Of course, the incident that occurred at the front in the summer of 1941 can hardly be called a tank duel, since only one tank participated in it, but this incident can be safely called the most unusual battle involving an infantryman. There is nothing surprising in this, because the Soviet soldier alone with an ax won the battle against the German tank Pz.38 (t), capturing the crew of an enemy vehicle consisting of four people. The feat of the Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda was very widely popularized during the Great Patriotic War, it was even reflected on Soviet propaganda posters of those years. In the future, this led to the fact that many began to believe that the cook and the whole story with a tank, an ax and captured Nazis was a myth, but the reality of Ivan Sereda and his feat was documented.
Many are familiar with the classic Russian fairy tale, in which a clever soldier managed to cook porridge from an ax. In this tale, the soldier was able to provide himself with lunch thanks to his ingenuity and an ax. In the story that took place in August 1941, ingenuity and an ax also played a major role and, as in the well-known Russian fairy tale, porridge was also present in it.
But back to the very beginning of this amazing story. Its main character was Ivan Pavlovich Sereda. He was born on July 1, 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovka, which is now part of the city of Kramatorsk, into an ordinary family of Ukrainian peasants. At some point, his family moved to the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky district, Donetsk region. Since childhood, Ivan Sereda loved not only to eat delicious food, but also to cook. It was for this reason that after graduating from school, he entered the Donetsk Food College, which he managed to graduate before he was drafted into the army.
He was drafted into the Red Army in November 1939. Due to his main profession and love of cooking, he served as a cook in the 91st tank regiment of the 46th tank division of the 21st mechanized corps. With this corps, the Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. This mechanized corps was part of the units of the North-Western Front.
It was the second week of the war, at that time the 21st mechanized corps, which at that moment was commanded by Major General Lelyushenko, after an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Dvinsk (Daugavpils) from the Germans, took up defenses east of the city, putting its units in order and, without giving 56 Manstein's th corps to break through the defense front and enter the operational space. While the Red Army fought heavy and generally unsuccessful battles for itself, Ivan Sereda also rushed to the front line, but he was left in the kitchen. Since everyone could shoot from a rifle, but few could feed a fighter.
The famous story of the capture of the German tank Pz.38(t) and its crew took place on June 30, 1941 near Dvinsk. Light tanks Pz.38(t) of the German-Czech production could be called one of the best light tanks of the beginning of World War II. The Germans gained access to Czechoslovak equipment, including this tank, as a result of the occupation of Czechoslovakia. This Czech tank was distinguished by a balanced set of characteristics: armor, speed, armament. At the initial stage of the war, its 37-mm gun was enough to deal with many enemy armored targets. And the 125 hp engine installed on the tank. allowed a combat vehicle weighing almost 10 tons to reach speeds of up to 48 km / h. By the beginning of June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht was armed with approximately 600 tanks of this type, 5 German tank divisions were armed with them. One of these divisions - the 8th Panzer - was part of the 4th Göpner Panzer Group (Army Group North), which operated against the formations of the North-Western Front.
It was with a tank from the German 8th Panzer Division that the Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda, who at that time worked in his kitchen, encountered on June 30, 1941. The field kitchen of the battalion, where Sereda was cooking at that moment, was located in a small forest. It housed the entire economic platoon. Suddenly, a liaison from the battalion commander ran to the position, who spoke about a new German attack and the threat of encirclement. He ordered the economic platoon to move to the front line to help hold the front, while it was decided to leave the cook alone in the kitchen. From Ivan Sereda there was only a carbine and an ax, which seemed to be poor helpers in the fight against a formidable armored vehicle. However, when German tanks appeared at the positions of the economic platoon, he did not lose his head and did not run.
