Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

A military school had been established, which had two companies: one for training sergeants and the second for training officers. There were approximately 200 to 250 men in that school. I was appointed commander of this motley crew in late October 1945. Battalion commander Kozienko was against my appointment and was all the time demanding my return to the battalion, in which I was a company commander after the end of the war. Finally, after his recommendation I was relieved of my command of this school. The training was almost complete – cadets were promoted to sergeants, while drivers were still in the process of examination for driving licences. This all happened in Bernau, where the 4th Guards Tank Army, including our Brigade, was relocated in June 1946.

My wife and I received a two-room apartment in Bernau. The apartment was heated with stoves. The German stoves with tiling were really good! The stoves were heated with briquette coal. Gas, running water and a bathtub and gas heating were also there. Some furniture was also provided: a metal bed, table, sofa, wardrobe, a Telefunken radio set, silverware and even an iron. We lived in the city, next to some former barracks. The Brigade commander, his deputies and battalion commanders all lived in mansions for one or two families. All officers were there with families, children and wives.

They issued food rations both for me and for my wife, and when our son was born, they also provided rations for him, except for the cigarettes! In Hungary it was possible to exchange ‘stuff’ for food, but in Germany it was quite a problem, as the local population did not have any food. It was only in Berlin on the black market that one could exchange cigarettes for food, or rather delicacies – sausage, smoked fish and other things that were not available in the rations. In principle, the rations were sufficient, so we even fed the orderly, when he did not go to the canteen.

After I came back to the battalion, I was sent with my company to Friedrichagen to guard the former German centre for development of V missiles. At that time we did not know what kind of centre it was. We only knew that our experts were working there, some of them were Colonels and were holders of Stalin’s Award (they had those small Stalin Award badges). We stayed there for three or four months, and then, in late November I think, we came back to our base.

In October 1946 they introduced wages depending on the military rank and office. Because of this my wage grew from 1200 roubles to 1500 or even 1700 roubles, I do not remember exactly. Besides that, we were issued German marks. However, one could not buy anything with them, and there was actually nothing to buy. One could go to a barber’s shop – they had already opened again. One could pay with just cigarettes.

By 1947 there were only three veterans left in the battalion – commander T. G. Kozienko, his deputy, Gerstein, and me. By that time the battalion consisted of just eight officers and five soldiers. We prepared guns for long-term storage and helped the tank crews to prepare tanks for long-term storage. We did not do anything else, except for going on guard duty in the city, as there were almost no soldiers left in our Brigade.

In late December 1947 I went to the USSR, to Tbilisi. This was the end of my service in the 1st motor rifle company, 1st motor rifle battalion, 35th Guards Mechanized Kamenets-Podolsk Brigade.

BROTHERS IN ARMS

The Company

The company commander’s staff consisted of the company commander himself, the company’s Sergeant Major, the clerk, the medic, the orderly and the runners from the platoons. It is impossible to remember all the names of all soldiers, and there is no point in listing all the names. However, I will provide several names.

Vasily Blokhin, the company’s Sergeant Major. He was older than me. He had been in the war for a long time, even taking part in the battle of Stalingrad. He was strong and tough, a former seaman of the Pacific Fleet. We became good friends. In March 1944, in the town of Skalat he was heavily wounded. After Blokhin Mikhail Karpovich Bratchenko, born in 1916, was appointed the company’s Sergeant Major in September 1943. He was a veteran; in Kursk he was a machine-gun crew leader in the machine-gun company. A tall and strong person, he was a brave and demanding NCO, but also caring for his subordinates. He was with the company in action all the time. He treated me as a friend, but did not allow for any familiar manners. He was in the company from 1943 till the end of war. I met him in Moscow in 1995.