Evening star., 1941-08-12
Russian Survives
As Bomb ExpIodes
Inside His Tank
Showered With Fleming
Gasoline He Escapes
Pursuing Nozis
By ERSKINE CALDWELL.

MOSCOW. Aug. 12.-Today I
talked to tank driver whose roll
ing fortress was shattered by 500
pound bomb that scored a direct hit
on the turret. When the bomb
struck the turret and exploded in
side the tank all others of the crew
were killed and the driver was
hurled through the door blown open
by the blast The explosion show
cred flaming gasoline on him and
he suffered severe burns on the
head, face, hands. arms and body.
He is Nikolai Brazhnikov. %
whose home is in the Voronezh
region of Russia. He is still heavily
bandaged from his injuries.
Our unit received orders to join
large detachment of tanks that
was preparing to meet an expected
attack by German tanks" he said
Il don't know how many tanks
there were around us when the
dawn broke, but it looked like a
whole world full. We then began
moving over a hill to meet the
Germans. After a short time we
saw them ahead and they opened
fire.
Nazi Fire Weak.
My unit got orders to drive in
full speed. In no time at all we
were mixing with German tanks
and things started happening. Our
tank got three German tanks
without much trouble. All the time
we were being hit, but their shots
did not penetrate our tank I could
see some of them strike the armor,
but they glanced off without damage
There isn't much force behind a
lot of their bullets and shells and
our armament is so tough they have
hard time doing us any damage.
1t was the middle of the dav then
and we had just about cleared out
most OF the Germans from the side
of the hill
was ordered to move around in
position to follow up the tank we
had been working on. Just then the
German aviation came up. We
didn't pay much attention to it at
hrst because we were busy trying to
get the range of the tank we were
after. Then the next think knew
there was a big explosion and I
found myself lying out in the field
with gasoline burning all over me. y
Beat Out the Flames.
Il managed to beat out the flames
and crawl away from the burning
tank. l looked around for the rest
of the crew, but they had been
blown to bits by the bomb burst
inside the tank. The battle was
still going on all around me and !
crawled toward = woods about
100 yards away W n I reached it
was too weak to so any farther
so I stayed there in Z ditch. When
l came to it was late afternoon and
there wasn't A tank or sound of a
tank anywhere All the firing had
stopped too. I went through the
woods to a place where we had
started from in the morning, but
there wasn't anybody there
After resting some I started for
our lines. Along the way I saw a
group of Germans on bridge across
the stream I went back up the
hillside and when I got there I found
another Red Army man who had
been wounded.
We decided to 60 around the
Germans and try to reach our lines.
AftnY, u-lNiln y1rn nrnccad CIV
about 2 miles below the bridge and
when we got to the top of a hill
we saw another group of Germans.
Before We could get out of sight
they saw us and began shooting at
us. 1t was getting dark then and
we hid in some bushes until the
shooting ceased. We waited about
en hour and then came out and
crawled along the hilltop.
Escaped Nazis Again.
"In little while We came to either
the same group or another group,
but they didn't see us We crawled
around them going from bush to
bush until We got or miles be-
yond them. We thought all was
clear then, but soon several Germans
came past us on motorcycles. We
hid in ditch until they were out
OF sound ahead and then we started.
Sometime around midnight we
almost got caught by the same Ger
mans who had passed on the motor
cycles because they were sitting on
the side of the road beside their
machines. We lodged into bushes
while they were shooting and man
aged to get into the woods.
After everything was quiet We
again started toward our lines. We
went the rest of the way during the
night and got there just as the sun
was coming up. When my burns
were treated I was sent to the rear
to recover. I will be back there with
my tank unit as soon as am allowed
to go. l don't want to sit around
here any longer than l can help"
(Copyright, 1871, by Newspaper PM, Inc }