Pavel Danilovich Gudz(September 28, 1919, village of Stufchintsy, Proskurovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region, Ukrainian SSR - May 5, 2008, Moscow) - Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor of the Military Academy of Armored Forces, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, retired Colonel General. Ace tankman during the Great Patriotic War - on December 5, 1941, his KV-1 tank destroyed 10 enemy tanks in one battle. In total, the crew of P.D. Gudz destroyed 18 enemy tanks.

Biography

early years

Born on September 28, 1919 in the village of Stufchentsy, Proskurovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region (now Khmelnitsky district, Khmelnytsky region) into a peasant family. Pavel had already graduated from rural school when his father, Danila Leontyevich, went to work in the Far East as a foreman of loaders at the port. Soon the father died in an accident. Mother, Stepanida Panteleimonovna, raised her son alone.

After seven-year school, Pavel Gudz entered the Vodycha Technical School of Political Education Workers, after which he was assigned to the city of Satanov - first to the district House of Culture, and then in 1937 - to the position of inspector of public education in the Satanovsky District Executive Committee. After some time, a young and promising worker, P. D. Gudz, who was coping well with his duties, was accepted into the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In August 1939 he entered the 2nd Saratov Heavy tank school, from which he graduated with honors in early June 1941. At the school I studied the T-35 heavy tank and the KV-1 heavy tank.

P. D. Gudz was assigned to the Kiev Special Military District in Lvov. In mid-June 1941, with the rank of lieutenant, he arrived in the 63rd Tank Regiment of the 32nd Heavy Tank Division of the 4th Mechanized Corps under the command of Major General A. A. Vlasov.

Beginning of the Great Patriotic War

Fight in the village of Nefedyevo

Post-war years

As a public figure, P. D. Gudz was a member of the Presidium of the Moscow City Council of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as deputy chairman of the International public organization “Soldiers in the Struggle for Peace”.

Awards

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (April 28) - for many years of fruitful work on the patriotic education of youth, social protection of veterans and strengthening friendship between peoples
• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree
• Order of the Patriotic War, II degree

Hero Soviet Union, sHonored Scientist of the RSFSR, Colonel General Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor, Honorary Citizen of Krasnogorsk District, Moscow Region

Born on September 28, 1919 in the village of Stufchentsy, Proskurovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region (now Khmelnytsky district, Khmelnytsky region) of Ukraine. Father - Danil Leontyevich. Mother - Stepanida Panteleimonovna. Wife – Galina Vyacheslavovna. Daughters: Larisa Pavlovna, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences; Elena Pavlovna, physicist.

Pavel's father passed away early. The mother raised her son alone. In 1937, after graduating from the College of Arts, P. Gudz was appointed instructor in the regional department of public education. Two years later, his fate changed dramatically: he entered the 2nd Saratov Heavy Tank School, which he graduated with honors.

In mid-June 1941, with the rank of lieutenant, he arrived in the 63rd Tank Regiment of the 32nd Heavy Tank Division, stationed in Lvov. Early in the morning of June 22, on a combat alert, the control platoon (five KV tanks, two – T-34 and 2 – BA), commanded by Pavel Gudz, at the head of the regiment column moved towards the western border. It was driven by an experienced driver-mechanic Galkin, a former tank tester at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad.

Having met the advance detachment of the Germans, Pavel Gudz boldly led the platoon to approach. The enemy cannon was destroyed first. And by 12 noon the platoon had already knocked out five German tanks, three armored personnel carriers and several vehicles. On the same day, the commander's KV, under the masterful control of Galkin, delivered a glancing blow to the guide wheel of an enemy tank, knocking off its track. Then he fell into a ditch with a strong blow.

This was the first tank ram in the division, and perhaps in the entire Red Army. Through joint efforts, other attempts by enemy tanks to break through to the east through the regiment’s battle formations were repelled. Other regiments of the 32nd Division also acted boldly. As a result of stubborn resistance from tankers, rifle units, border guards and other troops of the Southwestern Front, the enemy’s plan to quickly reach Moscow through Lvov and Kyiv was thwarted.

