ability of the army and front-line command to use it. Just imagine how the war could have turned out if our General Staff and mid-level commanders (up to tank crew commanders) had been able to use the military equipment entrusted to them more competently and responsibly then, in the difficult years of 1941. It is quite possible that the Germans would have been stuck on the border, unable to overcome our fortified areas. But, unfortunately, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood...
But we, in addition to the legendary “thirty-fours,” had other excellent combat vehicles. Suffice it to recall the famous Soviet tank - KV, named after the People's Commissar of Defense Kliment Voroshilov. It was a heavy fighting vehicle, designed not so much for racing after a fleeing enemy, but for breaking through fortified defense lines. She had difficulty overcoming the hills, breaking bridges under her, but she could fight several enemy tanks on her own at once...
It was on this 50-ton “hero” that our legendary tanker Zinovy Kolobanov fought. During the famous battle (which I already wrote about above), Kolobanov’s tank received 156 hits from German shells, which did not cause significant harm to it! The KV with its 75 mm armor could only be knocked out by heavy howitzers and anti-aircraft guns placed at direct fire, which, fortunately, the Germans did not always have at hand...
This is how the commander of one of the Wehrmacht tank corps, Hans Reinhardt, recalled his first clash with heavy Soviet KVs: “About a hundred of our tanks took up their starting positions. We fired at the iron Russian monsters from three sides, but it was all in vain. The Russians fired effectively”... I can imagine how this puzzled the self-confident German warriors...
The Soviet army received an even more advanced tank at the very end of the war. It was called IS (which stood for Joseph Stalin) and included all the best developments that had been created at that time by the domestic industry. This tank had from 90 to 120 mm of armor, a 122 caliber gun, and a very decent speed for its impressive weight - on virgin soil the IS could overtake even the lighter T-34...
One of our soldiers once recalled: “We stood in caponiers dug on the slope of a vineyard. Suddenly, a “Tiger” crawls out from behind the stone wall of the fence. Has stopped. Behind him is another one, then another. Ten of them crawled out. Well, we think, khan, they will get us. Fear has big eyes. Out of nowhere, two of our IPs appear. I saw them for the first time. They caught up with us and stood up. Two "Tigers" separate and go a little ahead, sort of like a duel. Our guys forestalled them with a shot and demolished both towers. And the rest - once, once and behind the wall."
There is nothing surprising in this outcome of the battle. In truth, the IS was the most ambitious in terms of the total power of armament and armor protection among all the heavy tanks of that time, including the vaunted German “Royal Tigers”. Stalin himself, noting its creators, enthusiastically declared that “with these tanks we will finish off the enemy.” It was the IS that supported Soviet soldiers during the victorious storming of the Reichstag...
GERMAN ACES
First of all, it should be noted that there was practically no record of personal victories in the Soviet tank forces. Unlike pilots, tank crews did not paint stars on their combat vehicles based on the number of destroyed German tanks and did not display sniper scores. Moreover, such statistics were not particularly welcomed by the command, and the figures were underestimated in every possible way, since each destroyed tank had to (according to today little-known order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters) be paid for, and there was nothing special to pay with...
In German tank units there was a similar accounting, but it was based not so much on documentary evidence of the “feat”, but on such a speculative criterion as “the honor of a German officer.” It is clear that the fascist warriors, who from birth had neither conscience nor honor, quite calmly ascribed to themselves a huge number of “victories”, which our supposedly “destroyed” tank crews did not even suspect... As the historian A. Smirnov ironically noted: “ If we take the results of German tank crews as truth, especially at the final stage of the Second World War, then the tank units of the Red Army should have ceased to exist altogether by the end of hostilities in Europe."
But let's get back to our sheep. The most successful tank ace is considered to be Kurt Knispel, who fought against us almost from the beginning until the end of the war (destroyed in April 1945). He has 168 tanks, but 30 of them are not documented in any way by the Germans themselves, and more than half of his “victories” “are not confirmed in the internal Soviet statistics of lost tanks. Most likely, he owes his “triumphs” to banal postscripts, which the fascists were so susceptible to...
Second on the list of German aces is Martin Streuf with 161 destroyed Soviet tanks. We, in our naivety, might have believed such stunning achievements of Streuf, but here’s the ambush: German historians themselves don’t believe Martin! This guy fought as a tanker for only three months and during this time, allegedly, managed to “beat up” more than one and a half hundred Soviet tanks! Yes, even in 1945, when our tankers fought much better than the Germans. Phenomenal, simply fabulous result! Or maybe Martin was a storyteller?.. Otherwise, there is simply no way to explain his out-of-the-ordinary statistics... The number of “victories” indicated by him has not been confirmed by anything, was given after the war and almost certainly does not correspond to reality...
Another German tank ace, Michael Wittmann (with a very impressive score of 138 victories), claimed that he destroyed 70 Soviet tanks during the winter battles in Ukraine in 1943-1944. For this achievement, he even received an extraordinary title and was awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves to it. However, it soon became clear that on this section of the front the Soviet army did not have tanks at all, and Wittmann destroyed two “thirty-fours” that had previously been captured by the Germans and were in the service of the Wehrmacht (Wittmann’s crew in the dark did not see the identification marks on the tank turrets, and mistook them for Soviet) However, the German command decided not to advertise this story...
It is interesting that almost all German tank aces, recalling the Soviet vehicles they destroyed, claim that they were either T-34s, KVs, or ISs. You can understand them - you can’t really boast about some kind of Russian wedge, such as the T-26 (which, due to its lack of armor protection, the weakness of the gun and its slowness, was easy prey for the enemy) - they will laugh. But decorating your sniper account with legendary Soviet tanks is not only pleasant, but also honorable. There is only one thing that confuses us - the share of the same T-34s and KVs in the troops until 1943 was not very large and amounted to no more than 10-15 percent of the entire fleet of combat vehicles...
For example, out of 250 Soviet tanks operating near Tikhvin in 1941, only seven were KVs and twenty-two T-34s. All the rest, unfortunately, were outdated light models of pre-war equipment that could not provide significant resistance to the Germans. It was them, most likely, that the German tank aces “pulled”, not forgetting to report about five instead of one damaged Russian armored vehicle...
There is one more important point that we cannot fail to mention here. Very often the Germans confused (most likely intentionally) such concepts as “destroyed” and “knocked out.” But the difference between them is huge: in the first case, these are irreparable losses, and in the second, the tank can be repaired and returned to service. For example, many T-34s (notable for their great survivability and, at the same time, ease of repair) were restored 3-4 times during the war years! Moreover, the repair of some units of the combat vehicle could be carried out right on the spot, and in some particularly difficult cases the equipment was revived in the rear, after which it safely returned to the front - to beat the enemy!..
