Wednesday 2 December 2015

Anti-Tiger Gunner

"Award Order
  1. Name: Parkhomenko, Nikolai Kirillovich
  2. Rank: Guards Junior Sergeant
  3. Position, unit: Gun commander, 124th Guards Artillery Regiment, 52nd Guards Order of Lenin Infantry Division
    is nominated for the Order of Lenin and title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
  4. Year of birth: 1919
  5. Nationality: Russian
  6. Party affiliation: VKP(b) member
  7. Participation in the Civil War and subsequent combat action in defense of the USSR (where, when): In the Patriotic War since June 22nd, 1941
  8. Wounds or concussions in the Patriotic War: none
  9. In the Red Army since: 1940
  10. Recruited by: Maryin recruitment office, Krasnodar region
  11. Prior awards: Order of the Red Star on December 24th, 1942, "For Courage" medal on June 15th, 1943
Brief and specific description of heroism: In the period of fierce battles to liquidate the German summer offensive at Belgorod, under constant bombings and artillery fire, comrade Parkhomenko destroyed 2 tanks, 2 mortars, and up to 60 enemy soldiers and officers just on July 5th, 1943.

In battle at Kartashevka, Kursk oblast, on July 12th, comrade Parkhomenko fought off attacks of enemy tanks and infantry while being bombed constantly, destroying two tanks, 3 trucks with cargo, and up to 70 enemy soldiers and officers.

When 8 enemy tanks penetrated the battery's defenses, comrade Parhomenko moved his gun to an open position and destroyed 3 tanks at 500 meters, including 2 Tigers. The rest of the tanks turned and fled, and the battery's position was restored.

When our forces exhausted and crippled the enemy attack and started their counterattack, comrade Parkhomenko and his gun never lagged behind the infantry and were always ready to provide direct supporting fire.

In battle on August 3rd, 1943, when our forces penetrated an enemy line of defense near the Novocherkassk farmstead, comrade Parkhomenko destroyed 2 AT guns, 4 MG nests, and up to 30 enemy soldiers and officers with direct fire.

In battle for Tomarovka station on August 4th, 1943, two enemy tanks blocked the advance of our infantry with their nonstop fire. Pushing his gun out to an open position, he destroyed one tank and two MG nests, causing the other tank to retreat, letting our infantry advance.

During the period of fierce fighting since July 5th, 1943, comrade Parkhomenko caused the following damage to the enemy, mostly with direct fire: destroyed 8 tanks, 2 of which were Tigers, 2 guns, 3 mortars, 3 vehicles with cargo and soldiers, and up to 150 enemy soldiers and officers.

He is worthy of the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union."

CAMD RF 33-793756-36

The Tigers were presumably from 13./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1, attacking towards Oboyan. This is their entry in Schneider's diary:

"12 July 1943: Fierce Soviet tank attacks from the direction of Jamki, Prochorovka and Petrovka (on both sides of Kalinin) are pushed back. The II./SS-Panzer-Regiment "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and the Tiger company knock out 163 enemy tanks. One Tiger is knocked out; nine Tigers undergo repair.
Total tanks: 12."

Looks like the lost Tigers are plausible, but that number of kill claims is awfully high. Let's take a look at it in another article.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe the names of places have been changed but Kartashevka, Kursk oblast is nowhere near where the 52nd Guards Rifle Division was on the 12th. It was facing off the 6ss GrenDiv near Vasil'avka.
    The Grenadiers had no Tigers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Things happen, units gets moved around to cover breaches. Ideally you don't pluck out someone's support and move it to another sector, but hey, not a single plan survives contact with the enemy.

      Delete
  2. Kartashevka is just due north to the area of contact with the SS PzGrDiv TOTENKOPF. This also happens to be the area of fighting with the 52nd Guards Rifle Division. TOTENKOPF had ten TIGER tanks at it´s disposal in the entire sector.
    All ten were lightly damaged on the 12th of July and fully back in action on 16th. No write offs nor even immobilized / knocked out tanks. There were only two knocked out (immobilized) TIGERs on this day on the whole front and neither was in the area of contact:
    A) A TIGER from LSAH and one from sPzAbt. 503 from Army detachment Kempf.

    It´s probable that the claimant either made it up or misjudged the effect of his fire or the target.

    ReplyDelete