Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

The events that followed were even more horrible than I could imagine. I had not seen such a thing before at the front. A German APC arrived and at first we did not pay attention to it, as they normally had a machine-gun mounted on them. But all of a sudden the APC started to shoot fireballs and flame and I realized that this was a flame-thrower – a horrible weapon that burnt people to ashes and could even burn a tank. The temperature of the flame was very high, if I am not mistaken, it was around 1,000 degrees Celsius. The APC threw flame several times. It was good that it was at first behind a house and the company’s soldiers were out of its sight. When the APC emerged from behind the house, we were extremely lucky. Before it could throw flame at the soldiers who had not yet made to follow Chernyshov’s command and at my platoon, two shots sounded from the other side of the channel, and the APC’s flame liquid container exploded, killing all of its crew. The APC was knocked out by the battalion’s artillery battery. They did a great job by not missing with the first shot, otherwise we would have been in big trouble. The enemy’s tanks fired several rounds against the other side of the channel, turned and departed from our sight. Chernyshov again gave us the ‘Forward!’ order; we all stood up and entered the town. With no enemy armour in sight it was a different story. There was no enemy infantry there. As we were passing by the spot at which the flame-thrower fired, we saw the burnt bodies of our soldiers, mere ashes. It was an awful sight, although I had seen a lot of sights in the course of the war. Luckily, there were only three to five burnt soldiers, but they died because of the stupidity of one foolish commander, following an idiotic order. Later the incident was forgotten and no one recalled it. But I still recall that battle and those soldiers burnt by the flame-thrower even 60 years later…

At first I wanted to move forward through the gardens, not in the streets, just in case, but it did not work. Every garden with a mansion was separated from the next one by a fence, a high and strong metal mesh. We had to move forward along the street, and we did not even check the houses, which were locked – so much was Chernyshov hurrying us. It was late, but it was still light. In some places we had to fire on individual targets. Some random Fritzes were still there sometimes. I have already written that the town of Ketzin was part of our combat mission, and we were supposed to meet the troops of the first Belorussian front in the town. The town was captured by practically a single company without tanks, because they were only just starting to cross the channel on the ferries that were brought up. Late in the evening of 24 April, 1945, my platoon and company established contact with cavalry reconnaissance and the tanks of the first Belorussian front. Thus, Berlin was fully encircled by Soviet troops. That was the day when I was wounded.

THE END OF THE WAR

We were standing in a group by a house, such things happened in built-up areas, although one should never do that. Company commander Chernyshov and telephone or radio operators for communication with battalion commander were also there. I sent the company’s men forward – we should not have stood in such a big group. I was rescued by the fact that I had walked several steps from the house in order to follow the company’s men and had not hung around Chernyshov. In that very moment a random shell hit the house’s wall – whether German or Russian, its explosion cut many men down. I was wounded by its splinters along with several other men from signals platoon; several men were killed. Again, I believe that I was lucky, which happened time and again in that war. My belt buckle saved my life. The splinter went through it and got stuck in it, severely tearing the skin on my stomach. The blow was so strong that it bent me double. The other splinter hit my leg; the third one seriously damaged three fingers on my left hand, almost tearing them off. Some other smaller splinters hit me was well.