Flashpoint Germany

Czechoslovak tank gunner's letter home

9.10.1990.

Dear mother,

I am writing you this letter from the turret of our tank. As you probably heard a few hours ago, the German army crossed the border. We all knew that would happen sooner or later, but I did not expect that they would carry out a preventive invasion. The East German armored regiment came as reinforcements just an hour before the invasion. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't be writing this letter to you now. But even with those reinforcement we stood no chance. We were completely outnumbered.

Although I was the best gunner in my department, they put me in a T-34/85. A tank from World War 2. My tank is completely outclassed and outgunned. The armor of our tank can be penetrated by everything except the basic small-caliber ammunition. I protested, but my superiors told me that the regular army got newer tanks, and we recruits got what was left.

Shortly after the beginning of the invasion, the central and right parts of the front collapsed. The left part of the front had a good strategic position. Hills full of dense forests with almost vertical cliffs. Our forces had the high ground. But the Germans had Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and Leopard 1A4 tanks. They outranged us. The best thing we could do is hide in the woods and wait for them to come close.

Three tanks guarded the right flank of our front. Below the hill was a vast field and a river. The enemy would have to cross the bridge, survive the fire from our entrenched and camouflaged tanks and then go all the way behind the hill where they could climb it. We were given the task of covering that path up the hill.
Two Scout T-55s and an East German T-72 were on the hill overlooking the bright and the fild. I could not see what was happening but I could very well hear it. We were setting up our ambush, camouflaging the tank.

That's what commander Taifer ordered us to do. "Wait for them to get close", he told me "do not shoot until I tell you to". We were reinforced by some soldiers, he told them to fire at the tanks only after we do so first. They set up an ambush position on the other side of the road.

After around 3h of waiting Germans rushed over the bridge with 6 Leopard 1A4s. As soon as they managed to cross the bridge one of them exploded. Those tanks on the hill were sharpshooters. Another one's tracks got blown off. Even though it was immobilized it could still shoot back, and they did, all at once. After that the crew bailed out, they knew they were sitting ducks. Tree our old tanks versus their 5 modern ones. 

German tanks could shoot on the move, quite accurately too. They were making their way to our position, still shooting up the hill. After around 10 seconds another one stopped. The hatches flew open and the Crew started escaping. Maybe a second passed before it exploded. I was 5 km away, in a bush watching all that happen from my gun sight. The tanks were moving towards us but their cannons were pointed up the hill. Grenades were flying everywhere, but they hit their targets. Few dozen seconds passed and then we heard an explosion coming from the hill. I saw the grenade bounce off the Leopard. It returned fire and we heard another chilling explosion. They continued firing in that direction but no more fire came from the hill. I just hope the last tank crew didn't die. Maybe they ran out of ammo, maybe their tank got disabled in some other way. What ever happened to them didn't change the fact that we were now outnumbered 3 to 1.

"This is the Soviet tank that defeated the Germans once, and it will do it again!" said our commander. We stayed silent, his words did not encourage us. We knew what we had to do.
The tanks were closing in. They didn't spot us. I was, trying to aim at the weak spot of the first one in the line. One kilometer way, they were in our maximum fire range. Five hundred meters, the commander didn't say a word.

The tanks were four hundred meters away when the soldiers opened fire with their rocket launcher. They were aiming at the middle tank but they missed. The tanks didn't stop, they just turned their turrets towards them and started blindly firing in to the forest. Three hundred yards away and the commander finally gave me a signal. Without thinking I fired. Ricochet. Somehow my grenade managed to bounce off their armor. It seemed they didn't notice it because they continued to shoot at the infantry. Oh those poor souls. A canon was firing every 10 seconds. I'm sure they were screaming, but I couldn't hear anything from the constant firing of cannons and machine guns.

Another rocket flew out of the woods and straight into the middle tank. With a big explosion, the dome flew into the air. I didn't even have time to process all this, the loader patted me on the shoulder, the cannon was loaded. I didn't pay attention to my task, I was looking at the burning wreck of the second tank. The tank behind it stopped. It began to turn toward the infantry. They could not break through it from the front. In less than a second, I aimed at the last tank in the column. I hit him in the wheels and the tracks fell off. It remained half-turned. I started looking for the first tank, in these few seconds it was far away. It was only 100 meters away from us. But he also turned his hull towards infantry. I had the easiest shot of my life. At the same moment as I fired, the last tank exploded.

The first tank stood there with a clearly visible hole in the side armor. The hatches flew open their commander jumped out of the turret. When the commander was out to his waste the loader's hatch flew open. As he pulled his legs out, a strong, bright yellow light illuminated him. The loader was desperately trying to pull himself out of the tank. The driver was out of the tank up to his waist when he too was illuminated by the bright light. Commander jumped from the turret and got down to try to help the driver get out. The fire began to trickle through the openings. The loader was severely burned. I saw the fire swallow the driver as his commander tried to pull him out. Driver fell back in to the fiery tank. Loader managed to get out but just as he did fell limp over the turret. Now the commander just stood there in distressed, I didn't notice how quiet it was until that silence was broken by a short burst of gunfire. The German commander fell like a leaf. Without a sound. The fire from the tank only intensified.

I was in shock, it still didn't dawn on me what I had done. I failed to process what I just saw. As the adrenaline subsided it slowly began to realize. Jacob, the loader was right next to me the whole time. I thank him for that.

Everyone else left the tank as soon as it was over and began to inspect the wreckages. Only 4 soldiers survived that massacre. Among them was their commander Schultz. He personally destroyed one of the tanks. Taifer yelled at him, why he didn't listen to orders, why did he put his men in danger, all he had to do is wait a little longer. I don't remember his answer.

The plan was for all the tanks to focus fire on us. And then if we were lucky I would hit and destroy the first one in the line, Schultz and his men would knock out the last one. And the tank in the middle would be trapped. Maybe they would even surrender. Who knows... Schultz said that I saved him by destroying that last tank. He told me that he looked at it and just reconciled with death. He knew he had no time to load a new rocket, aim and then hit the weak spot. I don't know what to say. . .

I'm still a little shaken but, I'm fine mother, please don't worry. After about an hour, we were ordered to withdraw. They surrounded our command unit. That was the last order I hear from them.

My tank is one of the only ones that was not damaged in any way. Our division was almost destroyed. We took those 4 soldiers with us when we got the order to withdraw. They are sitting outside, on the back of tanks. They are all severely wounded, full of shrapnel. I hope they will make it.

Tell my sister I said hello. Say hello to my father too if he comes by, tell him his son destroyed a leopard 1A4 in a T-34. I know he is working hard, I'm sure his job at the station won't get any easier now that a war has started.

Lots of love,
Jan

*On the back of the photo its written:
Commander Taifer took this photo before we went to battle today. Im the one on the left. Next to me is Jacob.