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Tank engines roared like distant thunder The soldiers charged and some fell dead The medics carried young commander And blood was pouring from his head The tank was hit with armor piercer So say goodbye to fellow crew Just four more corpses in the hillside Will add to fair morning view Cause now the vehicle is burning The shells are gonna detonate You push the hatch to see this morning But you're too weak and it's too late They'll dig our bodies from the wreckage And put our coffins in the clay While blasts of fire from the cannons Will see us on our final way And then the letters will go flying To tell our friends and families That their good son is never coming And never getting any leave The mother's wailing in the corner The father swats a creeping tear Young girl will never know for certain What fate befell her tanker dear And then - just photo on the bookshelf Collecting dust for years on end. In uniform, with epaulets on... And he will never be her man. (translation partly sourced from old Youtube comment threads) Song performed by Свитанок from Нефтеюганск, source: ==== This is still an extremely popular “vodka guitar“ party song around former USSR. There are a number of versions in a number of genres, from the original folk version to rock or pop. I translated it to use as a reference in an article, but it's good in its own right. The things it refers to are pretty self-explanatory, but here are the technical details: WWII tanks had noticeably poor visibility, especially on the move and in combat, so when attacking they couldn't generally see who was shooting them, and the whole thing was basically a huge game of Russian roulette, hoping that the enemy would miss, the shell would glance off, etc. If the tank got hit, the shells generally had a bursting charge, meaning they exploded inside the tank, usually not killing everyone but severely stunning and setting everything on fire. From that point, the disabled crew had seconds to get out before burning alive - that's why there are so many photos of tanks with driver's burnt body hanging from the front hatch. Also:
