Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

A JS-2 tank drove up to us at that moment. The soldiers indicated targets to the tank commander and the tank fired its 122 mm gun. All of a sudden I saw three German self-propelled guns (we also called them assault guns) rushing out one by one from behind the houses several metres from us. Our tank opened fire on them, but they quickly disappeared behind a bend of the highway. I got my soldiers to attack, and shouting ‘Forward, follow me, forward!’ I ran along the ditch, jumping across the detonation wires of spring-mines (what an idiot!). The soldiers were smarter than me and ran on the field to the right and left from the highway, there were no mines there. We rushed into the village; Vyunov and his platoon also broke into the houses on the outskirts of the village. The enemy fled. My men searched the houses, but they were abandoned – not a single human soul was there. We waited for the battalion commander with his staff. He already knew about Chernyshov’s wound. After that T-34 tanks with Major Stolyarov, commander of the tank regiment, arrived.

Battalion commander Major Kozienko called me up – political officer Gerstein and the battalion’s chief of staff, Captain Grigoriev, were also there. Kozienko told me that they had decided to appoint Senior Lieutenant Grigori Vyunov the company commander in place of the wounded Chernyshov.Vyunov had arrived at the battalion as late as October 1944 and was five or six years older than me. I replied to Kozienko that I had been in the battalion from August 1943, that it was my fourth operation, and I was always the last officer to remain in the company, de facto leading the company and did not I deserve to become the company’s commander? Major Kozienko told me that he made the decision jointly with Gerstein and Grigoriev and that it was not just his decision. So, I again remained platoon leader. Somehow I was not very lucky when it came to promotion.

The following battles were very hard for us and we were losing a lot of men. The Germans threw Volkssturm (the German Home Guard – translator’s note) against us – old guys and young boys armed with Panzerfausts, who resisted most stubbornly. Sometimes they fought to the last man. Every day we had losses in men and equipment. We could achieve almost no deep penetration into the German rear, as we had in the Ukraine and Poland. Battles took place day and night, and this really exhausted us. The battalion attacked as a concentrated task force with all three companies, or all that remained of them. The Germans, in turn, only retreated to consolidate their positions at another place that was prepared for defence.

The population fled from us. Traces of panic flight were everywhere – we saw cases, bicycles, pillows and other things in the ditches. All villages, both small and large, were abandoned, no one stayed behind. Cattle, poultry and other things were left behind, so we did not stay hungry. On the contrary, we ate as much as we could cook during short breaks. Once our column caught up with fleeing local civilians. It was a column of stiff old men, children and women of different ages. Some travelled on carts, some walked and pushed carriages with their belongings that they could carry, some had back-packs on their backs. We stopped all those people and in our broken German explained to them that they should go back to their homes. The battalion travelled on in order to complete the mission, and we do not know where the Germans went – we had other things on our minds.

We never harassed German civilians. We did not rob them, did not search them and did not take anything away. To be honest, I was very strict about this with my soldiers, and I think that other officers were also of the same opinion. We did not rape women, or at least, such things never happened in our company or battalion. The senior officers were also very strict about such things both in the battalion and the Brigade. Besides that, I personally warned many soldiers about my strictness in this respect. Not only in my company, but also in the other companies of the battalion they knew about my attitudes and even the most notorious soldiers were afraid of me. Why? I was the veteran of the battalion, I had been through it all, and there had been a lot of rumours, known as ‘soldier’s radio’, about my strictness. Even the most undisciplined and impudent soldiers didn’t mess with me. Many times I heard: ‘Bessonov is coming!’ – especially after a rumour that I almost executed a soldier for disgraceful behaviour. This thing did not take place in reality, but there was a rumour, and some believed it.