Tank Stakeouts

The story of the single KV of Raseiniai that stopped Kampfgruppe Raus is well known. However similar incidents occurred occasionally, even if they didn't become as widely known as Raseiniai.

"24 HOURS IN A SIEGED TANK

Today, another Republican tank crew was saved, out of the three that were stuck in fascist territory near Saragosse. The miracle did not happen by itself, it happened as a result of boundless heroism of the soldiers, their stubbornness and belief in their abilities.

The brave trio just got to the front lines of government officials. We honour them, scratched up and singed. They slowly tell their story, exhausted, but happy.

The tank was immobilized with several shells. It was surrounded by fascists. The crew shot back for twelve hours, but, after showering the tank with grenades, the fascists closed in. The crew locked themselves in, and decided to not give up alive. The fascists climbed up on the tank and called to the crew. The crew did not answer. 

The Italians and rebels decided to open the tank. They climbed all over it with mallets and crowbars. The tank was closed up like a safe. The bolts held. 

After several hours, the fascists were tired, and decided to have dinner right on the tank. After dinner, they took a nap. One of the crewmembers moved. The rebels heard him, rolled off the tank, and renewed their attack. 

They started throwing incendiary grenades at the bottom of the tank. Rubber started burning. "We sat still, silently, and smoked," tells the commander. "It was around 19 hours into the siege."

The fire burned for a while, and went out. It did not get to the gas tanks. The crew could hear the rebels' conversation. It was decided that they would not leave until the tankers' corpses were dragged from the tank.

The attack resumed once again. There was nothing left to hope for. The crew decided to commit suicide if the enemy gets inside. 

Suddenly, a shell exploded nearby. Then, another, a third, and yells of the wounded. Republican artillery, and other Republican tanks, established the location of the tank, and provided it with covering fire. 

The shooting stopped. The fascists ran off and hid. The decisive moment has come. This was the last chance for rescue.

The commander managed to turn the cannon and make three shots. After that, he took off the lock, and ordered the turret commander to run. The fascists opened fire. He dove behind a bump. The commander returned fire with his machine gun and ordered the driver to evacuate. He himself went last.

The rebels covered them with a rain of bullets. The trio lay close to the ground, until the fascists got tired of shooting. Another sprint, and then another, and another. Exactly 24 hours since the start of their resistance has passed.

They stand here now, drinking and smoking. They are giving precise directions to other soldiers in an armoured tractor that will recover their tank. 

Mihail Koltsov, Pravda, October 19, 1937."

A similar incident occurred during the Winter War, but with a much more valuable tank. While the Republicans didn't exactly have a surplus of T-26es, the tank in question was completely unique. During the Winter War, it was not yet decided which of the three new heavy tanks, the KV, T-100, or SMK, was the best. All three prototypes were sent into battle.

"The SMK tank was leading the column, and took a lot of fire. One of the shots jammed the main turret, and silenced the gun. The tank made it to the road. At the Kameri-Wyborg fork, the driver must have missed the stack of crates, and drove on to it. An explosion roared, and covered the area in thick brown smoke. The tank stopped. After the smoke cleared, Lieutenant Petin got out to investigate. The SMK stood next to a massive crater. The explosion destroyed the track and idler, and damaged transmission bolts. The electrical system was damaged, the bottom of the tank was bent. Even though there was a 40 degree frost, the snow surrounding the tank has melted. 

The driver, V. I. Ignatiev, was stunned by the explosion, and temporarily lost consciousness. The crew did not leave the tank. The T-100 and KV approached, and stopped nearby. The T-100 crew was made of volunteer testers. One of them, E. I. Roshin, wrote: "Our vehicles approached the damaged SMK, and covered it with our armour. The T-100 was in the front and to the right, the KV was in front and to the left, forming a triangular fortress. We stood like this for several hours, trying to repair the tracks of the SMK. We were dressed well, in new coats, boots, wool helmets, gloves. We could endure the bitter cold, but the damage was too heavy. The road wheels were damaged, as well as the tracks, and we could not get the heavy vehicle to move."

...

Lieutenant Toropov's engineering team tried to tow the tank using a 25-ton T-28 tank. They worked at night, under enemy fire, but could not tow the massive tank, firmly lodged in the crater. The damaged track and idler made it necessary to leave it in no man's land.

