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| - Konstantin Morozov (b. 1927) was a Soviet tank commander. During World War II, he'd enlisted in the Red Army in 1944 at the age of 17, survived having four or five tanks killed out from under him with burns and machine gun wounds, and rose from loader to commander. In January 1951, on the eve of World War III, he was stationed in Meiningen, East Germany, held the rank of sergeant, and commanded a T-54. His crew consisted of driver Misha Kasyanov, gunner Pavel Gryzlov, and loader Mogamed Safarli. This article is a stub because the work is part of a larger, as-of-yet incomplete series.
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| abstract
| - Konstantin Morozov (b. 1927) was a Soviet tank commander. During World War II, he'd enlisted in the Red Army in 1944 at the age of 17, survived having four or five tanks killed out from under him with burns and machine gun wounds, and rose from loader to commander. In January 1951, on the eve of World War III, he was stationed in Meiningen, East Germany, held the rank of sergeant, and commanded a T-54. His crew consisted of driver Misha Kasyanov, gunner Pavel Gryzlov, and loader Mogamed Safarli. In the first week of January, after a round of solo drinking, Morozov was informed by his commanding officer that it appeared that the U.S. would use atomic weapons against China, and that Joseph Stalin was prepared to retaliate if the U.S. did. The fateful day came on 23 January 1951 when the U.S. dropped several atomic bombs in Manchuria, and Stalin ordered retaliatory attacks in Europe on 1 February. Stalin also ordered the Red Army west. Morozov's company moved to the border between Soviet zone and the American zone under the cover of darkness a few days after the European bombings. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. traded another round of bombings, concluding with the destruction of three Eastern European cities on 15 February. On the morning of 18 February, the Soviet invasion of West Germany began, with Morozov's unit as part of the initial spearhead towards Fulda. In short order, Morozov discovered that the T-54 had a design flaw: the 100mm gun wouldn't depress as far as the main armament on the American and British tanks they were facing. That meant that the T-54s, when on a reverse slope, had to move farther forward and expose themselves when the fired, leaving them vulnerable to the enemy. Moreover, the U.S. was able to use atomic bombs to negatively impact the Soviet supply lines. At one point, Morozov's crew had around eight rounds of AP, half a dozen HE, and a couple of canister shells, and it wasn't clear when they'd be resupplied. In April, Morozov's tank was hit by a British or American tank. While the shell killed the tank's engine, it didn't immediately destroy the tank, allowing Morozov and his crew to escape into a Soviet fox hole. The tank was destroyed almost immediately after they'd escaped. The driver, Misha Kasyanov, was shot in the leg as he left the tank. They were able to carry him in as well, and he received treatment. Morozov was issued a new tank within a few weeks, a repaired T-54 that had previously sustained damage from an armor piercing round through the frontal armor. He was also given a new driver, Yevgeny Ushakov. Once the crew was squared away, Captain Gurevich sent them to help break into Arnsberg. Their talent as a crew meant that they were frequently the tip of the spear in the Soviet drive. With the fall of Arnsberg, Morozov's crew went west to Dortmund. In May, their tank was stalled inside the town after another tank was killed by a Molotov cocktail. Morozov was in the cupola watching the destroyed vehicle being hauled off to one side when he saw someone with a bazooka. While he shot at the attacker, the bazooka missile hit the tank. Morozov was thrown from the tank by the blast, but his crew was killed. Morozov received burns to his legs. A few weeks later, he was healed enough to return to duty. He was assigned to command a new tank. He was the only Russian in the new crew, and antagonized them a bit at first by finding a clog in the engine he suspected they'd intentionally created. Morozov quickly realized that his main antagonist in the group was Juris Eigims, who hailed from one of the Baltic states. The loader, Vazgen Sarkisyan, was Armenian, but Morozov felt no animosity from him. The only other Slav was Gennady Kalyakin, the driver. He and the crew were assigned to the drive on Bocholt. That drive stalled out quickly, as Bocholt's defenders were too numerous. However, the following month, the Soviets broke through, crushing the largely British defenders of the city, with Morozov's crew doing its fair share, even destroying a British Centurion. Morozov's competence in battle did impress Eigims sufficiently that their antagonism lessened, although Eigims didn't quite let Morozov forget their respective ethnicities. In July, Morozov and his crew were in the Soviet forward lines, but were far enough from the main front that they survived the nighttime U.S. atomic bombing of several Soviet strong points in West Germany. He and his crew had been sleeping under their tank, as per custom, when the bomb came. The blast sent the tank up on one side before it crashed down again. After climbing back in their tank and checking in with headquarters, the crew was ordered to fall back for medical check. In short order, they all developed symptoms of radiation poisoning. Morozov lost all of his body hair (including in his nose ears, eyebrows, and lashes), and was still quite week even in September. Eigims and Sarkisyan were similarly affected. Vladislav Kalyakin had non-stop rectal bleeding until he underwent surgery. While the bleeding was stopped, he was still a long way from being fit for duty. The rest of them healed. This article is a stub because the work is part of a larger, as-of-yet incomplete series.
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