During the period of the so-called "perestroika", a number of initiative groups and movements appeared in the Soviet Union, which began to engage in the return from oblivion of names and events that seemed to have been erased forever from our history. Of course, many of them could not ignore such a topic as the Great Patriotic War.
So in the city on the Neva, then still Leningrad, a campaign was launched in the local press to revive the Museum "Defense of Leningrad" destroyed in 1949. As a result, a new museum "Defense of Leningrad" appeared in the city. Although the exposition of the museum occupied only one hall and could not be compared with the one that was after the war, it seemed that things had moved off the ground. But it only seemed to be. A fierce political struggle for power, the collapse of the USSR, the beginning of the development of savage, merciless capitalism in Russia buried many good undertakings.
Until now, the Museum "Defense of Leningrad" drags out a miserable existence. The administration of the city with a different name does not hurt him with their attention. Many of the exhibits intended for him have gone or are still going aside. So, lifted from the bottom of the Neva, the two-turret T-26 tank of the 1931 model, which was supposed to take an honorable place in the Museum of Defense of Leningrad, suddenly appeared in Moscow, in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Gora. But this is only a small fraction of those samples of military equipment that have been forever lost not only for the Museum of Defense of Leningrad, but for the whole of Russia.
However, even in this state, the museum in the Salt Town cannot complain about the lack of visitors - the interest in the Great Patriotic War among the current residents of the city and its guests does not wane. At the stands of even such a meager exposition of the museum, you can see many interesting exhibits and documents. One of them bears a photograph of five tankers on the armor of a KB-1 heavy tank. This is a tank crew commanded by Senior Lieutenant Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov. On August 19, 1941, his KB destroyed 22 enemy tanks in one battle. It would seem that he is a hero! But Kolobanov, for a number of reasons, did not have a chance to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. They did not believe him, they considered him a dreamer. Few people knew about his feat in Leningrad itself, and even in today's St. Petersburg Kolobanov is not remembered even more so. Although even in foreign sources regarding tank battles on the Eastern Front in 1941-45. Kolobanov's surname is mentioned quite often. Well, let's try and we will tell about the famous battle that took place on that day near Voyskovitsy, and also tell the readers about the further fate of Zinovy Kolobanov and the crew members of his tank.
The KV-1 crew of Senior Lieutenant Z. Kolobanov (center) at their combat vehicle. August 1941
The KV-1 tanks of the 1st Panzer Division are changing positions. Leningrad Front, August 1941
The events near Leningrad in August 1941 developed according to a very dramatic scenario. On the night of 7-8 August, the German Army Group North launched an offensive against Leningrad. The 41st Motorized Corps from the 4th Panzer Group and the 38th Army Corps attacked the settlements of Ivanovskoye and Bolshoi Sabsk towards Kingisepp and Volosovo. Three days later, the enemy approached the Kingisepp-Leningrad highway. On August 13, German troops captured the Moloskovitsy station and cut the Kingisepp - Leningrad railway and highway. They also managed to force the Luga River on the right flank of the front, and the city was caught between two fires. On August 14, all divisions of the 41st Motorized and 38th Army Corps, having entered the operational space, rushed to Leningrad. On August 16, Narva and Kingisepp were occupied.
On August 10, the 56th Motorized Corps attacked Soviet troops in the Luga area. On the same day, heavy fighting began in the Novgorod-Chudovsky direction. The next day, the Germans broke through to the Oredezh River. A threat loomed over the left flank of the troops defending the Luga sector. On August 13, the 34th and part of the forces of the 11th armies of the North-Western Front in the area of Staraya Russa and Lake Ilmen struck in the rear of the units of the 10th Army Corps. The German command began hastily transferring the 56th Motorized Corps, the SS Death's Head Division and the 39th Motorized Corps, which had just been transferred to Army Group North from Smolensk, to this direction.
On August 16, units of the 1st Army Corps captured the western part of Novgorod. There was a real threat of a breakthrough by German troops to Leningrad.
On August 18, the commander of the 3rd tank company of the 1st tank battalion of the 1st Red Banner tank division, Senior Lieutenant Zinovy Kolobanov, was summoned to the division commander, General V. I. Baranov. The division headquarters was located in the basement of the cathedral, which is a landmark of Gatchina, which was then called Krasnogvardeisky. Kolobanov received the assignment personally from Baranov. Having shown on the map three roads leading to Krasnogvardeysk from the side of Luga, Volosovo and Kingisepp (through the Tallinn highway - author's note), the division commander ordered:
- Close them and fight to the death!
The situation near Leningrad was such that the commander of the tank company took the order of the division commander literally.