Knowing the capabilities of our repair units, the German command was even forced to issue a special order, according to which Wehrmacht soldiers pledged to blow up all Soviet tanks remaining on the battlefield - otherwise, they would be evacuated and restored at night. And then, how can you determine whether an enemy tank has been destroyed or knocked out if the battlefield remains with the enemy, and you were shooting at it from a distance of 1.5 km?.. Maybe it just had a caterpillar fly off? (a problem that can be eliminated by smart technicians in a couple of hours) So it turns out that the Germans often gave out wishful thinking - is that why their sniper accounts were so shamelessly swelling?..
However, I am far from the idea of claiming that the Germans did not know how to fight at all. If this were so, then we would not have suffered with them for almost four years, but would have ended this whole bloody epic much earlier. In truth, the German soldier is the only one who can seriously compete with the best Russian soldier in the world. In the end, it wasn’t fools that we retreated to all the way to Moscow! The Nazi Reich was an extremely dangerous enemy - insanely strong-willed, perfectly organized, ideologically motivated. And the fact that we defeated such outstanding soldiers as the Germans in their own way only makes our victory even greater and more significant...
So what is the reason for the Soviet defeats and German victories at the first stage of the most difficult war? It is unfortunate, but we have to admit that the level of training of German tank crews was then significantly higher than ours. Suffice it to say that the training course for an ordinary tanker in Germany took about six months, while in our country it rarely exceeded a few days. And the training of ordinary driver mechanics was often limited to the question of whether a soldier drafted into the army could drive a car or a tractor...
This is how the Soviet tanker A.V. Maryevsky recalled it: “Once they lined us up. We look, next to our platoon commander stands an officer in a tank uniform, wearing a tank helmet: “Tractor drivers and drivers - step forward!” Before the war, my uncle, who worked as a driver and taught auto mechanics, taught me a little how to drive a truck. I say that I’m not a driver, only my uncle taught me how to drive a car. “Did you drive a car?” - “Maybe I drove about five kilometers.” - “Come out.” That’s how I ended up in the tank forces as a driver mechanic”...
Another Soviet tankman V.P. Bryukhov (who knocked out 28 German tanks during the war) was also forced to admit that (I quote): “The German tankers were better prepared, and it was very dangerous to meet them in battle. After all, after graduating from college, I fired three shells and a machine-gun disk. And our driver-mechanic had only eight hours of driving the tank. Is this preparation?"...
In fairness, it should be noted that by the middle of the war (when the shock of the defeat inflicted by the Germans in 1941-42 had already passed), the Red Army began to properly treat the training of combat personnel, significantly increasing the time for their practical training and thus increasing skill of tank crews. All this, of course, could not but affect the final result of the military campaign...
Another significant factor that allowed the Wehrmacht to dominate the battlefield for a long time was the clear superiority of the German staff and officer corps, which we were able to nullify only after two years of intense fighting. But at first it was extremely difficult for us, and only the fantastic fortitude of the Russian soldier made it possible to correct the sometimes unforgivable mistakes of the Soviet command. In fact, we paid for the combat training of our generals with rivers of our own blood...
As German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein later wrote: “The Soviet command had learned a lot since the beginning of the war, especially with regard to the organization and use of large tank formations. It had a large number of tanks in 1941, but then it could not use them independently and for their intended purpose. Now it expediently organized them into tank and mechanized corps and at the same time adopted the German tactics of a deep breakthrough”...
It’s scary to say what terrible losses we suffered at the very beginning of the war! In the first two weeks of Hitler's invasion alone, our troops lost over 11 thousand tanks, captured mostly without a fight! (any other army would simply cease to exist after such a defeat) Huge losses in equipment and tank personnel even forced the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to begin creating cavalry formations to wage maneuver warfare. It was they, as historians say today, who formed the basis of the mobile formations that made it possible to carry out a counter-offensive near Moscow...
Yes, unfortunately, at that time the Russian tank crews were greatly inferior in organization and preparation to their enemy, but what our guys did not lack was desperate bravery and courage. German reports on combat operations on the Soviet-German front are literally replete with the following messages: “Fantastic fighting spirit of Russian tank crews: some tanks lose speed, receive 5-6 direct hits, but their crews do not give up and continue to fire. To destroy such vehicles it is necessary to send special groups of sapper demolitions. Russians fight to the last shell and cartridge”...
Or here’s another: “During the attack, we came across a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately shot it straight from the 37-mm film. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out waist-high from the tower hatch and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he had no legs; they were torn off when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!” - recalled the German artilleryman, amazed at such inhuman courage...
WHO IS BETTER?
By the way, if we are to be completely accurate, we must admit that the vast majority of German tanks were disabled not by tank guns, but by the true “god of war” - anti-tank artillery, which literally worked miracles on the battlefield. No wonder Stalin, presenting a high award to the creator of the 76-mm divisional gun Vasily Grabin, said: “Your gun saved Russia!”...
The corresponding statistics were distributed as follows: Soviet tank units accounted for about 15% of knocked out and destroyed German tanks. Anti-tank mines and infantry weapons (Molotov cocktails, grenades) as well as bomber aircraft accounted for about 10% of destroyed German armored vehicles. Soviet anti-tank artillery accounted for approximately 75% of the destroyed enemy equipment...
As the Germans themselves noted: “Anti-tank guns are the main enemy of tanks in the eastern theater of military operations. The Russians use anti-tank guns en masse in defense or by cleverly pulling them behind attackers to quickly get them into action. Due to their superior camouflage and use of terrain—sometimes the wheels were removed from guns to reduce their height—the Russians easily achieved surprise fire at medium to short ranges. Letting through the tanks moving in the first echelon, they tried to open fire on our flank."
But let's return to the main question of our research. So who is the best tank sniper of the Second World War - Soviet tanker Dmitry Lavrinenko, who destroyed 52 enemy vehicles, or German tanker Kurt Knispel, who has a formally more impressive number of tank victories? We will not repeat now that a considerable number of Knispel’s “triumphs” have not been confirmed by anything other than his words. Let’s assume that the fascist propagandists, who are deceitful by nature, do not lie in this case, and he really knocked out 168 tanks...
But let's not forget that Lavrinenko destroyed more than fifty German tanks in just 2.5 months of fighting in the most difficult year for our army, 1941, with the total dominance of the Nazis on the ground and in the air, when our army was retreating... While Knispel fought until April 1945. That is, he had several years more time to accomplish all his “exploits.” And who knows how many more enemy tanks Lavrinenko would have knocked out if he had not been hit by a mine fragment at the very beginning of the war...
There is another important point and it is connected with the different functionality that was carried out by the German and Russian tank commander. The thing is that until 1944, the crew of the “thirty-four” consisted of four people (only at the very end of the war, after the modernization of the tank, it was increased by one more tanker) and the commander of the T-34 simultaneously performed two duties - general leadership of the battle and aiming the gun at the target...
In other words, it’s not enough for you to just be a good commander, you also need to do the job of a gunner, which was extremely difficult to do during a tank battle! Try to survey the battlefield with one eye, noticing all the dangers that threaten your crew, and with the other - aim and shoot at tanks!.. The “Tiger”, on which Knispel mainly fought, had a crew of five people, so the functions of a gunner and tank commanders were separated there...
Thus, unlike the German ace, who exercised overall command of the tank, Lavrinenko not only directed all the actions of his crew, but also personally (which is very important to understand!) knocked out German armored vehicles. Each of the 52 tanks he destroyed is solely his merit, as an excellent commander, gunner and shooter!.. In the case of Knispel, some other gunner fired at the tanks (and most likely more than one, given the constant rotation of crews at the front) whose name we don’t know... Now, I hope you understand, who really was the best tank sniper of the Second World War?..
Prophetic Oleg
The feat of Sergeant Naidin
The Soviet 5th Tank Division was retreating from Lithuania after heavy fighting. Three quarters of the tanks were destroyed, the rest were running out of shells. To escape, it was necessary to somehow break away from the Germans and detain them. A volunteer for this mission was sergeant-super-conscript Grigory Naidin. All the remaining shells were immediately loaded into his tank, and the vehicle was camouflaged in an ambush near the Jewish town of Rodzishki, not far from Vilna. At that time, the 19th German Tank Division was moving to Vilna - powerful, with the latest equipment, and a large supply of weapons.
The Germans marched without a head guard, confident that the Soviet troops ahead had long been defeated. There were 12 tanks ahead, followed by 10 assault guns. Naidin’s tank stood in a swampy area; it was impossible to go around this area. With his first shot, the Soviet tankman knocked out the enemy’s lead vehicle. The last tank was also destroyed with the second shot. The column, locked on both sides, was immobilized.
Panic began among the Germans; Grigory Naidin’s crew shot at fascist tanks and guns. Soon the entire column was destroyed. Having stepped on the gas, the BT-7 quickly caught up with its unit, and the German soldiers cleared the road for a long time to resume movement. In the next battle on the outskirts of Vilnius, Naidin’s crew destroyed three more fascist tanks.
The most successful tank crews of World War II
The most successful tank crews of World War II .
Compiling a reliable list of the most successful Soviet tankers is not an easy task. No reliable statistics were kept, especially in the initial period of the war. If we believe data from wartime newspapers and reports from the Sovinforburo, then the German tank fleet would have been destroyed back in 1941. The number of destroyed “Tigers” and especially “Ferdinands” is in the thousands. Therefore, information about destroyed German tanks has to be taken from award lists, combat leaflets, reports and eyewitness memories. The presented list is very arbitrary and serves rather to present general information about our heroes - tank crews. It is also necessary to remember that a tank is a collective weapon and success in battle depends on the coherence of the actions of the entire crew.
USSR tank crews:
1. Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko (fought on the T-34 tank, served in the 4th Tank Brigade) - destroyed 52 tanks and assault guns.
2. Lieutenant Konstantin Samokhin (4th Tank Brigade, fought on BT-7, T-34, died in February 1942, Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously) destroyed more than 30 enemy tanks.
3. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Burda (fought on the T-34, died on January 25, 1944, Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously) destroyed 30 enemy tanks.
4. Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Andreev (fought on the T-34, Hero of the Soviet Union) destroyed 27 enemy tanks
5. Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Khazov (6th Tank Brigade, died in September 1942, Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously) - 27 tanks destroyed.
6. Art. Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov (KV tank, 1st Tank Division) - 22 tanks.
7. Lieutenant Semyon Konovalov (KV tank, 15th tank brigade) - 16 tanks + 2 armored vehicles
8. Lieutenant Maxim Dmitriev - 11 tanks
9. Lieutenant Pavel Gudz (KV tank, 89th separate tank battalion) - 10 tanks + 4 anti-tank guns.
10. Lieutenant Ivan Deputatov (36th Tank Brigade) - 9 tanks + 2 assault guns + 3 armored personnel carriers>
11. Senior Sergeant Ivan Lyubushkin (T-34 tank, 4th Tank Brigade) - 9 tanks
12. Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Sholokhov (158th Tank Brigade) - 8 tanks.
The most successful Soviet tank ace, Dmitry Lavrinenko, was born in 1914 in the village of Besstrashnaya, Krasnodar Territory. In 1934 he entered military school. At the front from the first days of the war. On October 6-10, 1941, in the battles of Orel and Mtsensk, where tankers of the 4th Brigade of Colonel Mikhail Katukov fought against the 4th Panzer Division of the 2nd Panzer Group of Colonel General Heinz Guderian, the crew of Dmitry Lavrinenko destroyed 16 German tanks. “South of Mtsensk,” Guderian later admitted, “the 4th Panzer Division was attacked by Russian tanks and had to go through a difficult moment. For the first time, the superiority of Russian T-34 tanks manifested itself in a sharp form. The division suffered heavy losses. The planned rapid attack on Tula had to be postponed” (Guderian H. “Memoirs of a Soldier”, M., 1954, p. 223). Lavrinenko also acted effectively in November, when his tank platoon held the defense together with soldiers of Ivan Panfilov’s 316th Infantry Division. The platoon was located near the small village of Gusenovo, where the division headquarters was then located. One day, a German tank group of 8 tanks rushed to the defenders’ positions. Lavrinenko's first shot knocked out the lead tank. Then it fires 6 more projectiles and each one hits the target. Only one German tank managed to escape. Lavrinenko took part in 28 fights, in each of which he acted extremely actively and accurately. The result was 52 destroyed tanks. He could have been higher, but in November 1941, the brave tankman died on the outskirts of Moscow in the battle for the village of Goryuny. It is extremely surprising that among the 1,142 tank crews awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war years, Dmitry Lavrinenko is not present.