Before that, he had already managed to unharness all the horses and take them away into the forest. He himself decided to hide behind the field kitchen, deciding that the German tanks would pass by without paying attention to her. One of the tanks really drove somewhere further, and the second went directly to the field kitchen. Psychology played a big role in what happened next. The crew of a German tank at the sight of a trophy in the form of a field kitchen and a ready-made dinner cheered up and relaxed. From the tank turret, the head of a German appeared, who laughed contentedly and said something to his comrades who were inside the tank.
It was then that Ivan Sereda was literally seized with rage. He cooked porridge for his soldiers, and not for some fascist tankers. A moment later, he suddenly jumped out from behind the kitchen with an ax in his hands. The German tanker, seeing that a Russian soldier with an ax was running at him, quickly dived into the hatch. A machine gun fired from the tank, but Sereda did not fall into his firing zone. With several blows of the ax, the Red Army soldier bent the barrel of the machine gun, after which he used the tarpaulin, which the Germans prudently fixed on the armor of their tank. He used a tarpaulin to close the viewing slots and deprive the German tankers of the view. Courage, as you know, takes cities, and here there was only one tank. The cook literally saddled the enemy car and furiously thrashed the hatches with an ax, giving commands to his non-existent comrades at this time. Stunned by such pressure, the German tankers, who could not observe what was happening around the tank, were clearly at a loss. How many Red Army soldiers surrounded the tank, they did not know, and the furious blows of the ax on the armor did not improve their well-being.
When other Red Army soldiers came running to the rescue, attracted to the positions of the kitchen by a loud noise, four tied German tankers were already sitting on the ground near the Pz.38 (t) tank. Sereda remembered that he also had a carbine only when the Germans began to get out of the tank to surrender. Now they were tied up, and Sereda held them at gunpoint. According to the commander of the 21st mechanized corps, Major General Lelyushenko, Ivan Sereda showed an exceptional example of heroism with his brave act.
Having learned about the heroism of the cook, the commander of the reconnaissance unit offered Sereda to become a scout, and in just a few days he was able to prove his heroism again. Being on reconnaissance behind enemy lines, a group of Red Army soldiers attacked the Germans, took three prisoners, captured motorcycles and other trophies, successfully returning to the location of their troops. In July and August 1941, Ivan Sereda was wounded (the second time - seriously). And on August 31, 1941, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 507).
He received his award in a solemn atmosphere in October 1941, while on the same North-Western Front. According to the memoirs of fellow soldier Sereda V. Bezvitelnov, the cook's ax was kept in the unit as a valuable military relic. Ivan Sereda went through the entire Great Patriotic War from the first to the last day, took part in the defense of Leningrad and Moscow. During the war years he became an officer, graduating with the rank of senior lieutenant of the guard. In this rank, in 1945, he was transferred to the reserve. After the war, he worked as the chairman of the village council in the village of Aleksandrovka, Donetsk region. Unfortunately, his post-war life was short-lived, he died at the age of 31 on November 18, 1950. Most likely, his combat wounds affected.
Presentation of the Gold Star medal to I. P. Sereda, Northwestern Front (October 1941)
The memory of the hero was immortalized in Daugavpils, where a street was named after him and a memorial plaque was erected. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the street was renamed and the plaque was removed. In addition, a street in the city of Beltsy (Moldova) was named after him, as well as in the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky district, Donetsk region, in the same village an obelisk was erected to him.
Sources of information:
http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=5612
http://www.aif.ru/society/history/desert_iz_topora_kak_kashevar_sereda_vzyal_v_plen_nemeckiy_tank
http://42.tut.by/447333
http://www.opoccuu.com/s-toporom-protiv-tanka.htm
Today, July 1, marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of one of the forgotten Russian heroes - a native of Kramatorsk Ivan Pavlovich Sereda - a cook who managed to neutralize a Nazi tank and capture its crew with an ax and a piece of canvas.