Kolobanov's company had five KV-1 tanks. Each tank was loaded with two armor-piercing shells. This time the crews took the minimum amount of high-explosive fragmentation shells. The main thing was not to miss the German tanks.
On the same day, Kolobanov moved his company towards the advancing enemy. The senior lieutenant sent two tanks - lieutenant Sergeev and junior lieutenant Evdokimenko - to the Luga road (Kiev highway - author's note). Two more KB, under the command of Lieutenant Lastochkin and Junior Lieutenant Degtyar, went to defend the road leading to Volosovo. The tank of the company commander himself was supposed to ambush the road connecting the Tallinn highway with the road to Marienburg, the northern outskirts of Krasnogvardeysk.
Kolobanov conducted reconnaissance with the commanders of all the crews, indicated the locations of the firing positions and ordered to open two shelters for each vehicle - the main and the spare, and then carefully camouflage them. The crews had to keep in touch with the company commander by radio.
The scheme of the German offensive on Krasnogvardeysk on August 17-19, 1941
For his KB, Kolobanov determined the position in such a way that the longest, well-open section of the road was in the fire sector. A little before reaching the Uchkhoz poultry farm, she turned almost 90 degrees and then went to Marienburg. It was crossed by another, unpaved road, along which, apparently, the locals took out hay from the fields after haymaking. All around could be seen uncleaned haystacks, they stood not far from the position chosen by Kolobanov. On both sides of the road leading to Marienburg, there were vast swamps. There was even a small lake with ducks swimming carelessly on it.
Digging a caponier for a tank like the KB is not easy. In addition, the ground was solid. Only in the evening did they manage to hide the tank in a caponier, which was open to the very tower. A spare position was also equipped. After that, not only the tank itself was carefully camouflaged, but even the traces of its tracks.
The gunner-radio operator Senior Sergeant Pavel Kiselkov suggested going to the abandoned poultry farm and getting a goose, since the people who worked on it, fearing the invasion of the invaders, left it, and the crew, exhausted by hard work, needed to reinforce their strength. The commissars agreed, ordering the radio operator to shoot the bird so that no one could hear: in no case could they unmask their position. Kiselkov followed the order exactly, plucked the goose and boiled it in a tank bucket. After dinner, Kolobanov ordered everyone to rest.
Closer to night, the outposts approached. The young lieutenant reported to Kolobanov. He ordered to place the infantrymen behind the tank, to the side, so that if something happened they would not come under gunfire. The outpost positions also had to be well camouflaged …
Scheme of the battle of KV senior lieutenant Z. Kolobanov with a German tank column on August 19, 1941
Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov was born in 1913 in the village of Arefen, Vachevsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province. After finishing eight classes of secondary school he studied at a technical school. In 1932, according to the Komsomol recruitment, he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In 1936 he graduated with honors from the Oryol Armored School named after M. V. Frunze.
The war for the 28-year-old senior lieutenant Kolobanov was not a novelty. 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 in which he served was the first to reach the Mannerheim line, and his company was at the forefront of the blow. It was then that Kolobanov burned for the first time in a tank. In the battle at Lake Vuoksa, he again broke forward with his company, and again had to escape from the burning car. The third time it burned during the raid on Vyborg. On the night of March 12-13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed between the USSR and Finland. Learning about this, the soldiers of the two earlier opposing armies rushed to meet each other for "fraternization".
Unfortunately, this very "fraternization" cost Captain Kolobanov very dearly: he was demoted in rank and, having deprived of all awards, was dismissed *. With the beginning of World War II, Kolobanov was drafted from the reserve to 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. Since he already had combat experience, Kolobanov was awarded the rank of senior lieutenant and was appointed company commander of KV heavy tanks. True, they had to forget about the previous awards, they had to start all over again, from scratch.
Tankers received combat vehicles at the Kirov plant. Here, at the plant, tank crews were formed in a separate training tank battalion. Each of them took part, together with the workers, in the assembly of their car. The running distance was from the Kirov plant to the Srednaya Slingshot, after which the cars went to the front.
In the battle at Ivanovsky Kolobanov managed to distinguish himself - his crew destroyed the enemy's tank and gun. That is why, knowing about the solid combat experience of Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov, General V. I. Baranov entrusted him with such a responsible task - with his company to block the path of German tanks to Krasnogvardeysk.
