Man who KO'd a tank with an axe

[Skipper]

Hero of Soviet Union I.P. Sereda

I've heard the story today. It goes something like this. August 1941, Leningrad front, near Daugavpils, Lithuania. Sereda served as a cook. His unit was fighting off a german attack. While he was cutting firewood for his field kitchen (or whatever it is in English), a german tank (I guess, Pz-I or maybe some AC) maneuvered to his unit's rear and opened fire from nearby Sereda's kitchen. Meantime german infantry was slowly advancing on the front.

The only anti-tank weapon Sereda had was a large axe. So, he climbed the tank and hit MG barrel with the axe. Tank ceased firing and didn't move anymore. When the fight was over, the tank was captured and its crew taken POW.

[Captain Wacky]

The Russians will be able to purchase the famous, ultra-elite "battle-axe" troops in CM:BB. They are especially effective in massive human wave attacks, as their firepower equals 400 within 2 meters. They can also chop the treads of tanks off if they get close enough. They can also gain a "berserker" effect within close range, making them nearly unstoppable and able to withstand multiple bullet and shrapnel wounds. They can continue to fight on until both legs and arms are gone, and they are no longer able to swing the axe. The morale penalty of enemy soldiers facing axe troops similar to flame-throwers, only much greater. After all, the fear of burning alive is second only to the fear of being chopped into tiny pieces by crazed Slavid peoples.

However, they are at a distinct disadvantage during winter engagements, due to the nasty tendency of the early-war poor quality Russian handles. Ever hit a baseball with a bat in cold weather? Imagine swinging an axe with a hefty head. Still, if these boys get going enough they can chop through the top armor of early war German tanks and light armored vehicles.

Purchasing these boys during winter also renders a moral bonus equilvalent of +2 to all of your troops, due to the fact that the intrepid axe-troops provide them with freshly cut wood. This is used for both heating and cooking, so each one is worth +1 moral bonus.

BTS has said that they are going to factor in the effects of cold on the axe head, making it more brittle in winter, and will also take into the account the poor quality of Russian iron. Later war axe models, such as the famous Fascitpanzertruppenchopper D will be equipped with high-grade steel as they were in real life. This will have an effect on the rusting aspect of the axes in the game. Also, troops equipped with steel axe heads suffer a -2 stealth penalty due to the bright sun reflecting off the metal.

Also modeled will be the different axe heads used during the war, from the standar 9" axe head to the late-war model "bearded" axe. BTS has decided not to include the ability to hurl the axe over small distances, as there is no data on whether or not this actually occurred. This topic will likely spark countless debates along the lines of whether or not the British had stinking tripods with their Bren guns. BTS please fix or do somefink!

Fascitpanzertruppenchoppers will cost somehwere along the lines of 3 points. They have the ability to operate independently of any commander and suffer no penalties. I would surmise they are most effect when advancing along a wide and open front with heavy weapons supporting them from behind. This is the unit I'm most looking forward to in CM:BB. How about you guys?

[Sergei]

Oh, blimey! That axe-swinging Superproletar, I guess, neutralises any bonuses that the Überfinn AT log units normally might have...

-Geroi Sovetskogo Sojuza Sergei

[The Commissar]

Sereda

Russia's answer to the common Uber-Finn

[Doug Beman]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Russia's answer to the common Uber-Finn<hr></blockquote>

The common uber-Finn? Isn't that like saying "jumbo shrimp" or "pretty ugly?"

Being Uber makes the Finn, by definition, not common.

Busting chops cause I had a BAD, BAD week.

DjB

[Col Deadmarsh]

Why would a tank stop moving because a guy hit the mg with an axe? Yeah, that makes sense.

[YankeeDog]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh:

Why would a tank stop moving because a guy hit the mg with an axe? Yeah, that makes sense. <hr></blockquote>

Oh, I got that one: the TC was aiming the MG for another burst just as the axe hit the barrel. The sudden violent movement of the barrel downward from the force of the blow causes the receiver and stock part of the MG on the other side of the fulcrum to suddenly swing upward inside the turret, striking the TC in the face and KOing him. The driver of the Pz I, being basically blind without the TC to guide him, cowered inside the hull until forcibly removed by Russian Infantry.

I am going to ask for my money back if the 'MG axe strike trap' of the Pz I and similar designs is not modelled in CM:BB.

[Mikael]

But everybody knows that the UberFinns could do it with a single toothpick!! No contest here!

[Speedy]

Only 3 points!!! Now we are going to be stuck with lumberjack rushes.

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Oh my god! The sky is falling in! Surely this event HAD to have been carried out by a Finnish unit. BLACK is WHITE! GOOD is BAD! The universe is coming to an end.... AAAARRRGGGGHHH

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Normal programming will return in a moment.

Regards

Jim R.

[ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]</p>

[Gyrene]

I agree, there's no way a Russian soldier did that! We all know that all they did in the war was die at the mere mention of the word "Finn", hell even just spelling F-I-N-N was enough to criple an entire Russian Division. And you thought that the British "Killer Joke" was bad!

In any case, the shatter gap of Early War Russian ax heads versus the 125% quality of pre 1942 German armor would guarantee that the swing would have no effect even if the Russian soldier had hit the Pz I TC right square in the noggin. Russian ax-blows simply did not have enough velocity to penetrate the high quality, Early War Teutonic TC heads.

I.P. Sereda served as a cook, now that's something that could have stopped that tank!

Gyrene

[eeyore]

Have to say that the use of "UberFinn" needs to be avoided on the grounds of tautology.... "Finn" will surfice. They've no need for axes, their teeth will do just fine

Yeknod

[Panzer Leader]

Could it be that the axe-head, having been used as an impromptu server for Borscht, caused the Germans, so used to blood-sausage, to gag and lose their fighting initiative?

[John Kettler]

A great laugh aside, I'd like to see someone post an interior turret photo for the Panzer I. From it, we may be able to learn how that axe blow apparently disabled the tank. My guess is that the force of the blow not only bent the barrel but slammed the receiver or grip into the tank commander's head or chin. If memory serves, the mount is completely unpowered in elevation, hence would move easily if struck. One good clout yields one KOed or otherwise disabled TC who's issuing no commands. Would you jump out and face an apparent axe wielding maniac who just did that to the TC?

Another possibility is that when the axe bit into or bent the barrel while the MG was firing, it caused the now trapped powder gasses to blast back through the breech mechanism into the TC's face, with or without parts of the bolt.

Regards,

John Kettler

[ 11-18-2001: Message edited by: John Kettler ]</p>

[The Commissar]

Im surprised the rest of the crew didn't make a run for it.

Two explanations:

The rest of the crew thought that the Germans were winning. Thus, why drive off when you can sit there and apply something cool to the TC's bruised head.

The rest of the crew didn't know what the hell hit them and perhaps thought it was some sort of AT weapon. Thus, perhaps knowing that they were in an open space and moving would get them killed, they decided to pretend to be KO'ed, and sat there waiting for friendlies to come along.

[Skipper]

The original article says that he hit the barrel during a long burst. And there was sort of a small explosion inside the turret.

Anyhow, these are all technical subtleties. What amazes me is the kind of mindset one should have to do it, while (a) being a cook, ( being alone, i.e. not participating in the fight and © having no AT weapons better than an axe. Wow!

[tss]

Apparently some conspiracy (and software update) made my reply to vanish into the Great Bit-Bucket of the Sky.

Anyway, I've read of a similar event (can't remember where, possibly Clark's Barbarossa or something that I read at the same time):

During one Soviet counter attack against a German bridgehead in 1941 T-34s run over pretty much everything that Germans had managed to bring across a big river (Dnepr?), including a 88 mm FLAK battery. However, one of the tanks stalled and then two men run to it, jumped on it, opened the engine compartment hatch, and whacked the engine with a large axe. Then they took a petrol can that was attached to rear deck of the T-34, poured it on the engine and set it aflame.

Skipper wrote:

while (a) being a cook

It may be interesting to note that Larry Thorne (who was born Lauri Törni) started his war-career as a supply corporal. He was once assigned in a ragtag force that was sent to a desperate counterattack against a Soviet breakthrough and he then noticed that he could act calmly under fire and requested a transfer to fighting duties. (He later received medals from three armies, Finnish (up to Mannerheim's Cross), German (Iron Crosses I and II), and American (Legion of Merit, few Purple Hearts) before dying in Vietnam.

- Tommi

[edgars]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Skipper:

August 1941, Leningrad front, near Daugavpils, Lithuania.<hr></blockquote>

Daugavpils is actually a Latvian town, not Lithuanian.

[Ligur]

Weirder **** is going on everyday, come look at the street corner over my shoulder and you'd see stuff unbelievable in the middle of the day.

I don't exactly know what an axe does to a MG in the middle of a long burst, but probaply something bad.

[Urban Shocker]

Mulder, Mulder, where are you? A new case for the X-Files. Super soldiers existed during WWII.

[gunnergoz]

There's more to this story...

The Russian cook had a cousin, Lorenskaya Bobbitskaya, who had an evil axe to grind on sleeping landsers...Hence the common comment that the Eastern Blitzkrieg "petered out."

[Iron Chef Sakai]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh:

Why would a tank stop moving because a guy hit the mg with an axe? Yeah, that makes sense. <hr></blockquote>

could it be that Paul Bunyun is not a myth, but a russian hero who came to the aid of the flailing country at it's darkest hour? does anyone have any information on a giant blue ox that beat back the germans in kharkov?

[Tero]

Seems we überFinns need to find a new market we can corner and set up a monopoly on.