Encyclopedia of the Chelyabinsk region. Encyclopedia of the Chelyabinsk region 56th tank brigade combat path

71 years ago, in the winter of 1943, at the height of the Great Patriotic War, Komsomol members of the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) turned to the youth of the Primorsky Territory with the initiative to raise funds for the construction of a tank column. The call immediately found a response among the patriotic youth of the region. The collection from Komsomol Sunday workers alone amounted to more than 4 million rubles.

By April, about 11 million rubles had been collected. The State Defense Committee (GKO) satisfied the request of the regional Komsomol committee and agreed to organize the Primorsky Komsomolets tank column and form 20 tank crews from Komsomol members of the region for it.

350 applications were received by city and regional committees from volunteers who were eager to go to the front. But a special commission for youth conscription selected the most worthy. There were 63 of them.

On May 1, 1943, volunteers went to the 19th training tank regiment of the Ural Military District. After completing the courses, two companies were formed - each with 10 T-34 tanks. The Primorsky Komsomolets tank column joined the 56th Guards Tank Brigade of the 3rd Guards Red Banner Tank Army under the command of General Pavel Rybalko. On the frontal armor of each tank there was a chrome plate with the inscription “Tank column “Primorsky Komsomolets”. The train unloading station is the city of Kursk. Baptism of fire Primorye tank crews took it to Ukraine, in the bloody battles for the Dnieper.

After heavy fighting in the summer of 1943, its neighborhoods lay in ruins. By this time, Soviet units had managed to cross the Dnieper and were fighting on its right bank. The Germans, regardless of losses, fiercely attacked, trying to push our troops back. The brutality of those battles was comparable to the Battle of Kursk.

From the combat log of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade:

"11/7/43 22:00. The brigade concentrated on the southern outskirts of Fastov, consisting of three serviceable tanks." The recording testifies to the exceptional brutality of the fighting and the severity of our losses. After all, the number of tanks in the brigade in the state was 53, and at the time of recording there were three of them. And further: “11.11.43. Replenishment of 20 T-34 vehicles with personnel (Primorsky Komsomolets) arrived in the brigade. 13:00. The brigade took up defensive positions.”

Next entry:

“11/14/43. During the day, enemy aviation, making 173 sorties, attacked the battle formations of the brigade battalions.”

On that day, Field Marshal Manstein's 4th Panzer Army launched a massive attack. Having made a hole in our defenses, the Germans brought the SS Panzer Division "Adolf Hitler" into the breach.

Our fellow Primorye residents, having fallen into the center of an armored wedge strike, bravely met the enemy, enduring a baptism of fire.

From a letter from machine gunner-radio operator V. Surkov:

“On November 13, our tank was sent to the barrier, as the Germans broke through Fastov. Planes flew in, and their tanks began attacking after the bombing. We immediately knocked out one vehicle, and then we ourselves came under fire. A shell jammed the hatch, pierced the oil line and cut off the machine gun . The hands of Pavlik, the driver, were hurt. The commander asked: “Well, guys, are we going out?”, and he answered: “Let’s go to the end.” They knocked out the second German tank, but they themselves received a shell in the left side. It hit my head, and Pavel was doused with gas oil, and he instantly turned into a firebrand... In that battle, the platoon commander died and many other guys were burned. Please convey my condolences to the relatives of the victims. They often come to me in my dreams, and I scare the family with a scream..."

From the memoirs of tower commander M. Nekhaenko:

“I was in the tank of junior lieutenant Petrov. In that battle, our crew knocked out the Tiger and Ferdinand. Our tank was also hit. The seriously wounded commander was pulled out by the driver-mechanic Dima Fomin, who was himself wounded...”
From the combat log of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade:

In fact, this is the third part of the Primorsky Komsomolets combat vehicles. The meager lines of messages from the Sovinformburo summed up the outcome of those battles: “The enemy brought up fresh forces in the morning of November 12 and, with the support of aviation, tried to capture the city of Fastov, but was thrown back to their original positions...”.

The life of a combat vehicle in war is short. It was believed that on average a tank could withstand no more than three battles without being damaged, knocked out, or completely burned out. Often together with his crew. Those lucky enough to survive were transferred to repaired tanks and replenished the depleted crews. And again - into battle.