On November 7, 1941, Pavel Danilovich, at that time already the chief of staff of the battalion, participated in a military parade on Red Square. And right from the parade, he led his tank crews to defend the capital. By the beginning of December, after almost a month of continuous fighting, only one KV, several light tanks and a handful of tankers remained in the battalion. And it was necessary to stop at all costs large group enemy tanks that occupied the village of Nefedyevo near Moscow. The battalion commander, Captain Konstantin Khorin, with whom Pavel Gudz defeated the enemy on the border, invited the chief of staff and said in a friendly way: “There is only hope for you, Pavel. I trust the last and only HF. Form a crew and go into battle at night. We must stop and destroy the enemy – This is the order of the command.” “There is to destroy the enemy!” – Gudz answered firmly.

The results of this unequal duel were later spoken about by the head of the Soviet trade union delegation, chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions N. Shvernik at a mass meeting in London in early February 1942. He said: “In one of the sections of the Western Front, Lieutenant Gudz’s tank was in a hurry to support an infantry attack. A hot battle ensued between one Soviet tank and 18 fascist tanks. One against 18. Soviet tank methodically disabled one tank after another. Soon there were already 10 burned and damaged German vehicles on the battlefield. Meanwhile, our glorious infantrymen pressed on the enemy, who could not withstand the onslaught and ran away. The tank pursued the retreating, crushed them under its tracks and shot them with a machine gun. There are up to 400 Nazi bandits left on the battlefield, who will never see not only Moscow, but also Berlin. Despite the 29 dents the tank received, the heroic crew of the vehicle remained until the end of the battle, brilliantly supporting the infantry.”

Then there were new battles in different areas of the Moscow region – near Rzhev, Sychovka and other places. For exceptionally daring feats performed in the defense of Moscow, Lieutenant Gudz was awarded the Order of Lenin. All members of its crew were also awarded high state awards.

In one of the heavy December battles on the Lama River near Volokolamsk, the battalion commander, the fearless tankman Captain Khorin, was killed. He was replaced by Pavel Gudz. In July 1942, he was appointed commander of the 574th tank battalion of the 212th tank brigade.

A little time passed, and military fate threw Pavel Danilovich to the steppe expanses of the Don. Here he, already a major, deputy commander of the Guards heavy tank breakthrough regiment, courageously defended Stalingrad from continuous enemy attacks. He boldly counterattacked the attempts of German tanks to break the blockade ring and rescue Paulus's army, surrounded in Stalingrad. In one of the unequal battles, the tank on which Gudz was both commander and gunner caught fire. In addition, the caterpillar flew off and the tank froze in place. And on the armor the flames from the flaring diesel fuel were already humming, threatening to penetrate inside the vehicle filled with ammunition. The tankers who arrived in time saved the crew, and its commander was urgently sent to the hospital with six penetrating wounds.

After long-term treatment by P.D. Gudz returned to the front at the end of 1943. And again – fight after fight. When approaching Zaporozhye, in order to ensure rifle units crossed the Dnieper, it was necessary to capture the state district power station dam. A fierce battle lasted for two days. When they reached the goal, a “tiger” suddenly jumped out of the ambush. A cannon duel ensued. Suddenly the tank in which Gudz was located was shaken by a blow of enormous force. The crew members were engulfed in flames. The loader and gunner were killed. Pavel Danilovich's left collarbone was damaged and his left hand was crushed: it was hanging on one vein. Overcoming unbearable pain, he cut off the tendon with a knife and saw two more “tigers” crawling out of the ambush. Gudz pressed the trigger with his foot: the shell hit the target, and the enemy tank caught fire. He aimed the gun at the other, but the “tiger” also fired almost simultaneously...

Having regained consciousness, Pavel Danilovich saw that he was lying in a crater, and next to him was a wounded driver. To please the commander, he reported that both “tigers” were on fire...

But even this severe wound did not separate the guard of Lieutenant Colonel Gudz from the army. Having received a prosthetic arm, he returned to the front again and began to successfully command the 5th Separate Guards Heavy Tank Regiment.

In May 1944, he was enrolled as a student in the command department of the Military Academy of Armored Forces, from which he graduated in 1947 with a gold medal.