Ivan Sereda was born on July 1, 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovka (now part of the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region) into a peasant family. Having spent his childhood and youth in the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky District, Ivan graduated from the local food technical school and in 1939 was drafted into the Red Army. He was assigned to the 91st tank regiment of the 46th tank division of the 21st mechanized corps of the North-Western Front, but not as a tanker, but as a cook. However, it was he, the regimental cook, who in the first months of the Great Patriotic War had the opportunity to accomplish a heroic deed, striking his contemporaries with resourcefulness and courage.
On one of the August days of 1941, Ivan Sereda was doing his usual thing - he was preparing dinner for the Red Army soldiers who were stationed in the Dvinsk (Daugavpils) region. The commander led the fighters to carry out a combat mission, ordering Ivan to provide security and food for the personnel. Suddenly, a German tank appeared before his eyes, moving towards the field kitchen. Having at his disposal only a carbine and an ax, with which there was no way to stop the enemy car, Sereda hid behind the kitchen and began to watch the enemy.
Fellow soldier Ivan Sereda V. Bezvitelnov later said: “Three fascist tanks are crawling from the road in his direction. And where did they come from? There is no time to think - it is necessary to save the good. But how to save if there are already two hundred meters left to the front tank? Ivan quickly unharnessed the horses and directed them to the fishing line that was nearby, and he himself hid behind the field kitchen - maybe the Fritz would not notice. Maybe the number would have passed, but one tank had gone straight to the kitchen and rolled out. He stopped nearby, huge with white crosses. The tankers noticed the kitchen and were delighted. They decided that the Russians had abandoned her. The hatch cover opened and the tanker leaned out. Healthy, red. He turned his head and how he cackled triumphantly. Here Ivan could not stand it, where did the fear go. He grabbed an ax that fell under his arm and jumped on the tank. The redhead, as he saw him, jumped into the hatch and slammed the lid. And Ivan is already knocking on the armor with an ax: “Hyundai hoch, Hansiki! Fly in guys, surround, destroy the Fritz” ”.
Climbing onto the armor, Ivan Sereda bent the barrel of an enemy machine gun with ax blows, from which the Germans began to shoot back from an invisible enemy, and then closed the viewing slots of the tank with a piece of tarpaulin, thereby depriving the enemy of the opportunity to observe. Taking advantage of the fact that the crew of the tank was stunned by surprise, the Russian cook began to clobber the armor with the butt of an ax, while giving orders to the Red Army men who allegedly pulled themselves up behind him to throw grenades at the enemy vehicle.
“I don’t know what the Germans thought,” said his fellow soldier. - As soon as the hatch opens, and with raised hands, the old familiar red-haired bruiser is shown. Ivan Sereda remembered here about the carbine behind his back, instantly sent it to the fascist. And then the second tanker climbs, the third. Ivan yells even louder, commands non-existent fighters to "surround" and "keep the Fritz at gunpoint." And he himself lined up the prisoners near the kitchen, forced each other's hands to tie..
What was the surprise of our fighters from the rifle division who arrived in time for the breakthrough of the German tank when they saw the neutralized tank and the associated crew! “Laughter was to tears! - said V. Bezvitelnov. “Only the Germans stood gloomy, not understanding anything.” For this feat, the Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on August 31, 1941, which was so rare in the most difficult initial period of the war. And the ax with which Ivan neutralized an enemy tank was kept in the unit as a military relic.
But the exploits of the brave fighter did not end there. Later, the hero-cook was transferred to reconnaissance, where he also distinguished himself by knocking out an enemy tank with a bunch of grenades and, replacing the killed machine gunner, destroyed more than 10 German motorcyclists with well-aimed fire. Having repulsed with his group from the pressing Nazis, Ivan Sereda safely returned to the location of the unit with trophies and three prisoners.
In 1942, Sereda completed advanced training courses for command personnel, and in 1944, the Novocherkassk Cavalry School. Having gone through the entire Great Patriotic War to the end, I. Sereda in 1945, with the rank of senior lieutenant, went into reserve. But civilian peaceful life turned out to be short-lived for him, having worked for five years as the chairman of the village council in the village of Aleksandrovka, Ivan Pavlovich Sereda died at the age of 32 on November 8, 1950. Streets in the city of Daugavpils and in the village of Galitsinovka were named after the hero.
