Friendly fire WWII

[HGabor]

On March 14, 1945 IL-2 ground attack planes of 17 VA, 136 ShAD (mainly from 210 ShAP) attacked T-34/85 tanks of the 18 Tank Corps, 170 Tank Brigade at Seregélyes-NE in Hungary in 27 missions. (They dropped 85 FAB-100, 14 FAB-50, 40 AO-25, 6080 small AT PTAB bombs, fired 9090 23mm cannon shells and 14 RS-82 unguided rockets. Claimed 17 tanks for the loss of 5 IL-2: 18886107 18842110, 18881124, 12293, 18874124.)

Despite of the instant radio warnings and flare signals, the soviet IL-2s destroyed 4 soviet tanks with many crewmembers, includind some old and experienced war veterans:

T-34/85, turret No. red '536', chassis No.: 4121531, engine No.: 105712, - л-т Талызин Александр Васильевич platoon-commander (KIA)
T-34/85, turret No. red '544', chassis No.: 4121616, engine No.: 105589
T-34/85, turret No. red '545', chassis No.: 4121591, engine No.: 105126
T-34/85, turret No. red '575', chassis No.: 0412228, engine No.: 4090656

Some remains of these destroyed tanks have been recovered recently along with some SU-76M self-propelled guns. At least one T-34/85 burned so heavily, that their 85 mm shells sank into the melted aluminum of their "liquid" transmission... Fuel tank exploded of course, see its rusty cap and some tags from their tracks.

Gabor