Senior Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov - his crew (the composition included driver-mechanic foreman N. Nikiforov, gun commander senior sergeant A. Usov, radio operator-machine gunner senior sergeant P. Kiselnikov and junior driver-mechanic Red Army soldier N. Rodnikov). On August 19, 1941, in the area of the Voyskovitsy state farm, Leningrad Region, Zinovy Kolobanov’s KV-1 destroyed 22 German tanks (2nd result during the Second World War). The battle was carried out according to all the rules of military art. A group of 4 KV-1, led by Kolobanov, ambushed a German column and skillfully shot it down. The first two shots set fire to the two leading German vehicles and stopped the tanks following. Those in the rear, not understanding what had happened, pressed forward, squeezing the column. At this moment, Kolobanov hits Hitler’s machine, which was walking in the tail. A column of tanks was trapped. Not only Kolobanov’s crew acted masterfully (the KV tank received 135 hits from German shells (!!!), but did not fail), but also others. The crew of Lieutenant Sergeev destroyed 8 tanks, and the crews of Lieutenants Evdokimov and Lastochkin destroyed 4 each. As a result, 4 KV knocked out 38 enemy tanks. As in the case of Lavrinenko, Zinoviy Kolobanov is not on the list of Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The largest number of the latest German tanks during the war was destroyed by junior lieutenant Ivan Golub (13th Guards Tank Brigade of the 4th Guards Tank Corps). In December 1943, in the battles near Zhitomir and Berdichev, his T-34-85 knocked out 5 Tigers and 2 Panthers. Unfortunately, Ivan Golub was unable to increase his victory count. On January 5, 1944, he was killed in action. On May 24, 1944, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. German tank crews:
The list of German tank aces is impressive both in terms of the number of the latter, and in their individual results, and in all types of tank records (the largest number of destroyed tanks and other armored vehicles during the entire war, in one day, in one battle). German tankers fought on different fronts since 1939, but they achieved the greatest success in North Africa in 1941-1942, on the Eastern Front in 1943-1945 and on the Western Front in 1944. On the Eastern Front, the ratio of losses between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht in 1941-1945 in tanks and self-propelled guns was 2.96 to 1, and in 1943-1944 - 3.8 to 1. The ratio of armored losses at the turning point was especially unfavorable for the Red Army battle of the Second World War - in the Battle of Kursk (July-August 1943). If the Germans lost 1280 tanks and assault guns, then the Red Army lost 6064 (for armored losses in the Battle of Kursk, see “The Second World War: Current Problems.” M., publishing house “Nauka”, 1995, - article by the head of the Institute of Military History of the RF Ministry of Defense V.A. Zolotarev “The Battle of Kursk: a look after half a century”; “The classification of secrecy has been lifted: losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts: statistical research.” M., Voenizdat, 1993, p. 370) and the ratio of losses was 1 to 4.7. If we take into account that the Germans lost a significant number of their tanks and assault guns, breaking through the super-powerful (in terms of the saturation of minefields and anti-tank guns) and defense in depth, then we must admit that in a direct tank confrontation the picture was even sadder for the Soviet troops. The battle of Kursk clearly showed that the Germans achieved qualitative superiority in armored vehicles and victory over them was achieved thanks to the enormous numerical superiority of the Red Army and at the cost of heavy losses (soldiers and officers were lost 4 times more than the enemy, aircraft 1.7 times more). In August 1943, at a meeting in the State Defense Committee, Stalin, analyzing the results of the Battle of Kursk, stated that such a ratio of losses of armored vehicles could no longer be tolerated, otherwise, after qualitative superiority, quantitative superiority would also be lost. It was decided to accelerate as much as possible the development and production of a new heavy tank, new types of self-propelled guns and the re-equipment of the T-34 with a more powerful weapon. At the end of August 1943, the People's Commissar of Tank Construction V.A. Malyshev and the Head of the GABTU, Marshal of the Armored Forces Y.N. Fedorenko, arrived at the tank tank in Gorky. Malyshev said that victory in the Battle of Kursk came at too high a price. Enemy tanks could fire destructive fire at ours from a distance of 1,500 meters, while our 76.2 mm tank guns could hit Tigers and Panthers at a distance of no more than 500 meters. “Figuratively speaking,” said the People’s Commissar, “the enemy has arms one and a half kilometers away, and we are only half a kilometer away. We need to immediately install a more powerful gun in the T-34.” With the appearance on the battlefields of the T-34-85, IS-2, ISU-122 and ISU-152, the qualitative gap between Soviet armored vehicles and German ones was overcome. The level of losses of tanks and self-propelled guns was reduced, but until the very end of the war it was higher than that of the Germans. This can be explained by the fact that in defense the positive qualities of the Tigers and Panthers are more pronounced (excellent fire control system, powerful armor, effective tank guns) and their negative qualities (insufficient maneuverability) are less evident. 1. Felfebel K. Knispel -168 tanks destroyed.
2. Lieutenant Otto Carius (PzKpfw YI "Tiger I", PzKpfw YI "Tiger II" 502 sPzAbt) - 150 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns.
3. SS Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann (fought on the Sturmgeschutz III, PzKpfw YI “Tiger I”, served in the I SS-Panzer-Division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”, 101 (501) sPzAbt SS) - destroyed 138 Soviet, American and British tanks, 132 Soviet and American self-propelled artillery units.
4. Lieutenant G. Belter - 144 tanks destroyed.
5. SS Oberscharführer P. Eger - 113 tanks destroyed
6. Oberfenrich Rondorf - 106 tanks destroyed.
7. Non-commissioned officer Belokh - 103 tanks destroyed.
8. Feldwebel Gartner - 101 tanks destroyed.
9. Sergeant Major Kershner -100 tanks destroyed.
10. Obersturmführer Kerscher - 100 destroyed tanks
11. SS Untersturmführer Karl Bromann (PzKpfw YI "Tiger II", 103 (503) sPzAbt SS) - 66 Soviet tanks. 12. SS Obersturmführer Ernst Barkmann (PzKpfw Y “Panther”, 2 SS-Panzer-Division “Das Reich”) - 60 Soviet and American tanks. 13. Sergeant Erich Mausberg (PzKpfw YI "Tiger II", 505 sPzAbt) - 53 Soviet tanks. On January 14, 1944, Soviet troops launched a major offensive on the Leningrad Front. The 502nd heavy tank battalion was in the rear at that time, but already on January 20 appeared on the front line. Two days later, Lieutenant Strauss destroyed two T-34 tanks and one M3 General Lee. On January 25, the Strauss combat group, consisting of three Tigers, was assigned to the 126th Infantry Division. In the battles near the Volkovitsa railway station, the Tigers were attacked by a large group of T-26 light tanks manufactured in 1937. Weakly armored T-26s literally fell apart when hit by an 88-mm shell. T-34s and KV-1s took part in the next attack. However, this attack was repulsed. On this day, platoon leader Müller destroyed 25 tanks (an absolute record of the Second World War), Lieutenant Strauss - 13, platoon leader Yasser - 3.
After the Soviet winter offensive began at the end of 1944, many units surrounded in Klaipeda were evacuated to East Prussia. The 511th battalion was the first to be evacuated (on January 5, 1945, the 502nd battalion changed its number to the 511th to avoid confusion with the 502nd SS heavy tank battalion). The tanks were evacuated on the Deutschland and Preussen-Sassnitz ferries. On the morning of January 24, the ferries arrived at the port of Pillau. The next day the first battle took place. Platoon commander Carpanetto's tank was repaired at night for damage to the track, so the tank remained in the rear. Suddenly the crew heard the noise of tank engines. Having prepared for battle, the Germans saw a column of Soviet tanks emerging from nowhere. The very first Royal Tiger shell hit the engine of the Soviet IS-2. The next fourteen shots also found their targets! Soon the battlefield was illuminated by 15 burning IS-2s and T-34s.
In the fall of 1943, Lieutenant Otto Carius was able to knock out 10 T-34s in one of the battles near the city of Nevel.
On January 12, 1943, in a battle in the Shlisselburg area, Lieutenant Bodo von Hartel, commanding the Tiger, hit 12 T-34s, and on January 14, Unterfeldwebel Bolter hit 5 T-34s.
On July 22, 1944, while repelling an attack by American tanks, Corporal Ruehring from the 504th Heavy Tank Battalion destroyed 12 Shermans, while the remaining 11 tanks participating in the battle were abandoned by their crews in panic.