From the memoirs of driver I. Tretyak:

“On January 1, 1944, our platoon was given the task of reconnaissance by force the fascist firing points in the regional center of Troyanov (150 km west of Kyiv). We were supposed to full speed rush in there and draw fire from enemy artillery so that ours can spot their firing positions. Fulfilling such a task, as a rule, means the death of reconnaissance tanks and almost all of their personnel... Their artillery is hitting us with direct fire. The fight seems like an eternity. The German infantry abandons the trenches and runs, trying to escape from our machine guns. Hit. Flash Light. I see a large hole in the starboard side and a stream of burning fuel. The commander, gunner and radio operator quickly leave the car, I slow down and jump out through the front hatch. Falling onto the arable land, I see that two other tanks have frozen, shrouded in clouds of black smoke. My T-34, as if alive, is slowly moving towards the Germans. Their artillery hits the wounded "thirty-four" with all its barrels. I crawl up to the tower that has fallen to the ground. His arm, shoulder and groin were pierced. Not paying attention to the groans of my comrade, I drag him along with me... Finally among my own people.”

Based on the surviving entries in the combat log, it becomes clear that by the beginning of 1944 there were almost no Primorsky Komsomolets tanks left in service. The last five vehicles returned to the brigade after repairs at the end of January 1944. Their crews were staffed by the remaining coastal volunteers.

From the memoirs of D. Fomin:

“The combat experience gained in Ukraine helped me successfully fight until the brigade reached the Oder River, where I was wounded for the second time. After treatment, I was sent as a motorcyclist to the reconnaissance platoon of the 39th tank regiment. We fought from the Sandomierz bridgehead, for Oder and the liberation of Prague, in the same direction as the 3rd Guards Tank Army. So all this time I was next to my fellow Primorye residents from the Primorsky Komsomolets tank column.

It is known from documents that until the very end of the war there was constant correspondence between the regional Komsomol committee and the political department of the 56th Tank Brigade. It was entrusted to the Komsomol organizer of one of the battalions, Alexei Bulychev. He arrived at the front as part of a coastal column as a driver. Over time, he was promoted to an officer position and became a political worker.

The autobiography of one of the former tank crews, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Mikhail Nekhaenko, fit on four pages of a school notebook. Including front-line memories. He is not one of those who trumpet at every corner about his exploits, often attributing to himself uncreated deeds. God is the judge of such talkers. Nekhaenko is stingy with epithets, but the orders and medals on his chest speak eloquently about the military work of the tank hero. And also a stick on which he leans when walking. In the battles for Czechoslovakia, Mikhail Filimonovich almost lost his leg. And it was a miracle that he survived...

Nekhaenko comes from the village of Shmakovka Kirovsky district. In 1934, his family moved to Vladivostok, where he studied at school No. 2 until December 1941, that is, until the 7th grade. And then, as the veteran tankman says, “in view of plight at the front, two classes of boys and girls were sent to the FZO, to the village of Semyonovka" (now the city of Arsenyev, where today Askold and Progress, leaders among the enterprises that are part of the ABM SMR, operate successfully).

“After graduating from the FZO, we had to replace the adults who had gone to the front. After studying for 4 months, I returned to Vladivostok to ship repair plant No. 2. During the day I worked as a turner, and in the evening an instructor from the military registration and enlistment office taught us military affairs for 3-4 hours,” recalls Mikhail Filimonovich.

Misha turned until May 1943, when he learned about the recruitment of volunteers for a tank column. He, like his comrades, wrote a statement with a request to be sent to the front, and certainly as part of the Primorsky Komsomolets. The future tanker was very afraid that they would not take him to the war: he was only 17 years old. But the Komsomol regional committee granted his request, and on May 5, he was one of the 63 lucky ones who went to the Urals.

“In Nizhny Tagil, we were taught to shoot from a cannon and a machine gun, taught to drive a tank and work at a radio station. And in early September we were sent to the plant, where we helped assemble our own tanks and where the crews were formed. Officers who were already in the military were appointed as commanders for us. frontline and discharged from hospitals,” says the veteran.

On the night of November 5-6, having secretly made a 200-kilometer throw and crossed the Dnieper without losses, the Primorsky Komsomolets, as part of the 3rd Guards Red Banner Tank Army, broke into Kyiv on November 7, simultaneously liberating Zhitomir. But the Germans, having brought up tank and infantry units, launched a counteroffensive and reoccupied Zhitomir. On November 20, in a battle near the village of Gnilovka, which is 20 kilometers from the town of Fastov, while repelling another attack by the Nazis, Nekhaenko’s tank was hit. The wounded Mikhail was pulled out of the burning car by a radio operator. Then there were long months in the hospital in Kursk.

“In February 1944, after recovery, I ended up in the 13th tank company of the 5th combined arms army. And in August 1944, we were urgently transferred to the Carpathians near the city of Krosno. The Czechoslovak brigade of General Svoboda fought side by side with us all the time. They had one task - to break into Czechoslovakia and help the rebel Czechs,” says Mikhail Nekhaenko.

