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In the past, we have always talked about historical celebrities and big country games, but today to change our taste, let's tell the story of small people and see how a child changes history.
The child's name is Vasily Kresov, a native of Kirov Oblast, Russia. On June 21, 1941, he attended the graduation ceremony of secondary school; The next day, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and the Great Patriotic War broke out; On the third day, he was drafted into the army, when Vasily was only 17 years old.
Soviet secondary school students, boys and even girls, who graduated in 1941, basically had this fate. Graduated, enlisted, and then most died. Marshal Akhromeyev, a year older than Vasily, the chief of the Soviet General Staff who committed suicide during the collapse of the Soviet Union, and of the 32 middle school classmates, only he and another classmate survived.
Vasily, the classmates who went to be infantry were lucky, he became a tanker. Infantry, in a few days, may be killed or captured, but tankers still have to go to tank school for a year. And just like that, when Vasily graduated, just in time for the Battle of Stalingrad - here, the average lifespan of a soldier is only 24 hours, and if you can survive three days, congratulations, you can get dry.
Vasily Kresov
Before departure, the superior gave everyone a day off and 600 rubles. The children received their wages in advance, happy and proud, went to town to take pictures, shop, and write letters to relatives and lovers in their hometown.
Then they were stuffed into the train to Stalingrad.
But Vasily was still very lucky, because he was assigned to the KV-1S heavy tank, although the protection is not as good as the old version of the KV-1, but it is also a heavy tank, and the tonnage is there.
Sure enough, the first time Vasily took part in the battle, the car helped a lot. Platoon Commander Serov's tank was unfortunately stuck in a mine and could not move, Vasily went to the rescue, he was hit by German artillery three times, fortunately none of them penetrated the armor. When Vasily found out that they were only 50 meters away from that gun, he simply crushed it directly. "In less than one minute, our tank shook violently, and we could hear the loud metal rubbing sound in the tank," he recalls. ”
Later that day, Vasily engaged in another "duel" with a German tank No. 4, whose shells left Kovo with a white lead, and Kovo's shells directly pierced No. 4.
It was this treasure car that allowed Vasily to "survive" until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, and almost all of his comrades who drove the T-70 died, and the battle damage of the T-34 tank was not small. It can be seen that the turtle shell is really the best friend of the tank soldiers.
In the later part of the Battle of Stalin, Vasily was assigned a new task - to go to the self-propelled artillery regiment as the commander of the SU-122, and later he was promoted to the commander of a self-propelled artillery platoon of the 1454th self-propelled artillery regiment.
On the eve of June 15, 1943, the 1454th Regiment assembled urgently, and the largest tank battle in human history was about to begin. Vasily's platoon was deployed on the northern flank of the Central Front, the defensive area of the 48th Army.
KV-1 heavy tank
Vasily's artillery commander Korolev, also a child who has just stepped out of middle school, 17 years old, the youngest fighter in the whole crew, a newcomer to the battlefield, has never seen a battle at all. But he will soon prove his strength.
At 6 a.m. on July 5, 1943, the Germans began their offensive. German armored units opened fire as they slowly approached the Soviet line along the undulating terrain. Their steel tracks shimmer in the rising sun.
Vasily found six behemoths in the sight glass: vertical armored bodies, boxy turret shields, long-barreled guns with muzzle brakes - this is the "Tiger" tank! The six "tigers" are also painted with yellow-green-brown camouflage and blend in well with their surroundings.
Soon, the Tiger was less than a thousand meters away from the Soviet army. The regiment commander still did not give the order to shoot, because the side and front armor thickness of the "Tiger" tank was 80 mm and 120 mm respectively, and its powerful gun could penetrate 70 mm thick armor at a distance of 1500 meters, while the Soviet 122 mm howitzer could only penetrate the "Tiger" armor at a distance of about 500 meters.
So it's an unequal battle.
The tiger is slowly rolling over, 900 meters, 800 meters, 700 meters, getting closer and closer. The Soviet defense line could feel the shaking of the earth, but still did not receive the order to fire! Their regimental commander, Major Samiko, who had fought the Battle of Moscow and had extensive experience, knew the German tactics: first apply pressure with Tiger tanks, and if Soviet tanks could not withstand the pressure, they could fire first, they could lock their positions, and then easily destroy Soviet tanks, self-propelled guns and artillery from a safe distance. So you have to let the tiger get closer.
Just as the Tiger approached 500 meters, everyone suddenly heard two huge explosions, and the two tigers that had originally forced Graman suddenly stopped, and they seemed to be stuck by mines and incapacitated.
The regiment commander immediately seized the opportunity: "Aim at the tank!" Fire!"
