Tank Rider cover art

Tank Rider

Into the Reich with the Red Army

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Tank Rider

By: Evgeni Bessonov, Bair Irincheev - translator
Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
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About this listen

Honest 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.

©2003 Evgeni Bessonov (P)2018 Tantor 20th Century Americas Europe Germany Military Modern Russia United States Red Army War Soviet Union

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Bessonov's story is incredible! In the UK the Eastern Front is often described by big hands sweeping the map or the infamous actions of drunk soldiers. This brings it down to the actions of an unlucky-to-be-there but lucky-to-be-alive leader of soldiers doing terrible work. I would to have liked to hear more about his post-war career and the changes in Soviet Military posture and peacetime, but still, so glad I listened! The narrator sounds like a robot but you'll get past it.

The robot tells an amazing story!

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Parts of the book were interesting but it was really hard work listening to it. It is like it has been fed, line by line, into an automatic translator and then read by a computer. I got half way through, jumped to the last few chapters then gave up. Go and listen to Berlin The Downfall by Beevor instead.

Hard work

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Not too bad at all, one of the better personal accounts of combat on the Eastern Front in WW2. Recommended.

Good Biography

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Evgeni Bessonov tells a great story of fighting hunger and the Germans in WWII. I enjoyed it alot and at the end you do feel you know his character.

Great Story of Heroism

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This could have been an excellent addition to histories of the Eastern Front in WW2. Much of the information contained is interesting and the insight into the ordinary soldiers attitudes and life valuable.

Sadly, this is UTTERLY RUINED by the narrator! I have heard young children learning to read do a better job of bringing the text to life! Even computer readers do better. Add to that the annoying way dates are mentioned, (23 May instead of 23rd of May) AND the extraordinary mispronunciation of the word "petrol", this is virtually unlistenable!!!

The perfect example I refer to, is how VITALLY important a good narrator is. End up with a lacklustre performer like this and you end up with a total waste of time.

A Perfect Example

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