Germany, 1945. In the American occupation zone, the interrogation of the Wehrmacht prisoners of war proceeded sluggishly. Suddenly, the attention of the interrogators was attracted by a long, eerie story about an insane Russian tank that killed everything in its path. The events of that fateful day from the summer of 1941 were so strongly imprinted in the memory of the German officer that they could not be erased over the next four years of the terrible war. He remembered that Russian tank forever.
Iron kaput
June 28, 1941, Belarus. German troops rush into Minsk. The Soviet units are retreating along the Mogilev highway, one of the columns is closed by the only remaining T-28 tank, led by Senior Sergeant Dmitry Malko. The tank has a problem with the engine, but a full supply of fuel and lubricants and ammunition.
During an air raid in the area of n. p. Berezino, from close explosions of bombs T-28 hopelessly stalls. Malko is ordered to blow up the tank and continue to follow to the city of Mogilev in the back of one of the trucks with other soldiers of the mixed composition. Malko asks for permission under his responsibility to postpone the execution of the order - he will try to repair the T-28, the tank is completely new and did not receive significant damage in hostilities. Permission received, the column leaves. Within a day, Malko really manages to bring the engine into working condition.
Further, an element of randomness is included in the plot. A major and four cadets unexpectedly come out to the tank's parking area. Major - tanker, cadets, artillerymen. This is how the full crew of the T-28 tank is suddenly formed. All night long, they ponder a plan to get out of the encirclement. The Mogilev highway was probably cut by the Germans, we need to look for another way.
… The original proposal to change the route is expressed aloud by cadet Nikolai Pedan. The daring design is unanimously supported by the newly formed crew. Instead of following to the location of the assembly point of the retreating units, the tank will rush in the opposite direction - to the West. They will break through the captured Minsk and break out of the encirclement along the Moscow highway to the location of their troops. The unique combat capabilities of the T-28 will help them implement such a plan.
The fuel tanks are almost full to the caps, the ammunition load - although not full, but Senior Sergeant Malko knows the location of the abandoned ammunition depot. The walkie-talkie does not work in the tank, the commander, the gunners and the driver mechanic stipulate in advance a set of conditional signals: the commander's leg on the driver's right shoulder - right turn, on the left - left; one push in the back - first gear, two - second; foot on the head - stop. The three-tower bulk of the T-28 is moving along a new route in order to severely punish the Nazis.
In an abandoned warehouse, they replenish ammunition in excess of the norm. When all the cassettes are full, the soldiers heap the shells directly onto the floor of the fighting compartment. Here our amateurs make a small mistake - about twenty shells did not fit the 76 mm short-barreled L-10 tank gun: despite the coincidence of calibers, these ammunition was intended for divisional artillery. 7000 cartridges for machine guns were loaded into the catch-up in the side machine-gun turrets. After a hearty breakfast, the invincible army moved towards the capital of the Byelorussian SSR, where the Fritzes had been in charge for several days.
2 hours before immortality
On a free track, the T-28 rushes to Minsk at full speed. Ahead, in a gray haze, the outlines of the city appeared, the chimneys of the thermal power station, factory buildings towered, a little further the silhouette of the Government House, the dome of the cathedral could be seen. Closer, closer and more irreversible … The soldiers looked ahead, anxiously awaiting the main battle of their lives.
Not stopped by anyone, the "Trojan horse" passed the first German cordons and entered the city limits - as expected, the Nazis took the T-28 for captured armored vehicles and did not pay any attention to the lone tank.
Although we agreed to keep secrecy to the last opportunity, they still could not resist. The first unwitting victim of the raid was a German cyclist, who cheerfully pedaled in front of the tank. His flickering figure in the viewing slot took out the driver. The tank roared with its engine and rolled the hapless cyclist into the asphalt.
The tankers passed the railway crossing, the paths of the tram ring and ended up on Voroshilov Street. Here, at the distillery, a group of Germans met on the way of the tank: Wehrmacht soldiers were carefully loading boxes with bottles of alcohol into the truck. When Alcoholics Anonymous was about fifty meters away, the right turret of the tank started working. The Nazis, like pins, fell from the car. After a couple of seconds, the tank pushed the truck, turning it upside down with its wheels. From the broken body, the savory smell of celebration began to spread around the area.
Not meeting resistance and alarms from the panic-scattered enemy, the Soviet tank in "stealth" mode went deep into the city's borders. In the area of the city market, the tank turned onto the street. Lenin, where he met a column of motorcyclists.
The first car with a sidecar drove under the tank's armor on its own, where it was crushed along with the crew. The deadly ride has begun. Only for a moment, the faces of the Germans, twisted with horror, showed up in the driver's viewing slot, then disappearing under the tracks of the steel monster. Motorcycles in the tail of the column tried to turn around and escape from the approaching death, alas, came under fire from tower machine guns.
