Soviet T-35 Heavy Tank: Abandoned in Sudova Vyshnia

     A group of Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD; Reich Labor Service) soldiers take some time to explore an abandoned Soviet T-35 heavy tank in the village of Sudova Vyshnia sometime in 1942. The tank, hull number 715-61, was constructed in 1936 and was the first to be fitted with the P-40 anti-aircraft machine-gun mount on the main turret and was the thirty-first overall T-35 tank to be built. It was issued to the 68th. Tank Regiment whose repair center was located within the village and on June 24, 1941, the tank was listed as needing repair to its gearbox and fan drive. However, the rapid advance of German forces would see to it that the repairs were not completed (or perhaps not even started) and so on June 29, 1941, the breeches of the main turret's 76.2mm KT-28 gun and the two 45mm 20K guns in the secondary turrets were removed along with all the machine-guns, ammunition and optics. This was all buried in the ground away from the tank to keep it from falling into the hands of the Germans. When the Germans occupied Sudova Vyshnia, the T-35 was a favored curiosity to visit and be photographed with. Over time, bits and pieces of the tank were removed and photographs of the derelict T-35 by January 1942 showed the radio antenna around the main turret missing, leaving only the support struts which dates this photograph to the late spring or summer of 1942. The two white stripes on the main turret identify the tank as belonging to the 68th. Tank Regiment.

     Of interest is the fact that the RAD troops are equipped with old Gewehr 98 rifles which are of World War One vintage. This is evidenced by the straight bolt handle, the location of the front rifle strap fitting, and the overall length of the rifle. Some of them appear to have been modified in some degree to post-WW1 Karabiner 98b standards. These changes included using a tangent-leaf rear sight instead of the Lange tangent sight, turning down the bolt handle, and the removal of the front and rear rifle strap swivel mounts and replacing them with simple loop on the front barrel band and a lateral slot cut into the stock. The RAD soldier nearest the camera appears to only have the newer tangent-leaf sight as it retains the straight bolt handle and given the way the rifle is slung, appears to have the original swivel strap mounts. Notice also the variance in the wood coloration of the rifle stocks among the soldiers. RAD units were not considered, at this time, as front line combat troops and so had to make do with elderly weapons. Given the lack of equipment, these men may have been taking an excursion to visit the T-35 wreck. The distinctive RAD service cap can be seen tucked into the front of the belts of some of the soldiers. What informs the viewer they are RAD men is due to the arm shields (Dienststellenabzeichen) seen above the armband but the photograph is too blurry to make out the numbers on the shields which would identify their unit. As a note, by 1942, there were some 427 RAD units deployed on the Eastern Front and as the war ground on and the Soviet war machine ground up regular Wehrmacht forces, these units saw more and more combat rather than the rear echelon tasks they had originally been deployed to do.