How 2 tankers managed to survive, who held the defense for 2 weeks in a T-34 bogged down in a swamp

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Chronicles of the Great Patriotic War know so many exploits of Soviet servicemen that some cases appear little known even today, decades later. Many frontline episodes have shown transcendent human capabilities. One of these was the feat of two tankers, two weeks holding the defenses in the "thirty-four" bogged down in a swamp. Wounded, hungry, without ammunition and strength, the heroes did not surrender, did not retreat, having withstood the arrival of the main forces at an incredible cost.

Battles near Pskov and the rate on tanks

At the time of the events described, the war had been raging for the third year. After Hitler's attack drowned out at Stalingrad, the enemy was pushed back. But the advancement of the Red Army was not easy. The Nazis did not want to put up with the forced retreat, gnawing into every centimeter of the ground and facing death. The Germans understood that they were being desperately knocked out of the territory of the USSR, which in the end could end in the complete collapse of the entire Third Reich.

One of the most difficult operations of that period was the offensive of the Red Army in the North-West direction, in particular, in the Pskov region. Ours approached Nevel in the harsh winter of 1943, where, by order of the command, the task was set to recapture the village of Demeshkovo from the Nazis. A bet was placed on the tank battalion number 328, which entered the battle with the Nazis who did not want to retreat.

Trapped in a swamp T-34 and a crew of one sergeant

The battle for Demeshkovo was not easy. Seven tanks moved to drive back the enemy, six of which were immediately knocked out and deprived of combat effectiveness. The last tank of Lieutenant Tkachenko tried to maneuver to the last, until, during the next counterattack, it landed in a swamp covered with snow. Almost immediately after stopping, the driver-mechanic Bezukladnikov died from being hit by a bullet.

Trapped in a quagmire, the T-34 turned into a stationary target for the Germans, although it was supported from the rear by dense fire to suppress enemy artillery. The possibility of completely destroying the tank along with the crew was more than obvious. But there were also some advantages in this position. "Thirty-four" directly fired at Hitler's positions, the question was only in a limited amount of ammunition.

After night battles, the Soviet infantrymen retreated. The tower gunner Kavlyugin managed to carry to the main forces Lieutenant Tkachenko, who was seriously wounded in the head, the commander of the stuck tank. The latter suffered when he decided to leave the combat vehicle in order to look around and outline a plan for the withdrawal of a serviceable tank from the quagmire. They did not allow Kavlyugin to return to the T-34, they put him in another tank. In it, he was burned alive in the next day's battle. So in the stuck T-34 there was only one sergeant Chernyshenko - an 18-year-old radio operator.

Tank bunker and inhuman defense

Despite his young age, Vitya Chernyshenko managed to earn the Order of the Red Star by the end of 1943, although he stayed at the front for only a couple of months. Remaining in the "thirty-four" turned into a bunker face to face with the enemy, the sergeant was preparing to defend the combat vehicle to the last. The battalion command sent an experienced mechanic driver Sokolov to help the tanker. The partners did everything possible to rescue the tank from the swamp, but all attempts were in vain. At the same time, they let the Germans attacking the car get closer and shot them with a machine gun. Full ammunition made it possible to successfully defend against enemy infantry. The situation with food was much more sad. For two, the tankers had a couple of cans of stew, a handful of crackers and a piece of bacon.

One day followed another in the continuous defense of the thirty-four. As Chernyshenko later recalled, he lost track of time. The tankers slept in turns, suffered from hunger and cold, warming themselves only from a working machine gun. Sokolov was wounded and practically lost the ability to move. His strength was only enough to periodically deliver shells to his partner.

On the 12th day, the shells ended, only grenades remained, which Chernyshenko threw at the enemy groups approaching from different sides. It was decided to leave one grenade for themselves, because the prospects did not look bright, and there were no plans to give up. When on December 30 the Red Army broke through the fascist defenses and occupied Demeshkovo, they removed from the tank two emaciated and bleeding tankers. Sokolov was unconscious, and soon Chernyshenko also "passed out". The ground around the T-34 was littered with the bodies of the Nazis liquidated by their partners.

The cost of defense and the return to life

The tankers were taken to the nearest medical battalion. The driver-mechanic Sokolov died the next day from multiple wounds and prolonged starvation. Chernyshenko, who was in an extremely serious condition, still survived. Frontline surgeons used all their knowledge and experience to save the life of 18-year-old Viktor, fighting for his frostbitten limbs. But gangrene left no chance for a complete recovery. The gunner-radio operator Chernyshenko, after going through a number of hospitals and amputation of parts of both legs, was demobilized as a disabled person of the 2nd group.

While still in his hospital bed, he was informed of the high award with which the Soviet state celebrated the feat of the tankmen Sokolov and Chernyshenko. Both servicemen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Sokolov - posthumously. With his return to a peaceful life, Viktor Chernyshenko graduated from a law school in Sverdlovsk and took the chair of a district judge. Later he worked as an assistant judge in the prosecutor's office. After receiving a diploma from the Sverdlovsk Law Institute, he held the positions of a people's judge, a member of a regional court, and a chairman of a district court.

For outstanding services to his homeland, Viktor Semyonovich Chernyshenko was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the First Degree of the Patriotic War, the Red Star and many medals. On the site of a brave defense near the village of Demeshkovo, there is an obelisk with the names of tankmen.

The tank theme was very popular in Soviet cinema. That's why these great films about tanks and war are definitely worth watching.