Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

THE BATTLES FOR THE TOWN OF SKALAT

On 14 or 15 March, 1944, we approached the town of Skalat through rocky hills and started fighting for its liberation. The arrival of our battalion was quite unexpected for the German forces. They did not expect us to travel such a distance so quickly. However, the leadership of the Brigade for some reason did not use this element of surprise. As a result, all three battalions of the Brigade were stuck in street fighting. When our battalion arrived at the city in daytime, we – Shakulo, Kolosov and I (Gavrilov was wounded) – received an order from company commander Titov to advance along the left side of the road and go as deep as possible into the city. We did not encounter enemy resistance on the outskirts and advanced from house to house. The enemy was nowhere to be seen. We got a bit braver and realized that either there were no Germans in the city or they were retreating without a fight. Probably we were right. All of a sudden an orderly ran up to us with the order from the company commander to go back. We came back and reported that there were no Germans, but the company commander Titov told us that the sector where we were in was not our area of responsibility, it belonged to another unit and we were given the sector to the right side of the road. Other companies were also stopped. There was some confusion, we had not received the order to advance before darkness. We found a small house, abandoned by the occupiers, and the company occupied it. While the commanders were consulting, we laid down for a nap.

I was summoned to the battalion commander in the night. I entered the hut, where, in addition to battalion commander Kozienko, there were head of brigade staff Grigori Vasilievich Starovoit and some other staff officers. The mission that I was given was to advance forward on the road and locate the enemy – identifying in which buildings he had set up a defence, whether he had armour and what type of armour it was. I stated that I had already been in the city together with Shakulo’s platoon the day before and had not seen any enemy, not to mention tanks. Nevertheless, I was ordered to check the city one more time. I woke my platoon up, explained the mission to the soldiers, and briefed the squad leaders separately. We quietly started our advance to the town centre along the road. In front of the platoon, at some distance, I had a squad in the vanguard for security and reconnaissance – I did everything by the book. Quite soon, on their signal, we halted and lay down on the road. It turned out that we had run into soldiers from the Brigade’s scout company. They did not meet the enemy, did not see any tanks, but had heard voices from the building in front of us, and even said that they had seen a lit cigarette. When we reached the building at the crossroads of the two streets, I ordered a quiet search of the building. There was no enemy in the building; the scouts had made a mistake. It was war, it happened a lot. We did not advance any further, as the soldiers drew my attention to the sound of engines, and we recognized that tanks were advancing towards us, in fact, two Tiger tanks, which must have arrived shortly before to reinforce the infantry. Upon my return, I reported exactly what I saw – that the enemy had no infantry, even if he had, it was stationed in isolated strongpoints in some buildings (later this turned out to be true), as well as two tanks, which had not been in the city the day before. The commanders did not tell me anything and let me go to rest. I thought that I completed my mission. I do not know if they believed me after the report from the scout company. However, I can only say that if we had attacked the enemy in the city on the first day, we would not have suffered such unnecessary losses, being stuck in street fighting for almost a week from 14 to 20 March.

At dawn the battalions formed an attacking line in front of the city, in an open field, just as if it were a training session. The enemy was silent and did not open fire on us, although we were like sitting ducks for them. Why did we have to lie in the field? The battalion commander summoned us all for briefing. We, a group of officers, gathered in a group at the roadside, which did not even have ditches – not to mention any shelters, and all this was in the war! In the meantime, at least ten or twelve enemy aircraft appeared. They first dropped bombs on the tank regiment, which immediately suffered losses in tanks and personnel. After this the planes flew towards our battalion and opened fire on the soldiers, who had no time to dig in and were lying in the open. We were rescued by the fact that the planes had already dropped their bombs on the tank regiment.

Officers, before they could be briefed, dispersed in all directions, seeking cover. I also tried to find a shelter, but it was an open field, there was nowhere to hide. The battalion commander and several other officers dived into a drainpipe under the road surface. I couldn’t think of anything better than running back to my foxhole. A German pilot noticed me and opened fire on me. Bullets were kicking up spurts of mud all around me. The pilot dived five times, trying to kill me. He opened the cockpit and I saw the bastard laughing at me. Still, I made it safely to my foxhole, his bullets missed. I jumped into my foxhole, and the pilot ceased fire. Planes strafed the battalion several more times, firing at people, then gathered in a formation and left. Some guy in desperation opened fire from an anti-tank rifle, but quickly stopped firing, there was no point – it was not an anti-aircraft gun, after all.

