Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

We sneaked across the bridge and suddenly stormed their positions. The Fritzes were about to have their lunch and did not notice our rush, as we approached quietly without any shouting. I did not really think that the Germans would be so scared and shocked by our assault that they would flee from their foxholes without a single shot, leaving weapons and unfinished lunch behind. Sergeant Poddubny scared the German machine-gunner so much by popping up some 10 to 15 metres in front of them that the guy ran away, leaving a battleready MG34 and his lunch in the canteen. His first course was in the canteen and the second course – pasta with a piece of meat – was in the canteen lid. Many of my soldiers did not even fire a shot, so rapidly did the Germans make their escape. Then the 2nd company commander, Shtokolov, with a dozen former partisans arrived on the scene. All those men were quite drunk and all of them, except for recently appointed 2nd company commander Senior Lieutenant Grigori Andreevich Shtokolov and Lieutenant Alexei Belyakov, were dressed in civilian clothes. Shouting ‘Hurrah!’ they threw themselves behind the fleeing Germans, but were stopped by fire from a nearby forest. If they had appeared a bit earlier, they would have spoiled our quiet surprise assault. When they reached our foxholes, Shtokolov asked for the MG34 from Poddubny, the guy who captured it. I permitted him to give it away – we did not need it anyway, it was quite hard to operate – in fact, I did not know how to use it myself.

Shtokolov, in turn, went to the battalion commander and exclaimed: ‘This is how you should fight the war! I just went there and captured the German trenches, the Germans fled and as a proof here is the machine-gun that I personally captured in battle. This is how partisans fight!’

When I reported to the battalion commander about the completion of his order, he rebuked me for cowardice as a reply!

The day was quiet; the Germans did not show up or open fire at us.

As darkness descended, I inspected the foxholes, cheering the soldiers up, especially the green ones, and warned them that they should not leave their positions without orders, otherwise the Germans would slaughter us all. As soon as I walked away from the left flank of the company, the Germans sent a strong artillery and mortar barrage against us, making use of six-barrelled mortars. The Germans rarely used them; they did not have many. It was a strong weapon, but could not be compared with the Katyusha. We called that mortar ‘Vanyusha’, in other places they called it something different, a donkey, for example. Sergeant Savkin, my orderly, and I had nowhere to hide, there was firing all around us, and we lay down under the steep riverbank. Shells and mines from the six-barrelled mortar exploded, red-hot splinters were flying in the air – it was all shining against the background of a night sky. It was sheer hell. It is incomprehensible how we survived. The horrible crash and noise of the guns that must have been stationed close to us filled the air. I had not experienced such heavy bombardment for a long time, not since fighting at Kursk in 1943. All this fire descended on a single company, 25 or 30 soldiers. Apparently, the Germans were very angry and upset because we drove them away from the village with losses in soldiers and weapons in the daytime, when they did not expect the attack and while they were having their nice lunch. Losing a weapon is infamy for a soldier.

The barrage lasted 20 or 25 minutes, although how could I check my watch at that time? Not only the green soldiers, but also the old hands, were very scared as well. I can’t lie, I was scared too, especially given the fact that there was no shelter to hide in. After the barrage was over, the Fritzes attacked with superior forces. The soldiers of the company could not take the fire, and fled again. The experienced soldiers put up some resistance, but then they also withdrew to the bridge with the fleeing green soldiers. I could not stop the retreat from the trenches, even less now that some soldiers were wounded and we had to carry them on rain capes. I decided to leave the western bank, reported this decision to the battalion commander and received the order to leave the bridgehead and take position to the left of Shtokolov’s 2nd company.

It is interesting that several days later Shtokolov with his company (without our participation) wanted to drive the Germans out of their positions on the western bank of the river, but got almost completely wiped out. Only a small group of partisans, including Shtokolov himself, survived. The Germans were finishing them off as they ran in the open to their foxholes on our (eastern) bank of the river.