After completing his postgraduate studies, he worked as a teacher. Then he was deputy and head of the department of tactics of higher formations, and led a special group to develop a number of scientific works related to improving the combat readiness of armored forces. At the end of 1953 P.D. Gudz was appointed head of the atomic weapons department.

As a nuclear specialist, he took an active part in the preparation and conduct of exercises in Totskoye. Here he led the advance detachment – tank regiment – through the epicenter of an atomic explosion.

In a special group of the General Staff, Pavel Gudz worked on the problems of strategic deployment of armed forces in the event of a nuclear war. He headed the interdepartmental government commission for the adoption of a new infantry fighting vehicle.

The range of pedagogical and scientific activities of Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR Pavel Danilovich Gudz is wide. It was at the Academy of Armored Forces, where he grew from a cadet to a colonel general of tank forces (a rather rare case), deputy head of this educational institution, that his talent as a military teacher and scientist was fully revealed. By developing new documents on armored forces, introducing into practice more intelligible effective methods training and tactics of combat use of these troops, P.D. Gudz created over 300 scientific works of great practical importance.

Retired in 1989. Pavel Danilovich took part in more than 25 parades on Red Square, not only among the participants in the Great Patriotic War, but also as part of the combined column of the Military Academy of Armored Forces named after R.Ya. Malinovsky.

As a public figure, he was a member of the Presidium of the Moscow City Council of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as deputy chairman of the International Public Organization “Soldiers in the Struggle for Peace.”

Hero of the Soviet Union Pavel Danilovich Gudz was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, Lenin, Red Banner, Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Patriotic War, I and II degree, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, two Orders of the Red Star, Order of Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree, prize named after A.P. Maresyev, two foreign orders, many medals. He was an honorary citizen of the Krasnogorsk district of the Moscow region.

On December 5, 2007, on the day of the 65th anniversary of the start of the counteroffensive near Moscow, at a significant place near the village of Nefedyevo, in memory of the feat of P.D. Gudzia, a T-55 tank was installed on the pedestal – in the very place where the hero destroyed a German column in his KV-1 tank.

On May 9, 2011, an updated memorial was unveiled in the village of Nefedyevo: an 8-meter stele decorated with a bas-relief with an episode tank battle Senior Lieutenant Gudz. The inscription is carved on the granite: “Here in December 1941 the heroes of the 9th Guards Rifle Division stood to the death.” There is a bust of the hero on the Memory Alley.