Three red flares rose in the sky, which were signals confirming the command. Vasily had long been waiting impatiently, and before the first flares reached the peak, he pressed the trigger.
The clever Soviet army, the first wave was fighting the two tanks lying down. The shells of the Vasily crew hit a Tiger first, and the Tiger exploded.
Immediately afterwards, Vasily noticed that a German tank on the left flank was far away from the other tanks and rushed to the front. Vasily gave the order to fire, and the shell hit the target and exploded in half of the turret. However, the tank continued to advance, firing from its main gun and two machine guns. Vasily ordered the second gun to "aim at the tracks", and this large-caliber shell shattered one of the tracks. The tank overturned, revealing its fragile belly.
Just as Vasily was ordering the third shot, a teammate next door came to grab the head. The commander of the gun of that car, called Zibin, was extremely experienced, had not fired before, and was waiting for such an opportunity, and he did not even need the commander's order, he immediately fired a shell at the side of the enemy tank, and another tiger was killed.
SU-122 self-propelled gun that implements tactical maneuvers
On Vasily's side, of course, he was angry, but he still praised the coin for the victory of his comrades.
By this time, the remaining German tanks had broken through the first trenches.
At a critical moment, company commander Shepchenko ordered the whole company to concentrate its fire on the Tiger in the front, so a volley fired by the whole company instantly overturned the "Tiger" turret. Its main gun drew a semicircle in the air and fell heavily to the ground. As soon as the company commander saw that this method was useful, he repeated the order: "Aim for the third car on the left!" Concentrate firepower! Fire!" So another tiger was scrapped.
The other companies also immediately switched to volleys against the enemy, and for a while the German tank men turned on their backs. Around noon, the Soviets blocked the enemy's attack.
At the end of the first day of fighting in Kursk, the 1454th Regiment held the line, destroyed 8 enemy tanks, several armored vehicles, and killed dozens of German officers and men. On their side, 2 self-propelled guns were destroyed, one tank was wounded, 5 people were wounded and not killed. The Soviet army actually won a big victory in the face of the "tiger" with such a small loss. Vasily's company commander Shevchenko was the first commander to use the tactics of "group fighting".
On the second day of the Battle of Kursk, at 23:00 on the evening of July 6, the 1454th Regiment was transferred to the designated area of the operational sector of the 13th Army, and the task remained to defend the defensive line.
The "Ferdinand" tank destroyer used by the Germans in Kursk
On the morning of July 7, the first echelon of German tanks was lined up in a wedge-shaped formation, led by the "Ferdinand" tank destroyer with 200 mm armor and 88 mm guns, which was thick skin and strong guns, which caused great headaches for the Soviet troops.
In this battle, Vasily unlocked the way to kill "Ferdinand", that is, two self-propelled guns cooperated. Vasily's crew opened fire first, hitting the left track, first slowing down the "Ferdinand" and deflecting to the left. Then car No. 2 fired at the tracks on the right, completely paralyzing "Ferdinand". Then the two crews aimed at the immovable "Ferdinand" and beat wildly, 5 out of 6 shells hit the superstructure of the tank, and the mentality of the German crew collapsed, abandoned the tank, raised hands and surrendered.
During this period, Vasily's car caught fire, and the crew desperately put out the fire instead of abandoning the car, because abandonment of the car is not allowed. According to Soviet regulations, the vehicle could only be abandoned if it was damaged to the point that it could not be fired and moved, otherwise the crew would be court-martialed. In fact, the Soviet soldiers of that era, if the tank could not move, many people would rather be a stationary battery than abandon the vehicle, until the last moment of the battle, this spirit is now rare.
Fortunately, Vasily's car successfully extinguished the fire, and it was still able to move and fight. They continue to fight.
Later in the morning, Vasily once again faced a one-on-one duel with the Tiger at close range, and the balance of strength was very unfavorable for Vasily, these two combat vehicles, not a heavyweight. The Tiger style can easily turn 122 into a firework. But Vasily's tactics were really clever, he concentrated his fire on the "Tiger" turret, the tank turret suddenly jammed, lost the ability to steer, and the tiger could only retreat while releasing the smoke screen. Immediately after Vasily's artillery commander hit the Tiger with another shot, the German armored soldiers, screaming in flames, jumped from the burning tanks to the ground. The Vasily gunners decided to give them a bite and maneuvered the captured MG-34 to fire a long point at the German soldiers. Unfortunately, he failed to hit the people who were rolling around frantically.
On the battlefield on this day, what made Vasily happiest was not the hit of German tanks, but the safe return of his comrades.
