Alexander Oskin is a Soviet tanker, a hero of the Soviet Union, who took part in the Great Patriotic War. At the front, he commanded the T-34 and T-26 tanks. He became famous in August 1944, when he managed to repel an enemy attack, on the side of which there was a numerical superiority. In battle, he destroyed three "Royal Tigers" and another knocked out.
Hero Biography
Alexander Oskin was born in the Ryazan province in 1920. At the age of 12, he moved to Moscow with his parents. There he graduated from 10 classes in 1937. He entered the capital's financial and economic college.
In 1940 he went to serve in the army, in tank troops. His corps was based in the Central Asian Military District. He graduated from the regimental school just in 1941.
During the Great Patriotic War
When the war began, Alexander Petrovich Oskin was immediately sent to the Western Front, where he commanded the T-26 tank. He took part in the Battle of Smolensk and the Battle of Moscow. In the fall of the 41st he was seriously wounded, was treated in a hospital in the territory of modern Nizhny Novgorod.
Until the end of the treatment, Alexander Oskin left for the tank unit, which was formed to be sent to the front.
In the summer of 1942, he again took part in the battles on the Stalingrad front. He took a direct part in the defense of the city. In October 42, he received a concussion and another severe wound after an attack by enemy aircraft. Again went for treatment in the rear.
Having recovered, Alexander Oskin graduated from the rear tank school, in January 1944 he returned to the front. Then he was already assigned to command the T-34 tank on the Baltic front. In the summer he was transferred to the Ukrainian front.
Military leader Alexander Petrovich Oskin took part in battles in the Vitebsk direction, in particular, in the Lviv-Sandomir operation. Over the years of the war, it burned seven times in a tank.
Hero's feat
The feat during the Great Patriotic War he performed on August 12, 1944. Oskin was part of a tank group operating on the Sandomierz bridgehead. They were located in the area of the village of Oglenduv in the territory of modern więtokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland.
On the T-34 tank, he managed to repel the attack of 11 enemy tanks. Moreover, the Soviet soldiers and officers had to confront the latest fascist tanks, known as the Royal Tigers. During the battle, Oskin’s crew, in a carefully thought-out ambush, destroyed three modern German tanks, and another one was damaged. For the Germans, this was a serious blow, as they were sure that this was the most modern weapon that would inflict a crushing blow on the Soviet troops.
There are other data on the results of this battle. According to them, only the first tank, which was at the head of the detachment, was destroyed by the Oskin crew, and the other two knocked out the main forces of the brigade of the hero of our article.
The uniqueness of this battle was that it was the first combat use of the German Tiger heavy tanks in the East. It ended in an absolute failure for fascist tankmen.
Fight in the village of Oglenduv
The next day, it was Oskin’s crew who was one of the first to break into the village of Oglenduv, captured by the Germans. They managed to destroy several dozen German soldiers. Moreover, according to the results of the battle, three “Royal Tigers", which were in absolutely perfect condition, were captured at once. They were immediately sent to Kubinka for study, so that Soviet specialists could determine what the strength and power of the new German tanks was. One of the vehicles is now located on the territory of the armored museum in Kubinka itself.
In September 1944, Alexander Oskin became the hero of the Soviet Union. He received the award for heroism and courage shown in battles.
Fate in the Post-War Time
After defeating the Nazis, Oskin decided to remain in the army. He was trained at the command faculty at the military academy of mechanized and armored forces. But because of the concussion, I could not finish the course. Until 1952, he remained in the park of training vehicles at the military academy as a senior driver. Then he rose to the company commander of foreign tanks. The hero of our article was able to master all types of domestic tanks, as well as several foreign ones, without exception.
Finally, in 1952, he became a graduate of the highest officer armored school, which was based in Leningrad. He was the chief of staff of the educational and battalion battalion, and in 57 received a diploma from the Academy of Armored Forces. He remained to serve in the tank forces, in particular, in Hungary and in the Southern Group of Forces. He also commanded a battalion of the training tank regiment of the Moscow military district.
In the mid-60s, he retrained and began to teach at the military academy, which was based at the Institute of Steel and Alloys. In 1971 he entered the reserve with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After that, he still worked as a senior engineer at the same university, and then until 1986 worked as a military instructor in the capital's mechanical and technological college of the food industry. Only 66 years old retired.
The hero of our article died in 2010, he was 89 years old. He was buried at the Kuzminsky cemetery.