(ask for details)

PUBLICATIONS
articles  essay  photo

Here you will find the interesting pieces on the military historical topics written by our friends and us. We will be happy to publish your pieces as well. We are waiting for your letters…

The Recovering of the Tank

The search for the tank began in summer 1999. Mr.Sedunov, the commander of the military historical club “Otsing”, got the information from the old-timer who in the August of 1944 saw with his own eyes like the Germans were doing something in the nearby of the Matsjärv lake (on the picture you can see this lake is 170x60 meters large and is 12 meters deep!). When they left, there were some trace tracks on the ground leading to the lake and the bubbles were coming from under the water. In 1999 winter Sedunov managed to fix the exact position of the tank using magnetometer. In the spring of 2000 the works on cleaning the tank from the silt had begun. Only at the 14^th of September the tank became visible. The heavy pit tractor “Komatsu”, weighing 70 tons, was used as a prime puller. After some necessary work on uprooting the stumps from the lakeside, appeared the T-34 tank, with the 76mm caliber cannon, 1943-year model. The tank was in excellent condition, the inscriptions and numbers were still visible. For instance, there were the numbers of the 8^th Estonian Rifle Corps (before the Germans laid their hands on the tank it belonged to the 8^th Corps). The inscriptions covered with black were still readable at some points, on top of the covered paitings were drawn the Nazi crosses. On the right the tank had its board number written – 1056, and also the writing: “The enemy won’t escape our revenge!” Another cross was painted on the above center. More inscriptions on the left: “For the Soviet Estonia!” above, and the same words in Estonian below: “Nõukogude Eesti eest!” and the cross above. On the back of the turret was the number 1056. On the top of the turret were the white circle on the hatch of the charger, and also a cross on the cannon mask . There were also crosses on the frontal armor and on the backside of the tank. 114 shells were found in the tank; among them there were 7 anti-tank, armor piercing… and shrapnel. You better watch the pictures in the “Archeology” section… At the present moment the tank is in some private military museum. If you happen to come to Tallinn we can organize the excursion for you.