Russian heroes - the feat of the tank crew of Stepan Gorobets. The legendary tank crew of Stepan Gorobets: "Courage surpasses quantity" The feat of the Gorobet's crew

The feat of the crew of the T-34 Stepan Gorobets

On October 17, 1941, the crew of the T-34 tank, commanded by senior sergeant Stepan Gorobets, performed an unprecedented feat. It was in the city of Kalinin (Tver), already occupied by German troops.

Then in front of the battalion of a separate 21st tank brigade, stationed in the Bolshoy Selishche area, which included the Gorobets car (tail number "03"), the task was set - moving along the Volokolamsk highway, break into the city, conduct reconnaissance in force and reach the line of our defense on the Moscow highway.

Even in the suburbs, the vanguard of the battalion catches up with the German column with armored vehicles and soldiers. Seeing the tanks chasing them (paired with Gorobets was the tank of the Kireev platoon commander), the Germans deployed their guns and hit them with direct fire. The Kireevsky tank was soon hit, and Gorobets, in his car, crushing the batteries and cars, escaped from the zone of fire and continued moving along the highway straight to the city.

And since, as a result of a hit by a German anti-tank shell, radio communication was out of order at “03”, Gorobets was forced to act further at his own discretion, without being distracted from the task.

And he decided to continue moving to the city occupied by the enemy. Hoping that the stragglers of the battalion's tanks would follow him. Destroying along the way military equipment and manpower of the enemy.

While still moving along the Volokolamsk highway, Gorobets' tank catches up and destroys a convoy of motorcyclists, and when leaving the village of Lebedevo, to the right of the highway, tankers discover an airfield - and with well-aimed gunfire destroy two Junkers-87s and a fuel tank.

Only now, while maneuvering, Gorobets discovers that their tank is alone. There is no one behind him from the battalion ...

But you can’t stop - the airfield anti-aircraft guns are already starting to shoot to kill, and save the tank and crew - most likely - moving forward, right into the city.

The risk was great and obvious. But it is known that the courage of the city takes!

Leaving from under the fire of enemy anti-aircraft guns, Gorobets discovers a convoy moving towards him, rams three vehicles at full speed and shoots the infantry. In the area of ​​​​the Proletarka factory, the Germans, ahead of our crew, fire at the tank almost point-blank. A direct hit on the turret jams the gun. In addition, a fire breaks out, but the crew expertly puts it out.

Now only machine guns remain at the disposal of the Gorobets crew.

Having slipped through a dangerous line, Gorobets' tank moves along the right bank of the Tmaka River towards the city center. When crossing the river, I had to take risks again - the wooden bridge across the Tmaka could not withstand such severity.

But the crew was lucky again. Having left for Sofya Perovskaya Street, the crew crushes and throws aside the anti-tank "hedgehogs" and leaves for a wide street with tram tracks laid along it. And since the tank turned black from fire, smoke and dirt, the oncoming Germans could not immediately determine its affiliation.

But then a column of motor vehicles with infantry appeared ahead. Gorobets orders the driver Fyodor Litovchenko to crush the column, and Ivan Pastushin, the gunner-radio operator, to shoot it from a machine gun. As a result, not a single car remained intact, and the loss in manpower was at least a hundred.

Then the Germans announced on the radio: “Attention! Russian tanks in the city! Soon on Sovetskaya Street Gorobets sees nearby german tank and rams him. However, upon impact, the 34-ki engine stalls ...

The Germans, who have come to their senses, are already running to the tank and shouting "Rus, surrender!" But the crew still starts the engine and even restores the gun. Then the Gorobets tank, moving through Lenin Square, where the headquarters and councils were located, inflicts aimed artillery strikes on the buildings, from which the surviving sentries fled in a panic and numerous fires broke out.

Having left Vagzhanov Street for us, the crew of Gorobets bypasses the barricades just erected by the Germans, destroys the equipment and manpower of the enemy, including a disguised battery, the guns of which are aimed at Moscow.

And when Gorobets' tank finally crossed the front line, it was hit by ... our artillery. True, everything soon becomes clear, and the heroes are greeted with a cry of "Hurrah!".

The commander of the 30th Army, Major General Khomenko, immediately took off the Order of the Red Star and handed it to Senior Sergeant Stepan Gorobets.

Soon the brave tanker becomes a junior lieutenant and in this rank continues to command his 34th - already in the battles for the liberation of Rzhev (Kalinin was released on December 16, 1941).

In one of the battles in February 1942 - near the village of Petelino, Rzhevsky district - the crew destroyed three cannons, more than twenty machine-gun points and twelve mortars of the enemy. Later, participating in the offensive - without a tank, on foot - Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets died a heroic death.

He was buried in the village of Bratkovo, Staritsky District, Kalinin (Tver) Region. Hero Title Soviet Union was awarded to him on February 8, 1942, posthumously, on the 29th anniversary of his birth.