During the battle for the Italian city of Anzio on February 24, 1944, Lieutenant Zint from the 508th heavy tank battalion, driving a Tiger, knocked out 11 enemy tanks, and Unterfeldwebel Hammerschmidt knocked out 6. On April 6, 1945, near Königsberg near the village of Norgau, the “Royal Tiger” Unterfeldwebel Kerscher shot 10 Soviet SU-100s.
Not only the Tigers and Panthers were a dangerous enemy, but also the German self-propelled gun mounts. The self-propelled gun tank destroyer 8.8 cm Pak auf GW III/IY “Nashorn” (“Rhino”) of Lieutenant Albert Ernst (519th heavy tank destroyer division) destroyed 49 Soviet tanks. On December 23, 1943, in a battle near Vitebsk, Ernst set fire to 14 Soviet tanks, firing only 21 shots. In a special order he was called the “Vitebsk Tiger”, and on January 22, 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross.
The commander of the Sturmgeschutz III assault gun, Oberwachmeister Kicher (185th assault gun division), knocked out 30 Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the battles for Volkhov, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross on March 9, 1942.
In the central sector of the Eastern Front, the 667th Sturmgeschutz III assault gun division took part in bloody battles. During the Battle of Rzhev on August 29-31, 1942, the division destroyed 83 Soviet tanks, 18 of them by the crew of Senior Lieutenant Klaus Wagner. On September 9, 1942, the positions of German troops were attacked by more than 50 Soviet tanks, while only 5 serviceable vehicles remained in the 3rd battery of the 667th division. One after another, Soviet tank crews knocked out the German assault guns, but when only one vehicle remained in service—Lieutenant Baurman’s—the attack fizzled out, and 33 Soviet tanks were left burning on the battlefield.
On July 10, 1943, during the battles on the Kursk Bulge, the crew of the Sturmgeschutz III, under the command of Lieutenant Trispel, knocked out 12 T-34s within half an hour. On the southern sector of the Eastern Front in 1944, the 3rd battery of the 202nd assault gun division “Sturmgeschutz III” fell into the “cauldron” near Cherkassy. During the breakthrough of the encirclement, the crew of Sergeant Kremer knocked out 9 T-34s.
The commander of the Sturmgeschutz III, Oberleutnant Schubert, had 37 Soviet tanks destroyed in 1945. Oberwachmeister Leo Har, from March 30 to May 6, 1945, knocked out an ISU-152, two ISU-122 and 18 Soviet tanks.
Michael Wittmann, the greatest tanker of the Second World War, was born on April 22, 1914 in Vogeltal, in the upper Oberpfalz region. After receiving secondary education, he worked on his father’s farm and was drafted into the army in 1934. After serving two years in the 19th Infantry Regiment in the Munich Military District, he received the rank of non-commissioned officer. He joined the SS as a volunteer in 1937 and was assigned to the Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler,” which provided the Fuhrer’s personal security and later became the 1st SS Panzer Division. By the time World War II began, Wittmann was already an SS Unterscharführer in the division's artillery battalion. Participated in battles in Poland, Belgium and France. At the end of 1940, he received command of an assault gun, with which he participated in the battles of the Greek campaign. He did not stand out among his comrades in any way until the Leibstandarte crossed the border of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Wittmann soon gained a reputation as a brave, cool-headed and determined warrior. Possessing strong nerves, he allowed Soviet tanks to come within close range and knocked them out with the first shell. In the summer and autumn of 1941, he destroyed several Soviet tanks in this way, but was slightly wounded in August. In October 1941, in one battle he knocked out 6 enemy tanks. He was awarded the Iron Cross of both classes, as well as the badge of a tank attack aircraft.
In mid-1942, after Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler was transferred to France for rest and reorganization, Wittmann was sent to Germany to study at the military school in Bad Tölz. After his successful completion, he was awarded the rank of SS Untersturmführer - this happened on New Year's Eve 1943. He then returned to the Eastern Front.
In Russia, Wittmann was assigned to command a Tiger platoon in the 13th Company of the 1st SS Panzer Corps. Michael Wittmann became a recognized virtuoso of this deadly weapon during the Battle of Kursk. On July 5, 1943, the first day of the great battle, he destroyed 8 Soviet tanks and 7 artillery pieces. In total, during the battles near Kursk, he alone knocked out 30 tanks and destroyed 28 guns.
After the failure of Operation Citadel, Hitler's legions turned back. Wittmann was one of those who remained on and near the front line, covering the retreat of the troops, or launching counterattacks if the situation required it. He significantly increased his combat score during the autumn battles for Kyiv. On November 13, he burned 20 T-34 tanks (the 3rd result during the Second World War) and destroyed 17 artillery pieces. On January 13, 1944, near Berdichev, he knocked out 19 T-34 and KV-1 tanks. On January 14 he was awarded the Knight's Cross, and 16 days later he was presented to the Oak Leaves. A few days later, Wittmann was awarded the rank of SS Obersturmführer. In April 1944, when Wittmann left the Eastern Front, he had 119 destroyed Soviet tanks. But he faced his most difficult trials on the Western Front.
He was transferred to Normandy, where he was appointed commander of a company of Tiger tanks in the 501st SS Heavy Tank Battalion. On June 7, the battalion was sent to the front, where it arrived on June 12, having suffered heavy losses from continuous attacks by Anglo-American aviation (out of the entire battalion, only 6 tanks made it). The first German tank ace fought his most famous battle on June 13, 1944. That day, Wittmann was assigned to conduct reconnaissance in the Villers-Bocage area, where he discovered a large group of British tanks and armored personnel carriers that were flanking a German tank division. Here is what the English historian Max Hastings writes about this battle of Wittmann: “Attacking stationary targets, he sent shell after shell at tanks and vehicles almost point-blank, from very close ranges, and in the end he rammed another Cromwell, knocking it on its side , since he blocked his entry to the main street of Villers-Bocage" (Max Hastings, "Operation Overlord: how the second front was opened", M., "Progress", 1989, pp. 205-210). Then other Tigers came to help Wittman. In this battle, 25 British tanks and 28 units of other armored vehicles were destroyed. Wittmann's battle was of great importance for holding the front in this area, since the German command at that moment had no other opportunities to plug the gap into which the 7th Armored Division and the 22nd Armored Brigade of the British rushed. On June 22, Wittmann was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross and promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer. Michael Wittmann fought his last battle on August 8, 1944 against M4 Sherman tanks of the advancing 4th Canadian Tank Division. He knocked out two Shermans from 1800 meters. To break the attacking formation, Wittmann's tank rushed forward and knocked out the third Sherman. The circumstances of Wittmann's death are unknown. According to one version, his tank was destroyed by Shermans of the 2nd squadron of the 2nd tank regiment of the 1st tank division; according to another, he died as a result of an Allied air raid. The remains of Michael Wittmann were discovered in 1987 during land reclamation work and were reburied in the military cemetery in La Cambra. Sources: Gordon Williamson "Aces of the Thid Reich", London, "Arms and Armor Press", 1989; "Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two", London, "Arms and Armour", 1993; Mitcham S., Muller J. “Commanders of the Third Reich.” Smolensk, "Rusich", 1995; Samsonov A.M. “Moscow, 1941: from the tragedy of defeat to great victory.” M., 1991; Encyclopedia “The Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945". M., 1985; “Equipment and weapons”, 1995, No. 3-4, - Anatoly Dokuchaev “Combat records”; Mikhail Svirin “Assault gun “Sturmgeschutz III”, “Armada”, 1996; “Wehrmacht Tank Division”, ATF, No. 2001; “Sturmgeschutz III”: history of creation and use”, M., “Eastern Front”, 1995; "Panther": history of creation and use", M., "Eastern Front", 1995; "Tiger": history of creation and use", M., "Eastern Front", 1995; “Royal Tiger”: history of creation and application”, M., “Eastern Front”, 1995; "Ferdinand" and other assault tanks", M., "Eastern Front", 1995; “SS Troops”, Riga, “Tornado”, 1997.