Gudz Pavel Danilovich(09/28/1919, Sufchentsy village - 05/05/2008, Moscow) - Colonel General of the armored forces, participant in the Second World War.
Born on September 28, 1919 in the village of Sufchentsy, Proskurovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region, into a peasant family. Father, Danil Leontyevich, passed away early. Mother, Stepanida Panteleimonovna, raised her son alone.
In 1937, Gudz graduated from the College of Arts of Public Education. Then he worked as an instructor in the district department of public education for two years. In 1939, he entered the 2nd Saratov Tank School, from which he graduated with honors. In June 1941, with the rank of lieutenant, he arrived in the 63rd Tank Regiment of the 32nd Tank Division.
On June 22, a control platoon (5 - KV tanks, 2 - T-34, 2 - BA-10 armored vehicles) under the command of Pavel Gudz knocked out 5 German tanks, 3 armored personnel carriers and several vehicles. In this battle, the commander's KV-1, under the control of driver-mechanic Galkin, carried out a tank ram. For this battle, Lieutenant Gudz was presented with the Order of the Red Banner. He did not receive this order.
On June 29, 1941, Gudz led the lead detachment in breaking through Lviv from the encirclement of the 32nd Tank Division. Covering the retreat of their column, Gudz's crew knocked out 5 enemy tanks. Pavel Danilovich was again nominated for the Order of the Red Banner. As in the first case, he did not receive the award.
On August 10, 1941, the 32nd Panzer Division was disbanded. Lieutenant Gudz was appointed senior adjutant of the newly formed 89th separate tank battalion.
On November 7, 1941, having arrived in Moscow to receive the Gudz equipment, he took part in the Red Square event held in honor of the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution.
On December 5, 1941, in the village of Nefedyevo, KV-1 under the command of Lieutenant Gudz single-handedly attacked 18 enemy tanks from an ambush. 10 German tanks were knocked out, and the remaining 8 retreated. Also in this battle, several German guns were destroyed. Pavel Danilovich’s tank was hit by 29 shells, but not one of them penetrated the armor. For this battle, Pavel Gudz was awarded the Order of Lenin.
Since May 1942, Senior Lieutenant Gudz has held the position of deputy commander of the 89th separate tank battalion. After his disbandment with the rank of captain, he was appointed to the post of commander of the 574th tank battalion of the 212th tank brigade.
In November 1942, Pavel Danilovich was awarded the rank of major and appointed deputy commander of the 8th separate guards breakthrough tank regiment.
In December 1942, in one of the battles, Major Gudz's tank was hit. He himself was taken to the hospital with six penetrating wounds. Pavel Danilovich was supposed to be commissioned, but he achieved his return to the active army.
Since May 1943, Major Gudz has been deputy commander of the 5th Separate Guards Tank Breakthrough Regiment. In the area of ​​​​the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporozhye, KV Gudzya was shot down. Two crew members were killed. Pavel Danilovich himself was wounded, his left collarbone was damaged and his left hand was crushed. Having cut off the remains of the hand from the damaged car, the major destroyed two enemy "tigers". After being hit by the HF again, he was pulled out by the driver, who had lost consciousness.
After the hospital, with a prosthetic left arm, Gudz commanded the 5th separate tank regiment.
In May 1944 he was enrolled as a student in the command department of the Military Academy of Armored Forces, from which he graduated in 1947 with a gold medal. After completing his postgraduate studies, he worked as a teacher.
In 1953 he was appointed head of the department of atomic weapons. During the exercises in Totskoye, he led the advance detachment, a tank regiment, through the epicenter of a nuclear explosion.
In a special group of the General Staff, Gudz dealt with the problems of strategic deployment of armed forces in the event of a nuclear war. He headed the commission for the adoption of the new one.
Honored Scientist of the RSFSR. He is the author of more than 300 scientific papers.
Died on May 5, 2008 in Moscow with the rank of Colonel General.

Awards:
two orders of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner
Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of Alexander Nevsky
Order of the Patriotic War, II degree
two Orders of the Red Star
Order "For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces" III degree
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, etc.

Laureate of the International Prize named after. A. P. Maresyeva "For the will to live"
Title "Honorary Citizen of Krasnogorsk"
In Nefedyevo, in memory of the feat of Pavel Danilovich Gudz, a T-55 tank was installed.

Sources used
1. Baryatinsky M.B. "Soviet tank aces." - M: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008. - 352 p. - (Tanks in battle).
2. krasnogorsk.info. Press about Krasnogorsk. MK: It’s not a tank guys! (There weren’t enough military relics for the Moscow region.
3. rezeptsport.ru. Publications. List of laureates of the International Prize named after. A. P. Maresyeva "For the will to live."
4. krasnogorsk-adm.ru. Information. Honorary citizens of the Krasnogorsk municipal district.

Lieutenant Gudz on his tank follows to Red Square along Gorky Street. The monument to Pushkin stood in those days on the opposite side of the square.

On December 3, 1941, formations of the 40th Motorized Corps of the Germans made their last attempt to break through to Moscow along the Volokolamsk Highway. Advancing east of the highway, the enemy captured the villages of Nefedyevo and Kuzino.

Nefedyevo is a special village: according to one version, it is the closest place to Moscow where the Germans approached.
North of the village of Nefedyevo, the 18th Infantry Division took up defensive positions, in whose ranks the fighters of the Krasnogorsk militia battalion, essentially civilians who had not been fired upon, fought.

Pavel Danilovich Gudz in the period described.

For more than two days, units of the 78th Rifle Division of Colonel Beloborodov fought stubborn battles with the 10th Tank Division of the Germans until they forced it to stop. And on the night of December 5, when Sukhanov was preparing a counterattack to defeat the invading enemy, a separate 89th tank battalion of the 16th Army was transferred to him for reinforcement.

True, the battalion by that time had only one tank. The tank was commanded by the chief of staff of the battalion, Lieutenant Pavel Danilovich Gudz.

