How the Urals created a tank corps that terrified the enemy
The Sverdlovsk Region celebrates the Day of the People's Feat for the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps (UDTK) during the Great Patriotic War. Russian Planet decided to turn over the most heroic pages of its history.
12 people per place in the ranks
The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps is the only tank formation in the world, completely created with funds voluntarily collected by residents of three regions: Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Molotovsk (today - Perm Territory). The state did not spend a single kopeck on the armaments and uniforms of this corps. And all combat vehicles were built by the Ural workers overtime, after the end of the main working day.
“The idea to make a gift to the front - to create its own Ural tank corps - was born in 1942, in the last days of the Battle of Stalingrad, when almost every family had already received a“funeral”,” historian Sergei Spitsin tells the RP correspondent. - The party committees of the three regions sent a letter to Stalin, in which they said: “We undertake to select the best sons of the Urals - communists, Komsomol members and non-party Bolsheviks - who are selflessly loyal to the Motherland. We undertake to equip the corps with the best military equipment, tanks, aircraft, guns, mortars, ammunition and other service equipment produced in excess of the production program. In response, they received a telegram from the leader with an approving resolution, and the work began.
Everyone responded to the cry thrown by the tank builders of Uralmash, who deducted part of their salaries for the construction of tanks. The schoolchildren collected scrap metal to send it to the furnace for melting. And the Ural women, who themselves did not have enough money to feed their families, gave their last savings. As a result, residents of the Sverdlovsk region alone managed to collect 58 million rubles. Not only were tanks built with the money of the people, but weapons and uniforms were bought from the state - everything, right down to the last button on the military uniform.
In January 1943, the recruitment of volunteers at the UDTK was announced. By March, over 110,000 applications had been filed - 12 times more than required. I had to arrange a tough selection. Only 9660 people were able to go to the front. In total, 536 of them had combat experience, the rest took up arms for the first time.
"Our Ural steel black knife"
On May 1, 1943, the corps soldiers took the oath, vowed to return home only with Victory, and soon received an order to go to the front.
UDTK became part of the 4th Panzer Army and on July 27 received the baptism of fire at the Kursk Bulge, a little north of the city of Orel. After the very first battles for incredible stamina and unparalleled courage, the UDTK was awarded the honorary title of the Guards Corps. And the Nazis appreciated the heroism of the Urals in their own way - they nicknamed the corps "Schwarzmesser Panzer-Division", which translates as "Panzer division of black knives."
“For each volunteer who left to fight the enemy, the Zlatoust gunsmiths forged a NR-40 knife as a gift - this abbreviation stands for“Army knife of 1940”, military historian Leonid Marchevsky tells the RP correspondent. - In appearance, the Zlatoust knives differed from the standard ones: their handles were made of black ebonite, the metal on the scabbard was blued. Such knives were previously included in the equipment of paratroopers and scouts, in some units they were handed over only for special merits - for example, after the scout took several "tongues". And in UDTK they were worn by everyone, from a soldier to a general. And it is these black knives that have become legendary.
Echelon of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps heading to the front. Photo: waralbum.ru
The Ural tank crews took the nickname given to them by the Nazis with pride. In 1943, Ivan Ovchinin, who later died in the battles for the liberation of Hungary, wrote a song that became the unofficial anthem of the Black Knife Division. It also contained the following lines:
Fascists whisper to each other in fear, Lurking in the darkness of dugouts:
Tankers appeared from the Urals -
Division of black knives.
Detachments of selfless fighters, Nothing can kill their courage.
Oh, they don't like fascist bastards
Our Ural steel black knife!
“The UDTK really inspired the fascists with real horror, since it swept away not only ordinary units, but the elite enemy tank units that stood in its way,” says Sergei Spitsin. - The skill of the Ural tankers is understandable: after all, many of them used to build tanks, and did not fight on them. And therefore, they were well versed in their structure, weapons and driving performance, they knew the strengths and weaknesses of equipment assembled with their own hands. If we take this into account, it becomes clear how some UDTK tankers managed to knock out 20-30 tanks during the war years.
Ural miracle
During the war years, the UDTK traveled 5 thousand km long, ending it in Prague in May 1945. When, on the night of May 6, 1945, it became known that the inhabitants of the capital of the Czech Republic occupied by the Nazis had raised an uprising, the corps, along with other units of the 1st Ukrainian Front, were tasked with saving them and clearing Prague from the Nazis. The first to break into the city was the crew of the T-34 tank of the 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade under the command of Guards Lieutenant Ivan Goncharenko.
- In the battle for the strategically important Manesov bridge, Goncharenko's tank was knocked out, he himself died, - says Sergei Spitsin. - The events of that morning are best described in his posthumous award list: “Acting in the head patrol, inflicting crushing blows on the enemy, Comrade Goncharenko was the first to break into the city of Prague. Rapidly pursuing the enemy, Goncharenko captured the bridge over the Vltava River in the center of the city and entered into an unequal battle with 13 German self-propelled guns. Holding the crossing, he destroyed two self-propelled guns with the fire of his tank. The tank was hit by a shell and caught fire. Comrade Goncharenko was seriously wounded. Being seriously wounded, the brave officer, bleeding to death, continued to fight. Comrade Goncharenko was killed by a second hit in the tank. At this time, the main forces approached and began a swift pursuit of the enemy. For his perseverance, courage and courage in battle, he was awarded the government award of the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree."
Ivan Goncharenko was buried on the outskirts of Prague, and a memorial sign was erected at the place of his death. One of the streets of the Czech capital is named after him. And in honor of his tank, the first to break into the city, a monument to the IS-2M was erected. However, after the velvet revolution in the late 80s of the last century, it was dismantled from the pedestal. Monuments to the Ural tank crews were also erected in Berlin, Lvov and Polish Steinau, in the battles for which they participated.
May 9, 1945 Prague was taken by Soviet troops. So the last city in Europe was liberated from the Nazis. And the commander of the tank brigade, Mikhail Fomichev, had the honor to receive the symbolic keys to the city.
In total, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the Ural tankers destroyed and captured 1220 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, 1100 guns of various calibers, 2100 armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, destroyed 94 620 enemy soldiers and officers. The soldiers of the corps were awarded 42,368 orders and medals.
27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Orders of Glory.38 guardsmen of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And the corps itself was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov II degree, the Order of Kutuzov II degree.
In peacetime, the heir to his military glory was the 10th Guards Ural-Lviv, the Order of the October Revolution, the Red Banner, the Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, the Volunteer Tank Division named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Malinovsky.
