Tank biathlon in Soviet style: 22: 0 in our favor

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

1941 was the year that German armored forces became the strike force of the blitzkrieg. As in 1939 in Poland, as in 1940 in France.

In 1941, the total score of single combats of the tank forces of the USSR and Germany was not in our favor.

But against the background of the defeats of the beginning of the war, there are many testimonies and cases when the battles of tankers ended in triumphant victories on our side.

I would like to talk about one such case today.

Second half of August 1941. The tanks of Army Group North are pushing towards Leningrad. The Germans are very close to the city. Near the village of Voyskovitsy, in the Gatchina region, there was such a pogrom of German tanks, which we should be proud of.

22: 0 in favor of Soviet tankers

Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov (12 (25) December 1912, the village of Arefino, Murom district, Vladimir province (now - in the Vachsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region) - 1994, Minsk) - Soviet tank ace, commander of a tank company in the Great Patriotic War, lieutenant colonel. On August 19, 1941, the crew of his KV-1 tank destroyed 22 German tanks in one battle, and in total 43 tanks of the 6th Panzer Division were destroyed in this battle by Z. G. Kolobanov's company (about 20% of the total number of all tanks in the division). advancing on Leningrad

Many years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, a military-historical conference was held in the Minsk House of Officers. The veteran tanker speaking about the role of tank units in a defensive battle referred to his own example and spoke about the battle on August 19, 1941, when the KV-1 tank crew, which he commanded, knocked out 22 German tanks near Leningrad.

One of the speakers, grinning, said that this was not and could not be! Then the veteran Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov handed the yellowed sheet of the front newspaper to the presidium. The general in charge of the conference quickly scanned the text, called the skeptic over to him and ordered: "Read aloud so that the whole audience can hear!"

Here's what happened on August 19, 1941:

“Only in the second hour of the day, enemy vehicles appeared on the road.

- Prepare for battle! - Kolobanov commanded quietly. Having slammed the hatches, the tankers instantly froze in their places. Immediately, the gun commander, senior sergeant Andrei Usov, reported that he saw three motorcycles with sidecars in the sight. The command of the commander immediately followed:

- Do not open the fire! Skip exploration!

The German motorcyclists turned left and rushed towards Marienburg, not noticing the camouflaged KV standing in ambush. Fulfilling Kolobanov's order, the infantrymen from the outpost did not open fire on reconnaissance.

Now all the attention of the crew was riveted on the tanks going along the road … They walked at reduced distances, substituting their left sides almost strictly at right angles to the KV gun, thereby representing ideal targets. The hatches were open, some of the Germans were sitting on the armor. The crew even distinguished their faces, since the distance between the KV and the enemy column was not great - only about one hundred and fifty meters. … The lead tank slowly drove into the intersection and came close to two birches - landmark number 1, marked by the tankers before the battle. Kolobanov was immediately informed about the number of tanks in the convoy. There were 22 of them. And when seconds of movement remained before the landmark, the commander realized that he could no longer hesitate, and ordered Usov to open fire …

The lead tank caught fire from the first shot. It was destroyed without even having time to completely pass the intersection. The second shot, right at the crossroads, destroyed the second tank. A plug has formed. The column has compressed like a spring, now the intervals between the rest of the tanks are completely minimal. Kolobanov ordered to transfer fire to the tail of the column in order to finally lock it on the road.

But this time Usov did not manage to hit the trailing tank from the first shot - the projectile did not reach the target. The senior sergeant adjusted the sight and fired four more shots, destroying the last two in the tank column. The enemy was trapped.

At first, the Germans could not determine where the shooting was coming from, and opened fire from their guns at the hay heaps, which immediately caught fire. But they soon came to their senses and were able to detect an ambush. A tank duel of one KV began against eighteen German tanks. A whole hail of armor-piercing shells fell on Kolobanov's car. One by one, they hammered additional screens mounted on the KV turret into the 25-mm armor. There was no longer a trace of the disguise. The tankers were suffocating from the powder gases and stalled from the numerous strikes of the blanks on the tank's armor. The loader, he is also a junior driver-mechanic, the Red Army soldier Nikolai Rodenkov worked at a frantic pace, driving round after round into the breech of the cannon. Usov, not looking up from his sight, continued to fire at the enemy column …

The Germans, realizing that they were trapped, tried to maneuver, but the KV shells hit the tanks one by one. But the numerous direct hits of enemy shells did not cause much harm to the Soviet machine. The apparent superiority of the KV over the German tanks in terms of fire power and in the thickness of armor affected … The infantry units following the column came to the aid of the German tankers. Under cover of fire from tank guns for more effective firing at KV, the Germans rolled out anti-tank guns onto the road.