The command set a painful task simply: " There is only one hope for you, Pavel. I trust the last and only HF. Form a crew and go into battle at night. We must stop the enemy".

Under the cover of darkness and battery salvoes from the regimental artillery, Gudz secretly led his tank battalion to the starting position, chosen in a grove on the outskirts of the village of Nefedyevo. Already at dawn, in the pre-dawn darkness, he was able to see not only the huts, but also the enemy tanks between them. There were eighteen of them: eighteen against one.

The very first shot managed to destroy the fascist tank. The second shot is to set the second car on fire. Suddenly there was a terrible roar, the KV-1 shuddered. The tankers felt as if they were sitting inside a huge bell that had been hit with a heavy hammer. An enemy shell hit the frontal armor of the vehicle, but it withstood the impact.

After twenty shots it became impossible to breathe. People suffocated from powder gases, but continued to fight. One after another, six more German vehicles burst into flames. Pavel Gudz masterfully used the advantage in the strength of fire and the strength of the armor of his powerful tank. The infantry went on the attack.

The line of greatest advance of German troops in the Volokolamsk direction.

The KV-1 took off and began to pick up speed, assisting the infantry with machine-gun fire. German tanks tried to block his way. Pavel Gudz hit the leading car with the first shell, and the next one with the second.

One of the destroyed fascist tanks.

The eight surviving Panzerkampfwagens turned back. And the Soviet tank kept walking and walking forward, overtaking enemies with bullets and shrapnel, crushing enemy guns along with their crews.

Fragment of the award sheet of Lieutenant Gudz.

The heroic crew of the vehicle, despite the many dents on its armor from being hit by German shells, acted in infantry combat formations until the end of the battle.

Of the 18 tanks, ten were destroyed, the rest were put to flight. In addition to 10 tanks, our KV-1 also destroyed 15 trucks.

For this feat, Gudz was nominated for the Order of the Red Banner, but a higher authority decided that Gudz was worthy of a higher award - the Order of Lenin. They say that Zhukov himself wrote such a resolution on the award sheet...

When in the London Parliament the head of the Soviet trade unions N. Shvernik told the allies about this amazing battle, the English parliamentarians, breaking centuries-old traditions, greeted this message while standing.

On December 5, 2007, the day the counteroffensive began near Moscow, 65 years later, a T-55 tank was installed at a significant place near the village of Nefedyevo.

Gudz finished the war as a colonel, and served in armed forces- Colonel General. Pavel Danilovich Gudz died on May 5, 2008.

On the right is a monument in the village of Nefedyevo. The Nakhabino authorities decided to install a tank right on the spot where the legendary tanker Pavel Gudz accomplished his feat in 1941.

Gudz commanded the KV-1 tank. Only 600 of them were produced, only a few have survived to this day. The Nefedyevites did not expect to receive “Kliment Voroshilov.” But they hoped for a tank from the Great Patriotic War. The request of the Nakhabino authorities was considered by the Federal Property Management Agency, the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense. In the end, a resolution was issued signed by Fradkov: to hand over... "T-55".

Apparently, a mistake occurred, because the “T-55” has nothing to do with the Great Patriotic War. It began to be produced in the late 50s, and it is more associated with the Arab-Israeli war - the USSR actively supplied it to the Arabs.

But thanks for that, in the future there will probably be a “KV-1”

Basic information and photos (C) website "Military Affairs"

Born on September 28, 1919 in the village of Stufchentsy, Proskurovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region (now Khmelnitsky district, Khmelnytsky region). Father, Danil Leontyevich, passed away early. Mother, Stepanida Panteleimonovna, raised her son alone. At P.D. Gudzya and his wife, Galina Vyacheslavovna, two daughters: the eldest Larisa Pavlovna is a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, the younger Elena Pavlovna is a physicist.