Prepared Andrey IvanovWITH hereda Ivan Pavlovich - cook of the 91st tank regiment of the 46th tank division of the 21st mechanized corps of the North-Western Front, Red Army soldier.
Born on July 1, 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovka, now the administration of the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region of Ukraine, in a peasant family. Lived in the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky district, Donetsk region of Ukraine. Ukrainian. Graduated from the Donetsk Food Training Plant.
In the Red Army since 1939. Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941.
The cook of the 91st Tank Regiment (46th Tank Division, 21st Mechanized Corps, Northwestern Front), Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda distinguished himself in August 1941 near the city of Dvinsk (Daugavpils, Latvia). He was preparing dinner in the woods when he heard the roar of a Nazi tank engine. Armed with a rifle and an ax, he crept up to a stopped Nazi tank, jumped onto the armor and with all his might slashed the machine gun barrel with an ax. Following this, he threw a piece of tarpaulin onto the viewing slot and drummed the butt on the armor, loudly ordering the imaginary fighters to prepare grenades for battle. When the soldiers of the infantry unit came running to the rescue. 4 enemy tankers who had surrendered were already on the ground.
Being with a group of fighters in reconnaissance behind enemy lines, when the Nazis discovered Soviet observers and tried to capture them, the Red Army soldier Sereda crawled up to a German tank with a bunch of grenades and blew it up. Then he replaced the killed machine gunner and with well-aimed fire destroyed more than ten fascist motorcyclists. The group fought off the attacking Nazis and returned to their unit with trophies and 3 prisoners.
At By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 31, 1941, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, the Red Army soldier Sereda Ivan Pavlovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 507).
In 1942, the brave warrior graduated from advanced training courses for command personnel, and in 1944, the Novocherkassk Cavalry School.
Since 1945, Senior Lieutenant Sereda I.P. - in reserve. He worked as the chairman of the Oleksandrovsky village council of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. He died untimely on November 18, 1950 at the age of 32.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, and medals.
Streets in the city of Daugavpils and in the village of Galitsinovka are named after the Hero. In memory of the glorious son of the Ukrainian people, Ivan Sereda, a memorial plaque was installed on the street in the city of Daugavpils and an obelisk in Galitsinovka.
A detailed description of the feat is provided by Kirill Osovik
The heroic feat that he accomplished is unprecedented and unique in the history of the Great Patriotic War.
It was hot August 1941. Our troops stubbornly fought off the fierce onslaught of the Nazi hordes in the Dvinsk region of the Latvian SSR. Ivan Sereda was then a cook.
Settling down with his kitchen in a hollow overgrown with woods, he prepared dinner for the warriors who defended the approaches to the city, and listened to the sounds of battle. It seemed to him that the situation on the front line seemed to be “not hot”, in an hour it would be possible to feed friends with delicious soup.
I was just dreaming, and suddenly, not far away, I heard the hum of an engine. Ivan looked out from behind a bush and could not believe his eyes - a tank with a fascist cross was crawling along a country road. The cook's heart trembled: “Trouble. Right there, almost next to the headquarters, - a thought flashed. And after it another, resolute: - To act. Don't let the enemy go!"
Mechanically seizing a rifle and ... an ax, Sereda, running from tree to tree, rushed across the steel colossus. I wanted to shoot, but decided that it was useless. And at the same moment (“Where did the dexterity come from,” he said after) jumped onto the tank. Then everything happened, obviously, also mechanically. He grabbed a heavy ax from his belt and, swinging, slashed at the barrel of a machine gun with all his might. Following this, he threw a piece of tarpaulin onto the viewing slot and drummed the butt on the armor.