RSS feed of comments for this entry Refresh list of commentsleave a comment |
The reward has found a hero
Grigory Naidin was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union immediately after this battle, but after that, in the confusion of the retreat, the documents were lost. Naidin continued to fight and at the end of 1941 he was hospitalized with a wound, and then went to the Chelyabinsk Tank School. His former division commander turned out to be the boss there. He was surprised to learn that Naidin was still not a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Split screen and other 8 options that may appear in iOS 15
Plants instead of ice: The Arctic can become green again, scientists say
Two-thirds of respondents believe that wealthy people are needed in Russia
It was the head of the school who filled out the documents, sent the request, and himself found witnesses to that iconic battle. On July 3, 1944, the commander of the heavy tank, Lieutenant Grigory Nikolaevich Naidin, was awarded the well-deserved title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Forgotten tank aces
Vitold Mikhailovich Gintovt
Born on March 7, 1922 in the village of Slobodshchina, not far from Minsk, Belarusian by nationality. He went to the front in December 1941, in the 200th Tank Brigade. Almost in the very first battle, the T-34 crew, in which Gintovt was the driver, found themselves in a catastrophic situation. Gintovt's tank and another two dozen infantry were ordered to hold back the advance to a strategically important height. According to initial data, the enemy number in this area was small, but in reality everything turned out to be different. So, the first thing the tankers ambushed saw was a formation of 20 enemy tanks, and two hundred Wehrmacht soldiers were marching behind them. The Thirty-Four fired two shots, and two PzKpfw IIIs were engulfed in fire.
Tankers of the 45th Guards Tank Brigade Heroes of the Soviet Union (from left to right): Mikhail Chugunin, Grigory Bogdanenko, Vitold Gintovt, Mikhail Zamula, Gennady Koryukin, Vladimir Maksakov and Fedosy Krivenko. Photo: wikimedia.org
The further battle seemed quite successful, because the weak guns of German tanks in 1941 practically did not penetrate the T-34. But in practice, this is not always the case, and one stray shot from a German tank damaged the gun of the thirty-four. Now that the Soviet “monster” had ceased to terrify the attacking ranks, the PzKpfw IIIs began to slowly surround it. Then the driver-mechanic Gintovt decided to pave the way to freedom with a ram. Having crushed one anti-tank gun and a tank, he almost escaped from the encirclement, but now the engine failed... The vehicle stalled, the gun was smashed, at a distance of several meters the tank was again surrounded by German vehicles, and the enemy infantry began pounding the sides of the T-34 with butts, calling on the Soviets soldier surrender. But instead of a white flag, grenades were thrown from the car’s hatch, and several machine gun bursts were heard.
Having counted their losses, the Germans decided to deal with the crew with particular cruelty - they threw a tarpaulin soaked in fuel over the thirty-four and set it on fire. At this time, the Soviet crew was already mentally saying goodbye to life, and only driver Gintovt tried over and over again to “wake up” the stalled engine at the wrong time. And here it is, the roar of a starting engine! At full speed, the Soviet tank turned the PzKpfw III over and rushed into the field, but here luck turned against it. An enemy shell found a weak spot in the T-34's armor - it hit the rear and killed three people. Only thanks to luck, the only survivor, the wounded driver-mechanic Gintovt, was able to start the engine again and retreat to his own.
After treatment, Vitold Mikhailovich participated in the Battle of Kursk with a new crew. Here his talent for controlling a combat vehicle was revealed even more. By correctly positioning his tank, Gintovt ensured that enemy vehicles could not see him, and he could calmly shoot them in the flank. He increased his tally in this battle by four enemy tanks, including the Tiger and Panther.
The dashing mechanic-driver was also distinguished by his ingenuity. During the battles near Vinnitsa, only his tank broke through to the city of Gusyatin, an important transport hub occupied by the Germans. Having created chaos and panic in the ranks of the soldiers occupying the city, the thirty-four blocked three trains, simultaneously destroying up to a hundred enemy infantry. Reasonably judging that the march of the main units of the Red Army was still far away, and the situation required another weapon, Sergeant Major Gintovt divided the tank crew into two parts. One remained in the T-34, and the other took possession of the captured Panther, which was immediately rolled off the train. With this unusual composition, the group fought off enemy attacks for a whole day, but did not give up their positions and waited for the rest of the forces to arrive.
In total, tank ace Vitold Gintovt has 21 enemy tanks, 80 vehicles, and 27 enemy guns knocked out and disabled. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
Alexander Fedorovich Burda
Heroes of the Soviet Union Alexander Fedorovich Burda, Frol Evstafievich Stolyarchuk, Evgeniy Alekseevich Luppov. Photo: waralbum.ru
Born on April 12, 1911 in the village of Rovenki (now a city in the Lugansk region). The family was large like a peasant - nine children. He was left without his father early, he died in the civil war, so from childhood he knew how to take on responsibilities and not shirk responsibility. He worked as a miner and electrician. He joined the army in 1934, during the Great Patriotic War he was lucky to get into the legendary 1st Guards Tank Brigade, led by Katukov.
By the end of July 1941, Burda had eight enemy tanks and several armored vehicles. In September, Burda already commanded a company in Katukov’s 4th Tank Brigade. His T-34 and KV-1, together with the forces of the 1st Tank Battalion, destroy an entire column of German equipment and infantry on the approach to Orel, and he himself knocks out ten more tanks.
Dozens of cavalrymen personally owed their lives to Burda; in the winter of 1943, the tanks of his regiment were found, and then taken out on their armor from the encirclement of already desperate soldiers. And along the way, another tank column was destroyed.
In addition to his military talents, Alexey Fedorovich also possessed quite creative ones. He sang and danced wonderfully, in general, as they say, he was a soul ( from the book “People of the Forties” by Yu.A. Zhukov
).
