Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1943-1945: Red Steamroller

We still had eighteen Panzers, with the two Tigers behind us, with the infantrymen [Meyer’s men] ducked down hiding behind the turret. Shells! Halt! On the gently sloping hill and in front of it, fire suddenly sprang up across a broad front. It appeared to be an entire anti-tank front. The commander [Wünsche] ordered the two Kompanien: ‘Faster, speed it up! Forward!’ Ahead to the left, the crew of Beck’s Panzer was bailing out… The rapid fire from our panzers had had its effect on the hill. The lead Panzers were still 800 meters from it. To the left and right of us, there were two tanks in flames. We were now in the phase of fighting in which most Panzer attacks become critical… We had gone about 150 meters when I saw the commander ahead to the right heading for a barn in order to get some cover from the enemy’s view… In a fraction of a second I registered that it was humming all around us. From the hill, now clearly visible, flashes of light were coming with uncomfortable frequency. Apparently, by heading for the barn, we had managed to find a blind spot in their field of fire. When we reached the hill, with the commander 100 meters ahead… I could see the first houses about 200–300 meters away. Anti-tank fire started up from the first house and a shell landed right beside us. In the light of the gunfire, I roared ‘To the rear [to the driver]!’ Seconds later there was a second shell. With my cry: ‘Bail out!’ we found ourselves in the snow beside the Panzer. The wires of our headphone sets were still hanging around our necks. The heat of the blast had given us some serious burns. Instinctively, we buried our heads in the snow.⁵⁶

Huddled beside his burning tank, the adjutant detected a T-34 tank hidden behind one of the houses and watched as one of the Tigers entered the battle:

About 80 meters to one side of us, a Tiger crawled up the hill… The Tiger had hardly made it up the hill when there was a huge explosion, and light and debris flew all around us. When we looked up, we saw a gouge in the Tiger’s turret a meter square in area. But at the same time we saw its 8.8cm gun move and point to the target like a finger. A stream of fire came out of it. Half of the house flew away, and we got a clear view of a burning enemy tank with its turret blown off… From the edge of the entire town, two dozen T-34s emerged from their hiding places.⁵⁷