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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 13

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION —Today is June 26, 2009. We are in Lvov [Lviv], meeting with a participant of the Great Patriotic War. Please, [state] your name, patronymic, surname. When and where were you born?

My name is Aleksandr Grigorievich Aranovich. I was born in 1913, in the city of Melitopol. I was born before the First World War. My father, Grigory Aranovich, was the chief architect of Melitopol. I graduated from secondary school in the German city Lichtenau [Svitlodolyns’ke] in 1928 and received a diploma in German, which played a huge role during the war. I was accepted as Volksdeutsche. Now I am in my ninety-seventh year.

—Did your parents have any other children?

Yes, I had brothers and sisters. All of them were executed, except me and one other, when the city of Melitopol was taken. My parents lived in Leningrad [St. Petersburg], Moscow, and after classes ended, they wound send [the children] to Melitopol, because the bathing season in Melitopol began on May 1 and there is a good river nearby and the Azov Sea. The Germans occupied Melitopol, and the city commandant sent them all to the Birkenau concentration camp, and they were all shot there.

—And your father?

My father was drafted into the army in 1915, participated in the First World War in the army commanded by General Brusilov. He participated in the Brusilov Offensive.

—Was he wounded?

Yes, he died in 1920 in the Civil War.

—And your mother?

My mother was evacuated from Melitopol. I graduated from an engineering department in Kharkov [Kharkiv] in 1934 as a mechanical engineer.

—You studied at school in Germany . . .

Lichtenau. It was a large colony in the Soviet Union.

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—Was it a German colony?

Yes, a big colony.

—Where was Lichtenau located?

In southern Ukraine. During my studies, I realized that there is a certain stratum [among] ethnic Germans. There is a stratum of ungrateful villains and scoundrels. [One of these] came running to me once, saying, help me with money or my parents will face a catastrophe.

—When was this?

Before the war, when I was in eighth grade. I gave him a lot of money in the morning, and in the evening of the same day he did something spiteful.

—The colony Lichtenau—was it a collective farm?

This was a large station; there was an agro-industrial complex there.

—And there were many Germans?

Many Germans. They owned property there.

—You graduated in Kharkov in 1934?

I graduated in Kharkov. Stalin was developing armored troops. Those who had higher technical education [were sent] to the armored forces. This was a correct decision by Stalin. I entered into the Stalin Academy of Armored Forces in Moscow. I passed the competitive exams—thirteen people for one position. I graduated from the academy in 1941, two months before the war.

—With what rank?

I served in Novograd-Volynsky [Novohrad-Volyns’kyy] before the war.

—After graduating from the academy?

No. After graduating from the academy, I was sent to the front. Before the academy, I served in Novograd- Volynsky as commander of a tank platoon in the 12th Tank Brigade, with the rank of junior lieutenant.

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Then, during my service before the war, I received the rank of lieutenant; I graduated from the academy as a captain because of my excellence in studies at the academy. I was a Stalin Scholar. I have a picture.

—After the war began, where were you posted?

On June 22, at the Academy . . . Moscow and the entire Soviet Union were sleeping peacefully, snoring with pleasure. The Germans knew when to attack—on a Sunday. They knew how disorderly things were. We were platoon commanders at the academy; we had officers and sergeants without training. On Saturday we met up with girls until three in the morning, we saw them off and decided to sleep in on Sunday. But at 8 o’clock in the morning, I remembered that they could post me somewhere where there are bears, wolves, wolverines, lynx, and so on . . . I thought they would send me far . . . And that is why I had a girlfriend. We all had them . . . just in case.

—"Just in case"—you mean in order to stay in Moscow?

The positions there were already reserved for sons of important commanders.

—How did the girls help against . . . wolverines?

In order not to end up alone. She agreed to come with me. At 8 o’clock in the morning, I woke up, quietly turned on the radio, so as not to wake my three friends. I hear: today there will be an important announcement. After two or three minutes: today there will be an important announcement. I thought it was some type of industrial achievement. At 12 o’clock I hear the voice of the chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, Molotov: Germany, without a declaration of war, attacked the Soviet Union. I screamed: WAR! Everyone jumped up and said: Sasha has lost his mind. I ran to the academy. The dormitory was not far. There were several people on the tram. A major was riding the tram. I said: war. He looked at me and began to shake—he believed me.

—In the military academy, no one supposed, no one said, that there was a prewar situation?