Attacking Leningrad, the 41st Motorized Corps of Army Group Sever bypassed Krasnogvardeysk. Only one of his divisions - the 8th Panzer Division, was supposed to support the advance of the 50th Army Corps and the 5th SS Division to Krasnogvardeysk from Volosovo and Luga. The 6th Panzer Division had suffered heavy losses in previous battles and by mid-August 1941 it actually existed only on paper, so it could not take part in the battles for Krasnogvardeysk. The 1st Panzer Division was advancing on Leningrad from Torosovo, on Syaskelevo and further to the northern outskirts of Krasnogvardeisk - Marienburg. In the event of a breakthrough to Marienburg, parts of this division could strike in the rear of the Soviet troops, which were defended at the borders of the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area, and then, going out through the old Gatchina parks to the Kiev highway, move almost unhindered to Leningrad.
In the early morning of August 19, 1941, Kolobanov's crew was awakened by the disgusting, intermittent hum of German dive bombers flying at high altitude towards Leningrad. After they passed, peace and quiet re-established under Voyskovitsy. The day began clear. The sun rose higher and higher.
About ten o'clock shots were heard from the left, from the side of the road leading to Volosovo *. The senior lieutenant recognized the close-minded "voice" of the KV tank gun. A message came over the radio that one of the crews had entered the battle with German tanks. And everything was still calm with them. Kolobanov summoned the commander of the outpost and ordered his infantrymen to open fire on the enemy only when the KV gun spoke. For themselves, Kolobanov and Usov outlined two landmarks: No. 1 - two birches at the end of the intersection and No. 2 - the intersection itself. The landmarks were chosen in such a way as to destroy the leading enemy tanks right at the intersection, to prevent the rest of the vehicles from turning off the road leading to Marienburg.
KV-1 tanks at the firing range. Leningrad Front, August 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!
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. Kolobanov ordered the radio operator to report to the battalion commander, Captain I. B. Shpiller, about the approach of a German tank column and again turned all his attention towards the road, onto which one by one the tanks painted in dark gray were crawling out. They walked at reduced distances, substituting their port sides almost strictly at right angles to the KB gun, thereby representing ideal targets. The hatches were open, some of the Germans were sitting on the armor. The crew even made out their faces, since the distance between KB and the enemy column was not great - only about one hundred and fifty meters.
At this time, battalion commander Spiller contacted the company commander by radio. He asked sternly:
- Kolobanov, why are you letting the Germans pass ?!
Spiller already knew about the morning battle on the Luga and Volosovo directions and about the advance of German tanks towards Kolobanov's position, and he could not but be worried about the fairly prolonged silence of the KB commander of the tank company.
There was no time to respond to the battalion commander: the lead tank slowly drove into the intersection and came close to two birches - landmark number 1, outlined 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 …
Senior Sergeant Usov by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was already an experienced soldier. Drafted into the Red Army in 1938, he took part in the "liberation" 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 * …
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 traffic jam has formed. The column 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 failed 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 soon they came to their senses and were able to detect an ambush. A tank duel of one KB began against eighteen German tanks. A whole hail of armor-piercing shells fell on Kolobanov's car. One by one, they hammered through the 25-mm armor of additional screens installed on the KV turret. 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, without looking up from his sight, continued to fire at the enemy column.
Meanwhile, the commanders of other vehicles, which held the defense on three more roads, reported on the radio about the situation in their sectors of defense. From these reports, Kolobanov realized that fierce battles were going on in other directions.
The Germans, realizing that they were trapped, tried to maneuver, but KB shells hit the tanks one after another. But the numerous direct hits of enemy shells did not cause much harm to the Soviet machine. Affected by the clear superiority of KB over German tanks in the power of fire and in the thickness of the armor.
The infantry units following the column came to the aid of the German tankmen. Under cover of fire from tank guns, for more effective firing at KB, 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 KB entered the 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 KB 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, KB 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 KB 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 the enemy's tanks and anti-tank guns, of which all armor-piercing shells were used up. (Note - The ammunition capacity of the KV-1 tank of the first half of 1941 was 114 shells.) Further observation showed that several German tanks were able to break through to the "Voyskovitsy" state farm from the south.
The battalion commander contacted the crew. In a loud voice, Spiller asked:
- Kolobanov, how are you? Are they burning?
- They burn well, comrade battalion commander!
The senior lieutenant reported that the crew had destroyed an enemy tank column of 22 combat vehicles. Further, its crew is unable to hold its position, as they run out of ammunition, there are no armor-piercing shells at all, and the tank itself was seriously damaged.
