Many Soviet soldiers during the war with the Nazi invaders performed feats, but they were far from always awarded according to their deserts, in the same way Zinovy Kolobanov’s award was also bypassed, the feat of which was not forgotten. His name was not included in the number of more than eleven and a half thousand Heroes of the Soviet Union, but the people remember everything.
Forgotten Heroes
People who showed exceptional courage and courage were often not awarded with high awards. In principle, they did not fight for the rewards; more, fellow soldiers were upset. For example, Aleksey Berest, who directly hoisted the Red Banner on the Berlin Reichstag, did not receive the Star of the Hero. The feat of Zinoviy Kolobanov was also underestimated.
Assessments are always subjective, they are determined by people who tend to make mistakes. However, the feat of Zinovy Kolobanov inspired not only fighters on all fronts, but also many poets, writers, musicians, artists. His military work is not forgotten. A private museum of his name was opened, dedicated to the battle of Leningrad. And in this article it will be told in all possible details about the exploit of Zinovy Kolobanov.
In August 1941
The encirclement of the city on the Neva by a large group of Nazi armies began on August 8. Ours stood to death, but span after span gave their territory, increasingly narrowing the ring around the city. Despite the exceptional dedication of the Red Army fighters, under pressure from better armed and superior enemy forces had to retreat.
During the years of World War II, Zinoviy Kolobanov served there, in Gatchina (now it is the city of Krasnogvardeisk), in the First Panzer Division, commanded by Viktor Ilyich Baranov. The onslaught of the enemy who planned the blitzkrieg was fierce and stubborn, but he wondered why such weak troops did not surrender. However, not all units and subunits at the beginning of the war were unarmed with us.
Order
Three roads led to the Krasnogvardeysk along which the fascist troops tried to break through. The first is from the city of Luga, the second is from Volosov, the third is from Kingisepp. The order to block and keep them came from General Baranov on August 19, 1941. The task is difficult, and therefore was entrusted to an experienced officer who went through the Finnish war, Zinov Grigorievich Kolobanov. He commanded the third tank company.
They were armed with the KV-1, heavy tanks, powerful vehicles, which at that time were almost the only ones that could withstand German armored vehicles. However, the tanks themselves do not mean much in battle. The main thing is people. And specifically - a commander, a legendary person who has gone down in history for all time. This is Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov. It was his feat that predetermined the result of the battle, which is still being studied by future officers in the tactics classes. Therefore, you need to talk about the hero in more detail.
Biography
Zinoviy Kolobanov was born in December 1910 in the village of Arefino. Now it is the Nizhny Novgorod region. During the Civil War, his father died, and the mother had to raise three sons alone. Zinovy readily attended school, graduated from eight classes and left for Gorky at an industrial technical school, which at that time was a very wise decision.
Industrialization was going on in the country, therefore, qualified engineers and workers were simply worth their weight in gold - they were extremely popular. But Zinoviy Kolobanov did not have to work as an engineer: in February 1933 he was drafted into the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. And there they saw that the guy was not only smart, but also competent, so they sent him first to the regimental school, and then to the military armored school named after Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze.
Soviet officer
Thus, Zinovy became a career officer. In 1936, he graduated from a military school with honors, he received the rank of lieutenant and entered the Third Separate Tank Battalion of the Second Tank Brigade, which was based in the Leningrad Military District, to the post of tank commander. However, his teaching did not stop: in 1938 he received new knowledge at the Command improvement courses.
In 1939, he was transferred to the tank brigade, located on the Karelian Isthmus. Zinovy Kolobanov was still the company commander. Then there was the Soviet-Finnish War, where three times our hero burned in a tank and every day risked his life, being from the verge of death. All formations of the Leningrad District played a crucial role in this war. And Kolobanov personally went in the tank from the border to Vyborg.
Service
In 1940, Lieutenant Kolobanov was appointed pomkomrot of the tank reserve, and after some time his service continued in the Kiev military district: first as deputy commander of a tank company, then as battalion commander. In September 1940, he became a senior lieutenant. After a short time he was appointed commander of a tank company in the battalion of heavy tanks (it must be said that this company did not manage to get heavy tanks into service).
From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov was transferred back to the First Tank Division, he became the commander of a company of heavy tanks (and here the KV-1 tanks were in service). The commander of a tank company is a very high position. Apparently, the combat experience on the Karelian Isthmus counted. But the main battle of Zinovy Kolobanov was still ahead.
Crew of a combat vehicle
Four more real heroes fought in the KV-1 tank together with the company commander, senior lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov. This is a radio operator-gunner - senior sergeant Kiselkov Pavel Ivanovich, gun commander - senior sergeant Usov Andrei Mikhailovich, driver-mechanic - foreman Nikiforov Nikolai Ivanovich, assistant to the driver-mechanic - Private Rodnikov Nikolai Feoktistovich. Each of them was to become a Hero of the Soviet Union and get his Golden Star. Most likely, and not one. Especially Mustache.
On August 19, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov was called up by the division commander General Baranov, where he received orders to block three roads to the city of Krasnogvardeisk. Immediately after this, the entire company, consisting of five tanks, advanced under the command of Kolobanov to their positions. Two tanks were directed to the road from the Luga side, two more - to the direction to Kengisepp, and the commander's tank was masked at the coastal road, where the survey allowed to keep control of two of the three directions.
