This case was described in detail in his memoirs by Colonel Erhard Raus. It was his division that for two days fought with one single Soviet tank "Klim Voroshilov". The KV-1, weighing fifty tons, left 12 food trucks under its tracks, hurrying to the German locations from Reisenäi.
Having crushed the column under him, he dealt with the artillery with aimed shots. Of course, the Germans were not inactive either, but their efforts to “topple” the armored giant were unsuccessful. The anti-tank grenades did not leave even dents on the car. For this property, the Soviet tank KV-1 received the name “Ghost”. It should be noted that Klim Voroshilov's armor was able to withstand not only cannon shells, but also withstand an attack from 150 mm howitzers.
The Germans managed to immobilize the combat vehicle only by throwing a shell under the tracks. But even this did not stop the tank, which took a strategic position, blocking the only route to Raiseniai. For 48 hours the crew of "Klim Voroshilov" held back the advance of the German division, which was deprived of the opportunity to bypass it because of the swamps on the sides of the road.
Only towards the evening of the second day of incessant hostilities did Routh's soldiers manage to turn the situation in their direction. They opened fire on the tank from anti-aircraft guns. However, when the Germans approached the steel giant, its tower suddenly began to turn in their direction. Apparently, the crew of Klim Voroshilov was still alive and did not plan to surrender to the enemy, even despite the already desperate situation. The end of the battle came only when a grenade was thrown into the tank hatch.
Anna Ponomareva