Tank action from Karelian Isthmus

[Crossroads]

I thought I'd share some of the stuff I am going through while doing research for my 3x3 team game...

Here's a gem of a picture series of tank action at Karelian Isthmus.

This is some 1 km from the front line, where a film crew was taking pictures in the relatively safety from the front lines.

As a lone T-34 strayed into the opening, one of three Soviet tanks that broke through the Ihantala village bridge a while earlier, the German assault guns from the 303. Assault Gun Bde exploded into action. And the film crew was were there to film it.

(The other two T-34s were destroyed earlier. Here's an overall map of the area of quite heavy fighting. You can see the location of the key bridge over the Ihantala river, as witnessed by the number of knocked down tanks in the area. The bridge was destroyed by Stukas then rebuilt by Red Army engineers several times over the days of heavy fighting in the area.)

First, a stalking and quite well camoflaged StuG of the German 303. assault gun bde has taken out a T-34/76 of the 30th Guards Tank Bde, advancing alone on a road somewhere around Ihantala.

The shot was fired from a extremly short range of 30 yards or so:



If you can't spot the StuG, it is the 'bush' in the lower middle of the picture, already moving on a bit. Apparently, the StuG hit the T-34, immobilising it, after which the tank was set to flames by a faust from the other side of the road. A perfect ambush, then.

Is the other StuG there as well, under the tree by the road? That would have required some quite serious sized cojones from the crew for sure... (See the pictures at the bottom and compare...).

A PaK 40, further back behind the field, with a firing sector towards the same road. German StuG visible in the field.



Infantry arrives to scece:



The remnants of the said T-34, after a huge explosion at its ammonition bay:





After things've calmed down, a picture from the road with a good quality close up on the two StuGs of the 303. Bde





Moving on. A bit more shrubbery added to vehicles:

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Then and now:

[Warhorse]

Very NICE!!! Thanks for sharing, Petri!!

[Scud]

Fascinating. Thanks, Petri.

Dave

[Wolfman]

Great stuff - fascinating

[Crossroads]

I dug a bit deeper, and what is truly fascinating is that the lower quality photos are from a film reel that still should exist somewhere in the archives.

As this also has to do with JTCS level tactics, here's more information about how the road was secured for your reading pleasure. Also more detail to the last moments of the stray T-34.

How the road was secured:

Symbols:
o Panzerschreck crew
I Panzerfaust crew
RK Direct fire 76 mm infantry cannon (HE)
Well you know what an ATG symbol is so I won't try to repeat it here with letters from keyboard...



I found this from AHF:

Pic was taken 30.6.44.This T-34 was one of 2 Russian tanks who had gone thru frontlines in Tali-Ihanta battle and was aproaching Ihantala village.Troops in the area were told that Finnish tanks might appear,they would be idenfield by east turned gun and those 2 tanks had their guns turned to East(Finnish Armoured Division had also few T-34 tanks).

As tanks were just few meters away,men noticed red stars in their turrets(stars were not easily seen because dirt and smut from exhaust pipes).Other tank went to right and was soon destroyed.The T-34 in pic advanced one km and then turned back and headed back to Russian lines.But Finnish antitank teams were waiting.First an shell from German Stug of 2./303.Stug.Brigade hit it to side armour.T-34 stopped and man jumped from turret.As he started run towards frontline with pistol in his hand,Panzerfaust fired by Corporal from GunCompany/12IR hit the tank.T-34 exploted.
As Russian tankcommander fled,he ran to private Viljanen and wounted him by shooting thru his chest.Private Arvi Peräsalo was close but his rifle was in his back.In desperate effort he picked large stone from ground and threw it toward Russian.Russian throught it was handgrenade and changed his running direction towards Finns in foxholes and was shot and killed.He turned out to be an officer,some said he was a Major.

The pic was taken few hours later and tanks is still burning.The men in pic are Sergeant Kaarlo Niemelä on the left and Sergeant Heino Nikulassi on right.Both men are from II/IR12 and experienced tank destroyers.Niemelä (age 24 from Salla) destroyed 3 KV and 1,5 T-34 and Nikulassi (27 from Kemijärvi) destroyed 1 JS and 2-T34.Nikulassi was killed next day.

The text refers to picture with two men with fausts on their shoulder walk past the tank.

(Also, the PaK 40 in pictures was not that, but a Pak 38/97, ie. a modified old French 75 mm barrel taken into ATG duty. Common before the PaK 40 was available in numbers. Just to set that right as well

AHF thread: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.p...9&t=178408

[Crossroads]

Amazingly, yet another picture from the War Archives:



Still a while to go before we get to replay history though. The map is about one third done...