On January 25, 1944, twelve Tiger tanks appeared in direct line of sight from the headquarters of the tank brigade near the village of Tsybulev (now Cherkasy region in Ukraine). Before this, they were able to escape from the Korsun-Shevchenko cauldron, and now they were approaching the command post of the Soviet troops. The headquarters contained valuable maps of the movement of the Red Army, and their capture could mean the failure of many operations. At that moment, only the crew of the guard, Colonel Alexey Burda, was in the command post. Quickly assessing the situation and wanting to give more time to save staff documents, the ace rode to his inevitable death in a single tank. But before his death, he managed to knock out two more Tigers.
His death was not in vain, the maps and documents were saved, and the units that arrived in time destroyed the enemy tanks. For his feat, Alexey Fedorovich Burda was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, he accounted for more than 30 tanks, 40 vehicles and more than 100 enemy infantry.
T-28 raid through Minsk
In the 1930s, an era of experimentation began in tank building in the USSR. For example, multi-turret tanks were created - the three-turret T-28 and the five-turret T-35. They looked beautiful in parades, but were not suitable for real war. Due to their huge dimensions, they became easy targets, and the armor was not strong enough. Their production was stopped, only a small part remained in service with the Soviet army.
Senior Sergeant Dmitry Ivanovich Malko was in charge of a weapons depot in Minsk. There remained one T-28 tank, delivered there for repairs. The city was being evacuated; the Germans had already approached the city. The tank had no crew and was subject to disposal, but Dmitry Malko obtained written permission to take the car with him. He himself sat in the driver's seat and moved east with the retreating troops, but fell far behind and found himself surrounded. But the mechanic still did not abandon the tank, but developed a crazy and daring plan - to turn back and break through to his own people through the city taken by the Germans.
Desperate. Eight exploits of tank crews (5 photos)
Author: russiatodefend
24 September 2014 18:33
Tags: armies Afghanistan heroes history exploits tanks tankers Chechnya South Ossetia
23741
5
Not long ago we wrote about five daring exploits of tank crews during the Great Patriotic War. But, as our readers rightly noted, in the modern history of Russia there was no less heroism. Therefore, we continue the series of stories about tank heroes and their exploits.
0
See all photos in the gallery
0
Alexey Kozin: “I won’t leave the car!” Lieutenant Kozin, as part of a mobile detachment, carried out tasks to patrol the border with the Chechen Republic at an outpost in Aksai, Dagestan. On September 5, 1999, two tanks of Captain Panev and Lieutenant Kozin, along with infantry, came under fire. Several times Kozin’s tank avoided enemy grenades, but one of the shots still reached the target. The loader who fired from the DShK had his face burned, and the gunner's legs were injured by shrapnel. The crew was still able to get out of the burning tank. Grabbing the driver’s machine gun, Kozin ordered the wounded soldiers to leave, while he remained to cover the tankers’ retreat. When the machine gun ran out of cartridges, he climbed the tower and opened fire with an anti-aircraft machine gun. Due to heavy enemy fire, it was impossible to get close to the tank. The lieutenant could not be saved. The last thing Alexey’s colleagues heard was “I won’t leave the car!” The title of Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded posthumously to Alexei Kozin. Vadim Makarov. Not a single loss Tankman Makarov has an impressive track record: he served in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the North Caucasus and Leningrad military districts, commanded a tank platoon and company, participated in the Afghan War and the Karabakh conflict. But the most striking episode of his service was the command of the 83rd separate tank battalion during the first Chechen war. From April 20 to May 23, 1996, Captain Makarov led a battalion that participated in raid operations together with army special forces and airborne units throughout almost the entire territory of Chechnya and received the nickname “Black Wing”. During the fighting, the battalion did not lose a single tank or a single tanker. This is the great merit of the commander!
×
0
Evgeny Kapustin. Fight with a damaged spine In January 2000, Evgeny Kapustin was seriously wounded in Grozny during street fighting. But even having suffered a spinal injury, he did not leave the tank and continued to fight. Only after reinforcements arrived was the tanker evacuated to the hospital. And this is not the only case when Eugene showed bravery and courage in battle. During the assault on the villages of Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi in the Buynaksky district, a tanker killed more than ten militants with a precise hit on the window of a house. For his courage in operations in the North Caucasus region, Evgeny Kapustin received the well-deserved title of Hero of the Russian Federation. Oleg Kaskov. When you can’t lose On April 4, 1996, in Chechnya, in the Vedeno region, a motorized rifle column with a tank guard under the command of Senior Lieutenant Kaskov was ambushed. Oleg Kaskov was shell-shocked, the gunner and driver were seriously wounded. It seemed that this battle was already lost. But, gathering his will into a fist, the senior lieutenant pulled the wounded out of the tank and gave them first aid. Then Kaskov extinguished the fire in the tank’s fighting compartment and, taking the gunner’s place, hit the enemy position, which was the most dangerous for the column, with a direct hit. The tanker covered the column's exit from the shelling zone until the last shell. In 1997, for courage and heroism while performing a special task, Oleg Kaskov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
0
Sergey Mylnikov. An unexpected maneuver On August 8, 2008, Sergei Mylnikov was part of a Russian peacekeeping group that protected the Ossetian people from genocide. In a street battle in the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, the T-72 crew under the command of Mylnikov destroyed 2 tanks and 3 light armored vehicles, thus the tankers provided a breakthrough to the surrounded peacekeepers and saved them from destruction. But the battle didn't end there. Mylnikov held the defense until the last, and only after the vehicle received four direct hits did the crew leave the tank. The ring of Georgian troops around the peacekeepers was shrinking. It was decided to retreat to meet our troops. However, due to fierce enemy fire, this was impossible. Then Sergeant Mylnikov returned to his damaged and unarmed tank and moved at maximum speed towards the enemy. This unexpected maneuver did its job. In panic, the enemy rushed in all directions. This is what allowed the Russian peacekeeping battalion to break through to its own and carry out the wounded and dead. Alexander Sinelnik. Enlisted forever on February 21, 1995, the 3rd tank company under the command of Captain Sinelnik took part in the encirclement of Grozny and the capture of a commanding height in the Novye Promysla area. For 15 hours, the militants made furious attempts to knock down the motorized riflemen and tankers from the heights. At a critical moment in the battle, Alexander Sinelnik led the armored group and, calling fire on himself, allowed the motorized rifles to gain a foothold on their lines. 6 shots were fired at his tank from a grenade launcher, but the captain continued to fight. Being mortally wounded, Sinelnik ordered the crew to leave the burning car and took the tank to a safe place. Alexander Vladimirovich Sinelnik was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. By order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation dated April 4, 1999, he was forever included in the lists of the 3rd tank company of the tank battalion of the 506th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment.
