During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet tank crews made a huge contribution to the victory over the enemy. In the most difficult summer months of 1941, sacrificing equipment and their lives, they saved the infantry, giving the Red Army at least some chance to retreat to new positions, delaying the enemy's advances, standing in the way of the German wedges with a steel wall. All of them: those who died in the very first battle, and those who chalked up dozens of destroyed enemy vehicles, as best they could, defended their homeland. Just because of better training, tactical literacy, luck and luck, someone made great strides in the field of destroying enemy armored vehicles, inscribing his name in the cohort of Soviet tank aces. One of these heroes was Konstantin Samokhin of the famous 4th Tank Brigade Katukov, a fellow soldier of the most famous Soviet tanker Dmitry Lavrinenko.
Life path of Konstantin Samokhin before the war
The famous Soviet tank ace was born on March 14, 1915, although even in the award documents one can find different dates of birth, both 1916 and 1917. The future officer of the Red Army was born at the Budarino station, which is now part of the Cherkesovsky village on the territory of the Novoanninsky district of the Volgograd region. At the same time, there is very little information about the life of a tanker before the start of the Great Patriotic War.
It is known that in 1928 Konstantin Mikhailovich Samokhin joined the ranks of the Komsomol, and in 1933 he was admitted to the party, becoming a member of the CPSU (b). Before the Great Patriotic War, Samokhin managed to graduate from the Kiev tank-technical school. Most likely, Samokhin received the basics of tank management and command on the BT series machines. At least on January 1, 1936, of the 77 tanks of the school, 50 vehicles were precisely the high-speed BT-2, BT-5 and BT-7 tanks, of which the lion's share - 37 were BT-2 tanks. After completing his training, he managed to take part in the battles of the Soviet-Finnish war, where on January 21, 1940, he was seriously wounded. For participation in this conflict, Konstantin Samokhin received his first award, on May 20, 1940, his chest was decorated with a medal "For Military Merit".
The difficult beginning of the Great Patriotic War
Konstantin Samokhin met the Great Patriotic War as an officer of the 15th Panzer Division, which was part of the 16th Mechanized Corps of the Kiev Special Military District that was being formed. The division was stationed near the border in the city of Stanislav (today Ivano-Frankivsk). The corps itself was part of the 12th Army and initially operated as part of the troops of the Southwestern Front formed after the start of the war, and then was transferred to the Southern Front. On June 1, 1941, there were 681 tanks in the corps, of which only 4 KV tanks were new. Konstantin Samokhin himself met the war on the BT-7 tank, the commander of a company of tanks in the 30th tank regiment.
The division did not participate in battles for a long time, entering the battle only towards the end of the first decade of July in the Berdichev area. During numerous redeployments in the rear, the division lost the material part, which was out of order due to breakdowns. By July 15, the division, like the entire 16th mechanized corps, suffered heavy losses; the commander of the 30th tank regiment, Colonel Nikitin, died in the battles in the Ruzhin area. In early August, the remnants of the 15th Panzer Division were killed in the Uman cauldron, where they operated as part of the group of Major General Pavel Ponedelin. On August 14, 1941, the 15th Panzer Division was disbanded. At the same time, Konstantin Samokhin and Dmitry Lavrinenko, who served together in the same division, were able to avoid captivity and went out to their own.
The personnel of the 15th Panzer Division, which survived by that time, were partially sent to the Stalingrad region for reorganization. On the territory of the region, the Stalingrad training vehicle armored center was formed, on the basis of which the 4th tank brigade of Colonel Mikhail Efimovich Katukov was formed. Subsequently, this unit will become famous, becoming the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, and its commander, soldiers and officers covered themselves with unfading glory, showing their best qualities during the battle for Moscow in the autumn-winter of 1941. In the new unit, Lieutenant Konstantin Samokhin became the commander of the 1st company of light tanks BT of the 2nd battalion, commanded by the future Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain Anatoly Raftopullo (another officer who left the 30th tank regiment of the 15th tank division).
On the battlefields near Moscow
On September 23, 1941, the formed 4th tank brigade was sent to the Moscow region by rail. By September 28, the brigade's units were concentrated in the area of the Kubinka station and the village of Akulovo, where the unit was additionally replenished with light tanks BT-5 and BT-7, which had come out of repair. At the same time, the third tank battalion of the brigade remained in Kubinka, since it still did not receive the material part. On October 2, the 4th tank brigade was moved towards Mtsensk, where from October 4 to 11 the tankers of the Katukov brigade fought heavy battles against the advancing tanks of Guderian, widely using the tactics of tank ambushes. The fighting of the Soviet tank brigade seriously slowed down the advance of the enemy troops and ruined the life of the 4th German tank division and its command. Samokhin, together with his company of light tanks, entered the battle on October 7, defending the line of the Ilkovo-Golovlevo-Sheino brigade in the area of the Sheino settlement. Lieutenant Samokhin ordered part of the BT-7 tanks to be buried in the ground, the rest he kept as a mobile reserve. After a long battle, in which tanks from the 1st battalion had to be sent to the aid of Samokhin's company, including the vehicles of Senior Lieutenant Burda and the Chief of Staff of the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant Vorobyov, the attack was repulsed with heavy losses for the enemy. The fighters of the 4th tank brigade then announced that 11 enemy tanks had been disabled.