His blows thundered like exploding shells. Hitler's soldiers were confused. The car whined.
Hyundai ho! Kaput! - Sereda shouted and began to give imaginary commands loudly: - Prepare grenades. Weapon for battle!
Soon the hatch opened and two hands stretched out of it.
Get out, get out! Sereda commanded, holding his rifle at the ready.
When the fighters came running to help, four enemy tankers who had surrendered were already standing on the ground and looked around with fear.
There were a lot of good jokes, joy and fervent laughter on that difficult day. Sereda managed to become famous for his courage, and he managed to feed his friends with a hearty lunch and dinner.
After some time, Ivan had a chance with a group of fighters to visit reconnaissance behind enemy lines. And there he again showed fearlessness, high military dexterity. When the Nazis discovered the Soviet observers and tried to capture them, Ivan Sereda crawled up to the German tank with a bunch of grenades and blew it up. Then he replaced the killed machine gunner and mowed down about ten motorcyclists with well-aimed fire. The group fought off the advancing Nazis and returned to their unit with trophies and three prisoners.
On the proposal of the command of the North-Western Front, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 31, 1941, I.P. Sereda was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his military exploits.
From the front, Ivan Pavlovich returned to his native village with the rank of senior lieutenant of the guard with many orders and medals on his chest. For a long time he was the chairman of the Aleksandrovskiy Village Council of Workers' Deputies. In 1950 I.P. Wednesday is dead.
The more thoroughly I study the history of the Great Patriotic War, the more I truly understand at what enormous cost and dedication of every Soviet person this Great Victory was won.
On June 30, 1941, Corporal Ivan Sereda, armed with only one ax, defeated a German tank and forcedhis crewto surrender.
It was the second week of the war. The 21st mechanized corps of Major General Lelyushenko, which was part of the North-Western Front, after an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Dvinsk occupied by the enemy, firmly held defensive positions east of the city, preventing Manstein's 56th corps from breaking through the front and breaking out into operational space.
On June 30, 1941, the cook of the 91st Tank Regiment of the 46th Tank Division, Corporal Ivan Pavlovich Sereda, was preparing dinner.
Ivan Pavlovich Sereda was born on July 1, 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovka in the Donetsk region. In 1939, he graduated from the Donetsk Food Training Plant, and when in September 39 he was drafted into the Red Army, he was immediately assigned as a cook according to his specialty.
At the kitchen at that hour he was alone - the command had to involve the entire personnel of the household platoon in the battle that was going on nearby.
Seeing the armored monster, Sereda at first decided to bury himself in the woods, but when the tank drove up directly to the field kitchen, and the impudent red face of a German non-commissioned officer leaned out of the hatch, greedily licking his lips at the bubbling cauldron, Sereda took such anger that he, having lost the remnants of fear of vaunted German technology, rushed to the tank with an ax.
Oshalev from such impudence, the non-commissioned officer dived into the hatch and closed it from the inside. With an ax blow, Sereda bent the machine-gun barrel, and then, covering the viewing slots with a tarpaulin, prudently fixed on the armor by the Germans, began to drum on the tank hatches with a butt. When the soldiers of the neighboring unit, attracted by the noise, came running to the rescue, four German tankers who had surrendered were already lying on the ground, whom Sereda kept under the machine gun - to save space in the tank, regular MP-40s were also mounted on the outside on the armor, and inside the tankers had only one Parabellum of the crew commander.
From the memoirs of fellow soldier Ivan Sereda V. Bezvitelnov:
"
It was at the beginning of the war. German then huge forces lane. Our retreated. The fighting was fiercest. The battalion, in which Corporal Ivan Sereda served as a cook, fought then in the Baltic. Well fought. The Nazis missed many, but our battalion also suffered losses.