On September 19, the tank company where our fellow countryman served received orders to go 2-3 kilometers behind enemy lines, block the highway and prevent the Germans from transferring reinforcements to the regional center, where the heaviest fighting was taking place. The tankers completed the task and held the defense until our forces arrived. But Mikhail was unlucky again. His tank was hit and he was wounded in right leg. For more than a day, bleeding, he crawled towards his own people until he was picked up by scouts and sent to a field hospital. This ended the personal war of tanker Nekhaenko. In the hospital in the town of Krasnoarmeysk, near Stalingrad, he underwent two operations and on March 18, 1945 he was discharged into the 2nd group of disability. Our hero met victory at home, in Vladivostok, where he later got married, raised children and worked until retirement.

Primorye liberated Sheptovka, Lviv, stormed Sandomierz, Bunzlau, Berlin, Druden and many other cities and settlements, where Nazi troops offered them stubborn resistance.

The column passed through the fiery front roads of Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia and ended the war in defeated Berlin. In a year and a half of fighting, out of 63 Komsomol volunteers, 44 Primorye tank crews did not live to see Victory.

In Vladivostok, the memory of the Primorsky Komsomolets tank column is immortalized in Heroes Park. Here on a pedestal there is a T-34 tank, indicating military ranks, the names and surnames of our fellow countrymen, who back in 1943, without hesitation, left to defend their Motherland.

Prepared by Valery Molchunov

Fifty-ninth Guards Tank Brigade, 59th Guards Lublin Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov Tank Brigade . Formed in June 1942 in Chel. and Kopeisk as the 99th tank. brigade July - Aug. fought fierce battles near Stalingrad. At the end of July, as part of the 23rd Tank Corps, it launched a counterattack on the enemy group at Verkhne-Buzinovka. The operation, during which the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel, was killed. G. Ya. Kuznetsov, his deputy. Major Gnidnev and many others. officers, thwarted the enemy's plan to cross the Don and capture Stalingrad. After replenishment, the brigade in Aug. 1942 defended the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, fought in the area of ​​the village. Market and Gumrak. In Jan. - Feb. 1943 participated in the Voroshilovgrad operation of the troops of the Southwestern Front, in the summer - in the battles on the Kursk Bulge. Brigade, withdrawal. commander lieutenant colonel S. Malov from the encirclement, occupied a new line of defense; received name 59th Guards. Later she participated in the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive. operation (Aug. 1943), liberation of the city of Lebedin (Sumy region, Ukraine), during the offensive of the Voronezh Front troops - in the battle for the city of Lubny (Poltava region, Ukraine). Subsequently it became part of the 2nd tank. army, redeployed to the 1st Belorus. front. During the Lublin-Brest operation, she liberated Messrs. Lublin and Minsk-Mazowiecki; honored. name Lublinskaya. Participated in the battles for Prague (a suburb of Warsaw); Deutsch-Elau (Mlawa-Elbing operation of the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, January 1945); Danzig and Preussisch-Stargardt (East Pomeranian operation, February - April 1945). Awarded 2 orders. Kr. Banner, horde. Suvorov and Kutuzov. OK. 2 thousand soldiers were awarded hordes. and medical, 6 of them were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

56th motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a punitive operation in Donbass

Faced with the virtual defeat of its armed forces, the Ukrainian leadership began to urgently form new military formations in the fall of 2014. Since there was a catastrophic lack of armored vehicles and artillery to equip the new brigades, it was decided to form ersatz substitutes for mechanized brigades that had fewer heavy weapons. Thus, 4 new motorized infantry brigades appeared within the Armed Forces of Ukraine: 56th, 57th, 58th and 59th. New formations were formed by including territorial defense battalions in their composition.

Legally, the formation of the 56th brigade began in December 2014. However, it was created only in February 2015. The brigade's staff included 3 motorized infantry battalions, a tank company and an artillery battalion armed with D-30 towed howitzers. In the spring of 2015, the 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade included the 21st, 23rd and 37th territorial defense battalions, hereinafter referred to as motorized infantry. It is worth noting that these units practically did not take part in the 2014 campaign, limiting themselves to serving at checkpoints.