Battle description
It was the twentieth of August, the same day that added a description of the battle of Zinoviy Kolobanov to the textbooks. At the end of the war, the famous German tank-ace Michael Wittmann literally “plagiarized” all the command activities of Kolobanov in the town of Ville-Bocage, knocking out 11 tanks of our English allies (and he could not save his “Tiger”, unlike our ace). However, in the world, for some reason, Wittmann’s “exploits” (especially on the Kursk Bulge) are much better known and have little information about Kolobanov.
But Zinovy Kolobanov accomplished his feat in the battle near the Troops by applying real talent. Troops - this is a state farm, in the direction of which the commander, in order not to unmask his car for the time being, missed the "probing" path for the tank column of Hitler's motorcyclists. Meanwhile, a battle began in the Luga direction, and the crews of Degtyar and Evdokimenko tanks smashed the vanguard of the column of tanks on their way: five were destroyed immediately plus three armored personnel carriers.
The fight
Some time after the motorcyclists followed the road, a buzz was heard and the convoy appeared directly. There were light tanks of either the sixth, or the first, or the eighth Hitler's tank division - information is different. On some sides of the road there was a vast and absolutely impenetrable swamp. Kolobanov ordered to open fire when most of the Nazi tanks were in this area. The feat of the tankman Kolobanov is in many ways different from the others, since his actions were not spontaneous, they were accompanied by intelligence and real talent.
With the first shots, three tanks in the head of the column were hit and blocked the rest of the road. Then the closing ones were knocked out. Then it was possible to destroy the center. The enemy did not manage to go around the burning cars - the tanks were stuck in a swamp and shot standing, as if in a shooting gallery. Panic in the column grew. Ammunition exploded. Hell and nothing more. Within thirty minutes, twenty-two tanks were completely destroyed only by a commanding gun. The Nazis fired as much as they could. One hundred and fourteen shells flew into the Soviet car. But the KV-1 withstood. The armor, as the famous song says, is strong, and our tanks are fast.
Gun commander
It is impossible not to note the great skill of Senior Sergeant Usov, the commander of the gun. Then he fought a lot more, rose to the rank of lieutenant. He was an experienced gunner, and it was through his efforts, his accuracy, that such a quick and such an unconditional victory was determined. Andrei Mikhailovich managed to fight both in the Soviet-Polish and Soviet-Finnish campaigns, but in artillery. Subsequently, he underwent appropriate training and began to command the gun of a heavy tank.
In total, Kolobanova’s company destroyed forty-three enemy tanks during one battle: 22 — Kolobanov’s tank, 8 — junior lieutenant Sergeyev with crew, 5 — lieutenant Evdokimenko, 4 — junior lieutenant Degtyar, and 4 more — lieutenant Lastochkin. When the main battle was over, the tankers switched to what was left: they destroyed the artillery battery, a passenger car, and two infantry companies. History has not yet known such an effective battle - neither Soviet nor any other tank troops in the world. The feat of the tankman Kolobanov was included in all textbooks on military art.
Award submission
In early September, the performance of the entire crew of the tank Kolobanov went to the high rank of Heroes of the Soviet Union, signed by Colonel Dmitry Pogodin, regiment commander. He, who had fought in Spain, was the very first tanker to receive this title in 1936, and he already understood the significance of the feat of Zinovy Kolobanov. This performance was also readily endorsed by the division commander, General Viktor Baranov, also a Hero of the Soviet Union for fighting in Finland. However, it did not work out.
The headquarters of the Leningrad Front did not agree with this view. Orders were given to everyone. Commander Kolobanov and driver Nikiforov — the Red Banner, senior sergeant Usov, who shot accurately — the Order of Lenin, radio operator gunner Kiselkov, and assistant driver Rodnikov — under the Order of the Red Star. And there was no way to argue with that. Kolobanov, apparently, didn’t get any filters from the staff, and he had to continue to fight, and just as bravely and resourcefully. However, on September 15, Zinovy was seriously wounded while defending the city of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo). Almost the rest of the war took place in his Sverdlovsk hospitals.
Future life
The wounds were very, very serious, with injuries to the spinal cord and brain, with concussions. In the hospital, Kolobanov received another rank - he became a captain. They wrote it out in satisfactory condition only in March 1945, just before the Victory. But, no matter how he asked for the front, the appointment came only in July. Kolobanov assumed the post of deputy commander of a tank battalion in Baranavichy and then served the Soviet Army faithfully for another thirteen years.
The hero retired to the reserve only in 1958, after which he settled in Minsk and got a job at the automobile plant as a master-controller of OTK. His further life was long and happy. And then perestroika came, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. It was very difficult for a man of the old school to survive. And Zinovy Grigorievich Kolobanov left us at the age of 84 in 1994.
Museum
In our country, there are currently projects dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and supported in the vast majority of cases only by the initiative of interested people. So was created and the private museum "Battle of Leningrad" them. Zinovia Kolobanova. For more than twenty years, enthusiasts of the Leningrad Region have been restoring a variety of military equipment, which participated in one of the bloodiest and longest battles.
The director of the museum, Oleg Titberia, collected a unique collection from the equipment found in the battlefields and restored equipment, after which he opened an amazing fleet of cars, tanks, artillery pieces in the city of Vsevolozhsk (Leningrad Region). At the museum, visitors can watch how the equipment is being restored. Each car literally dug from the earth has its own story. We study not only every detail for restoration according to documents of seventy years ago, but also research is being conducted: what was the path of this machine, who exactly fought in it. Next to the legendary “thirty-fours”, the KV-1 tank is also on display. Of course, this is not a Zinovia Kolobanova tank, it was extremely noticeable after one hundred and fourteen hits. The collection is constantly updated, and search engines, scientists, restorers and simply indifferent people work in the museum.