On that day, the Germans fell especially hard, tanks and self-propelled guns pulled up. There was a threat of encirclement. A liaison officer ran to the economic platoon, which was stationed in a hollow, and transmitted the order of the battalion commander to advance to combat positions and repulse the attack on the left flank. The platoon commander led the fighters to carry out a combat mission, ordering Ivan to provide security and food for the personnel.
Ivan cooks porridge, listens to distant shooting. I would like to help my comrades, but the order in war is the law. Ivan Sereda became completely sad, he began to remember his native places: his parents, the house on the banks of the Amur, school, his long-haired love ...
And then something pushed him to the side. Looked back and froze. Three fascist tanks are crawling from the road in his direction. And where did they come from? There is no time to think - it is necessary to save the good. But how to save if there are already two hundred meters left to the front tank? Ivan quickly unharnessed the horses and directed them to the fishing line that was nearby, and he himself hid behind the field kitchen - maybe the Fritz would not notice.
Maybe the number would have passed, but one tank had gone straight to the kitchen and rolled out. He stopped nearby, huge with white crosses. The tankers noticed the kitchen and were delighted. They decided that the Russians had abandoned her. The hatch cover opened and the tanker leaned out. Healthy, red. He turned his head and how he cackled triumphantly. Here Ivan could not stand it, where did the fear go.
He grabbed an ax that fell under his arm and jumped on the tank. The redhead, as he saw him, jumped into the hatch and slammed the lid. And Ivan is already knocking on the armor with an ax: “Hyundai hoch, hansiki! Fly in guys, surround, destroy the Fritz. The Germans began to shoot, and Ivan, without thinking twice, bent the trunk with an ax - there is no reception against scrap. And so that the Fritz would not especially swagger, he closed the viewing slot with his dressing gown.
Shouts: "Hitler kaput, surround them, guys ..." With an ax, like a sledgehammer, he wields armor. I don't know what the Germans thought. As soon as the hatch opens, and with raised hands, the old familiar red-haired big man shows up. Ivan Sereda remembered here about the carbine behind his back, instantly sent it to the fascist. And then the second tanker climbs, the third. Ivan yells even louder, commands non-existent fighters to "surround" and "keep the Fritz at gunpoint." And he himself lined up the prisoners near the kitchen, forced each other's hands to be tied.
When, after completing a combat mission, the soldiers of his platoon returned and saw a German tank next to the kitchen, captured Nazis and Ivan Sereda with a carbine at the ready, they did not believe their eyes. Laughter was to tears! Only the Germans stood gloomy, not understanding anything.
Guard Corporal Ivan Sereda became a Hero of the Soviet Union, and his ax was kept in the unit as a military relic. In war it is like this: the chest in crosses or the head in the bushes.
Having learned about the heroism of the corporal-cook, the commander of the reconnaissance unit offered Sereda to become a scout, and literally a few days later Sereda again had to show heroism.
Being in reconnaissance behind enemy lines, a group of our scouts, which included Ivan Sereda, was discovered by the enemy and attacked.
Corporal Sereda with a bunch of RGD-33 grenades crawled up to a German tank and blew it up. Then he replaced the killed machine gunner and with well-aimed fire from the DP-27 destroyed about a dozen German motorcyclists. The reconnaissance group fended off the persecution and returned to their unit on captured BMW R75 motorcycles, bringing with them rich trophies and bringing three prisoners.
Ivan Pavlovich Sereda(1919-1950) - Soviet officer, participant in the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1941). Guards senior lieutenant of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
In August 1941, the cook of the 91st tank regiment of the 46th tank division of the 21st mechanized corps, Red Army soldier I.P. Sereda, especially distinguished himself in the Daugavpils region (now Latvia). Armed only with a rifle and an ax, he disarmed a German tank that drove up to the Soviet field kitchen and captured four tankers.
After being transferred to the reserve in 1945, he lived in the village of Aleksandrovka, Donetsk region, and worked as chairman of the village council.