The losses of the battalion were insignificant: several soldiers were wounded, as well as company commander Lieutenant Yu. A. Grigoriev and Sergeant-major Vasily Blokhin, formerly Sergeant Major in our company, of the 3rd company. After the air strike we were briefed and quickly advanced forward. The Germans opened fire only after we went into the city and captured several buildings. Our tanks tried to support us, but after the Germans knocked out three T-34 tanks, with their crews being burnt alive, the rest of our armour did not advance any further and hid behind the buildings. It was two Tigers that delivered most of the fire on our infantry and tanks; they had a very convenient firing position behind the buildings, where they could not be seen. Shakulo and I advanced forward with our platoons, hiding behind the buildings. We had to drive the Germans out of some buildings, while other buildings they abandoned without a fight. Advancing in this way, we captured the building in front of the square with a church, ending up in the centre of the town on the right side of the street. However, by the wall of that building there was a German tank. It fired for some time but ceased fire soon – apparently to conserve ammo. We did not have petrol bombs or anti-tank grenades to knock it out, we were running out of ammo ourselves. The battalion’s ammo depot had not arrived yet, and it would not arrive till the very end of Kamenets-Podolsk operation.

Twilight set in and firing ceased from both sides. It was just about time to get some food. War was war, but we were hungry anyway. Soldiers were sent out to look for food and they found a small warehouse with supplies and vodka. We had a nice meal: we had a little vodka and finished off all the canned food. Shortly before morning a liaison arrived from company commander Titov with a note. In the note he gave us an order to move along the left side of the street and to join the third platoon of the company, which was leaderless, as Gavrilov was wounded. An order was order, and under cover of darkness Shakulo and I crossed the street and joined the third platoon. The machine-gun platoon of the company accompanied us, under Lieutenant Kolosov. Soldiers from Gavrilov’s platoon were distributed between our two companies on the order of the company commander. We tried to advance during the night, but in the dark we ran into the area of responsibility of the 2nd company of our battalion, so we had to move to the side of them. We ran into some Germans in the process, and the leader of the vanguard squad was wounded in the stomach. Our advance halted. It was good that the whole thing happened in darkness and the enemy could not deliver well-directed fire. However, we suffered casualties and were forced to stop and consolidate our lines. We did not dare to attack further – a German tank arrived and opened fire with machine-guns.

In the morning an orderly soldier passed on the order from the company commander to abandon the area, make way for the 2nd company, consolidate defences at the previous position and to continue attacking under cover of darkness, advancing to the outskirts of the town. It was a hard day for us – a Tiger was methodically firing its main gun at the building where we were stationed.

German snipers arrived on the scene. My soldiers tracked down one of them – he was firing from a window of a high house. Shakulo’s platoon had a Soviet-made sniper rifle. I got a commission to get the guy (I used to train snipers in both male and female companies). I was looking out for him for a long time and when his head popped up in the window, fired a round. Soldiers, who were observing our duel through binoculars, told me that I got him. The German never popped up again.

Besides this, the Germans tried to counterattack, but were thrown back with casualties from machine-gun fire. During the night Shakulo and I bypassed the church square without encountering the enemy and consolidated our positions in wooden barns and huts in the outskirts. In the morning the Germans spotted us and opened machine-gun fire. Snipers were also there, setting the huts with soldiers on fire. We had to move to a safer place. In the daytime the enemy tried to attack again, but our riflemen repelled that assault as well. As twilight descended, we left the charred ruins and took up position in a strong brick building, also in the town’s outskirts. As we learned later, Gestapo secret police had been stationed in that building during the occupation. In the cellar of the building we found honey, spirits and some other food staples.

During the day the enemy tried to attack again, not from the city, but from the opposite direction, from the open field. Our soldiers prepared to fire from windows. The Germans arrived on three or four trucks, dismounted and formed an attacking line some 600 to 800 metres from us. It was good that they had no tanks with them. We allowed them to approach us and wiped them off the face of the earth, using two Maxim heavy machine-guns. The fire strike on them was unexpected, heavy, but short – we were saving ammo. At the same time the Germans started to run across the street, concentrating for an attack from the centre of the city, not far from our building. There was a soldier with a sniper rifle in Shakulo’s platoon and he opened fire on the running German soldiers. He was quite successful, the distance was less than 100 metres, and he got so many of them that the Germans first stopped running and then totally abandoned the area. A single sniper destroyed the attack.

In the evening an orderly came running from Titov with a written order. In his note the company commander ordered us to return to the former position and occupy that house ‘with a Tiger by the wall’. We fulfilled the order, and Shakulo went to see the company commander to report the situation on Kolosov’s and my behalf. At that time, as we learnt later, four more Tigers entered the city. Lieutenant Shakulo reported everything to Titov, as well as informing him that to the right of the main street there was only our company, while to the left there were two full companies of the battalion, as well as the entire 2nd battalion of the Brigade. If our company departed, the Germans would be able to occupy the houses to the right of the road and end up in the Brigade’s rear. Titov left us alone and did not bother us any more.

