I just finished this book and found it to be one of the most interesting WWII memoirs that I've read. Here's what I liked about it: 1) This is the most honest Russian account of WWII that I've ever read. The author tells it like he sees it, even when it is not necessarily flattering for the Red Army: the absence of Russian fighter cover, tankers refusing to advance against panzerfausts or Tigers, fraticide, bungling,...
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These memoirs written a few years after the author's 50-year career in the Russian Army "are a look back at the life of a typical member of the Red Army" in World War II. Bessonov was an officer in a tank detachment; but lower-ranking field officers such as he was at the time were out in front of their men in advances and engagements. The memoir is shorn of any heroics or sentimentality. Nor does its author focus on himself...
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Evgeni Bessonov took part in the Great patriotic War while he served in the 49h Mechanized Brigade of the 6th Mechanized Corps of the 4th Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front (commanded by the dynamic Marshal Ivan Konev). In this book he recounts many of his wartime adventures, at least as far as his memory perimtted, because the writing was made many years after the war. Bessonov was a junior officer who commanded a platoon...
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I just finished reading this book and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author gives a fresh perspective of the fighting on the Eastern Front during WWII. The author was an infantry officer who "specialized' in riding on tanks into battle. He provides very detailed accounts of tank/infantry cooperation during urban battles (relevant if you are a soldier on the way to Iraq) and dispels the myth that the Soviet Army was...
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Evgeni Bessonov served as a platoon and a company commander in the Red Army during WWII. He was posted in the 49th Mechanized Brigade of the 4th Tank Army. He served continuously in the brigade from the Orel offensive (August 1943) to the encirclement of Berlin in April 1945 when he was wounded. He was almost unbelievably lucky to survive since he served among a tank rider batallion, commanding men who rode to the battle...
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