Colonel Andrei Melnik was appointed the first commander of the brigade. The motorized infantry battalions actually did not have their own armored vehicles, with the exception of 10 BMP-2s, which were in service with the 23rd motorized infantry battalion "Khortitsa". In addition, the brigade had a single BMP-1 on its staff. The brigade widely uses BRDM-2, as well as trucks with twin ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns installed on them

The brigade arrived at the contact line near Mariupol in May 2015. However, already at the beginning of July the 56th Mechanized Infantry Brigade was withdrawn to training grounds for combat coordination.

In the fall of 2015, Mariupol became the brigade’s permanent location. In October 2015, the 56th Motorized Rifle Brigade returned to the contact line and took up positions at checkpoints in the Mariupol area. On October 3, the first fighter of the brigade died when he was blown up by a tripwire. The formation, virtually unable to conduct offensive operations, held positions at checkpoints until the spring of 2017. In fact, the 56th brigade did not show itself in any way in the so-called ATO zone. The losses of the brigade during the period of service on the Southern Front of the DPR amounted to only 26 people killed in a year and a half. In the spring of 2017, a company from the 23rd battalion "Khortitsa" was transferred to the Avdeevka area, where it lost at least 2 people killed. In May 2017, the 56th Motorized Rifle Brigade was withdrawn from the front line.

The total losses of the brigade since the spring of 2015 are 28 people. Thus, the 58th Motorized Rifle Brigade is the least damaged brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the fighting in Donbass. However, this is due only to its actual inaction during positional battles. In fact, the brigade is the worst in terms of combat effectiveness in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The 56th Motorized Rifle Brigade is comparable to the stationary divisions of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, capable of only holding positions in secondary directions. The remaining motorized infantry brigades formed after the conclusion of Minsk-1 were more active in the Donbass, which will be discussed below.

Previous parts of the series:

1. 25th Airborne Brigade in the battles in Donbass -
2. Battalion "Aidar" in the battles in Donbass -
3. Battalion "Donbass" in battles in Donbass -
4. Regiment "Azov" in the battles in Donbass -
5. Battalion "Krivbass" in the battles in Donbass -
6. 3rd special forces regiment of the GUR MOU in the battles in Donbass -
7. Regiment "Dnepr" in the battles in Donbass -
8. 80th airmobile brigade in the battles in Donbass -
9. 36th Marine Brigade in the battles in Donbass -
10. 79th airmobile brigade in the battles in Donbass -
11. 95th airmobile brigade in the battles in Donbass -
12. 81st Air Assault Brigade in the battles in Donbass -
13. Battalion "Dnepr-2" in the battles in Donbass -
14. 51st mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the battles in Donbass -
15. 24th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the battles in Donbass -
16. 72nd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the battles in Donbass -
17. 93rd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the battles in Donbass -

TO Ormishin Ivan Grigorievich - commander of a tank company of the 56th Guards Tank Vasilkovsko-Shepetovskaya Red Banner Brigade (7th Guards Tank Kiev Twice Red Banner Corps, 3rd Guards Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front), guard senior lieutenant.

Born on December 6, 1923 in the village of Grabovo, now Bessonovsky district, Penza region, into a peasant family. Russian. Graduated from 8th grade. He worked in the village of Aleksandrovka, Penza region. Drafted into the army in January 1942. In 1943 he graduated from the Ulyanovsk Tank School, receiving the rank of junior lieutenant upon graduation.

In the active army - since July 1943. He fought on the Bryansk, Central, Voronezh and 1st Ukrainian fronts in the 195th (from July 27, 1943 - 56th Guards) tank brigade. Wounded twice.

He particularly distinguished himself in the Berlin strategic operation, including during the storming of Berlin.

During the brigade's combat operations from April 15 to April 30, 1945, at the head of his company, he crossed the Neisse, Spree and Teltow Canal rivers. In these battles, his company destroyed more than 300 German soldiers and officers, 20 tanks and self-propelled guns, 15 field guns, 10 armored personnel carriers, and captured more than 500 enemy soldiers and officers. His crew destroyed 50 German soldiers and officers, 5 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers with cannon and machine gun fire.

U Kazakh Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 27, 1945 for skillful command of the unit, courage and heroism shown in the Berlin operation, Kormishin* Ivan Grigorievich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The hero did not receive a high reward. On July 10, 1945, he died tragically in the Zeleny military camp near Prague. He was buried in Poland, at the officer’s cemetery named after M.I. Kutuzov in the city of Boleslawiec.

The name of I.G. Kormishin was given to a street in the village of Grabovo. A bust of the Hero was erected in the regional center - the village of Bessonovka.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (06/27/1945), the Red Banner (08/13/1944), Alexander Nevsky (03/29/1945), the Patriotic War 1st degree (10/27/1943), the Red Star (07/31/1943), and medals.