There was talk in Moscow that there would be a war with the Germans. But the whole of Moscow and the entire Soviet Union slept with great pleasure at the time when the capitals of Soviet republics were already being bombed.

—Were you told in class about the tense situation, that there might be war?

Stalin spoke and mentioned how many tank and mechanized divisions we had.

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—The war began. Where were you sent?

I was a Stalin Scholar. Additionally, in 1939 . . . a third-year student at the academy. Since childhood, I've had the natural gift of inventiveness. In 1939, I invented a tank grenade launcher. I was in the academy’s scientific-technical department and worked there. I was given a number of tasks. I myself decided to invent tank grenade launchers. When the treaty with Germany about friendship and borders was signed, there began an exchange of experience with the Germans. There were two German colonels at the academy’s artillery department, Schmidt and Richter. Colonel Richter traveled to Germany, and he became interested in my invention and for a long time asked about the grenade launcher’s breech. In 1943, during the Battle of Kursk, the Germans used grenade launchers of my design against us. All secret files are now in the academy’s scientific-technical department. I was sent to the 21st Tank Brigade. A bus arrived and we were all taken to the city of Vladimir where the Vladimir Auto-Armor Center formed the [basis of the] 21st Tank Brigade. After formation, we were thrown on the Kalinin Front, where there was the greatest danger of a German invasion. They wanted to take Moscow through the Kalinin Front. I was the deputy of the tank brigade’s deputy commander there. A major was the deputy and he had me as his own deputy. He was a sickly man.

—He was the deputy of what unit?

The technical unit. All equipment, combat training—he was responsible for everything. During the bombing at the front, he crawled under a tank. The bombing began. At the academy, we were taught: as soon as you hear the howling of flying bombs, fall where you stand. He crawled under a T-34.

—There were T-34s in 1941?

Yes. A train echelon [carrying tanks] reached Vladimir. The Stalingrad [Volgograd] and Kharkov factories made T-34s.

—Before the war?

Yes. A train arrived with T-34s from the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. This lieutenant colonel—I forget his name—suffered a heart attack during the bombing. Everything fell on me, and I was awarded the rank of major.

—What were you supposed to do? What were your responsibilities?

I had the duties of a deputy for technical equipment—an indispensable person—the combat readiness of military equipment, all equipment. The brigade had enormous repair facilities. In the absence of the commander, the technical deputy becomes the tank brigade commander.

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—The brigade was on the move all the time. How did the repair equipment move from place to place?

Repair equipment followed the brigade, accompanying it on cars with two or three leading axles. Type A battalions had weak [repair] capabilities. Type B had all the machinery needed for repairs and manufacture of parts. Type B workshops replaced tank engines. The motors were centered and tanks came out completely combat-ready.

—How did they drag wrecked tanks from the battlefield?

There were “Voroshilovets” tractors, powerful tractors. They dragged tanks from the battlefield under enemy fire. I became a deputy, and was awarded the rank of major . . . I did not have to wait five years to go from captain to major, but in the span of two and a half months, Marshal Konev, the Kalinin Front commander . . . due to his recommendation I was awarded the rank of major. Two cubes on the shoulder boards. Those who graduated from the Armored Forces Academy could command a tank regiment. A tank regiment is a tactical unit. It only consists of tanks. A tank brigade is already a formation, an operational unit. In the tank brigade, besides tanks, there were artillery, rocket artillery, and air force units. A tank brigade was strong enough to liberate a city such as Lvov. This occurred in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation.

—What year was that?

1944. On July 27, 1944, Lvov was liberated in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation. Hitler gave an order not to surrender Sandomierz, in Poland. Marshal Konev commanded the Kalinin Front, and I was a deputy there . . . The academy gave me an opportunity after the war . . . In April 1946, the commander-in-chief of the occupation forces in Germany, Marshal Zhukov, convened a council. The chief marshal of armored forces was Pavel Alekseevich Rotmistrov . . .

—This is already after the war.

After the war in the city of Magdeburg.

—During the war, on what fronts did you find yourself?

I will tell you in a moment. On ten fronts. But I want to finish. After the war, I was appointed deputy commander of armored forces in the army. This was a responsibility for a lieutenant general.

—On what fronts were you during the war?

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

The first front, the Battle of Moscow. The commander of the Western Front was Marshal Zhukov. He was an ingenious commander.

—I am more interested in what happened to you outside Moscow. Did you work round the clock? Repair tanks?

Not only that. I fulfilled operational assignments because I had academic training.

—What operational assignments?