In general, I think he should have arrived at the battlefield and seen the situation for himself instead of just sending notes to us. On the other hand, I should mention Titov’s personal bravery. One sunny day a German tank rolled down the main street past our house, moving into our rear. It did not make it far – the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Petr Ivanovich Titov, blew it up. He burnt the tank with a single petrol bomb, which he threw from behind a house corner. For this heroic deed Titov was awarded with Order of Great Patriotic War 2nd Degree.

Blocks on our side of the street were practically freed from the enemy. The Germans only put up resistance to the left of the main road, where brigade units were still in action. Suddenly an orderly, who was going to our company commander, reported that in the rear of our company, behind our house there were three or four Tiger tanks. Apparently, they had driven through another street and arrived in our rear, controlling the main street. Quite a nasty surprise! It was good that they had no infantry with them. We sent the runner to the other street to report to the company commander and ask what to do. An order came – to stay where we were. So we did.

Of course, it was mostly the enemy’s armour that prevented us from seizing the town of Skalat, although they had just some eight or ten tanks. The brigade had almost no weapons that would be effective against heavy tanks: we did not have anti-tank grenades, although they were anyway inefficient against the Tigers; we had very few petrol bombs that could be used. The Tigers grew so bold that they drove around town like chickens hanging around in a village, and only after Titov had burnt one Tiger did they become more cautious and stopped acting so boldly.

After a day or two some of our tanks from another unit arrived, accompanied by the regiment of Katyushas (BM-13), which had been able to overcome the mud on the roads. That regiment inflicted casualties on our Brigade. The regiment showered its fire not only on the enemy, but also on the 2nd battalion and the 3rd company of our battalion, which for some reason was in trenches in the field, outside the city, unlike our company. Apparently, they could not break through into the city, while Shakulo and I were lucky. A single salvo killed 30 to 35 soldiers. In one month of fighting we did not have such high casualties, as from one Katyusha salvo! It was painful to see the dead soldiers – young, healthy and needed for further battles. It hurt even more that they died from friendly fire, because of the carelessness of some commanders for the lives of soldiers, and their incompetence and lack of leadership skills. The worst part was that none of the commanders that allowed this to happen were punished. This salvo could have helped the Germans, who could have mounted an attack after it. However, the arrival of Katyushas and tanks forced the enemy to leave the town at night and on 20 March, 1944, the town of Skalat was fully liberated.

The brigade had suffered significant losses in personnel and hardware in fighting for Skalat. The 3rd company commander, Senior Lieutenant Grigoriev, was wounded; platoon leaders Lieutenant Kravtsov (he was burnt by petrol from a petrol bomb that broke at his feet), Gavrilov and someone else, as well as Sergeant Major Vasya Blokhin, my friend from Siberia, were wounded. The commander of the second company, Senior Lieutenant Gulik, the commander of the submachine-gun company, Lieutenant Kolomiitsev, and some other officers were killed. In front of my eyes a sniper killed a leader of a machine-gun platoon from the machine-gun company, a tall, slim and cheerful Bashkirian Lieutenant. He was supporting our two platoons, mine and Shakulo’s, with his machine-gun platoon. We buried him in the garden of a house. I am sorry that I cannot remember his name, or the names of soldiers from my platoon who were killed in Skalat.

We were young, did not have any experience in life, and cared very little about our lives and the lives of others; sometimes we were even indifferent. In Skalat the soldiers arranged a game with death. Quite a brilliant idea they had: they ran from one side of the street to another under machine-gun fire from a German tank. They had a competition – who could run across the street fastest and not be hit. Normally Fritz would be late and open fire on an empty spot. Some soldiers ran across the street several times and even I dared to run across the street once, so that I would not look like a coward in the eyes of my subordinates. Luckily, no one was hit. I think that the Germans did not quite understand our game and thought that we were mounting an attack and were leaving several important buildings without a fight. Such things happened. Everything could happen in the war, and we considered such things normal.

After the end of battles for Skalat, when our company marched on the central street, I noticed the façade of a house, which looked more like a sieve – it was all battered by shells. I asked the soldiers whose house it was and how defenders could have stayed there. The men laughed and said that it was our house, the house where we had stayed for several days. I came up to company leader Titov; zampolit Gerstein was also there. I pointed at the building, told him about the conditions that we had had to fight in. Titov also remarked to the zampolit of the battalion that it was amazing how the company could hold such a battered building and repel German attacks, closing their access to the rear of the battalion. ‘Was it hard?’ Gerstein asked. What could I answer? I said: ‘It was OK.’