………………………………………….
*In all award documents and documents of the Memorial OBD - Karmishin Ivan Grigorievich.

Junior Lieutenant I.G. Kormishin, upon arrival at the 56th Guards Tank Brigade, was appointed commander of the T-70 light tank. Received baptism of fire in the Oryol strategic offensive operation“Kutuzov” (July 12 - August 18, 1943) - the final stage of the battle on the Kursk Bulge, where the 3rd Guards Army operated as part of the Bryansk, and from July 27 - the Central Front.

In the battle on July 19, 1943, junior lieutenant Kormishin was the first to break into the village of Zybino in his tank. 1st Oryol region, where he dispersed a convoy of cars. At the same time, 2 vehicles were captured and up to 20 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. Skillful maneuvering contributed to the advancement of the main forces of the battalion and the capture of the village of Zybino 1st.
Awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Later he fought on the Voronezh (from October 20, 1943 - 1st Ukrainian) front. He took part in the Sumy-Priluki offensive operation - the liberation of the left bank of Ukraine and the crossing of the Dnieper, then in the battles on the Bukrin bridgehead.

The commander of the T-34 tank of the Guard, junior lieutenant I.G. Kormishin, during the fighting on October 13, 1943 on the right bank of the Dnieper, was the first to break into the village of Maly Bukrin, captured 1 150-mm caliber gun, 2 armored cars, 1 headquarters vehicle with a radio station, destroyed up to 135 enemy soldiers and officers. In battle he acted boldly and decisively.
Awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

At the end of October 1943, the 3rd Guards Tank Army, secretly for the enemy, was regrouped from Bukrinsky to the Lyutezhsky bridgehead north of Kyiv.
Here I.G. Kormishin participated in the Kyiv offensive operation and the liberation of Kyiv (November 3 - 13, 1943), then in the Kyiv defensive operation (November 13 - December 22, 1943); Zhitomir-Berdichev (December 24, 1943 - January 14, 1944), Proskurov-Chernovtsy (March 4 - April 17, 1944) and Lvov-Sandomierz strategic (July 13 - August 29, 1944) offensive operations.

During the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, the commander of a tank platoon of the Guard, Lieutenant I.G. Kormishin, and his platoon fought through the first and second lines of enemy defense on July 14 and 15, 1944. Despite the injury he received and the failure of the entire crew, he remained in his car and repelled an enemy counterattack in the forest near the village of Gukalovtsy (Zborovsky district, Ternopil region). When his car was disabled, he switched to another car and went on an attack to height 373, where he and his crew destroyed up to 50 enemy soldiers and officers.
Awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In 1945, I.G. Kormishin, as part of his brigade, participated in the Sandomierz-Silesian offensive operation (January 12 - February 3, 1945) - an integral part of the Vistula-Oder strategic operation; Lower Silesian offensive operation (February 8 – 24, 1945); Berlin strategic offensive operation (April 16 - May 8, 1945) and the storming of Berlin; Prague strategic offensive operation (6 – 12 May 1945).

During the Sandomierz-Silesian operation, the commander of the tank company of the guard, Senior Lieutenant I.G. Kormishin, with his company from January 14 to 29, marched in the battalion’s head outpost. During this time, Kormishin's company destroyed 19 German tanks and self-propelled guns.
On January 16, 1945, with his company, he captured the railway station of Želisławice (now Silesian Voivodeship, Będzin County), crossed the Pilica River and captured the city of Koniecpol (now Silesian Voivodeship, Częstochowa County).
On January 19, 1945, walking at the head of his company, he crossed the old German-Polish border, invaded the city of Pitschen (now Byczyna, Opole Voivodeship, Kluczbork County), defeated the German garrison, and captured the Pitschen railway station with three military echelons. Continuing to carry out the task, Kormishin occupied the city and the railway station of Rychtal with his company (now the Kempnensky district of the Greater Poland Voivodeship) with four military echelons, captured 800 enemy soldiers and officers, without losing a single soldier.
With bold and decisive actions off-road, Kormishin burst into the city of Goldberg with three tanks (now Zlotoryya, Zlotoryya County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship), ensuring the brigade was able to completely occupy it. At the same time, Colonel Kitlyar, commander of the Volkssturm of the Goldberg District, was captured.
He was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

For distinction in the Berlin operation he was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time.

