Archival November 1942 photograph by Leonid Leonidov showing Soviet combat engineer Nikolai Zakharov dragging a disarmed German Tellermine 35 anti-tank mine during mine-clearing operations on the Don Front near Stalingrad.
Soviet Combat Engineers Clearing German Minefields at Stalingrad (November 1942)
This historic photograph from November 1942, taken by renowned Soviet war correspondent Leonid Leonidov, captures Soviet combat engineers clearing German anti-tank minefields along the frontline in the Stalingrad sector. Featured in the foreground is Junior Sergeant Nikolai Tikhonovich Zakharov (born 1922), squad leader in the 14th Separate Guards Battalion of Miners, 24th Army, Don Front.
The staged yet highly detailed composition depicts Zakharov carefully neutralizing and removing a captured German Tellermine 35 (T.Mi.35) anti-tank mine extracted from Wehrmacht defensive trenches during the encirclement phase of the Battle of Stalingrad (Operation Uranus).
Technical Analysis and Equipment Details
The photograph offers an exceptional close-up view of WWII combat engineering gear and weapons:
- German Tellermine 35 (T.Mi.35): Prominently displayed in the foreground is the metal-cased T.Mi.35 anti-tank blast mine filled with 5.5 kg of TNT. The central pressure fuze (T.Mi.Z.35) is clearly visible on the top pressure plate.
- Small Arms (PPSh-41): Resting beside the engineer is a 7.62mm PPSh-41 submachine gun fitted with a 71-round drum magazine, providing essential close-range firepower for sappers operating near enemy positions.
- Combat Engineer Tactics: Visible in the background are squad members crawling across the snow-covered terrain, using mine probes (shchup) and metal detectors to locate hidden ordnance before offensive thrusts.
- Archival Sources: The photograph was widely published in Soviet wartime press, including the Buryat-Mongolskya Pravda newspaper (issue No. 285, December 3, 1942), and is preserved in the State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation (Goskatalog) and the Memory of the People database (Pamyat Naroda).
Combat Engineers on the Don Front
During the November 1942 counteroffensive, specialized Red Army engineer units breached dense German minefields surrounding Stalingrad, creating clear lanes for advancing Soviet tank corps and infantry divisions to close the pocket around the German 6th Army.
📍 Location: Stalingrad area, Russian SFSR, USSR
📅 Date: November 1942
📷 Photographer: Leonid Leonidov (Soviet War Correspondent / RIA Novosti Archive)
📰 Primary Source: Goskatalog.ru / Pamyat-Naroda.ru / Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense (CAMD)
Recommended reading:
- Ordnance analysis: Design and fuze mechanisms of the German Tellermine 35 (T.Mi.35)
- Tactical role: Red Army Guards combat engineer units on the Don Front (1942)
- Offensive breakthroughs: Sapper operations during Operation Uranus at Stalingrad
- Small arms overview: The PPSh-41 submachine gun in frontline assault units