The crew of the shielded KV-1 receives a combat mission. Leningrad Front, August-September 1941
Shpiller thanked the crew for the successful completion of the combat mission and said that the tanks of Lieutenant Lastochkin and Junior Lieutenant Degtyar were already on the way to the Voyskovitsy state farm. Kolobanov ordered Nikiforov to go to join them. Having planted the remaining infantrymen from the outpost (many of them were wounded) on the armor, KB with a landing on the armor rushed to the breakthrough. The Germans did not get involved in the battle with the Russian tank, and KB unhindered reached the outskirts of the state farm. Here Kolobanov met with the commanders of the approaching tanks.
From them, he learned that in the battle on the Luga road, the crew of Lieutenant Fyodor Sergeev destroyed eight German tanks, the crew of Junior Lieutenant Maxim Evdokimenko - five. The junior lieutenant was killed in this battle, three members of his crew were wounded. Only the driver-mechanic Sidikov survived. The fifth German tank, destroyed by the crew in this battle, was on the account of the driver: Sidikov rammed it. KB itself was disabled in this case. Tanks of junior lieutenant Degtyar and lieutenant Lastochkin that day burned four enemy tanks each.
In total, on August 19, 1941, a tank company destroyed 43 enemy tanks.
For this battle, the commander of the 3rd tank company, senior lieutenant Z. G. Kolobanov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, and the gun commander of his tank, Senior Sergeant A. M. Usov - the Order of Lenin …
Half an hour later, the state farm "Voiskovitsy" was cleared of the enemy. Once again reporting the situation to Spiller, Kolobanov received an order to retreat with the whole company to the rear to replenish ammunition and repair. When, after the battle, the crew began to inspect their car, they counted 156 traces of armor-piercing shells on KB's armor.
As soon as the situation near Voiskovitsy stabilized, Spiller brought Kolobanov's crew with the German tanks of a front-line cameraman to the battlefield, who, throwing up his camera, captured the panorama of the burning column.
Thus, the skillful actions of the tankmen of the 1st Red Banner Tank Division on the lines of the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area subsequently helped stabilize the front at the Pulkovo Heights and prevent the enemy from entering Leningrad.
The repair of the tank took almost a month. On the night of September 21, at the cemetery of the city of Pushkin, where tanks were refueled with fuel and ammunition, a German shell exploded near KB Kolobanov. At this time, the comrot just got out of the tank, and he was thrown to the ground with monstrous force. The senior lieutenant was sent to the hospital unconscious. The medical history of Zinovy Kolobanov, kept in the Military Medical Archives, reads: “Shrapnel damage to the head and spine. Brain and spinal cord contusion”.
In 1942, in serious condition, he was transported across Lake Ladoga to the mainland. Then there were months of immobilized lying in hospitals, prolonged unconsciousness, and only then an extremely slow return to life.
By the way, in the hospital, while showing the wounded one of the issues of "Frontline newsreel", Kolobanov saw his work - a broken enemy tank column.
Despite the serious injury and concussion, Kolobanov again asked to join the ranks. The stick, on which he leaned while walking, had to be thrown away. And at the end of 1944, Kolobanov was again at the front, in command of the SU-76 division. For the battles on the Magnushevsky bridgehead he received the Order of the Red Star, and for the Berlin operation - the second Order of the Red Banner of Battle.
After the war, while serving in one of the armies in Germany, he receives a battalion of heavy tanks IS-2. In a very short time, his battalion becomes the best in the army. The commander awarded Zinovy Kolobanov with a personalized hunting rifle.
He managed to find his wife and little son. Throughout the war, Kolobanov did not know anything about them, he parted with his pregnant wife on the first day of the war. But Zinovy Grigorievich and Alexandra Grigorievna found each other: they helped one of the radio broadcasts that were looking for relatives and friends who were lost during the war.
But it seemed to fate that she had not fully tested this man. A soldier deserted from the battalion, later he showed up in the British occupation zone. The battalion commander was under the threat of a military tribunal. The army commander saved Kolobanov: having declared incomplete service compliance, he transferred him to the Belarusian Military District. Everything that happened did not pass without a trace for the officer: the consequences of the shell shock are aggravated. On disability, he is retired.
The troubles of the tanker did not end there. For a long time they refused to believe Kolobanov when he talked about the famous battle and the number of tanks destroyed by his crew. There were cases when from the audience, hearing about the number of destroyed tanks, came an ironic laugh: "Like, lie to the veteran, but know when to stop!"
Once Kolobanov asked to speak at a military history conference held in the Minsk House of Officers. He spoke about the role of tank subunits in a defensive battle, referred to his own example and talked about the battle at Voysko-vitsy. One of the speakers, grinning maliciously, declared that this had not happened and could not have been! Then, barely holding back his excitement, Zinovy Grigorievich handed the yellowed sheet of the front newspaper to the presidium. The general in charge of the conference quickly scanned the text, called the speaker to him and ordered:
- Read aloud so that the whole audience can hear!
