#BookReview - Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army by Evgeni Bessonov #memoir #WW2

 

Tank Rider: 

Into the Reich with the Red Army

By Evgeni Bessonov

Honest and irrepressibly frank, these are the dramatic memoirs of a Russian officer on the Eastern Front, where he played his part in a clash of titans and witnessed the shuddering collapse of the Third Reich.

The cataclysmic battle of Kursk in 1943 put an end to Hitler’s hopes of victory on the Eastern Front, and it was Evgeni Bessonov’s first battle. From then on the Germans were forced into a long, bitter retreat that ended in the ruins of Berlin in 1945. An officer in an elite guards unit of the Red Army, Bessonov rode tanks from Kursk, through a western Russia and Poland devastated by the Germans, and right into the heart of Nazi Germany.

Tank Rider is the riveting memoir of Evgeni Bessonov telling of his years of service at the vanguard of the Red Army and daily encounters with the German foe. He brings large-scale battles to life, recounts the sniping and skirmishing that tried and tested soldiers on both sides, and narrates the overwhelming tragedy and horror of apocalyptic warfare on the Eastern Front.

So much of the Soviet experience of World War II remains untold, but this memoir provides an important glimpse into some of the most decisive moments of this overlooked history.

Where do I even begin? I haven't read a memoir for a really long time, but when I was visiting the Tank Museum this novel caught my eye. I have to admit, while I sipped my tea in the Tank Museum cafe, surrounded by tanks I began to read, and very soon I was totally immersed in this book.

Told with a frank honestly, this novel certainly opened my eyes to how unprepared the USSR was for the Nazi invasion. The lack of command, the disputed events of battle (those who were in command refused to believe what it was like on the front lines from those who were there) was terrible, and I can only imagine how harrowing and how frustrating it must have been for men such as Mr Bessonov.

This book is really insightful into the war, and what it was like to be a tank rider. The conditions, the horror of warfare and the equally harrowing lack of experienced command shines through on every page. There are moments where fact seemed stranger than fiction, but then so often that is the case. And the fact that many of the men in this novel were only 18 years old was truly distressing.

I thought this book was wonderful because of the truthfulness of the narrator. It is certainly one of those books that once read can never be forgotten.

I picked up my copy at The Tank Museum, but you can find yours on Amazon.

Evgeni Bessonov

Born in Moscow in 1923, Evgeni Bessonov spent almost a year in training before he was sent to the Bryansk Front in July 1943 to serve as a Platoon Commander in an infantry unit within the Soviet 4th Tank Army. His journey to the front was a challenge in itself as transport shortages forced him and his comrades to hitchhike and walk much of the distance between Moscow and the battle lines. He would survive the months of bitter fighting that lay ahead, including being wounded in the Battle for Berlin, to retell his experiences in Tank Rider.