Klimenkov's actions are highlighted in blue on the map. Our infantry captured the tank turned the turret towards the enemy, and opened fire." The enemy tank retreated, but Klimenkov knocked off a track with the next shot. Comrade Klimenkov took a high position, and made two shots, destroying the house the tank was hiding behind. Infantry was stalled, and we sent a report to Klimenkov. Its progress was halted by enemy tanks, hidden behind a house and some bushes behind the south outskirts of Ogledow. "Before dawn, a tank platoon led by the company commander Klimenkov took his initial position near Ogledow. Turns out, these new tanks weighed 68 tons." The crew was in such a hurry to leave, they forgot their documents. It drove into a swampy pool and was left there. Scouts reported that there are two undamaged tanks closer to Ogledow. Arhipov describes these events: "Two hours later, relative silence stood over the battlefield. Oskin initially reported that he knocked out 3 Panthers. Only then did the Soviets realize that they were dealing with new tanks. Among the houses of the village stood more Tiger IIs that retreated when the attack failed and were abandoned by their crews. Two tanks from the 3rd Tank Battalion and a company of submachine gunners were sent into the village, and cleared it of the enemy by 8:00 am. Ogledow was concealed in a cloud of sand."īy the end of the day, the 53rd occupied the south side of Height 247.9, 300 meters eastward of Ogledow. Thirty guns fired directly, and the howitzer divisions covered the valley in indirect fire. I sent a radio signal, "307 - 305", to all units. Soviet soldiers posing with a knocked out King Tiger. The third rotated his front to face Oskin, but his track was knocked off, he could not complete his maneuver, and was finished off. I saw how black holes appeared in the sides of enemy tanks, one after another. I saw the haystack that Oskin's tank was camouflaged as move. They were very much spaced out, by the time the third tank emerged, the first already passed Ivushkin's ambush. Major Korobov radioed in from the left flank: "They're coming." I replied "Don't be hasty! Open fire from 400 meters." Another tank emerged, and then a third. It moved in bursts, losing traction in the sand. "A monstrous tank emerged from the valley.
This is how the commander describes what happened next: The tanks became visible to the 53rd's GTB. The new Tigers were accompanied by several APCs with infantry. These were eleven of the brand new Tiger II tanks. At 7:00 am, on August 13th, Ivushkin reported hearing a number of tanks approaching. The morning of August 13th was very foggy, concealing the Soviet ambush. Since it was quite suspicious compared to other haystacks in the field, barely a meter tall, the rest of the night was spent consolidating the smaller haystacks into more tank-like ones. The result was a massive 3 meter tall haystack, with a 5 meter long gun barrel sticking out. At first, Oskin's crew simply covered the tank in hay. It is a well known historical fact that the tanks were disguised as haystacks, but there is more to that story, told by Oskin himself. Since several Panther tanks have been immobilized and subsequently destroyed in the sandy terrain around the cluster of villages, the Germans were expected to move through the more reliable terrain. On the night before the battle, August 11th, 1944, a T-34-85 commanded by Guards Junior Lieutenant Oskin, and another T-34-85, commanded by Guards Captain Ivushkin, accompanied by infantry tank riders, approached the village of Ogledow. Even the Soviet report on tests of the captured vehicle describes it as "a modernization of the Panther tank". Indeed, the difference is much less than between a Tiger and Tiger II. Of course, he didn't know (or didn't admit to knowing) the difference between the similar looking Panther and Tiger II tanks. A German prisoner mentioned "Panther tanks" being delivered. The story starts shortly before the battle. A map drawn up by one of the combatants is included at the end of the article, to clarify what happened where. But where did the Red Army get one of those relatively rare vehicles, especially intact? How long were these King Tigers roaming around the Eastern Front? The answers to all of these questions lie in the tank battle at the villages of Ogledow, Nemetzine, Zarez, Poniki, and Mokre, between the 501st s.Pz.Abt and elements of the 6th Guards Tank Army, namely the previously mentioned 53rd Guards Tank Brigade. I have posted a number of articles regarding testing of a Tiger II.