From the award list for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union

Captain Karmishin, commander of a tank company of the 2nd tank battalion, in Lately Deputy battalion commander for combat units, during the period of combat operations of the brigade from April 15 to 30, when crossing the Neisse, Spree and Teltow canal rivers, he showed exceptional courage, heroism, and bravery. During this time, his company destroyed more than 300 German soldiers and officers, 20 tanks and self-propelled guns, 15 field guns, 10 armored personnel carriers, and captured more than 500 enemy soldiers and officers.
Comrade himself Karmishin, operating in his tank ahead of his company, with his personal heroism attracted soldiers, sergeants and officers to carry out the combat mission. When, while crossing the Spree River, the company encountered fierce enemy resistance, tank comrade. Karmishina, having pulled ahead, found a ford and, having crossed the river, began a battle with the German troops. Being in full view, the tank under the command of Comrade. Karmishina skillfully maneuvered on the battlefield and personally destroyed 50 German soldiers and officers, 5 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers with cannon and machine gun fire. At this time, the company of comrade. Karmishina crossed the Spree River without loss.
For the exemplary fulfillment of command assignments on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the courage and bravery shown by Comrade. Karmishin is worthy of being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Commander of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade, Colonel Slyusarenko
May 1, 1945

From the book “The Last Shot” by Z.K. Slyusarenko (abridged)