The Finns tried to tow away the SMK, but our artillery protected the tank. Finnish scouts managed to crawl up to it and steal a hatch cover. Kotin, when retelling this story, mentioned a curious fact. The factory producing armour for the SMK was behind schedule. The Kirov factory, unwilling to wait, produced their own hatch cover, using leftover low-carbon steel. The Finns stole this cover from the SMK, and, when it made its way to German labs, they decided that all Soviet tanks are made from "raw" steel.

...

The heavy tank remained in the crater until the end of the war. It was eventually moved with the combined forces of six T-28 tanks."

- Konstruktor Boyevih Mashin, Popov at al, Lenizdat, 1988.

A rare photograph of the SMK exists, taken by the Finns, in the process of attempting to tow it. 

Next situation is somewhat more Raseiniai-like, with a happier ending. Lieutenant Semyen Fillipovich Shmakov, company commander in the 500 independent tank battalion, received an Order of Lenin for his heroism. From his award order:

"On August 27th, 1942, at 8:00, along with the 994th infantry regiment of the 186th infantry division, on his KV-8 tank, he attacked the village of Voronovo. Escorting his company though the heavily fortified enemy lines of defense, he destroyed enemy pillboxes, and fortifications with fire from his tracks, and enemy forces with his gun and machine guns. He twice attempted to cross the river Navia. The second attempt was successful, but he was struck by heavy artillery and mortar fire, as a result of which his tank lost an idler and tore a track. The tank stopped on enemy occupied territory. From August 27th, 1942 at 9:00 to present time, Lieutenant Shmakov and his crew, without leaving the tank, courageously defended it for 198 hours while under constant artillery and mortar fire. While the tank was being sieged, it destroyed 11 pillboxes, 6 cannons, 3 machine gun nests, and up to 100 German soldiers and officers. Shmakov, despite his exceptionally difficult situation, provided care and encouragement for his crew, and was an example of courage and determination. In order to obtain water for his crew, he manually bored a hole through the radiator, allowing him to gather 1.5 canteens. He has currently managed to repair the track. As soon as he manages to lock it back on, the tank will be able to return on its own.

Commander of the 500th Independent Tank Battalion, Captain Torgilin 

Military Commissar of the 500th Independent Tank Battalion, Company Commissar Antonov"

World of Tanks History Section: Battle of Raseiniai

At the end of the war, a group of high ranking German officers ended up in an American POW camp. These officers wrote a series of reports, which were used by the Americans to study tank tactics. These reports were the main account of a battle, where a single KV tank stopped the advance of the German Kampfgruppe Raus, a part of the 4th Panzer Group, for 24 hours. Today, most historians agree that it was a KV-2, but there is no certainty of this fact, so the rest of this article will not use a numeric index. This unique battle happened on June 24-25th, 1941, next to the Lithuanian village of Raseiniai.

Kampfgruppe Raus was formed from elements of the 6th tank division before the invasion of the USSR. A second group, formed from the same division, received the name "Von Seckendorff". On June 23rd, both groups set up on the eastern shore of the river Dubis.

German air reconnaisance reported that Soviet tanks are moving towards the Von Seckendorff group. These were vehicles from the 2nd tank division of the RKKA, delivering a flanking counterattack. However, due to poor coordination and the general chaos of the first few days of war, the tanks were late. Instead of a flank, the Soviets were met with the front of the German forces.

A battalion of heavy KV tanks was included in the 2nd tank division. Contrary to the myth that KV tanks caused panic among German soldiers, it was possible to deal with them, if the enemy was sufficiently prepared. However, for Von Seckendorff, this was an unpleaseant surprise. Soviet tanks cleaved through German infantry and entered artillery positions. German 37mm AT guns were not strong enough to penetrate their armour. Neither were the Czech Pz35(t) tanks, which were all the Germans had. The only defense against KV tanks were the 88mm anti-aircraft guns. After losing several tanks to them, the Soviets retreated.

While Von Seckendorff fought with Soviet heavies, Raus did not encounter anything interesting. The Germans fortified their positions, scouted out the area, planned out further actions. Sometimes they would encounter individual squads of Red Army soldiers. Some prisoners were captured, and were sent to a nearby city.

A convoy of imprisoned Soviets and wounded Germans left in the first half of June 24th. 1.5km along, they encountered a single KV. It seemed likely that the tank was meant for nearby battles, and was left behind. According to local peasants, the tank arrived the day before, on June 23rd. It drove into the crossroads, stopped, and remained motionless all night.