Having reeled on the tracks of the hapless bikers, the tank moved on, driving along the street. Soviet, the tankers planted a fragmentation shell at a group of German soldiers standing at the theater. And then there was a slight hitch - when turning to Proletarskaya Street, the tankers unexpectedly discovered that the main street of the city was packed with enemy manpower and equipment. Opening fire from all the barrels, practically without aiming, the three-turret monster rushed forward, sweeping away all obstacles into a bloody vinaigrette.
Panic began among the Germans, which arose in connection with the emergency situation on the road created by the tank, as well as the general effect of surprise and illogicality of the appearance of heavy armored vehicles of the Red Army in the rear of the German troops, where nothing foreshadowed such an attack …
The front of the T-28 tank is equipped with three 7.62 DT machine guns (two turret, one course) and a short-barreled 76.2mm gun. The rate of fire of the latter is up to four rounds per minute. The rate of fire of machine guns is 600v / min.
Leaving traces of a military disaster behind it, the car drove all the way to the park, where it was greeted by a shot from the PaK 35/36 37-mm anti-tank gun.
It seems that this part of the city the Soviet tank first encountered more or less serious resistance. The shell carved sparks from the frontal armor. The Fritzes did not have time to shoot the second time - the tankers noticed an openly standing cannon in time and immediately reacted to the threat - a flurry of fire fell on the Pak 35/36, turning the gun and crew into a shapeless heap of scrap metal.
As a result of an unprecedented raid, the Nazis suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment, but the main striking effect was to raise the resistance spirit of the inhabitants of Minsk, which helped to maintain the authority of the Red Army at the proper level. This factor was especially important in that initial period of the war, during serious defeats. among the surrounding population.
And our T-28 tank was leaving the lair of the Fritzes along Moskovsky Prospekt. However, the disciplined Germans came out of a state of shock, overcame fear and tried to provide organized resistance to the Soviet tank that had broken through to their rear. In the area of the old cemetery, the T-28 came under flanking fire from an artillery battery. The first salvo broke through the 20 mm side armor in the area of the engine compartment. Someone screamed in pain, someone swore angrily. The burning tank continued to move until the last opportunity, all the while receiving new portions of German shells. The major ordered to leave the dying combat vehicle.
Senior Sergeant Malko climbed out through the driver's hatch in front of the tank and saw a wounded major emerge from the commander's hatch, firing from a service pistol. The sergeant managed to crawl to the fence when the remaining ammunition in the tank detonated. The turret of the tank was thrown into the air and it fell to its original place. In the ensuing confusion and taking advantage of the significant smoke, Senior Sergeant Dmitry Malko managed to hide in the gardens.
Malko in the fall of the same year managed to return to the cadre formation of the combat units of the Red Army in his former military specialty. He managed to survive and go through the entire war. Surprisingly, in 1944, he drove into the liberated Minsk on a T-34 along the same Moskovsky Prospect, along which he tried to escape from it in 41. Surprisingly, he saw his first tank, which he refused to abandon and destroy near Berezin, and which then with such difficulty the Wehrmacht soldiers were able to destroy. The tank stood in the same place where it was hit, neat and orderly Germans for some reason did not begin to remove it from the road. They
were good soldiers and knew how to value military prowess.
They started talking about this feat in the 60s of the twentieth century. After the war, Dmitry Ivanovich was looking for his comrades in arms for a long time. What happened to them? Unfortunately, he did not remember the names of the major and those cadets at all - in the heat of those days, they did not even have time to get to know each other. After several years of painstaking searches with the help of the All-Union radio, Nikolai Pedan got in touch with Malko. In 1964, they met. As it turned out, Nikolai was able to get out of the burning tank, but was captured. He was released from the concentration camp only in 1945. According to his testimony, it was possible to establish the names of three other cadets. The last name of the deceased major could only be established presumably - Vasechkin.
It is also known about one of the tankers: Fedor Naumov. He was also then sheltered by local residents, transported to the partisans, and in 1943, after being wounded in a partisan detachment, he was taken by plane to the rear. Thanks to him, the place of the major's burial and the names of two other cadets who died at the same time became known. The killed major and two cadets were buried by a local resident Lyubov Kireeva.
It was the third of July, 1941. Tank commander (tower gunner) Major Vasechkin, mechanic driver Senior Sergeant Dmitry Malko, loader, course machine gunner cadet Fyodor Naumov, machine gunner of the right tower cadet Nikolai Pedan, machine gunner of the left tower cadet Sergei, machine gunner of the stern machine gun cadet Alexander Rachitsky.