The Gorshkov crew, the one that had snatched the head in front, was hit and caught fire, and the comrades braved heavy artillery and machine-gun fire to rescue them. However, when the hatch was opened, it was found that all the members were stuck and could not get out of it. The comrades could only return to their vehicles with great grief and continue to fight. The Gorshkov crew, at this time, was left on the battlefield to die.
At the most difficult and critical moment of the battle, Vasily was supported by his doggy comrades, who recalled, "I saw a German shepherd rushing past us and rushing towards the enemy tank, this dog carrying a bag with a pole went directly under a 'tiger' of the enemy's forward troops. Immediately after a muffled sound, a flame rushed into the sky, and the 55-ton steel monster was blown in two. We heard more explosions on the left and right sides. After the battle, we learned that our troops threw 10 specially trained anti-tank dogs in our sector, which destroyed several enemy tanks. ”
An hour and a half later, the Germans retreated and the battle was over. Vasily found a miracle, Gorshkov's crew is actually alive! It turned out that at that time the crew was stuck in the combat vehicle, it was difficult to breathe, and the fire spread from the engine compartment to the fighting compartment. All hatches were stuck, so the crew tried to get out through the emergency escape hatch at the bottom of the vehicle, but this hatch was also stuck. Everyone took turns hammering desperately on the twisted emergency hatch with a heavy hammer. But since they could not breathe oxygen, their strength was getting weaker and weaker, and at the moment of crisis, Commander Gorshkov, who was extremely physically fit, got his hands on it, smashed the hatch twice, the hinges of the hatch began to loosen, smashed a few more times, and then the hatch fell!
Anti-tank dogs of the Soviet army
Therefore, it is a Soviet-style tradition to hammer everything, and 40 years later this trick saved a space station.
Commander Gorshkov was the last to climb out, when his one-piece suit was already on fire, and he immediately extinguished the fire with two fire extinguishers. At the same time, the tank soldiers who escaped from death also began to put out the fire, using sand, canvas, fire extinguishers, and everything that could be used was up. In the end, they miraculously saved this self-propelled gun, and it can continue to be used with a little repair.
After the battle, Vasily admired the blackened faces of his comrades and the sledgehammer that saved everyone with the joy of the aftermath.
In the afternoon, Vasily broke another tank and paralyzed another.
In the evening, they were ordered to participate in the counterattack. When they came to the vicinity of a large house, an armor-piercing bullet whistled and flew - Vasily ordered a blessing, this armor-piercing bullet missed!
It turned out that a German tank was ambushed behind the house, only 50 meters away from the Vasily self-propelled gun.
Then the German tanks fell silent.
Vasily did not dare to act rashly, he sent a tankman to see what the Germans were doing, were they preparing for an attack or repairing tanks?
Vasily's crew is really fatal. The tanker had just touched the trench and was about to jump off, when suddenly a hand stretched out from the trench! Still clutching a cluster grenade, the German soldier apparently wanted to throw the cluster grenade at the crew. The tankers instinctively shot that hand back with their submachine guns! As a result, the cluster grenade bounced straight back into the trench and exploded, shaking the tankers 5 meters away.
Vasily's crew escaped again.
Destroyed Tiger style
As soon as the tankers fled back to their own crews, they heard the sound of enemy tanks launching, and Vasily hurriedly fired a shot at the tracks, and the tank was lying on its stomach again. When they touched it, they found that it was empty and there was no ammunition, and the Germans had apparently abandoned the car and fled.
Three days of fierce fighting ended here, and Vasily's crew individually destroyed or captured a total of 8 German tanks.
On July 12, Vasily's unit, on the orders of the commander of the Central Front, Rokossovsky, was transferred to the 95th Tank Brigade to participate in the second phase of the Kursk campaign, Operation Kutuzov, and they continued to fight for two months in the height of the Russian summer.
Vasily Krysov was fortunate enough to be a commander on the SU-85 self-propelled gun and T-34/85 tank, and participated in the Liberation of Kiev, the Zhytomyr-Berdichev Offensive, the Belarusian Campaign and the Battle of East Prussia, during which he was wounded several times, and finally won the war in East Prussia.
In total, he received two Order of the Red Star, one Order of the Great Patriotic War of the Second Degree. He was a hero, but there were more dazzling heroes in the Soviet army. If it were not for an oral memoir, perhaps the name of Vasily Kresov would have been drowned in the long river of history and left us with no way of knowing.
However, it was such countless unknown Soviet tank soldiers that formed a torrent of steel and finally defeated the German armored forces that swept through most of Europe and were famous for their "blitzkrieg".
Well, let's talk about it today, like friends don't forget to like and follow support, we will see you in the next issue, thank you.