What was it like to confront the German panzer armies as an anti-tank gunner on the Eastern Front during the Second World War? How could you hope overcome of one of the best-equipped, well-trained and tenacious armored forces of the time? And how did the Red Armys tactics and skills develop over the course of the war in order to counter the threat posed by the elite troops of the Wehrmacht? The vivid personal narratives of Red Army anti-tank men selected for this book give a fascinating insight into these questions and into the first-hand experience of anti-tank warfare seventy years ago. Their testimony reveals how lethal, rapid, small-scale actions - gun against tank were fought, and it shows how such isolated actions determined the outcome of the massive offensives and counter-offensives that characterized the struggle on the Eastern Front.
Chapter 1. The Burning Snow of the ‘Pakfront’
Chapter 2. The First Battle is the Hardest
Chapter 3. There were No Long-term Survivors
Chapter 4. A Legendary Hero of Prokhorovka
Chapter 5. A Fight to the Finish
Chapter 6. Enough Endurance Trials for a Lifetime
Chapter 7. ‘We’ve Always Fought with Our Fists . . .’
Chapter 9. Ordered to Knock-out a Ferdinand
Chapter 10. ‘Our Fate was not Envied at the Front . . .’
Chapter 11. One of the Very Few