This book about the cruel, harsh and heroic realities of war is unique. Firstly, the personal memories of the author - a living witness and direct participant in most of the described events of 60-65 years ago - are supported by authentic wartime documents, many of which have not previously been published and are preserved only in veteran archives. Secondly, we are talking about the real combat life of such a unique military formation as the tank corps. The 1st Tank Corps was formed during the war in the spring of 1942. Heavy summer defensive battles in 1942 in the Voronezh direction, participation in the historical counter-offensive of our troops near Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43, in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation in the spring of 1943, in the offensive Oryol operation of the famous Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, in the Bryansk offensive operation in the fall of 1943 years, in the Gorodok operation in the winter of 1943, in the liberation of Belarus and the Baltic states in the summer and autumn of 1944, in the offensive in East Prussia in the winter and spring of 1945, which ended with the capture of the fortress city of Koenigsberg and the destruction of the last stronghold of the enemy in this region - the Zemland enemy group - This is the difficult but heroic military path of the corps. In connection with the emergence of tank corps, the military command of the Red Army radically revised its previous views on planning and directing combat operations of troops. The depth of offensive operations required special resourcefulness, determination and dedication from tank crews. For the first time, you have before you a reliable story, devoid of embellishment or denigration, opportunistic distortions or “politically correct” omissions.