Abandoned Soviet KV-1 Heavy Tank in the River Shchara, Slonim, Belarus – July 1941

June 25, 2025 - Reading time: 4 minutes

A Soviet KV-1 heavy tank lies in the River Shchara after being abandoned by its crew during an attempted armored thrust through the town of Slonim. The tank slid off the riverbank and became immobilized. The crew survived and later fought with partisans.

July 1941. Slonim, Belarus.
The opening weeks of Operation Barbarossa are chaos incarnate — towns fall, bridges burn, and steel titans duel in the dust.

This haunting photo captures a Soviet KV-1 heavy tank half-submerged in the River Shchara, abandoned but not defeated. Its hulk rests near the western bank, telling the silent story of a failed breakthrough attempt by elements of the 6th Mechanized Corps of the Red Army.

But thanks to a rare first-hand account, the photo is more than metal and water.

“In the evening of July 1st,” recalled Sergeant N.Ya. Kulbitsky, “three of our tanks entered Slonim — one KV and two T-34s. The KV was mine. We met little resistance and pushed deep into town, reaching the bridge over the Shchara. One T-34 crossed safely. But just before the bridge, something went wrong. My KV veered sharply and slid off the steep embankment into the river. The engine died, and we knew we had to get out fast.”

Kulbitsky and his crew — Petruhin, Karabanov, and Ovseenko — escaped into the nearby bushes under enemy fire. Thanks to covering machine-gun fire from one of the remaining T-34s, the crew survived and later joined Soviet partisans operating in the area.

Unfortunately, the small armored spearhead couldn’t hold Slonim. One T-34 was destroyed in the city center; the other was ambushed on the Ruzhany highway.

The KV-1, with its 75mm armor and 76.2mm gun, was among the most powerful tanks of its time — capable of shrugging off most German anti-tank weapons in 1941. But it was also heavy, underpowered, and vulnerable to mechanical failure — especially during rushed advances across damaged infrastructure.

This photo freezes that brutal lesson in time — a powerful machine humbled not by enemy fire, but by a twist of terrain and fate.

📷 Technical photo data:
📸 Photographer: Unknown German war correspondent
📅 Date: July 1941
📍 Location: Slonim, Belarus, USSR