I will tell you in a moment. The academy did not just give an engineering rank. Strategy and tactics were taught at the highest level. I could command a tank army.

—What operational assignments did you have? Could you give an example?

An example?

—Yes.

To infiltrate German positions. Especially during the Battle of Kursk. Marshal Rokossovsky asked me. He could not order it because I was already a tank brigade commander.

—You were already a brigade commander?

I was a tank brigade commander.

—Not just the commander of the technical unit, but the general brigade commander?

Yes. Operation "Citadel." Hitler decided to get revenge and after taking Kursk to take Moscow. Four and a half million personnel participated. Thirteen thousand tanks, twelve thousand airplanes, and sixty-nine thousand artillery guns. The Battle of Kursk.

—You commanded a brigade?

Yes.

—How many regiments did you have in the brigade . . .

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Just a minute. Here, my school diploma from Lichtenau played a huge role.

—How?

They sent our agents to German locations for reconnaissance. Everyone spoke perfect German.

—They sent you without tanks?

Yes, yes. The Central Front sent us. They made their way to the German location; everything was going well. Suddenly, one of the German SS men saw “Moskvashey” [label] on their linen. The Germans did not shoot spies. They hanged them. We selected another group, in German uniform and linen. It was going well, and suddenly [they noticed that] one of them had on his left arm [a tattoo saying] "Vasya + Valya [=] Love."

—Did you participate in such operations?

I will tell you now. The German diploma, which my mother wanted to burn . . . she hid it on her chest, and during the war I took it. The 13th Army commander, Colonel General Pukhov, part of Rokossovsky’s Central Front, [said]: “What can we do to locate the [enemy’s] positions, scout [their] anti-tank artillery [positions], and the caliber [of their] artillery?” I was at the meeting; they called for me. Before the counteroffensive, at 2 o’clock in the morning, Marshal Rokossovsky summoned me. I was there. I had previously said to the army commander, and no one else, in confidence: “I have a German diploma from Lichtenau after graduating from the German school.” He said: “Write a note stating you are willingly going on reconnaissance.” I wrote it. The tanks, camouflaged, stood in ditches. German aviation, and our own, was bombing forests and groves. Oaks, like matches, were flying from German 500-kilogram [bombs]. There was a concrete water conduit, destroyed at the end. I was thin, like I am today. I climbed into the water conduit with a TT pistol. I climbed to the surface. I was almost among German positions. I left a submachine gun under a tree. A German Volkswagen was coming.

—Volkswagen—you mean the car?

Yes, the Germans were moving along the road. I was not wearing a German military uniform. Germans changed into our uniforms and American ones. This was a violation of the laws of war—[you would be] executed on the spot.

—You were in civilian clothes?

In German work clothes. It was hot. On my bare body, I had a [work] coat, a bag with German tools, and

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Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

German cigarettes. Everything was checked. I go in this work coat, German boots, pants, and bag. There is a Volkswagen with an open top. A shout . . . I turn around, I see a Hauptmann, captain. “Take the tire, repair and pump it.” I did this a thousand times before the war in Novograd-Volynsky in the academy. I dismantled it, sealed it, pumped it up, and brought it to him. “Danke, where are you going?” I said that my brother worked there. “Get in.” I was at the height of happiness because there was an SS checkpoint within the German camp. Here is an SS man. The German captain goes by, he gives a salute, and I'm through. I looked for the location of the anti-tank artillery and artillery positions, the location of their defensive line. By the way, the so-called "Russian defensive zone” is the most powerful. Rokossovsky created the main defensive line; the second was 25 kilometers from it. The third line . . .

—How did you get back?

One minute. Rokossovsky’s theater of military operations was 400 kilometers. When our counteroffensive began on June 5, those soldiers and officers [stationed further back] did not shoot during the entire Battle of Kursk. They only followed behind the advancing troops.

—You managed to return before this.

Yes, I returned.

—How did you return?

When I was going in, I passed the checkpoint. He drove me in. Suddenly I hear in German the tragic voice of a young woman: “Bitte, helfen Sie mir” ["Please help me"]. I followed the direction of this voice. I see overgrown bushes. These were our positions occupied by the Germans. A young woman nurse, German, in a white coat, Red Cross. She was riding a bicycle and fell with her bicycle into our trench, which was overgrown with grass, and the front tire chain pierced her above the knee. She was bleeding and there was dirt in the wound. She could not move. I pulled out her bicycle. She cannot walk. Maybe it was tetanus. There were corpses everywhere . . . She asked me to suck out the blood.