Kolobanov noticed the enemy's preparations and ordered Usov to hit the anti-tank guns with a high-explosive fragmentation projectile. The outposts behind the KV entered into battle with the German infantry. Usov managed to destroy one anti-tank gun along with the crew, but the second managed to fire several shots. One of them smashed the panoramic periscope, from which Kolobanov was monitoring the battlefield, and the other, hitting the tower, jammed it. Usov managed to break this cannon too, but the KV lost the ability to maneuver with fire. Large turns of the gun to the right and left could now be done only by turning the entire hull of the tank. Essentially, the KV has become a self-propelled artillery unit. Nikolai Kiselkov climbed onto the armor and installed a spare instead of the damaged periscope. Kolobanov ordered the senior driver-mechanic, Sergeant Major Nikolai Nikiforov, to withdraw the tank from the caponier and take a spare firing position. In front of the Germans, the tank backed out of its cover, drove off to the side, stood in the bushes and again opened fire on the column. Now the driver had to work hard. Following Usov's orders, he turned the HF in the right direction. Finally, the last 22nd tank was destroyed. During the battle, and it lasted more than an hour, senior sergeant A. Usov fired 98 shells at enemy tanks and anti-tank guns. (“A Hero Who Has Not Become a Hero.” Alexander Smirnov).

How can you explain such a fantastic success of the crew of Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov?

First of all - the combat experience of the commander. As part of the 20th heavy tank brigade, as a company commander, he had a chance to participate in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. The brigade, armed mainly with T-28 tanks (three turrets, one with a 76mm cannon and two machine-gun turrets), was the first to reach the Mannerheim line. It was then that Kolobanov burned for the first time in a tank. In the battle near Lake Vuoksa, they again had to escape from a burning car. The third time it burned during the attack on Vyborg.

But the question arises - why was such an experienced tanker in August 1941 only a senior lieutenant?

On March 13, 1940, when the peace treaty between the USSR and Finland entered into force, the soldiers of the two earlier opposing armies on a number of sectors of the front began "informal communication" with each other. Vodka and alcohol appeared …

Kolobanov's company also took part in this, which either did not consider it necessary to stop it, or could not do it. He was fired from the army to the reserve.

With the outbreak of World War II, Kolobanov was drafted into the 1st Tank Division, which was created on the basis of the 20th Heavy Tank Brigade, in which he fought during the war with the Finns, was awarded the rank of senior lieutenant and was appointed commander of a company of heavy KV tanks.

The gunner, senior sergeant Usov, was not a novice in combat either. Drafted into the Red Army in 1938, he took part in a campaign in Western Belarus as an assistant platoon commander of one of the artillery regiments, during the Soviet-Finnish war he fought on the Karelian Isthmus. After graduating from a special school for commanders of heavy tank guns, he became a tanker … An experienced artilleryman, retrained as a tank gunner, was not a boy after training, and Usov shot accordingly.

The KV-1 tank, with all the shortcomings of its chassis, the thickness of the armor and the power of the gun, really surpassed all the tanks that the Germans had in 1941. In addition, an additional armor screen was installed on Kolobanov's car. It was very difficult for the Germans to strike him at a position with a caponier dug in a position previously selected by an experienced commander. After the first and last cars were hit, they were trapped - there was a swampy area around the road. We must pay tribute to their perseverance and professionalism - they managed to achieve many hits in such a difficult situation, the tower was jammed.

And, of course, the absence of German aviation in this battle was very important. How many times did the Germans destroy the most successful ambushes, calling in Ju-87 dive bombers capable of bombing with very high accuracy?

The feat of Kolobanov's crew was recorded in the press immediately, in 1941. Now experts in the history of tanks recognize the phenomenal results of this battle.

For this unique battle, the commander of the 3rd tank company, senior lieutenant Kolobanov, was awarded the Order of the Battle Red Banner, and the commander of his tank's gun, senior sergeant Usov, was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Kolobanov, Zinovy Grigorievich

The question why this feat was not marked with the Golden Stars of Heroes remains open to this day …

Z. G. Kolobanov about the military battle:

I was often asked: was it scary? But I am a military man, I received an order to fight to the death. This means that the enemy can pass through my position only when I am not alive. I accepted the order for execution, and I no longer had any "fears" and could not arise.

… I am sorry that I cannot describe the fight consistently. After all, the commander sees first of all the crosshairs of the sight. … Everything else is continuous breaks and the shouts of my guys: "Hurray!", "It's burning!" The sense of time was completely lost. How long the battle went on, I had no idea then.

But the historian Denis Bazuev writes the following about this feat:

“On August 20 and 21, 1941, in a battle on the distant approaches to Leningrad, a heavy company of st. Lieutenant Zinovia Kolobanova inflicted heavy losses on the German armored columns. On August 20 alone, 5 Soviet tanks destroyed 43 enemy tanks and lost 1 tank. Kolobanov's crew destroyed 22 tanks. How was it really?"

New documentary film by Denis Bazuev: