It’s the 20th of August, 1941 and the crew of a tank in position outside the small town of Noviy Uchkoz are woken by a stream of Ju 88 bombers flying overhead. The bombers are on their way to attack Leningrad, but the concern of Senior Lieutenant Zinovi Kolobanov is not on the German planes. His job is to stop the advance of the Panzer Divisions that are now pushing through the Russian countryside. Kolobanov’s weapon is the Soviet KV-1 tank. With a 76mm gun and thick armor, at this stage in the war it’s superior to the Panzerkampfwagen 35(t)s and the Panzer 4s that the enemy is fielding today. Kolobanov has prepared the ambush well. In total there are 5 KV-1s, rammed full of armor piercing shells and arranged in positions overlooking the roads. Kolobanov’s tank, number 864, is dug in so that just the heavily armored turret covered in brush is poking above the ground. The gun faces towards a long road upon which either side is swamp. At the end of the road is a turn so any approaching tanks will need to slow down to make the turn. This is where Kolobanov’s gun is aimed. He’s also hoping that any defense the Germans put up will be no use as he has the high ground. It’s the perfect trap. Around 2pm there's a buzzing in the distance and several German Motorcycle Scouts come along the road, but the Russians are after bigger fish today. The motorcycles get to the end of the road and turn left towards Marienburg unhindered. Then there is a rumble and the unmistakable noise of tank tracks. The main German force comes into view. Inside the KV-1 the gunner looks through his scope and starts counting the line... and counting and counting... It's a huge line of 22 tanks and 2 anti-tank guns! The numbers are huge but fortunately the Russian crew are relieved to find at least there are no heavy tanks snaking along the road today. The road is now full of German machinery, and the lead tank gets to the end of the road and slows down for the turn. Kolobanov signals to his gunner, Andrei Usov, the work is about to begin. Usov readies himself in the tense moments before the battle begins and then lets loose his first of many shots on that fateful day. There’s a boom and the tank jerks back under the recoil as a 76mm armor piercing round flies across the Russian countryside and rips into the lead panzer. It’s a critical hit. The Germans are dumbfounded, was it a mine or something else? The tanks start to bunch together as they stop… boxing each other in. Then another boom as the second tank is hit. The third shot also hits the second tank destroying it. Now the Germans know they’re being attacked. They signal to try and back up the rear of the column, but Kolobanov and Usov are there before them. Targeting the last tank there’s another shot as the KV-1 lets loose another armor piercing round that tears into the rear panzer. To be sure the head and the tail of the snake is immobilized yet another round is sent into the rear panzer as it goes up in flames. The Germans realize they’re trapped. Now they desperately try and figure out where the shots are coming from. Either side of the road are several haystacks which are targeted by the Germans who mistakenly think that they’re hiding Russian defenders. Then a chicken farm in a distance receives heavy fire. Another Panzer is taken out and they realize with dread that the shots are coming from a rise in the distance. Many of the Panzers that aren’t blocked in scatter off the road, all the while receiving fire from Kolobanov. But soon their thin tracks get them bogged down in the swampy ground. Targeting the rise in the distance the Panzers start the return fire. Inside the KV-1 there’s a resounding clang as the turret is hit! But in this case, the Russian bias is the real deal as the super thick armor of the KV-1's turret is more than a match for the undergunned German tanks. Then there’s another hit on the turret, and another as the German’s get their eye in on the target. Between hits Usov lets fly more anti-tank rounds. The Germans start to get the anti-tank guns into play, but they too are soon dispatched by Kolobanov and his gunner. Under the hail of fire in the KV-1, the gunner's scope is hit. Now unable to target the Germans, the tank commander ordered the driver to reverse out of the hiding spot. Once clear the radio operator, Kiselkov, was sent outside to replace the scope! The scope was replaced but under the heavy fire the turret was damaged and unable to rotate. That didn’t stop the crew of 864 as they now used the tank steering to adjust the aim and their grim work continued. Initially the turret was hit many times for each shot it managed to get off, but as the battle slogged on the hits on 864 lessened. When 864 finally ran out of ammunition 22 German tanks and 2 anti tank guns had been destroyed by Kolobanov. Kolobanov radioed to the other tanks. Up to now he had given orders to the other tanks that they should not fire so as to not give away the position and size of the force that the Germans were facing. But now it was their turn and a boom resounded as a fresh KV-1 joined the fray. Finally the total tally on that day was 43 German tanks destroyed for not even one Russian tank. That isn’t to say that 864 got out unscathed. Examining his tank after the battle, the crew counted 156 hits on their trusty KV-1 although none penetrated the armor. The road still exists today and its name translated to English is “Tank Alley”. Most of our viewers aren’t yet subscribers. If that's you, then please hit Subscribe and help support the channel. Thank you!
Praise be to Russian bias