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Our Brigade had to stop that tank group of enemies on their way to Tula and Moscow. Therefore immediately from Kubinka advanced divisions of our brigade were brought into action near Orel [a city to the south of Tula], which was occupied by German divisions on October 1, 1941. Near Orel they gave a great battle. In that battle our brigade followed interesting tactical scheme: tanks took their places along the front line, blocking the way of German tanks. Our tanks waited in ambushes together with motorized infantry. Tanks were positioned 100-150 meters apart within the range of vision and hearing. Germans tried to cut their way through in different directions, but they met our tanks everywhere.
Germans had several times more tanks: they brought a tank army against 1 tank brigade (we had got only 70 tanks and 1,000 soldiers). During the fights near Orel I had to collect information about feats of arms of tankmen, infantrymen and other soldiers of our brigade, so that they could exchange fighting experience and morally support each other. I had to do it on the firing line: I crept from one tank ambush to another, talked to tankmen, and watched the battle episodes near Orel. Having collected necessary information for the newspaper, I came back to our place and together with my comrades Roskov, Yastreb and Shumilov we used to run off several hundreds copies on a mimeograph. After that I took that pile of copies and went back to the firing line to distribute them among soldiers.
It happened in the beginning of October 1941. We took part in defensive actions near Orel and Mzensk [a town near Orel], getting over from one firing line to another, and blunting attacks of superior forces of Germans. In our tabloid we described Ivan Lyubushkin's feat in details. He became the first hero of the USSR in our Brigade. Ivan blew up 9 tanks. Later central newspapers wrote about it, and the whole country got to know about his feat. Of course our moving to tank ambushes and back was noticed by Germans. But during those actions we (reporters) did not have to shoot, because our tankmen operated skillfully and handled enemies roughly. About 2 weeks our Brigade blunted the attack of the tank army and provided conditions for approach of additional forces.
So we successfully accomplished a difficult task, our losses were not heavy. Unexpectedly for us, we received the order signed by comrade Stalin, the National Commissioner of Defense, about renaming of our 4th Tank Brigade. We were named the 1st Guards Tank Brigade. Colonel Katukov, our commander was given the rank of major-general of tank armies. Actions near Orel (Russian territory from time immemorial) inspired soldiers of our brigade.
Germans had several times more tanks: they brought a tank army against 1 tank brigade (we had got only 70 tanks and 1,000 soldiers). During the fights near Orel I had to collect information about feats of arms of tankmen, infantrymen and other soldiers of our brigade, so that they could exchange fighting experience and morally support each other. I had to do it on the firing line: I crept from one tank ambush to another, talked to tankmen, and watched the battle episodes near Orel. Having collected necessary information for the newspaper, I came back to our place and together with my comrades Roskov, Yastreb and Shumilov we used to run off several hundreds copies on a mimeograph. After that I took that pile of copies and went back to the firing line to distribute them among soldiers.
It happened in the beginning of October 1941. We took part in defensive actions near Orel and Mzensk [a town near Orel], getting over from one firing line to another, and blunting attacks of superior forces of Germans. In our tabloid we described Ivan Lyubushkin's feat in details. He became the first hero of the USSR in our Brigade. Ivan blew up 9 tanks. Later central newspapers wrote about it, and the whole country got to know about his feat. Of course our moving to tank ambushes and back was noticed by Germans. But during those actions we (reporters) did not have to shoot, because our tankmen operated skillfully and handled enemies roughly. About 2 weeks our Brigade blunted the attack of the tank army and provided conditions for approach of additional forces.
So we successfully accomplished a difficult task, our losses were not heavy. Unexpectedly for us, we received the order signed by comrade Stalin, the National Commissioner of Defense, about renaming of our 4th Tank Brigade. We were named the 1st Guards Tank Brigade. Colonel Katukov, our commander was given the rank of major-general of tank armies. Actions near Orel (Russian territory from time immemorial) inspired soldiers of our brigade.
Period
Year
1941
Location
Orel
Russia
Interview
Grigory Gendler
Tag(s)