When the column was spotted by the tank, it opened fire. The Germans turned around and returned to the base. Raus headquarters, knowing that somewhere soon the RKKA would counterattack, decided that this was it. As if on purpose, the KV tore a telephone line, disconnecting Raus from the headquarters of the 6th division.

While the Germans were figuring out what was happening, a convoy with fuel and ammunition stumbled upon the lone tank. The group commander recalled 12 burning trucks. On both sides of the road, outside of the KV's line of fire, traffic jams formed.

For several hours, the KV remained on the road, periodically shooting towards Raseiniai. Why wasn't it moving? Perhaps it ran out of fuel, or suffered an engine failure. Perhaps the crew had orders to cover the road. Perhaps, knowing that sooner or later the tank would be immobilized, the commander decided to pick an advantageous position to fight from. The tank crew must have understood, that this battle would be their last. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like to make that choice.

It took some time for the Germans to figure out that they were dealing with one tank, and not an entire division. Meanwhile, the KV sat under the burning sun. Raus gave the order to eliminate the tank as soon as possible. His group needed ammunition badly, the wounded had to get to a hospital. Trucks that tried to go around the KV got stuck in the swamps.

Germans moved a battery of four 50mm AT guns against the KV. German soldiers expected an easy kill, taking up positions where the effect of the battery could be easily seen. Soviet tankers, presumably, did not notice the battery. Their gun was still pointing towards Raseiniai.

The first shot was fired. Observers cheered. Another seven shots hit the Soviet tank. It seemed that it was over. However, several minutes later, the tank started turning its turret. It is necessary to point out that after being hit, the noise inside the tank is deafening. Even machine gun fire sounds like the tank is being hammered with a mallet. After artillery fire, the crew's eardrums burst, blood flows from the ears, nose, eyes, people lose consciousness. Recall, that the tank was boiling inside during the summer. The tankers were not able to open fire straight away.

The tank pointed its gun towards the battery and opened fire. Two guns were knocked out, along with their crews, two more were damaged. Germans attempted to destroy the KV with indirect fire from a 105mm howitzer, but were unable to hit it. Then Raus requested an 88mm AA gun from headquarters. That was the only gun capable of penetrating the armour on a KV.

The arriving AA gunners opened fire from 2000m, then decided to get closer, to be sure. Taking cover behind burning trucks, they approached to a distance of 700 meters. The KV was ready, and destroyed the AA gun on the first shot. The mood of the Germans was ruined. They had no possibility to bring in supplies, no way to deliver the wounded to a hospital. Raus was taking casualties, all for nothing.

At night, the Germans tried to lay explosives underneath the tank. Sappers that crawled up were surprised that someone still remained at the Soviet tank. Cracking branches, creaking hatches, careful steps were heard. The Germans decided that local villagers were bringing food and water to the Soviets. When the mysterious sounds died down, the Germans came closer and laid their charges. Before the echo from the detonation died down, the Soviet tank answered with machine gun fire. Either there was not enough explosive, or the sappers were bad at their jobs, but the only thing the charges did was damage track links.

Next morning, while more AA guns were delivered from Raseiniai, Raus ordered his tanks to attack. He understood that their guns were useless, but the attack was not meant to disable the KV. The light tanks needed to distract the KV while artillery gunners moved into position. Pz35(t)s maneuvered next to the tank, trying not to fall victim to its gun. The KV did not fire. The gunner knew that hitting fast moving tanks would be very difficult.

The AA gun set up, and opened fire. The first shot hit its target. The KV tried to fight back, and started rotating the turret towards the new threat. Another shot, another hit, the turret stopped. The Germans did not believe that they finally stopped the invincible tank. They sent another 4 armour piercing shells into the side of the tank.

After about half an hour, the most curious German soldiers approached the tank. They surrounded it, curiously observing the dents from 50mm AP shells. Only two penetrations were in the hull, from AA shells. Someone knocked on the armour of the tank. As if in response, the turret moved. Frightened screams were heard, and the German soldiers ran from the tank. Someone threw a grenade into the KV through one of the breaches. The explosion threw open the hatch on the top of the turret. The Germans approached again, and found six dead crewmen inside the tank. The bravery of these people struck them so much that they did not abandon their bodies, but buried them.

In 1965, the remains were transferred to a cemetery in Raseiniai. We still do not know who was in this crew. The gravestone reads "Yershov P.E, Smirnov V.A., a warrior with initials Sh. N. A., and three unknown warriors."

Original article available here.