By the time the November battles began near Moscow, the brigade was replenished with new equipment, now Samokhin fought on the T-34-76 tank. The crew of Samokhin especially distinguished themselves during the liquidation of the skirman bridgehead. This area was defended by the 10th Panzer Division of the Germans. Fighting in this direction began on November 12, and by November 13-14 the enemy bridgehead was eliminated. For the battle in the area of Skirmanovo and Kozlovo (at that time Istra district, Moscow region), Konstantin Samokhin was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but in the end he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
The award list noted that in the battles for Skirmanovo and Kozlovo, Konstantin Samokhin showed exceptional courage and bravery. Despite the concussion received, the officer remained in battle for 20 hours, performing the command assignments. During the battle, Samokhin's tank destroyed 6 enemy tanks, three anti-tank guns, a heavy anti-tank gun (as in the document, perhaps, it is about an 88-mm German anti-aircraft gun), 10 bunkers, 4 machine-gun nests, 2 mortars and destroyed before a company of the Nazis. It was especially noted that, having spent 5 rounds of ammunition, Samokhin continued to fight, throwing dugouts and enemy trenches with hand grenades from a tank.
In early December 1941, Samokhin distinguished himself again. With a company of 7 T-34 tanks, he suddenly attacked the positions of the Germans in the village of Nadovrazhino, providing support to the soldiers of the 18th Infantry Division, he was preparing the operation for several days, observing the positions of the Germans in the village. Night time was chosen for the attack, while a blizzard periodically began. As a result of a daring attack, Samokhin's company destroyed up to 5 tanks, 6 self-propelled guns, about 20 vehicles, 50 motorcycles and up to 200 enemy soldiers in the village. Having made a raid on the village, the tankers managed to step back in time and the German tanks that came to the aid of the village garrison, without understanding the situation, fired at the garrison of the village for some time, losing their orientation. In December 1941, Konstantin Samokhin received his next rank - senior lieutenant of the guard. And in February 1942 he already met the captain of the guard, in the Katukov brigade he was considered one of the most promising officers, and the entire structure of the unit showed itself in the difficult battles near Moscow from the best side.
The death of Konstantin Samokhin
Captain Konstantin Samokhin died on February 22, 1942, a little before he was 27 years old during a battle near the small village of Arzhaniki in the Smolensk region. These days, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade fought stubborn battles to liberate the Karmanovsky District of the Smolensk Region. Later, Anatoly Raftopullo recalled that on February 19, in the battle for the village of Petushki, which consisted of 80 households, Samokhin almost died in battle. The battle for the village itself was very difficult, the settlement passed from hand to hand three times. During the battle, the tank, commanded by the brave commander, was hit by an enemy shell, Konstantin received a severe concussion, he could not hear well, but he refused to leave the battle formations and go to the rear for treatment. On the night of February 22, Katukov personally congratulated Samokhin on being awarded the rank of captain, Raftopullo recalled. On the same day, during the storming of the village of Arzhaniki, a brave Soviet tanker was killed.
According to the memoirs of the former commissar of the tank regiment of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade Ya. Ya. Komlov, the task of capturing the village of Arzhaniki was set on the evening of February 22. To capture the village, two combined groups of tanks were created, one of which was led into battle by Captain Konstantin Samokhin. Samokhin's tank was hit not far from the village itself, at least three heavy shells hit it, the combat vehicle caught fire. All crew members died in this battle, the only one who managed to get out of the burning car was Samokhin, whose body was found near the tank.
In his book "Soviet tank aces" Mikhail Baryatinsky writes that Samokhin with the main group of tanks retreated from the village, as the tankers could not build on their success. The infantry and other tanks could not break through to them, and the Germans concentrated heavy artillery fire from the depths of the defense on the settlement. At the same time, three immobilized Soviet tanks remained in the village itself. One of them got in touch with the rest of the units by radio, and Samokhin decided to save his fellow soldiers. In addition, the crew of Pugachev and Litvinenko got in touch, with whom Konstantin had fought before in the same tank. Returning back to the village with a platoon of thirty-fours, Samokhin found two tanks burned, the third tank was knocked out, the wounded soldiers were removed from it, and the car itself was taken in tow. It was at this moment, when trying to evacuate a wrecked car from the battlefield and saving comrades, a heavy shell hit Samokhin's tank, piercing the armor of the combat vehicle. The entire crew of the tank died in the outbreak.
Officially, Konstantin Samokhin's account included 30 destroyed enemy tanks and self-propelled guns. At the same time, some sources recently mentioned that Samokhin destroyed 69 enemy tanks and many other enemy equipment. But here we are talking about the overall account of his tank company, which he commanded for six months. Despite the outstanding results demonstrated in the most difficult battles of the autumn-winter of 1941 and early 1942, Konstantin Samokhin was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, although the command presented him to this award. This question was not raised even after the end of the war.
At the same time, the merits of Konstantin Samokhin were nevertheless awarded with numerous orders and medals. For his successes in battle, he was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, medals "For Courage" and "For Military Merit", as well as posthumously medals "For the Defense of Kiev" and "For the Defense of Moscow". An interesting fact is that by order No. 73 of May 7, 1943 of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, Captain Konstantin Mikhailovich Samokhin was posthumously enlisted in the lists of personnel of the brigade's units and subunits. The memory of the hero was immortalized where his life point was cut short. Not far from the southern outskirts of the village of Arzhaniki, a memorial obelisk was erected at the site of the officer's death. And in the village of Karmanovo, Smolensk region, where the hero-tanker is buried in a mass grave, one of the central streets is named in his honor.