—This is a terrifying story. Why did you start saving a German woman? You had an assignment, you carried crucial information.

You know what. This did not take long, and I had a colossal trump card thanks to her. Do you understand?

—You stayed there?

I had excellent teeth, no wounds. I sucked out the blood [from her wound], spit it out onto her coat, she

Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN checked it . . .

—You saved her, in a word.

Yes.

—And how did this help you?

I will tell you in a moment. Then, when the blood was clean, she still could not walk, I carried her in my arms to the [German] positions. She had her own tent. She was Luftwaffe Field Marshal Richthofen’s distant relative. The surgeon came running, gave her a tetanus shot. She calmed down: "Stay here a little." I said, I need to go to work. I was afraid of our defectors—traitors.

—When did you return?

Hold on, I will tell you. They waited for me for three days. If in three days I did not return, that would mean I was caught. I can bring you a photograph . . .

—How did you return?

Just a minute. I enjoyed success with women. Do you understand? The girls paid attention to me. After the war, women in Moscow, when I walked in a colonel’s uniform, paid attention to me.

—We have five minutes left on the tape. How did you get back?

I returned. I remained there in that . . . When it began to get dark, I looked around. I saw the location of artillery positions equipped with terrible German 88mm anti-tank guns. They penetrate our tanks at any distance. She told me a lot. I asked where the aviation was located, maybe my Bruder is there . . . When it was dark, I left her tent, threw away the bag of tools, so I could run. I was a sprinter, I could run fast. At night, I arrived at my location and picked up my submachine gun. They were already waiting for me. I reported to the front commander.

—Did they put you up for an award?

Yes.

—What was the award?

Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class, pure gold. All orders were made of silver in the Soviet Union. Only the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class was gold, of the highest content. I have four Orders of the Patriotic War. I am the only one in Ukraine who has four Orders of the Patriotic War.

—When did you get the second Order of the Patriotic War?

In 1945.

—Where did you end the war?

Marshal Konev . . . Stalin ordered to liberate Prague. I was with Marshal Konev.

—Prague was liberated after May 9.

Yes. There was an uprising and Vlasov’s Army was there—the ROA. We took many prisoners there.

—And Vlasov himself.

And Vlasov himself. He was hanged with seven more generals. They were all hanged on one bar. But you do not know that there was a May 1942 Stalin order, 00227: “Not one step back.” For the slightest violation, a tribunal, military field court, and execution within two hours. I did not violate [the order] . . . We fell [into] . . . I gave battle to the Germans . . .

—Were you surrounded?

Yes, near Kharkov. We broke free, reached the Don. Near the Don all the bridges were destroyed by German aviation. Everyone sang the International; regiment, division, and corps commanders stood in line and destroyed tanks so that Hitler would not get them. I considered this a crime.

—This was in 1943?

In June of 1942. I gave battle. I lost seven tanks. A division, an SS division, pursued me. The Germans lost twenty-four tanks. I lost 119 personnel, they—more than a thousand. The German division commander said: “First we will take Moscow, and then we will come and finish them off.” All of us [were put] on a bus, to Saratov, [then put] on a plane to Stalin’s headquarters—Balashikha. I reported that I gave [the Germans] a decisive battle. They told me: if he points toward the door through which you entered, you are saved. But if he points to the left, there is a dark passage, there is a small-caliber rifle on a pedestal, you will go [that way] and be shot in the back of the head. He executed everyone who destroyed the tanks. During the war,

Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

I came up with a number of inventions that saved thousands of crews and hundreds of tanks. I have patents for these inventions. In May of this year, a Russian Federation patent arrived from Moscow for a major invention for tank troops. Maybe the United States will buy these patents?

—This is not something we know. With what rank did you end the war?

Colonel.

—You commanded a tank brigade.

Yes. The chief marshal of armored forces sent [documentation for a promotion] to major general from Magdeburg. I was an army commander’s deputy. Responsibilities of a lieutenant general. Marshal Zhukov greeted me with a handshake. When there were Warsaw Pact troop maneuvers in 1956 in Lvov, [we] analyzed the maneuvers in the opera house. He called me over and said: “Have you forgotten about my . . . order?” Seven people know. I am still alive . . . [with] Marshal Zhukov’s secret. All [the others] have died. Today, I alone know the assignment. I am developing it.

—We are out of time. Thank you very much.

Aleksandr Aranovich. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID UKR002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4c68h

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

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