NEW SERIES by a leading military historian. A short course on the Great Patriotic War, based on a popular television series. Continuation of the superbestseller “I Fought on the T-34.” It was not for nothing that the legendary “thirty-four” became the main symbol of Victory and, elevated to a pedestal, stands as a monument to Liberation throughout Russia and half of Europe. What did Wehrmacht veterans remember first when talking about the horrors of the Eastern Front? Armadas of Soviet tanks. Who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders, paid the highest price for Victory and died the most terrible death? According to front-line soldiers: “Tank crews receive special treatment - they died terribly. If a tank was hit, and they were hit often, it was certain death: one or two might still manage to get out, the rest were burned alive.” And the tankers themselves, when asked why they didn’t have “war-field romances,” answer simply and terribly: “We died, we burned...” This book makes it possible to see the war through the eyes of tank crews - through the gunner’s sight, the driver’s slightly open hatch , a commander's panorama - how they lived on the front line and in reserve, on the battlefield and in rare moments of rest, how they fought, died and won.