In 1937, after graduating from the College of Arts, Pavel Gudz was appointed instructor in the regional department of public education. Two years later, his fate changed dramatically: he entered the 2nd Saratov Heavy Tank School, which he graduated with honors. In mid-June 1941, with the rank of lieutenant, he arrived in the 63rd Tank Regiment of the 32nd Heavy Tank Division, stationed in Lvov. Early in the morning of June 22, following a combat alert, the control platoon (five KV tanks, two T-34 and 2 BA tanks), commanded by Pavel Gudz, at the head of the regiment column moved towards the western border. It was driven by an experienced driver-mechanic Galkin, a former tank tester at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad. Having met the advance detachment of the Germans, Gudz boldly led the platoon to approach. The enemy cannon was destroyed first. And by 12 o’clock in the afternoon, Gudz’s platoon had already knocked out five German tanks, three armored personnel carriers and several vehicles. On the same day, the commander's KV, under the masterful control of Galkin, delivered a glancing blow to the guide wheel of an enemy tank, knocking off its track. Then he fell into a ditch with a strong blow.

This was the first tank ram in the division, and perhaps in the entire Red Army. Through joint efforts, other attempts by enemy tanks to break through to the east through the regiment’s battle formations were repelled. Other regiments of the 32nd Division also acted boldly. As a result of stubborn resistance from tankers, rifle units, border guards and other troops of the Southwestern Front, the enemy’s plan to quickly reach Moscow through Lvov and Kyiv was thwarted.

On November 7, 1941, Pavel Gudz, at that time already the chief of staff of the battalion, participated in a military parade on Red Square. And right from the parade, he led his tank crews to defend the capital. By the beginning of December, after almost a month of continuous fighting, only one KV, several light tanks and a handful of tankers remained in the battalion. And it was necessary to stop at all costs a large group of enemy tanks that had occupied the village of Nefedyevo near Moscow. The battalion commander, Captain Konstantin Khorin, with whom Gudz smashed the enemy on the border, invited the chief of staff and said in a friendly manner: “You have one hope, Pavel. I trust the last and only KV. Form a crew and go into battle at night. We must stop and destroy enemy - this is the order of the command." "There is to destroy the enemy!" - Gudz answered firmly.

The head of the Soviet trade union delegation, chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions N. Shvernik later spoke about the results of this unequal duel at a mass meeting in London in early February 1942. He said: “In one of the sections of the Western Front, Lieutenant Gudz’s tank hurried to support the infantry attack. A hot battle ensued between one Soviet tank and 18 fascist tanks. One against 18. The Soviet tank methodically disabled one tank after another. Soon there were already 10 burned and destroyed German vehicles. Meanwhile, our glorious infantrymen pressed on the enemy, who could not withstand the onslaught and ran. The tank chased the retreating ones, crushed them with its tracks and shot them with a machine gun, up to 400 Nazi bandits remained on the battlefield, who will never be seen again. Moscow, but also Berlin. Despite the 29 dents the tank received, the heroic crew of the vehicle remained until the end of the battle, brilliantly supporting the infantry."

Then there were new battles in different areas of the Moscow region - near Rzhev, Sychovka and other places. For exceptionally daring feats performed in the defense of Moscow, Lieutenant Gudz was awarded the Order of Lenin. All members of its crew were also awarded high state awards.

In one of the heavy December battles on the Lama River near Volokolamsk, the battalion commander, the fearless tankman Captain Khorin, was killed. He was replaced by Pavel Gudz. In July 1942, he was appointed commander of the 574th tank battalion of the 212th tank brigade.

A little time passed, and military fate threw P. D. Gudz to the steppe expanses of the Don. Here he, already a major, deputy commander of the Guards heavy tank breakthrough regiment, courageously defended Stalingrad from continuous enemy attacks. He boldly counterattacked the attempts of German tanks to break the blockade ring and rescue Paulus's army, surrounded in Stalingrad. In one of the unequal battles, a tank in which Gudz was also the commander. and the gunner, caught fire. In addition, the caterpillar flew off and the tank froze in place. And on the armor the flames from the flaring diesel fuel were already humming, threatening to penetrate inside the vehicle filled with ammunition. The tankers who arrived in time saved the crew, and its commander was urgently sent to the hospital with six penetrating wounds.