0
Sergey Yesterday. Life for the wounded on December 1, 1980. Afghanistan. After a fierce battle, a tank was allocated to help the wounded, driven by driver Sergei Vashchernev. While the soldiers were crawling, under heavy fire, taking away the dead and wounded, Sergei’s car covered them from aimed fire, maneuvering under enemy shots. Taking the BRDM with the wounded in tow, the tank made a reverse breakthrough. It was getting dark. In order to better see the road and quickly transport the wounded, Sergei opened the tank hatch. The tanker did not notice how one of the dushmans got close to the road and fired a grenade launcher at point-blank range. The grenade hit the car's gun and exploded. No one was injured inside the tank. Of the entire detachment, only one fighter died - the driver-mechanic Sergei Vashchernev himself, who did the most to save the detachment. Yuri Yakovlev. Hold on to the last The grandson of the Soviet tankman, participant in the Great Patriotic War Ivan Nikitich Yakovlev, Yuri continued the family tradition and, having graduated from the Chelyabinsk Higher Tank Command School in 2002, entered the 503rd motorized rifle regiment of permanent readiness of the North Caucasus Military District. During the Ossetian events of August 2008, he was one of the first to move towards the enemy at the head of a battalion tactical group. On the morning of August 9, Captain Yakovlev's advanced tank group entered Tskhinvali, which was controlled by Georgian troops. The tankers managed to break through to the positions of the peacekeeping battalion of Russian troops. From close range, maneuvering and exposing the frontal armor of the T-72, Yakovlev continued to fight. The tank held out until the withdrawal of Georgian troops from Tskhinvali. And this is after four direct hits! Yakovlev not only showed courage and courage in battle, but also skillfully commanded the unit: in his group, which consisted of four T-72s, only one vehicle was lost, and only one serviceman was wounded.
Source:
More cool stories!
- Magnificent seven facts about everything in the world
- When a date didn't go according to plan: stories from the Internet
- The job of a car mechanic is full of surprises.
- An 11-year-old man was bedridden and cured himself
- Finds from the La Pomoika boutique
Tags: armies Afghanistan heroes history exploits tanks tankers Chechnya South Ossetia
Did you like the post? Support Chips, click:
357 45 314
Liked
314 10
35
Partner news
Courage and courage of the crew
On the way, Malko found himself a team - the fighters also fought off their own and agreed to accompany him. The Germans already ruled in Minsk, they could not even think that they would meet the T-28 with Soviet tankers. Our people began to methodically shoot the Nazis, first at the distillery, then in the city center and in the park. The crew managed to approach the outskirts of Minsk, but there they were met by an anti-tank battery.
Of several shells, only one penetrated the tank’s armor, the vehicle stopped, and the Nazis opened fire. Three crew members died, one was captured, but Dmitry Ivanovich Malko managed to escape. He crossed the front line and reached his own. He went into battle again on a different tank and met victory as a deputy company commander.
T-34 raid through Kalinin
The problem that Dmitry Malko was unable to complete was solved by Stepan Gorobets. He drove the new T-34 tank, which had recently entered service. This vehicle had good armor, great speed and reliability. After the war, it was recognized as the best Soviet tank. In October 1941, the Germans marched on Moscow. By October 17, they occupied Kalinin and sent a Soviet tank battalion there.
Ahead of the platoon was a T-34 under the command of Stepan Gorobets. The German column began to fire at them. One Soviet tank was hit, but Gorobets was able to fight his way forward. The radio on the tank broke down and communication with the battalion was interrupted. He went further alone, but he himself did not know about it. Moving towards Kalinin, the crew drove to the German airfield. They destroyed two aircraft and moved on.
In the city, the tank came under fire and caught fire, the gun jammed. But the tankers did not give up - the driver began to crush the German guns with the tracks while the others put out the fire. In the city center, the Germans mistook the T-34 for a captured one, and Gorobets’ crew shot them with a machine gun. Then they drove into the German battery from the rear and destroyed it, crushing the guns. When the crew made their way to their own, General Khomenko, commander of the 30th Army, without waiting for a decision from above, gave his order to Stepan Gorobets.
Found a violation? Report content
Tank ace: how a Soviet tankman impressed the Germans in 1941
The battle took place near a village with the eloquent name of First Warrior. The superior forces of the Nazis were able to break through the fire of anti-tank guns to the infantry trenches. Four tanks under the command of Lavrinenko moved to save her.
Soviet T-34s not only suddenly attacked the enemy, but also performed superbly in mobile combat, seizing the initiative. They struck swiftly from different sides over and over again, confusing the fascists. The attackers decided that they were opposed not by four Soviet tanks, but by a larger unit. This false impression was reinforced by the losses suffered by the Germans.
According to Soviet data, four Lavrinenko combat vehicles were able to destroy 15 enemy tanks. Four of them were burned by the platoon commander's T-34. The tankers also destroyed two guns and four motorcycles. At the same time, the vehicles that saved the infantry took out soldiers on armor from positions destroyed by the Germans. That battle made an indelible impression on the Germans, as did other clashes near Mtsensk with Soviet tanks.
“South of Mtsensk, the 4th Panzer Division was attacked by Russian tanks and had to endure a difficult moment. For the first time, the superiority of Russian T-34 tanks manifested itself in a sharp form. The division suffered significant losses. The planned rapid attack on Tula had to be postponed,” Heinz Guderian later wrote.
In total, Dmitry Lavrinenko destroyed 52 enemy tanks in two and a half months. During the war, not a single Red Army tanker could repeat this result. How the unrivaled Soviet ace fought can be judged from the story of his driver-mechanic, Senior Sergeant Ponomarenko:
“Lavrinenko told us this: “You can’t come back alive, but you have to help out the mortar company.” It's clear? Forward!". We jump out onto a hillock, and there are German tanks scurrying around like dogs. I stopped. Lavrinenko - blow! On a heavy tank. Then we see a German medium tank between our two burning BT light tanks - they destroyed that too. We see another tank - it runs away. Shot! Flame... There are three tanks. Their crews are scattering. 300 meters away I see another tank, I show it to Lavrinenko, and he is a real sniper. The second shell also smashed this fourth one.”
It is noteworthy that Lavrinenko’s tank repeatedly performed important combat missions alone. For example, having stopped in Serpukhov to shave at a barbershop, Lavrinenko’s crew eventually defended the city.
Having found out that the road to Serpukhov was open, a well-armed battalion of Germans with motorcycles, cars and guns moved there. The local commandant could only field old men and teenagers from the garrison extermination battalion against them. But at this critical moment, it became known about Lavrinenko’s tank at the hairdresser’s. Having learned about the current situation, the tankers set up an ambush on the path of the German column.
The T-34 practically destroyed the column, and when the Germans tried to deploy one of the guns against it, the tank crushed the gun. After this, the garrison infantry arrived. As trophies, the winners received not only weapons and equipment, but also a headquarters bus with important documents and maps. Several Germans were also captured.
Another time, Lavrinenko’s tank delayed the advance of a German tank column near the village of Shishkino. At the same time, his T-34 destroyed six German tanks.
It is noteworthy that the Soviet ace died not in a tank battle, but during shelling - from a fragment of a mine fired by the Germans. At this time, Dmitry Lavrinenko was outside the saving armor of the T-34.
