Hugo Montes Points
Soviet Tankavoy
244th Tank Brigade
'Chelyabinsk'
Festung Europa
1 T-34/76 obr 42 Headquarters 60
Combat Platoons
10 T-34 Medium Tank Company 480
upgrade 5 to T-34/85 obr 1943 50
10 T-34 Medium Tank Company 480
upgrade 5 to T-34/85 obr 1943 50
8 T-70 obr 1943 Light Tank Company 235
Support Platoons
3 ISU-122 Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company 380
Upgrade to add 0.5"AA MG 15
Total: 1750
Rnd Vs Mission Table ? Score
1. Brian Jordano Free for All 8 loss 2 5
2. Rob Wallace Fighting Withdrawal 2 win 6 1
3. Tim Knapp Hold the Line 9 win 4 3
Rnd Vs Mission Table ? Score
4. Jose Sto Tomas Encounter 12 draw 2 2
5. Matt Campbell Breakthrough 1 loss 3 4
6. Jon Halter Dare to Win 16 draw 1 2

244th Tank Brigade "Chelyabinsk"

In February 1943, when the whole world shook to the thunderous victory salvos of the great battles on the Volga, the workers of Chelyabinsk petitioned the party's central committee to allow them to raise a tank unit with their own means and have themselves sent to the front in these tanks to crush the fascist German invaders.

The 244th Tank Brigade formed in the Ural Military District in February 1943 from volunteers in Chelyabinsk. Along with the 243rd (Perm) and 197th (Sverdlosk) tank brigades, it formed the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps (30th UVTC). In the summer of 1943, the 30th UVTC joined the 4th Tank Army and fought at Kursk.

The 30th UVT Corps received its' baptism of fire when it took part in the destruction of the Bolkhov group as part of Operation Kutuzov on the northern side of the Kursk bulge. Following that the Corps pulled back and re-equipped with the new T-34/85 tank. It was then involved at Bryansk, Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Proskurovo-Kamenetc-Podolsk, Lvov-Sandomir, and during the Prague Offensive, Vistula-Oder and Berlin.

One of those volunteers was Aleksandr Marchenko, who was to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. He normally drove battalion commanders Colonel Fomichev's tank, "Merciless". Ordered to liberate the Lvov city municipal building and raise the red flag over it by battalion commander, Aleksandr drove his tank up to the entrance and accompanied by automatic rifleman, stormed the building floor by floor. He was killed by fire from another building shortly thereafter.

Another volunteer was Nikolai Zheleznov, who was just 17-1/2 when the war started, was awarded the Order of the Red Star for taking out a Panzer III with two shots and then overrunning two anti-tank guns. At right is a captured German watch he claimed during battle. Later he would survive his own tanks explosion with burns over thirty percent of his body.