Soviet Tank Soldiers World War II Memories: Hunting German Tanks -1

The fighting has reached a white-hot stage. Everything depends on the speed and firmness of the warring parties. The Germans counterattacked in some areas, and there was a brutal melee between the two sides. "Victor, head for those damaged houses, rush into the village!" I ordered Oljenik. "Understood!"

The Germans on our section also maneuvered through the trenches, and they seemed ready to fight back. As our self-propelled guns crossed the trenches, I threw two grenades into the trenches, killing several German soldiers under the tracks. When we came to a large house, an armor-piercing bullet whistled past the chariot – it was deflected!

At this point, there was only two houses between us and the German tank — 50 meters. This was not good news, and I shook my helmet toward Levanov's chariot, meaning "radio contact." I said to him on the radio, "Ivan, there's a tank behind the second house next to us." Go around your chariot and pay attention to the corners of the house! Don't let it escape! ”

We waited quietly for the German tank to move, while also watching out for the German anti-tank team. I stood up from the hatch with a grenade and Vasya Praksin stood next to me with a machine gun. There seemed to be a situation nearby, and I suddenly saw the attack of our infantry on the enemy's trenches, and in an instant a fierce street battle broke out between the two sides. Our Siberian platoon leader, armed with the rifles of the fallen soldiers, stabbed down two German soldiers who were going to fire with submachine guns in the blink of an eye, and then rushed into the trenches with lightning speed, using bayonets and butts to fight a small group of "Fritz" (the Soviet nickname for the Germans) with bayonets and butts! Plaxin and I held our breath and watched what was happening in front of us.

Beschenov begged me: "Comrade Lieutenant, I ask to touch the side of that tank and deal with them with a cluster grenade. "That's when I came back to God." No, Yemelyan Ivanovich, don't go, they also have submachine gunners on alert. We just have to wait, Fritz will soon be out of breath, and once they start retreating, the initiative is in our hands! But the Germans in the house remained eerily silent despite the fierce fighting nearby. I decisively sent Praksin to see what the Germans were doing, were they preparing for an attack or repairing the tanks?

Vasily went out of the emergency escape hatch and crept up on the house under cover of bushes. Soon, we heard an explosion. Vasily soon returned to the car, and he covered his ears and said loudly: "I touched the trench and was about to jump down, and suddenly a hand clutching a cluster grenade came out of the trench." There was no time to think about it, so I immediately shot that hand back with my submachine gun! The cluster grenade bounced back into the trench and exploded, knocking me out 5 meters away. Comrade Lieutenant, that 'Fritz' must have planned to deal with us with a cluster grenade! ”

Suddenly, we heard the enemy tank launch, and it seemed to start. A few seconds later, Levanov's self-propelled gun roared, and I leaned out of the chariot and saw that the German tank could not move, its left track was knocked off, and there was no one inside, and the Germans must have abandoned the car. I ordered by radio: "Well done, Levanov crew!" Keep moving! "Our chariots slowly advance in coordination with the infantry while firing in a short stop.

The Germans returned fire, but kept retreating to avoid being encircled. They covered themselves with a smoke screen, and I vaguely saw the outline of a tank in the smoke screen, so I ordered: "Vasily! Aim at that tank and shoot continuously! fire! "The gunner searched for the target in the smoke, and I looked out of the hatch for visual observation, and it turned out to be a T-34. I hurriedly shouted "Order revocation!" "And hit the green flares. In this way, we rendezvoused with the tank unit attacking from the west, and later we learned that this unit was the 27th Heavy Tank Regiment of the Guards. At this time the sun rose, and the Germans left behind a lot of equipment and dead bodies and were driven out of Bonery. This is the end of the day's fighting. Hygienists began to treat our wounded and wounded whose Germans had not been able to evacuate, and infantry units entered enemy abandoned positions and loaded captured weapons and ammunition into trucks. Because of the sweltering heat, the dead bodies quickly emitted a stench. In order to avoid hitting the mine, we returned to the main position the same way. As soon as we parked the chariot, everyone rushed to the cold water bucket sent by the secretary general, and the comrades were thirsty for several hours! It took us another hour and a half to clean up the chariots, and everyone was exhausted.

At the meeting of commanders, the regimental commander, Comrade Samiko, said: "The whole regiment destroyed 5 enemy tanks and damaged 6. More than 100 people were killed and injured. Our losses are 70 killed and 20 missing. Two self-propelled guns were permanently destroyed and five others were punctured. The most important result was that we held the area of our defense! More importantly, we blocked the enemy in Poneri, and we were personally rewarded by The Commander of the Central Front, Comrade General Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. I congratulate all the commanders and fighters! It is a great honor to be commended by such a military commander! "This is the end of the day's fierce fighting.

On 12 July, on the orders of the commander of the Central Front, we withdrew from our positions near Poneri and were transferred to the 9th Tank Corps, to Major General Bogdanov, to the 95th Tank Brigade. At this point, the second phase of the Battle of Kursk, Operation Kutuzov, will begin.