Even the most terrible for the Red Army first months of the Great Patriotic War showed us a large number of exploits Soviet soldiers and officers. These exploits will forever be inscribed in the history of our country. If we talk about tankers, then a considerable share of the merit in their exploits was also concluded in their combat vehicles.

For example, the well-known battle of the commander of a tank company, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov, ended with the destruction of a German tank column of 22 enemy vehicles, not only because of the professional choice of ambush sites and the well-coordinated work of the entire tank crew, but also due to outstanding performance heavy tank KV-1, which did not let down its crew in that battle. All the Germans could do for him was to smash the observation devices and jam the turret traverse mechanism.

But far from all battles were decided only by the superiority of firepower and the record booking of Soviet tanks of those years. As the Polish writer Stanislaw Jerzy Lec rightly noted: “Often courage alone is not enough, impudence is also needed.” During the war years, this aphorism justified itself more than once. From the military arrogance of Russian soldiers and the atypicality of their actions and behavior in combat conditions, the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht often had, as they would say now, "a break in the pattern."

Already after the war, in their memoirs, many officers lamented that they could not understand how the enemy could attack an infantry battalion on the march from an ambush with just five soldiers, or how it was possible to attack an enemy in a city with just one tank. It was the latter in October 1941 that the crew of the T-34 tank Stepan Gorobets made, who alone broke into Kalinin (now Tver).

The life of the Hero of the Soviet Union Stepan Gorobets turned out to be inextricably linked with the Tver region, it was here, during the defense of Kalinin, that the tank crew under his leadership made a successful single tank breakthrough through the entire city. Here on this earth, during the offensive battles near Rzhev, this tanker laid down his head in 1942.

Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets was born in the small village of Dolinskoye on February 8, 1913. He grew up in the Kirovograd region, was Ukrainian by nationality. Before the war, an ordinary Soviet guy from a peasant family worked as a gas turbine driver at a nitrogen-fertilizer plant. He met the war as an ordinary senior sergeant, a tanker who had just graduated from training. He took part in the battles from September 1941.

By the time of the tank raid, which made his name immortal, Gorobets' entire combat experience was only one month. The battle that took place on October 17, 1941, will later be called a model of real courage, military arrogance and resourcefulness.

On October 17, 1941, the 21st separate tank brigade was given a difficult task: to carry out a deep raid behind enemy lines along the route Bolshoe Selishche - Lebedevo, defeating the German forces in Krivtsevo, Nikulino, Mamulino, and also to capture the city of Kalinin, freeing it from the invaders. The brigade had to carry out reconnaissance in force, breaking through the city and uniting with the units that had taken up defense on the Moscow highway.

The tank battalion of the brigade under the command of Major Agibalov enters the Volokolamsk highway. At the forefront of the battalion are two T-34 medium tanks: the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets and his platoon commander Kireev. Their task is to identify and suppress the detected firing points of the Nazis. On the highway, two of our tanks overtake a German convoy of motor vehicles with infantry and armored vehicles. The Germans, noticing Soviet tanks, manage to deploy anti-tank guns and start a fight.

During the battle, the T-34 Kireev tank was hit and slid off the highway into a ditch, and the Gorobets tank managed to slip forward and crush the positions of the German guns, after which, without slowing down, it enters the village of Efremovo, where it engages in battle with the retreating column. Having fired at the German tanks on the move, crushing three trucks, the tank numbered "03" flew through the village and again went out onto the highway, the path to Kalinin was opened.

However, at the same time, Agibalov's tank battalion, following the avant-garde of two T-34s, came under an air strike by enemy Junkers, several tanks were knocked out and the commander stopped the advance of the column. At the same time, after the battle in the village, the walkie-talkie went out of order on the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets, there is no connection with him. Having broken away from the main column of the battalion by more than 500 meters, the tank crew does not know that the column has already stopped. Not knowing that he was left alone, the senior sergeant continues to carry out the assigned task, continues reconnaissance in battle in the direction of Kalinin. On the highway to the city, the T-34 catches up with a column of German motorcyclists and destroys it.

Just imagine the situation: the defensive battles for Kalinin had already been completed by that time, the Germans were able to occupy the city and entrenched themselves in it. They pushed back Soviet troops and took up defensive positions around the city. The task assigned to the Soviet tank brigade - conducting reconnaissance in force - is actually a tank raid in the German rear from Volokolamsk to Moscow highway. Break through to the rear, make noise there, try to recapture Kalinin from the enemy and link up with other Soviet units on another sector of the front. However, instead of a tank column to city ​​goes the only tank is the "troika" of senior sergeant Stepan Gorobets.

Having left the village of Lebedevo, on the right side of the highway, the tank crew identified a German airfield, which housed aircraft and tankers. Gorobets' tank entered the battle here, destroying two Ju-87 aircraft and blowing up a fuel tank. After some time, the Germans came to their senses, they began to deploy anti-aircraft guns in order to open fire on the tank with direct fire. At the same time, the senior sergeant, realizing that his attack was not supported by other tanks of his battalion, which should have already caught up with the detached vanguard and simply scattered the discovered airfield, makes a non-standard, bold and somewhat brazen decision.

The radio station on the tank is silent, Gorobets knows nothing about the fate of the battalion column, just as he does not know how far he broke away from the main forces. Under these conditions, when the Germans are already hitting the tank with anti-aircraft guns, the commander of the vehicle decides to withdraw from the battle and break through to Kalinin alone. Leaving from the shelling of German anti-aircraft guns, our tank on the way to Kalinin again meets a column of German troops. Thirty-four ram three German vehicles and shoot the fleeing infantry. without slowing down, medium tank breaks into a city occupied by the enemy.

In Kalinin, on Lermontov Street, the tank turns left and rushes with firing along Traktornaya Street, and then along 1st Zalinenaya Street. In the area of ​​the Tekstilshchikov park, the T-34 makes a right turn under the viaduct and drives into the Proletarka yard: the workshops of plant No. 510 and the cotton mill are on fire, local workers were holding the defense here. At this moment, Gorobets notices that a German anti-tank gun but fails to respond. The Germans shoot first, a fire starts in the tank.

Despite the flames, the mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank, Fedor Litovchenko, drives the car towards the ram and crushes the anti-tank gun with caterpillars, while three other crew members fight the fire using fire extinguishers, padded jackets, knapsacks and other improvised means. Thanks to their coordinated actions, the fire was extinguished, and the enemy's firing position was destroyed. However, from a direct hit on the tank turret, the gun jammed, only machine guns remain in the formidable vehicle.

Further, the tank of Gorobets follows Bolsheviks Street, then passes along the right bank of the Tmaka River past the convent located here. Tankers immediately cross the river on a dilapidated bridge, risking bringing down a 30-ton car into the river, but everything worked out and they went to the left bank of the river. The tank with the number three on the armor enters the target of the Golovinsky rampart, from where it tries to get out onto Sofya Perovskaya street, but encounters an unexpected obstacle. Rails dug deep into the ground are installed here, greetings from the workers who defended the city.

At the risk of being detected by the enemy, tankers have to use their combat vehicle as a tractor, loosening the installed rails. As a result, they managed to move aside, freeing the passage. After that, the tank enters the tram tracks running along the wide street.

The tank continues on its way through the city occupied by the enemy, but now it is black, sooty from a recent fire. Neither the star nor the tank number is practically visible on it. The Germans do not even react to the tank, mistaking it for their own. At this moment, from the left side of the street, the tank crew sees a column of captured trucks, GAZs and ZISs with infantry, the vehicles are repainted, the Germans are sitting in them.

Remembering that firing from a gun is impossible, Stepan Gorobets orders the driver to crush the column. Having made a sharp turn, the tank crashes into trucks, and gunner-radio operator Ivan Pastushin waters the Germans with a machine gun. Then the Germans begin to hastily radio about Soviet tanks breaking into the city, not knowing that only a single thirty-four entered the city.

Leaving for Sovetskaya Street, the T-34 meets a German tank. Taking advantage of the effect of surprise, Gorobets bypasses the enemy and rams the German into the side, throwing him off the street onto the sidewalk. After the impact, the thirty-four stalled. The Germans, leaning out of the hatches of their car, are yelling "Rus, give up," and the crew of the Soviet tank is trying to start the engine. It didn’t work the first time, but at that moment a very good news: loader Grigory Kolomiets was able to revive the gun.

Leaving the rammed enemy tank behind him, the T-34 jumps out onto Lenin Square. Here, a semicircular building opens up to the eyes of the tankers, on which huge fascist flags are installed, and sentries are posted at the entrance. The building was not left without attention, the tank fired at it high-explosive shells, the building was on fire. Having completed the next task, the tank moves on and meets with a makeshift barricade. On the street, the Germans overturned a tram, because of which grenades fly into the tank. Thirty-four managed to get around this obstacle along a pile of stones (a blockage from a collapsed residential building), pushing the tram with the Germans who sat behind it, and continues to move further along Vagzhanova Street to Moscow Highway.

Here Stepan Gorobets discovered a disguised German artillery battery, the guns of which were deployed towards Moscow. The tank breaks into positions from the rear, destroys guns and dugouts with a ram, irons the trenches and enters the Moscow highway, breaking out of the city. After a few kilometers near the burning elevator, the tank begins to be heavily shelled from almost all sides. Here were the positions of one of the regiments of the 5th Infantry Division. At first, Gorobets' car was mistaken for the Germans, but they sorted out the accessories in time and ceased fire on the tank, meeting the tankers with shouts of "Hurrah!"

Later, Major General Khomenko, commander of the 30th Army, met personally with the T-34 crew. Without waiting for award documents, he removed the Order of the Red Banner from his tunic and handed it to Senior Sergeant Stepan Gorobets. Later, Gorobets was able to rise to the rank of junior lieutenant, was awarded the order Lenin. Tellingly, the Order of the Red Banner did not officially appear in the award documents, as it passed after General Khomenko. Later, on May 5, 1942, for the courage and heroism shown in battles, junior lieutenant Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but posthumously.

During the offensive on February 8, 1942, in the battle near the village of Petelino in the Rzhevsky district of the Kalinin (now Tver) region, acting in the combat formations of the advancing infantry, the crew of the T-34 tank, junior lieutenant Stepan Gorobets, managed to destroy 3 enemy guns, suppress more than 20 machine gun points and 12 enemy mortars, destroy up to 70 enemy soldiers and officers.

In this battle, on the day of his 29th birthday, Stepan Gorobets was killed. He was buried in the village of Bratkovo, Staritsa District, Tver Region, in a mass grave not far from the church, 10 meters from the Staritsa-Bernovo highway, on the Pushkin Ring. In total, for the entire time of the fighting, the crew of the tank of Stepan Gorobets accounted for 7 wrecked and destroyed German tanks.

A few days before the death of Gorobets, turret sergeant Grigory Kolomiets was wounded, his further fate unknown. And the tank driver, senior sergeant Fedor Litovchenko, and the gunner-radio operator, Red Army soldier Ivan Pastushin, went through the whole war and lived to see victory. Subsequently, they met each other at the sites of past battles, including in the city of Kalinin, which they remember.

Later it became known that last days war near Berlin in Potsdam, an archive of German general staff ground forces. In this archive, among other documents, an order dated November 2, 1941 from the commander of the 9th German Army, Colonel-General Strauss, was found. On behalf of the Fuhrer, on this order, Colonel von Kestner, the commandant of the occupied Kalinin, was awarded the Iron Cross of the first degree. The award was presented "for valor, courage and energetic leadership of the garrison during the liquidation of the tank detachment of the Soviets, which, taking advantage of the snowfall, was able to break into the city."

In fairness, it should be noted that 8 tanks of the 21st brigade were able to break through to Kalinin, which slipped to the city under constant bombardment. However, having reached the southern outskirts of the city, the surviving vehicles moved to Pokrovskoye along the Turginovsky highway, the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets was the only one that went through the entire city with a fight.

After the war, the memory of Gorobets and his tankers was immortalized. One of the streets of Tver is currently named after the commander of the legendary thirty-four with tail number "03". A memorial plaque in memory of the legendary tank crew was installed at house number 54 on Sovetskaya Street in Tver.

And 70 years after the events described, in November 2011, a monument was opened in the city in memory of the feat of the crew of the T-34 medium tank from the 1st separate tank battalion of the 21st tank brigade of the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front. Here, at the monument to the heroes-tankers, a memorial rally was organized on the 100th anniversary of Stepan Gorobets. Also, one of the streets in his native village was named after the tank hero.

Even the most terrible for the Red Army first months of the Great Patriotic War showed us a large number of exploits of Soviet soldiers and officers. These exploits will forever be inscribed in the history of our country. If we talk about tankers, then a considerable share of the merit in their exploits was also concluded in their combat vehicles. For example, the well-known battle of the commander of a tank company, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov, ended with the destruction of a German tank column of 22 enemy vehicles, not only because of the professional choice of ambush sites and the well-coordinated work of the entire tank crew, but also due to the outstanding characteristics of the KV-1 heavy tank, who did not let his crew down in that battle. All the Germans could do for him was to smash the observation devices and jam the turret traverse mechanism. But far from all battles were decided only by the superiority of firepower and the record booking of Soviet tanks of those years. As the Polish writer Stanislaw Jerzy Lec rightly noted: “Often courage alone is not enough, impudence is also needed.” During the war years, this aphorism justified itself more than once. From the military arrogance of Russian soldiers and the atypicality of their actions and behavior in combat conditions, the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht often had, as they would say now, "a break in the pattern." Already after the war, in their memoirs, many officers lamented that they could not understand how the enemy could attack an infantry battalion on the march from an ambush with just five soldiers, or how it was possible to attack an enemy in a city with just one tank. It was the latter in October 1941 that the crew of the T-34 tank Stepan Gorobets made, who alone broke into Kalinin (now Tver). The life of the Hero of the Soviet Union Stepan Gorobets turned out to be inextricably linked with the Tver region, it was here, during the defense of Kalinin, that the tank crew under his leadership made a successful single tank breakthrough through the entire city. Here on this earth, during the offensive battles near Rzhev, this tanker laid down his head in 1942. Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets was born in the small village of Dolinskoye on February 8, 1913. He grew up in the Kirovograd region, was Ukrainian by nationality. Before the war, an ordinary Soviet guy from a peasant family worked as a gas turbine driver at a nitrogen-fertilizer plant. He met the war as an ordinary senior sergeant, a tanker who had just graduated from training. He took part in the battles from September 1941. By the time of the tank raid, which made his name immortal, Gorobets' entire combat experience was only one month. The battle that took place on October 17, 1941, will later be called a model of real courage, military arrogance and resourcefulness.

On October 17, 1941, the 21st separate tank brigade was given a difficult task: to carry out a deep raid behind enemy lines along the route Bolshoe Selishche - Lebedevo, defeating the German forces in Krivtsevo, Nikulino, Mamulino, and also to capture the city of Kalinin, freeing it from the invaders. The brigade had to carry out reconnaissance in force, breaking through the city and uniting with the units that had taken up defense on the Moscow highway. The tank battalion of the brigade under the command of Major Agibalov enters the Volokolamsk highway. At the forefront of the battalion are two T-34 medium tanks: the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets and his platoon commander Kireev. Their task is to identify and suppress the detected firing points of the Nazis. On the highway, two of our tanks overtake a German convoy of motor vehicles with infantry and armored vehicles. The Germans, noticing Soviet tanks, manage to deploy anti-tank guns and start a fight. During the battle, the T-34 Kireev tank was hit and slid off the highway into a ditch, and the Gorobets tank managed to slip forward and crush the positions of the German guns, after which, without slowing down, it enters the village of Efremovo, where it engages in battle with the retreating column. Having fired at the German tanks on the move, crushing three trucks, the tank numbered "03" flew through the village and again went out onto the highway, the path to Kalinin was opened. However, at the same time, Agibalov's tank battalion, following the avant-garde of two T-34s, came under an air strike by enemy Junkers, several tanks were knocked out and the commander stopped the advance of the column. At the same time, after the battle in the village, the walkie-talkie went out of order on the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets, there is no connection with him. Having broken away from the main column of the battalion by more than 500 meters, the tank crew does not know that the column has already stopped. Not knowing that he was left alone, the senior sergeant continues to carry out the assigned task, continues reconnaissance in battle in the direction of Kalinin. On the highway to the city, the T-34 catches up with a column of German motorcyclists and destroys it. Just imagine the situation: the defensive battles for Kalinin had already been completed by that time, the Germans were able to occupy the city and entrenched themselves in it. They pushed back the Soviet troops and took up defenses around the city. The task assigned to the Soviet tank brigade - conducting reconnaissance in force - is actually a tank raid in the German rear from Volokolamsk to Moscow highway. Break through to the rear, make noise there, try to recapture Kalinin from the enemy and link up with other Soviet units on another sector of the front. However, instead of a tank column, a single tank is heading towards the city - the “troika” of senior sergeant Stepan Gorobets. Having left the village of Lebedevo, on the right side of the highway, the tank crew identified a German airfield, which housed aircraft and tankers. Gorobets' tank entered the battle here, destroying two Ju-87 aircraft and blowing up a fuel tank. After some time, the Germans came to their senses, they began to deploy anti-aircraft guns in order to open fire on the tank with direct fire. At the same time, the senior sergeant, realizing that his attack was not supported by other tanks of his battalion, which should have already caught up with the detached vanguard and simply scattered the discovered airfield, makes a non-standard, bold and somewhat brazen decision. The radio station on the tank is silent, Gorobets knows nothing about the fate of the battalion column, just as he does not know how far he broke away from the main forces. Under these conditions, when the Germans are already hitting the tank with anti-aircraft guns, the commander of the vehicle decides to withdraw from the battle and break through to Kalinin alone. Leaving from the shelling of German anti-aircraft guns, our tank on the way to Kalinin again meets a column of German troops. Thirty-four ram three German vehicles and shoot the fleeing infantry. Without slowing down, a medium tank breaks into a city occupied by the enemy. In Kalinin, on Lermontov Street, the tank turns left and rushes with firing along Traktornaya Street, and then along 1st Zalinenaya Street. In the area of ​​the Tekstilshchikov park, the T-34 makes a right turn under the viaduct and drives into the Proletarka yard: the workshops of plant No. 510 and the cotton mill are on fire, local workers were holding the defense here. At this moment, Gorobets notices that a German anti-tank gun is being aimed at his combat vehicle, but does not have time to react. The Germans shoot first, a fire starts in the tank. Despite the flames, the mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank, Fedor Litovchenko, drives the car towards the ram and crushes the anti-tank gun with caterpillars, while three other crew members fight the fire using fire extinguishers, padded jackets, knapsacks and other improvised means. Thanks to their coordinated actions, the fire was extinguished, and the enemy's firing position was destroyed. However, from a direct hit on the tank turret, the gun jammed, only machine guns remain in the formidable vehicle. Further, the tank of Gorobets follows Bolsheviks Street, then passes along the right bank of the Tmaka River past the convent located here. Tankers immediately cross the river on a dilapidated bridge, risking bringing down a 30-ton car into the river, but everything worked out and they went to the left bank of the river. The tank with the number three on the armor enters the target of the Golovinsky rampart, from where it tries to get out onto Sofya Perovskaya street, but encounters an unexpected obstacle. Rails dug deep into the ground are installed here, greetings from the workers who defended the city. At the risk of being detected by the enemy, tankers have to use their combat vehicle as a tractor, loosening the installed rails. As a result, they managed to move aside, freeing the passage. After that, the tank enters the tram tracks running along the wide street. The tank continues on its way through the city occupied by the enemy, but now it is black, sooty from a recent fire. Neither the star nor the tank number is practically visible on it. The Germans do not even react to the tank, mistaking it for their own. At this moment, from the left side of the street, the tank crew sees a column of captured trucks, GAZs and ZISs with infantry, the vehicles are repainted, the Germans are sitting in them. Remembering that firing from a gun is impossible, Stepan Gorobets orders the driver to crush the column. Having made a sharp turn, the tank crashes into trucks, and gunner-radio operator Ivan Pastushin waters the Germans with a machine gun. Then the Germans begin to hastily radio about Soviet tanks breaking into the city, not knowing that only a single thirty-four entered the city.

Leaving for Sovetskaya Street, the T-34 meets a German tank. Taking advantage of the effect of surprise, Gorobets bypasses the enemy and rams the German into the side, throwing him off the street onto the sidewalk. After the impact, the thirty-four stalled. The Germans, leaning out of the hatches of their car, are yelling "Rus, give up," and the crew of the Soviet tank is trying to start the engine. It didn’t work out the first time, but at that moment there was very good news: the loader Grigory Kolomiets was able to revive the gun. Leaving the rammed enemy tank behind him, the T-34 jumps out onto Lenin Square. Here, a semicircular building opens up to the eyes of the tankers, on which huge fascist flags are installed, and sentries are posted at the entrance. The building was not left without attention, the tank fired high-explosive shells at it, a fire started in the building. Having completed the next task, the tank moves on and meets with a makeshift barricade. On the street, the Germans overturned a tram, because of which grenades fly into the tank. Thirty-four managed to get around this obstacle along a pile of stones (a blockage from a collapsed residential building), pushing the tram with the Germans who sat behind it, and continues to move further along Vagzhanova Street to Moscow Highway. Here Stepan Gorobets discovered a disguised German artillery battery, the guns of which were deployed towards Moscow. The tank breaks into positions from the rear, destroys guns and dugouts with a ram, irons the trenches and enters the Moscow highway, breaking out of the city. After a few kilometers near the burning elevator, the tank begins to be heavily shelled from almost all sides. Here were the positions of one of the regiments of the 5th Infantry Division. At first, Gorobets' car was mistaken for the Germans, but they sorted out the accessories in time and ceased fire on the tank, meeting the tankers with shouts of "Hurrah!" Later, Major General Khomenko, commander of the 30th Army, met personally with the T-34 crew. Without waiting for award documents, he removed the Order of the Red Banner from his tunic and handed it to Senior Sergeant Stepan Gorobets. Later, Gorobets was able to rise to the rank of junior lieutenant and was awarded the Order of Lenin. Tellingly, the Order of the Red Banner did not officially appear in the award documents, as it passed after General Khomenko. Later, on May 5, 1942, for the courage and heroism shown in battles, junior lieutenant Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but posthumously. During the offensive on February 8, 1942, in the battle near the village of Petelino in the Rzhevsky district of the Kalinin (now Tver) region, acting in the combat formations of the advancing infantry, the crew of the T-34 tank, junior lieutenant Stepan Gorobets, managed to destroy 3 enemy guns, suppress more than 20 machine gun points and 12 enemy mortars, destroy up to 70 enemy soldiers and officers. In this battle, on the day of his 29th birthday, Stepan Gorobets was killed. He was buried in the village of Bratkovo, Staritsa District, Tver Region, in a mass grave not far from the church, 10 meters from the Staritsa-Bernovo highway, on the Pushkin Ring. In total, for the entire time of the fighting, the crew of the tank of Stepan Gorobets accounted for 7 wrecked and destroyed German tanks.

A few days before the death of Gorobets, turret sergeant Grigory Kolomiets was wounded, his fate is unknown. And the tank driver, senior sergeant Fedor Litovchenko, and the gunner-radio operator, Red Army soldier Ivan Pastushin, went through the whole war and lived to see victory. Subsequently, they met each other at the sites of past battles, including in the city of Kalinin, which they remember. Later it became known that in the last days of the war near Berlin in Potsdam, an archive of the German General Staff of the Ground Forces was found. In this archive, among other documents, an order dated November 2, 1941 from the commander of the 9th German Army, Colonel-General Strauss, was found. On behalf of the Fuhrer, on this order, Colonel von Kestner, the commandant of the occupied Kalinin, was awarded the Iron Cross of the first degree. The award was presented "for valor, courage and energetic leadership of the garrison during the liquidation of the tank detachment of the Soviets, which, taking advantage of the snowfall, was able to break into the city." In fairness, it should be noted that 8 tanks of the 21st brigade were able to break through to Kalinin, which slipped to the city under constant bombardment. However, having reached the southern outskirts of the city, the surviving vehicles moved to Pokrovskoye along the Turginovsky highway, the tank of senior sergeant Gorobets was the only one that went through the entire city with a fight. After the war, the memory of Gorobets and his tankers was immortalized. One of the streets of Tver is currently named after the commander of the legendary thirty-four with tail number "03". A memorial plaque in memory of the legendary tank crew was installed at house number 54 on Sovetskaya Street in Tver. And 70 years after the events described, in November 2011, a monument was opened in the city in memory of the feat of the crew of the T-34 medium tank from the 1st separate tank battalion of the 21st tank brigade of the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front. Here, at the monument to the heroes-tankers, a memorial rally was organized on the 100th anniversary of Stepan Gorobets. Also, one of the streets in his native village was named after the tank hero. Based on materials from open sources Author Yuferev Sergey

Hello dear friends!

February 8 marks the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Stepan Khristoforovich Gorobets, who, in the battles for Kalinin (Tver), led his "thirty-four" through the city, packed with German troops and equipment.

A brave tanker died in a battle near the Rzhev village of Petelino. The commander of the legendary crew was buried in the village of Bratkovo, Staritsky District. In the homeland of the hero in Ukraine and on Sovetskaya Street in Tver, memorial plaques were opened, a street in the city was named after him. Five years ago, a monument to Soviet tankers was erected in Tver.

Among the four crew members was a driver, who was responsible for the full readiness for the movement of the combat vehicle and controlled it. The driver of the legendary "thirty-four" was Fedor Litovchenko.

Driver-mechanic Fedor Litovchenko

During the years of revolutionary events in the village of Blagoveshchenka, they did not know calm days. At one time, the Germans in horned helmets ruled here, they were replaced by the Petliurists, then the bandits of Nestor Makhno, who also fought against the Germans, Denikinists, Petliurists and Bolsheviks.

Early Fedya was sent to school. Having barely finished the seven-year plan, he began working as a messenger in the Dneprodzerzhinsky construction trust. He succeeded in everything different types works, but he was attracted to people who could manage complex machines and mechanisms. In addition to factory work, he went to study in a club drama circle. The heroes of the performances aroused in him the desire to become like them, to be just as bold, resolute and noble.

Then Fedor was waiting for a harsh school - an army one. He left for Khalkhin Gol as a driver, brought ammunition to the front line, but when heavy fighting began, he picked up a rifle. It was here that strength of character, will, determination and the ability to control oneself were truly manifested. After Litovchenko was transferred to the tank troops and he became the driver of the T-26 tank. In the fall of 1940, the tanker retired from the reserve, but his peaceful life soon ended. The soldier went to war, leaving native home, wife and three-year-old daughter. Leaving, I was sure that the war would end quickly and a happy, peaceful life would come.

The feat of the tank crew of Stepan Gorobets

But everything happened quite differently. The Red Army retreated to the east with huge losses. In a small steppe town, Fyodor met his brother-in-law Stepan Gorobets, who was married to Fyodor's sister Marusa. Now the two fighters have decided to stick together. Together they helped the workers of the Kharkov plant, and when the enemy stood at the gates of the city, a combat tank crew of Semyon Gorobets was created. Behind the levers of the tank are Fedor Litovchenko, turret gunner Grigory Kolomiets and radio operator Ivan Pastushin.

The enemy rushed to the capital. In the autumn of 1941, the 21st Tank Army rushed to the city of Kalinin, occupied by the Nazis. Ordered to knock out the enemy and capture the city. Anything happened in the war. Accidentally people died before reaching the front line, and it happened, in spite of all the deaths, they came out safe and sound from pitch hell. This happened to the tank crew of Stepan Gorobets. Through continuous fire and incessant bombing, 8 Soviet tanks broke through to Kalinin. One of them, breaking into the city, passed through it, causing significant damage to the Nazis. It was the “thirty-four” of Stepan Gorobets. The German cannon hit the tank, disabled the gun, but the tank, engulfed in flames, went forward.

Panting from acrid smoke and soot, the tankers managed to defeat the fire. now burned fighting machine moving at full speed along the central street of Kalinin. The Nazis do not pay attention to the tank covered with soot: a natural situation in a front-line city. Not a single living soul could have imagined that this was a Russian tank. Ahead, Litovchenko sees cars with German soldiers. With the approval of the commander, the driver directs the tank to the convoy and walks along it in such a way that none of the trucks survived. Now soviet tank revealed himself.

Phones rang in the German headquarters. The Russian tank is ordered to be destroyed immediately. Hurricane fire fell on the T-34 from the alleys and courtyards of the occupied city, the shells shuddered at the car, but the tank, without slowing down, went forward. Suddenly, a light fascist tank blocked the path across the street. An instant decision was made; "thirty-four" rushed to the ram. The driver passed out when he woke up realized; the tank is standing, the engine is not working, and the savvy boots of the Nazis are knocking on the armor: "Russ kaput!"

Litovchenko pressed the starter, the engine started, the car came to life, it goes a little, grinding its tracks. The tanker increased speed, the car obediently obeyed. The outskirts of the city are already visible, but a hurricane of fire from strangers and friends hit the tank. Ours are also firing at the tank, expecting an attack from fascist tanks from this direction. The fire has weakened a little, already on the right the driver sees the elevator, in front of the bridge, behind it is a grove. A Red Army soldier runs out to meet the car, waving his hat.

The formidable war machine stops abruptly. Hatches opened, Soviet tankers appeared in burnt overalls. The fighters, jumping out of the trenches, surrounded the T-34, blackened by fire, with numerous dents on the armor.

Where are you guys from?

From the other world, lads, from the other world, from hell itself.

Soon, a tank breakthrough through Kalinin was reported to the commander of the Kalinin Front, I.S. Konev.

In February 1942, on the Rzhev direction near the village of Petelino, the crew of Gorobets, dragging the infantry along, took the fortified height of the enemy. In a heavy battle, the crew commander S.Kh. Gorobets, the entire crew of the tank was wounded. For this feat, Stepan Gorobets was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. Tank driver Litovchenko was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Quite a few years have passed since Fedor Litovchenko, together with his crew, passed through Kalinin, which was clogged with Nazis. A completely new generation has grown up, but old and young know about the feat of Soviet tankers and pay tribute to their courage.

This feat will be remembered forever! In the battles for Kalinin, Stepan Gorobets led his “thirty-four” through the city, captured by German troops. This year marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of the legendary tanker.

Under the number "03"

The crew of Stepan Gorobets became the personification of the Russian character and unbending will. His tank alone passed through the occupied city and inflicted significant losses on the enemy. Such a case was the only one in the history of the Great Patriotic War. The “thirty-four” came out of the battle with a lot of dents, but no one could break through its armor.

The Wehrmacht generals pulled together unprecedented forces to Kalinin, in order to then throw them on the capital. The 21st separate tank brigade faced an impossible task: without the support of infantry, artillery and aviation, break through behind enemy lines, make noise there and try to recapture the city. On the morning of October 17, 1941, under the fire of the Messerschmitts and Junkers, 35 tanks advanced along the Volokolamsk and Turginovskoye highways. But only eight reached the city, and only one broke into Kalinin. The mission was carried out by the commander of the tank under the number "03" senior sergeant Stepan Gorobets, as well as the driver Fyodor Litovchenko, the tower Grigory Kolomiets and the gunner-radio operator Ivan Pastushin. Their "thirty-four" crushed a column of vehicles with enemy infantry and drove at full speed to a German airfield. It was located on the territory of the current Yuzhny microdistrict. Gorobets' tank crushed two Junkers that did not have time to take off, set fire to a fuel tank and disappeared into the smoke. Having rushed along Lermontov Street, he shot a column of enemy motorcyclists. In the Proletarka Yard, a thirty-ton car crushed anti-tank gun but received direct hit to the tower. The gun jammed, only machine guns remained from the armament.

General Order

Along the Tmaka River through the territory of the monastery (now the Nativity convent) the tank drove to Sofia Perovskaya Street. Nobody followed him. The enemy could not even imagine that the Russians would dare to penetrate his territory. In the center of the city, under the tracks of a combat vehicle, there was a German convoy, a machine gun mowed down the fleeing Nazis. Near the city garden, the crew of Gorobets was rammed by a German Panzer. Our tank stalled on impact. The Germans immediately surrounded him and tried to smoke out the carriage. But the driver, without leaving the tank, started the engine and even restored the gun. The crew moved on. High German ranks are located in the current building of the city administration. The tank fired at their headquarters with land mines. Then, on Vagzhanov Street, he destroyed a long-range battery.

In the battles for the liberation of Rzhev, Stepan Khristoforovich commanded a tank already in the rank of junior lieutenant. Near the village of Petelnya, his crew stormed the height, destroying three cannons, more than twenty machine-gun points and twelve enemy mortars. For this, Gorobets was awarded the Order of Lenin. In total, his crew accounted for seven wrecked and destroyed tanks.

Gorobets died, participating in a foot offensive, without his "thirty-four". He was buried in the village of Bratkovo, Staritsky District. Other crew members went through the entire war. All four tankers received the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". Gorobets - posthumously. One of the streets of Tver bears his name, a memorial plaque was erected in his honor on house number 54 on Sovetskaya Street. In 2011, a monument dedicated to the legendary tankers, whose feat was the beginning of the liberation of Kalinin, was opened on Komsomolskaya Square.

By the way

Stepan Gorobets is from a peasant family. He was born in the village of Dolinskoe, Kirovograd region of Ukraine. Before the war he worked as a machinist. During the tank raid in Kalinin, he was 28 years old.