The army commander set the brigade the task of crossing the Spree River and advancing in the direction of Kalau. “I’m sure,” he added, “the 56th will not disappoint.” So, my friends, see you at west bank Spree.
Savin, Bolshov and I approached the map. Having carefully studied the terrain of the future offensive, they decided to send a platoon of tanks to the Bresingen area, tasking it with finding a ford and crossing the Spree. The guard platoon commander, Lieutenant Hussar, was immediately called from the company of Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kormishin.
Having explained to the Hussar what is required of him, I say:
“We won’t teach you how to find the ford, comrade guard lieutenant, and how to cross it; you’ll figure it out on your own.” Immediately report on the completion of the task assigned to you by radio and give a signal with three red flares.
- It will be done, Comrade Guard Colonel!
- I believe. Do it!
Tankers cover the shutters of the engine hatches with tarpaulins. The platoon commander, slowly and with enviable restraint, checks whether all his instructions have been followed, then gives the command “Follow me.” The first car slowly leaves the shore. She immediately took a sip of water, but did not stop. The rest of the Hussar tanks followed her. Behind the platoon is the entire company of Senior Lieutenant Kormishin. But then, out of nowhere, the advanced units of the 21st German Tank Division appeared. A fight ensued.
The Nazis are trying to throw our people into the river. They, of course, fail to do this. Maneuvering and jumping out of ambushes, Kormishin’s tankers firmly hold the captured bridgehead and expand it. By the time Major Rybakov’s entire battalion reached the bridgehead, Kormishin’s company had destroyed five enemy tanks, six armored personnel carriers, and destroyed up to fifty Nazis. By the end of the day, I had already reported to the corps commander that the task assigned to the brigade had been completed.
In the area where the 56th Brigade crossed the Spree, the 7th, then the 6th Tank and 9th Mechanized Corps, that is, the entire 3rd Guards Tank Army, crossed. The rapid advance of the 7th Panzer Corps and the rapid capture of a bridgehead on the western bank of the Spree, in the Bresingen area, did not allow the 344th German Infantry Division to advance to this river and occupy the third line of defense.
The 56th moved forward without stopping. By the morning of April 19, she was already approaching Bredkau.
On April 20, our 7th Guards Tank Corps, having overcome the swampy area west of Barut, captured Kummersdorf.
On the afternoon of April 21, the 56th Brigade, which was in the advance detachment, reached the Rehagen area. Having broken the enemy's resistance, Soviet tank crews approached the outer defensive perimeter of Berlin.
We are already near Berlin, and the fascist command continues to take emergency measures to detain Soviet Army, win some time. On a pre-prepared, deeply echeloned, heavily fortified line, the Nazis are concentrating large forces to defend the capital. Whatever the enemy did to delay us!
Three defensive belts with continuous trenches, pillboxes, bunkers. Approaches to the front edge, as a rule, were covered minefields and wire fences. And the very terrain around the capital (rivers, lakes, forests, swamps, many canals) made our progress difficult.
And what an obstacle Berlin itself was! Resistance nodes, which were connected to each other by trenches with machine gun and artillery firing positions, anti-tank rubble, ditches, scarps. Streets leading to the center of Berlin. - barricaded. Separate buildings, where platoon and company strongholds were located, were connected to each other by communication passages. Machine guns and faust cartridges fired from embrasures made in the walls, windows, and doors of the lower floors. The upper floors were occupied by snipers and machine gunners with heavy machine guns.
On the streets there are guns mounted for direct fire, at intersections there are tanks dug into the ground, in many places there are reinforced concrete caps from which all-round fire can be fired...
On April 22, 1945, I wrote in my front notebook:
“Today, our 8th Tank Army failed to cross the Teltow Canal on the move. The enemy on the northern bank had very strong defenses. Trenches, reinforced concrete pillboxes, tanks buried in the ground, part of the bridges across the canal had already been blown up, the rest were prepared for the explosion. And the Teltow Canal itself is a pretty tough nut to crack. Its width is up to fifty meters, its depth is about three meters, and the banks up to three meters high in many places are concreted. As for manpower and equipment, there is no need to say anything.
I remember the party-Komsomol meeting in the 2nd battalion of our brigade and the speech at it by party organizer Chulichkin, dedicated to the beginning of the Berlin operation.
- Comrades, we are going into the last and decisive battle. The party tells us: “We must take Berlin,” we answer: “Yes, take Berlin!” - he said.
The commander of the guard tank, Junior Sergeant Volkov, also shared his thoughts at this meeting. I remember he concluded by saying: “I have applied for admission to the party. I want to enter Berlin as a communist.”
When the 56th came close to the Teltow Canal, Volkov and his crew were one of the first to break through to it. The cannon of his vehicle failed, but the tankers continued to fight, crushing the Nazis with their tracks. They held their small bridgehead until the rest of our vehicles arrived.
The tankmen of the guard company of Senior Lieutenant Ivan Grigorievich Kormishin, who were the first to cross the Spree, also fought courageously. In two weeks, Kormishin’s company crossed the Neisse and Spree rivers on the move and was now ready to storm the Teltow Canal.
At the Teltow Canal, the crew of Guard Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kormishin encountered a group of enemy tanks that attacked him from the rear. The company commander quickly got his bearings, pulled ahead, made a sharp turn and, maneuvering, attacked them. In less than half an hour, the crew destroyed five tanks, six armored personnel carriers and a lot of enemy personnel. For this feat, communist Ivan Grigorievich Kormishin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Soon we appointed him deputy battalion commander for combat units - instead of the wounded Goncharenko.
From the attic of a five-story building I study the Teltow Canal, which we must cross. The chief of staff Savin, the head of the political department Bolshov, the battalion commanders, and senior lieutenant Kormishin are standing right there.
- Toughie, - Lieutenant Colonel Savin sighs.
“We haven’t come across such nuts yet,” Major Rybakov interjects.
We are going to cross the canal with very active artillery support.
On April 23, by the end of the day, the 7th Guards Tank Corps concentrated in the Stansdorf area. Bolshov and I walked around all the units of the brigade. The mood of the soldiers and commanders was high and at the same time somewhat alarming. Everyone expected that the order to cross the canal was about to arrive.
Lieutenant Hussar, in a conversation with the head of the political department, said:
- In my opinion, it is necessary to take the channel not at night, but in the morning.
- Why? - he asked. The lieutenant explained:
- The Germans will wait for us all night. Their nerves will unravel, they will get tired, and we - bam, in daylight, over sleepy brains.
I don’t know what guided the command of the 1st Ukrainian Front, but the crossing of the Teltow Canal began exactly as the Hussar said - in daylight, on the morning of April 24, after a powerful artillery preparation that lasted about an hour.
It should be noted that units of our 7th Panzer Corps, which crossed the canal in the Stansdorf area, encountered such strong enemy resistance that they could not capture the necessary bridgehead. Therefore, by the end of the day, two tank brigades - the 55th and 56th - took advantage of the crossing of their neighbor, the 6th Tank Corps. They immediately went on the offensive, starting battles for Zehlendorf.
On April 24, the main forces of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, under enemy artillery fire and bombing, crossed the canal and broke through the internal defensive Berlin perimeter, that is, the main line of resistance covering the fascist capital from the south.
The 7th Tank Corps, advancing north in a wooded area along the Havel River, was moving towards the 2nd Guards Tank Army.
On the morning of April 27, our corps was given the task of capturing the western part of Tiergarten Park by the end of the day, in cooperation with the 20th Infantry Division.
The 56th, after a two-hour respite, entered the battle again. We are in Berlin!
Slowly, very slowly we move forward. Each house must be taken by storm, using the full power of military equipment. The Nazis are not visible, but they are here - in the basements, in the sewer wells. Snipers, machine gunners, faustniks, and artillerymen are firing at us from everywhere. The infantry, going ahead and covering us from close anti-tank fire, attacks the three-story building, destroying the Faustians, but not without losses. A sergeant major, a sergeant and a guard private were killed, and nine people were wounded.
The tanks of Major Zhabin's battalion, moving in ledges, disable the enemy cannon standing behind a fragment of the wall of one of the houses with several friendly shots. We walked another two hundred meters. Suddenly, from behind, from the section of the street already liberated by Kormishin and Maksimenko, an anti-tank gun began firing at us. She was shooting from an underground structure. I order you to stop and not move further until the weapon is destroyed. The cannon was pelted with grenades, but then a large detachment of German machine gunners jumped out as if from underground. It turns out that we came across a barracks with many bunkers. There were three anti-aircraft guns right there. I had to tinker with them a lot.
...A little to the right the “horseless” ones go on the offensive. They are commanded by senior lieutenant Ivan Kormishin. His head and hands are in bandages. He had already burned in tanks in Berlin twice, but refused to go to the medical unit.
“I can’t,” he argued. - Did you get to Berlin and back? Sorry, I'm not like that!
Medical instructor Sergeant Dusya Shorokhova is running next to him. A shell explodes at their feet. A brown cloud envelops both. Killed? Junior Lieutenant Khusinov replaces Kormishin. The SS men retreat.
Kormishin and Dusya are lying down. Two Germans are crawling towards them, firing machine guns. Two return shots. The SS men froze in place. Kormishin and Shorokhova get up and, swaying, head towards the hillock, behind which the battle is taking place.
………………………………..
On July 10, 1945, I.G. Kormishin died tragically. For the circumstances of the Hero’s death, see below.