In 1995, Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov, never becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union, died.
The fate of the gun commander Andrei Mikhailovich Usov turned out to be happier. He went through the entire Great Patriotic War, from Leningrad to Berlin, ending it with the rank of senior lieutenant. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War II degree, the Red Star and medals. After the war, he returned to his hometown Tolochin, which is located in the Vitebsk region of Belarus, where he worked until his retirement. However, Alexander Mikhailovich will not be able to tell about that amazing battle again - he, like Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov, is no longer alive.
Soon after the commander was wounded, the gunner-radio operator Senior Sergeant Pavel Ivanovich Kiselkov died in the battle on the Nevsky "patch". The junior mechanic-driver of the Red Army Nikolai Feoktistovich Rodenkov did not return from the war either.
The former senior mechanic-driver of the KB tank Nikolai Ivanovich Nikiforov, like Usov, went through the entire war to the end, and then remained to serve in the tank forces of the Soviet Army. After leaving the reserve he lived in the city of Lomonosov. In 1974 he died of severe lung disease.
The footage of "Frontline newsreel" was also lost, where German tanks destroyed by Kolobanov were captured.
Battlefield 61 years later: this is how it looked in July 2002
Tank-monument IS-2 at the site of the battle of the crew of Z. Kolobanov
A monument was erected at the site of the battle of Kolobanov's crew with a German tank column. On a gray pedestal that looks like a huge brick stands the IS-2 heavy tank, which has undergone post-war modernization. Apparently, the authors of the monument were unable to find the KV-1 *. However, even then, and even more so now, it was almost impossible to find tanks of this type. Therefore, the "IS" was put on the pedestal. After all, it is also Kirovsky (albeit from Chelyabinsk), and its appearance, at least the chassis, is similar to the KV. Memorial plaques attached to the pedestal remind of what happened here in August 1941.
* - In St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, KB tanks can be seen in two places: KV-1, but already produced by the Chelyabinsk Kirov plant can be seen in the suburb of St. Petersburg - the village of Ropsha. The tank has a combat appearance; numerous marks of German blanks remain on its armor. Another KB tank, but only of a later modification, the KV-85, is located in St. Petersburg on Stachek Avenue, in Avtovo.
"Heroic panel" depicting the battle of KV Z. Kolobanov
View of the road to Marienburg. The Uchkhoz poultry farm is visible on the left.
View of the road and the crossroads where Kolobanov destroyed German tanks. The picture was taken from the alleged position of the KV tank
View of the section of the road along which the German tanks were advancing
Commemorative plaques on the pedestal of the monument
Despite the fact that the front part of the "brick" is raised, the view of the tank is far from the most formidable. It's all about its 122mm cannon, which is at the lowest depression angle.
Next to the tank-monument there is a luridly painted "heroic panel", which depicts a tank vaguely reminiscent of KB, with number 864 and a red star on the tower, striking enemy tanks from its cannon. Those who served in the army should remember such drawings, painted with oil paint on rusty sheets of iron, adorned on the territory of literally every military unit. The star of the Hero of the Soviet Union is painted next to the battle picture, although none of Kolobanov's crew received this high award.
The part of the road along which the German tanks were advancing did not wait for asphalt: it was covered with gravel. Asphalt was laid only on a small section of it - on the way from the monument to the crossroads. That second, inconspicuous road, crossing the main one, became a solid asphalt road. Despite the fact that part of the marshes that surrounded the road have been drained, there are still enough ditches and reservoirs overgrown with mud and reeds around.
The farm of the Uchkhoz has also survived, but two birches that served as a reference point for tankers have not survived. Apparently, the construction of a new road and power lines did not spare them.
At the moment, the tank-monument has a very shabby appearance. The tank itself needs a new paint job, the additional fuel tanks are so corroded that large holes are visible in them. The nets of the engine compartment have been torn out almost with "meat". The pedestal has a pitiful semblance of a wreath. Behind the monument you can see the squalid block houses of the village of Novy Uchkhoz.
Local residents, who cherish the memory of the Great Patriotic War, complain that there is always a lot of rubbish around the monument, as literally the day after May 9, someone broke and trampled all the flowers laid the day before at the foot of the pedestal. One cannot help but recall another memorial tank - a thirty-four that was blown up on the Nevsky "patch" by some thugs on the night of June 21-22, 2002. This is how some of today's "grateful" descendants honor the memory of the defenders of Leningrad.
