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Start giftingTank Rider
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Learn moreHonest and irrepressibly frank, these are the dramatic memoirs of a Russian officer on the Eastern Front, where he played his part in a clash of titans and witnessed the shuddering collapse of the Third Reich.
The cataclysmic battle of Kursk in 1943 put an end to Hitler's hopes of victory on the Eastern Front, and it was Evgeni Bessonov's first battle. From then on the Germans were forced into a long, bitter retreat that ended in the ruins of Berlin in 1945. An officer in an elite guards unit of the Red Army, Bessonov rode tanks from Kursk, through a western Russia and Poland devastated by the Germans, and right into the heart of Nazi Germany.
Tank Rider is the riveting memoir of Evgeni Bessonov telling of his years of service at the vanguard of the Red Army and daily encounters with the German foe. He brings large-scale battles to life, recounts the sniping and skirmishing that tried and tested soldiers on both sides, and narrates the overwhelming tragedy and horror of apocalyptic warfare on the Eastern Front.
So much of the Soviet experience of World War II remains untold, but this memoir provides an important glimpse into some of the most decisive moments of this overlooked history.
Born in Moscow in 1923, Evgeni Bessonov spent almost a year in training before he was sent to the Bryansk Front in July 1943 to serve as a Platoon Commander in an infantry unit within the Soviet 4th Tank Army. His journey to the front was a challenge in itself as transport shortages forced him and his comrades to hitchhike and walk much of the distance between Moscow and the battle lines. He would survive the months of bitter fighting that lay ahead, including being wounded in the Battle for Berlin, to retell his experiences in Tank Rider.
P. J. Ochlan, an Audie Award-nominated and multiple AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator, has recorded close to 200 audiobooks. His acting career spans more than thirty years and has included Broadway, the New York Shakespeare Festival (under Joseph Papp), critically acclaimed feature films, and regular roles in television series. Along the way, he's worked with countless icons, including Jodie Foster, Clint Eastwood, Robin Williams, Al Pacino, and Garry Marshall.