Tank rider: into the Reich with the Red Army

238 Pages·2003·82.7 MB·English

by  Evgeni Bessonov

TANK RIDER
*... -t
EVGENI BESSONOV
TANK RIDER
INTO THE REICH
WITH THE RED ARMY
Evgeni Bessonov
Translated by Bair Irincheev
*
Greenhill Books, London
Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania
CONTENTS
*
List of Illustrations and Maps 7
Foreword 9
Chronology 11
Years of Childhood and Youth 1 7
The War Begins 23
Baptism of Fire: the Orel Offensive 35
Training for a New Offensive 43
The Kamenets-Podolsk Operation 47
The Battles for the Town of Skalat 53
The Battle for Gusyatin 61
The Battles for Kamenets-Podolsk 69
The Bridgehead at the River Strypa 77
In Reserve at Kopychintsy 91
The Lvov-Sandomir Operation 95
The Battle for Lvov 121
Fighting on Sandomir Bridgehead 1 3 7
Preparations for the Push West 147
The Vistula-Oder Operation 1 53
The Advance to the Oder 1 69
On German Soil 1 81
On to Berlin 191
The Berlin-Prague Operation 197
The End of the War 225
Epilogue 233
Brothers in Arms 237
Index 251
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
AND MAPS
*
PLATES
Moscow youth. This photo, taken in 1932 in Moscow, shows
children from Evgeni Bessonov's neighbourhood. 97
A photograph taken while at the Kamyshlov military infantry
academy m 1942. 97
A junior officer, holding a submachine-gun, watches as histroops
fight their way into a wood. 98
A junior officer leading Soviet infantrymen forward through
wooded terrain. 99
An action shot of Red Army soldiers changing position during
an attack. 100
A T-34-76 tank, heading to the front, fires at a distant enemy
position. 100
A Maxim machine-gun crew opens fire on a village occupied
by Germans. 101
A Soviet divisional ZlS-3 76mm gun being towed by a Studebaker
US6 truck drives through the streets of a liberated European
town. 102
A T-34-76 ploughs its way through a forest. 103
The wreckage of a German Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t Sd.Kfz.7
destroyed during a Soviet assault. 104
A KV-1 heavy tank mounts a slight incline. 105
Tank Riders on a column ofT-34-85 tanks move through the
streets of a European town. 106
Another photo ofT-34-85 tanks with tank riders. 107
These remarkable photographs show Soviet infantry taking cover
as they come under German fire during a battle for possession
of a forest. 108-9
Tank Rider
A sparsely camouflaged Soviet artillery column moves forward. 110
A photograph taken in November 1944, somewhere in Poland. Ill
A certificate awarded to members of Bessonov's brigade to mark
the liberation of Prague. Ill
The 1st battalion of the 49th Mechanized brigade photographed
on 9 May 1945 taking a rest while on their way to Prague. 112
MAPS
Overall map to show the route from Moscow to Berlin followed
by Bessonov. 14-15
Map to show the Bryansk front and the Orel offensive, 26 July 1943
to 20 August 1943. 34
Map to show the Kamenets-Podolsk offensive, July to August 1944. 46
Map to show the Lvov-Sandomir operation, July to August 1944. 94
Map to show the Vistula-Oder operation, 12 January 1945 to
26 January 1945. 152
Map to show the advance on Berlin, April 1945. 196
F O R E W O RD
•
Many of my comrades told me that I should write my
memoirs but it is actually a difficult thing to do. After all,
I'm not a professional writer - if the truth be known, I'm
very far from that. But I can tell the story of my family, my childhood
and my youth, and relate to you my experiences during the years of
the Great Patriotic War.
Human memory is an amazing thing and life erodes away many
experiences and events. With aU the burdens and cares of daily life I
had no time to indulge myself in my memories. I was not a
government official or a pohtician, but a simple individual just Uke
millions of others in our country. My memoirs will concern
themselves with events that I saw take place or wdth those events
which had an impact on me and those around me during the War. I
do not claim to have a full and objective reflection of events - human
memory isn't perfect - but I will try my best. Similarly, I will try not
to be too critical in my judgement of others. Things that are
described in the memoirs are my personal point of view, my personal
judgement and my perception of life. These memoirs are a look back
at the life of a typical member of the Red Army, a career officer, who
served 35 years of his life in the military - from 1941 to 1976. I
entered service when I was 18 and retired at the age of 53 as a
Colonel.
Of course, my memoirs will focus almost exclusively on the war
years. There are fewer and fewer veterans left and those who are still
alive are old. I myself turned 80 in 2003. The Great Patriotic War took
a tremendous toll on the peoples of the Soviet Union but, regardless
of how hard it was, the common people stood up to the test, despite
heavy losses, and despite it being very hard both at the front and
Tank Rider
behind the lines. My aim is to show the War through the eyes of a
participant in those events - not through the eyes of a Marshal or a
writer, but of a platoon leader and company commander of tank
riders, the motor rifle battalion of a mechanized brigade in the 4th
Guards Tank Army. I fought for two years in the 4th Guards, from
1943 to 1945, and I covered around 3,800 kilometres with this unit.
Such was my wartime voyage, and it was tough every step of the way.
I participated in infantry assaults and rode into batde on tanks
attacking the enemy positions. Intuition, experience of battle and
knowledge of enemy tactics saved my Hfe many times, but I think that
I mosdy survived by pure luck. Luck was vital at the front, and I can't
over-emphasize its importance for any soldier.
EVGENI BESSONOV 2OO3
10
CHRONOLOGY
*
1941
22 June Germany invades the Soviet Union
16 July The Germans reach Smolensk
9 August Drafted into Red Army, to Chebarkulski military
camp
16 November Transferred to Kamyshlov military infantry
academy
1942
July Assigned to 365th Reserve Rifle Brigade at Surok
station
19 November The Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad begins
1943
31 January The Germans surrender at Stalingrad
Late May Transferred to personnel section, Moscow
5 July The battle of Kursk begins
July Assigned to Bryansk front
August Joined 4th Tank Army, assigned to 6th Guards
Mechanized Corps, 49th Mechanized Brigade, 1st
Motor Rifle Battalion, appointed 2nd platoon
leader
September Fighting in the Orel offensive
October-December Into reserve at Karachev
6 November Kiev is recaptured
1944
January 4th Tank Army transferred to Kiev
February Transported by train to Polonnoe, marched to
Tank Rider
Shepetovka, by truck to Slavuta
4 March Spring offensive is launched in the Ukraine
March-April Fighting in the Kamenets-Podolsk campaign
(brigade awarded title of 49th Mechanized
Kamenets-Podolsk Brigade)
May-June Into reserve at Kopychintsy
July-September Fighting in the Lvov-Sandomir operation
October—Novem herI nto reserve at Sandomir
December-January Fighting in the Vistula-Oder operation, through
Poland to the German border
1945
February Fighting to the Neisse bridgehead
March-April Into reserve at Oberau
April The march on Beriin, wounded in action
30 April Hitler commits suicide
2 May Berlin surrenders to the Red Army
S May Keitel signs German surrender at Zhukhov's
Headquarters
9 May Prague falls to the Red Army
^"y Discharged from hospital, rejoined battalion at
Prague; end of the Great Patriotic War
12