Best of the day

After long-term treatment, P. D. Gudz returned to the front at the end of 1943. And again fight after fight. When approaching Zaporozhye, in order to ensure rifle units crossed the Dnieper, it was necessary to capture the state district power station dam. A fierce battle lasted for two days. When they reached the goal, a “tiger” suddenly jumped out of the ambush. A cannon duel ensued. Suddenly the tank in which Gudz was located was shaken by a blow of enormous force. The crew members were engulfed in flames. The loader and gunner were killed. Gudz's left collarbone was damaged and his left hand was crushed: it was hanging on one vein. Overcoming unbearable pain, Pavel Danilovich cut off the tendon with a knife and saw two more “tigers” crawling out of the ambush. Gudz pressed the trigger with his foot: the shell hit the target, and the enemy tank caught fire. He aimed the gun at the other, but the “tiger” also fired almost simultaneously...

Having regained consciousness, Pavel Danilovich saw that he was lying in a crater, and next to him was a wounded driver. To please the commander, he reported that both “tigers” were on fire...

But even this severe wound did not separate the guard of Lieutenant Colonel Gudz from the army. Having received a prosthetic arm, he returned to the front again and began to successfully command the 5th Separate Guards Heavy Tank Regiment.

And in May 1944, he was enrolled as a student in the command department of the Military Academy of Armored Forces, from which he graduated in 1947 with a gold medal. After completing his postgraduate studies, he worked as a teacher. Then he was deputy and head of the department of tactics of higher formations, and led a special group to develop a number of scientific works related to improving the combat readiness of armored forces. At the end of 1953, P. D. Gudz was appointed head of the atomic weapons department. As a nuclear specialist, he took an active part in the preparation and conduct of exercises in Totskoye. Here he led the vanguard - a tank regiment - through the epicenter of an atomic explosion.

In a special group of the General Staff, P. D. Gudz worked on the problems of strategic deployment of armed forces in the event of a nuclear war. He headed the interdepartmental government commission for the adoption of a new infantry fighting vehicle.

For many years of impeccable service to his Fatherland and heroism shown during the Great Patriotic War, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War, I and II degrees, two orders of the Red Star, the Order of Labor Red Banner, "For service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces", many medals and two orders of foreign countries.

The range of pedagogical and scientific activities of Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR P. D. Gudz is wide. It was at the Academy of Armored Forces, where he grew from a cadet to a colonel general (a rather rare case), deputy head of this educational institution, that his talent as a military teacher and scientist was fully revealed. Developing new documents on armored forces, introducing into practice more intelligible effective methods of training and tactics for the combat use of these troops, P. D. Gudz created over 300 scientific works of great practical importance.

Lives and works in Moscow.

How to contact Pavel Danilovich Gudze? We are researching the combat path of the 17th brigade at TsAMO.
vladim21 11.02.2007 01:36:04

How to contact Pavel Danilovich Gudze? We are researching the combat path of the 17th brigade at TsAMO.
Dear Pavel Danilovich! We will study in detail the combat path of the 17th Tank Brigade for the period 1941-42. We published an article in the newspaper of the Moscow Government "Moscow Wednesday" for January 24-30, 2007 No. 2 (205) devoted mainly to the Maloyaroslavets direction, but it also cites an extract from your award list from order No. 044 of the Western Front about awarding you the Order of Lenin For the battle in the village. Nefedyevo. We are preparing the next publication, covering in more detail the battles of the 17th Tank Brigade in the Volokolamsk direction in December 1941. Unfortunately, we do not have accurate information on what date your 89th Tank Brigade became part of the 17th Tank Brigade and when it left it, whether it was not only under operational subordination , but also as part of the 1st GV Tank Brigade Katukov. Perhaps you still have photographs of the soldiers and commanders of the 17th TBR and personal memories of them. Unfortunately, books and museums detail the history of the battles of the Katukov Tank Brigade; the role of the 17th TBR and 89th Tank Brigade remained in the shadows. We want to fill this gap, and also ensure that the names of the fallen fighters of this big gang are inscribed on the monuments, because At present, we have not yet been able to find a single (!!!) of their names on any monument in the Moscow and Kaluga regions. The list of casualties in the book for 1941 is incomplete, as evidenced by the combat and political reports of the 17th TBR. But we prepared a list of names that we were able to establish for each day of fighting, which will make it possible to more accurately determine the burial sites at the sites of fighting for these days. Very We are glad that you managed to live a long life and wish you great health and vitality in the future! With respect, Galina Yaroslavovna Green and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Chernov.