Born on July 1, 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovka, now part of the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine, into a peasant family. Ukrainian. Together with his family, he moved to the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky district, Donetsk region. Graduated from Donetsk Food College.
In November 1939, Ivan Sereda was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army (Snezhnyansky RVC of the Stalin region of the Ukrainian SSR). He served as a cook in the 91st tank regiment of the 46th tank division of the 21st mechanized corps. Red Army soldier I. P. Sereda on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941.
In August 1941, near the city of Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), he cooked dinner for the Red Army. At this time, he saw a German tank moving towards the field kitchen. Being armed only with a rifle and an ax, Ivan Sereda took cover behind the kitchen, and the tank, having driven up to the kitchen, stopped and the crew began to get out of it.
At that moment, Ivan Sereda jumped out from behind the kitchen and rushed to the tank. The crew immediately took cover in the tank, and Ivan Sereda jumped onto the armor. When the tankers opened fire from a machine gun, Ivan Sereda bent the machine gun barrel with ax blows, and then closed the viewing slots of the tank with a piece of tarpaulin. Then he began to knock on the armor with the butt of an ax, while giving orders to the Red Army soldiers, who were not around, to throw grenades at the tank. The crew of the tank surrendered, and Ivan Sereda, at gunpoint, forced them to tie each other's hands. When the fighters of the infantry unit arrived, they saw a tank and four German tankers tied up. According to the commander of the 21st mechanized corps, Major General D. D. Lelyushenko, "by his brave deed he showed an exceptional example of heroism."
Later, the Red Army soldier I.P. Sereda distinguished himself in reconnaissance behind enemy lines, when German soldiers discovered Soviet observers and tried to capture them, he crawled up to a German tank and blew it up with a bunch of grenades. Then he replaced the killed machine gunner and with well-aimed fire destroyed more than ten German motorcyclists. The reconnaissance group fought off the pressing German soldiers and returned to their unit with trophies and 3 prisoners.
In July and August 1941 he was wounded (the second time - seriously).
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 31, 1941, "for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time," Red Army soldier Sereda Ivan Pavlovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold medal. Star" (No. 507).
The award to I.P. Sereda was solemnly presented in October 1941 on the North-Western Front. According to the memoirs of fellow soldier I.P. Sereda V. Bezvitelnov, his ax was kept in the unit as a military relic. The feat of Ivan Sereda was widely popularized during the war years, and was reflected on Soviet propaganda posters. Subsequently, this led to the fact that many began to believe that the "chef Sereda" is a myth, but the reality of Ivan Sereda and his exploits are documented.
From October 10 to November 23, 1941, I. P. Sereda commanded a platoon of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 46th Infantry Division of the 1st Shock Army, and participated in the defense of Leningrad. Then, from November 27 to January 5, 1942, he took part in the battle for Moscow, commanded a company of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 185th Infantry Division of the 30th Army.
In February 1942 he was seriously wounded. In 1942, I.P. Sereda graduated from the advanced training courses for command personnel, and in 1944, the Novocherkassk Cavalry School. Guards Senior Lieutenant I.P. Sereda served as assistant chief of food and economic allowances of the 8th Guards Cavalry Regiment of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division.
In the period from April 14 to May 3, 1945, despite the separation of cavalrymen from supply bases and the complexity of the combat situation, it reliably provided personnel with food and ammunition. This allowed the regiment to successfully fight, which was noted by the regiment commander: on May 21, 1945, I.P. Sereda was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.
In 1945, with the rank of senior lieutenant, he was transferred to the reserve. He worked as the chairman of the village council in the village of Aleksandrovka, Donetsk region.
Soviet state awards and titles:
In the city of Daugavpils, streets were named after him and a memorial plaque was installed (but after the collapse of the USSR, the street was renamed and the plaque was removed). Also, streets in the city of Balti (now the Republic of Moldova) and in the village of Galitsinovka, Maryinsky district, Donetsk region, are named after him, where an obelisk was erected to him.
