Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

At dawn on 14 July, 1944, after an extensive artillery barrage and numerous air strikes, the infantry’s offensive operation began; the goal was to break through the strongly fortified German defences. On 17 July, after breaking through the German positions, our 4th Tank Army entered the gap with the mission to penetrate deep into the enemy’s rear in the direction of Lvov. Only our 1st motor rifle battalion was thrown into the breakthrough, we rode on tanks of the 56th Tank Regiment. The second and the third battalions along with the Brigade’s tank regiment in the meantime attacked the Germans, who tried to close the gap in their defences, counter-attacking from north and south. The battalions suffered significant losses in personnel and tanks in a heated battle; the tank regiment of the Brigade was almost completely wiped out. However, the enemy also suffered losses and had to give up its intention to close the gap in defences. As a result of that battle, our battalion, our Brigade and the 6th Mechanized Corps in general had all the conditions necessary for a raid into the enemy’s rear. Thus, the burden of fighting during the raid fell on our battalion, the only one that had not suffered losses in the first days of the operation.

We were hit hard during the march to Lvov, especially by the German air force, which never stopped strafing our column, trying to slow down our advance. We tried to advance at night, but summer nights were short and we had to advance in daytime as well. The enemy tried to stop us with all the means at his disposal, setting ambushes and covering forces, but it did not help him much, and we continued our march forward. We also suffered from heat, especially when we dismounted tanks and had to march on foot because of the air raids. What was an air raid? Normally 20 or 25 Junkers bomber planes, escorted by Messerschmitt 109 or 110 fighters, flew in. The bombers were in battle formation even before they reached us and strafed along our column, or attacked from the side, normally out of the sun. First they all dropped their bombs, aiming for the tanks and simultaneously fired the large-calibre machine-guns, trying to set them on fire. The planes attacked twice or three times. During an air raid the tank riders would immediately jump from the tanks like lemmings, trying to run away from the road, diving into some natural shelter, or just lie down and wait for the raid to be over. The tanks also left the road. On a hot sunny day, just beyond the town of Zolochev, the German air force bombed the battalion’s column all day long, ‘with no lunch break’, as we said: one group would leave, and the next one would arrive right away. That was why the tanks stopped and the Brigade’s command, with the consent of the battalion commander, ordered the tank riders to march on foot with all possible camouflage and concealment. In daytime the heat exhausted the soldiers, there were problems with water, men lost their energy and our feet seemed to be made of lead. Some soldiers chafed their feet sore to bleeding. I also got sore feet, for the first and last time in my life. Tanks stood in shelters till darkness and then caught up with us; during the night the battalion again marched ahead on tanks. This measure helped us to avoid losses in personnel and tanks, and we reached the necessary point after the night march. The enemy temporarily lost us; the German air force searched forest edges and ravines, but it was in vain. We marched to Lvov in this manner for several days more.

I liked to sit on the front armour of the tank, on the machine-gun mounting (on the right side of the tank), holding on to the main gun barrel with my left hand. However, one could really only do this when the nights were quite light, with good weather and a good road; normally the tank riders would stay behind the tank turret. Just one time I was inside the tank – I had an hour’s nap there. It was not too comfortable – bumpy, hot and strange. I mostly travelled on the first tank – there was no dust and there was a good view. However, the danger was that the very first enemy’s shell was for you – after all, that was the first vehicle. This is exactly what happened once.