An excerpt from the book of the former senior paramedic of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade A.N. Osiptsov “Memoirs of a front-line paramedic.” – Naro-Fominsk, 2009 (the book was prepared for printing and published by the son of A.N. Osiptsov - S.A. Osiptsov)

In July 1945, when we were stationed in the Green camp, near Prague, an order was received from the commander of the 3rd Tank Army, General Rybalko: to leave the tanks with their crews under the command of deputy battalion commanders for further loading on the railway. transport, the rest of the personnel, led by brigade commanders, leave by car to the area of ​​​​the city of Egenburg in Austria.
In our battalion, Zhabin’s deputy, Captain Vladimir Aleksandrovich Egorov, remained in charge. A former company commander, a good warrior, his entire chest was decorated with orders. In addition, political officer Soldatenkov, company commanders Kormishin, Moiseev, Kryuchkov, and officers from other battalions remained.
The dining room was common; both soldiers and officers ate. And so, at lunchtime, the officers got tipsy on schnapps, left the dining room, and suddenly the political officer of the 1st battalion began arguing with Yegorov about who fought how. A verbal altercation ensued.
Egorov says: “You, political workers, fought in the kitchens.”
He catches him: “Yes, even though you became a deputy battalion commander, as you were a company commander, you haven’t gained any more intelligence.”
And word for word, Egorov grabs a pistol and runs to this political officer. Soldatenkov and Kormishin were nearby. Vanya ran up, stood between them, facing Yegorov, took hold of his pistol and quietly said: “Volodya, give it back!”
And Egorov is fuming, struggling, and the political officer of the 1st battalion is “adding fuel to the fire.” Soldatenkov, seeing that something serious is brewing, comes up to Egorov from behind and grabs him by the hands. And Egorov’s finger was on the trigger. Vanya Kormishin was shot directly in the stomach.
And there must be: first aid posts on the road to Austria, a brigade medical platoon there, no ambulance transport. A Czech truck turned up and took Vanya to the nearest town, where there was a hospital. On operating table Vanya Kormishin died.
He was born in 1923, an orphan from the Penza region. His grandmother raised him. He fought well, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Alexander Nevsky, Patriotic War, Red Star.
And just recently he married a girl paramedic from an army hospital, and two weeks before his death Pravda was published, which contained a large list of those who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, including Ivan Grigorievich Kormishin, my big friend.
He was buried in Germany, in Bunzlau, where Kutuzov’s heart was buried.
Egorov was court-martialed, demoted to the ranks, and stripped of his orders. I did not know his further fate until 1948. I was serving in Luckenwald at the time; the hospital was in neighboring Jüterborg. Once I brought a sick person there. I see Egorov sitting in the corridor in the department, wearing a hospital gown. I was hospitalized with a stomach ulcer.
- Where are you serving now?
- In the 9th mechanized corps of the castle battalion commander with motorized riflemen. My criminal record was cleared, my rank and orders were returned.
I see he doesn’t want to return to this topic. They said goodbye and parted ways.

The biography was prepared by L.E. Sheinman (Izhevsk) and S.A. Dvoryankin (Penza).