“Four Tank Men and a Dog” really existed. Except that the tank was not “Rudy”, and the dog was not Szarik

Before the cult film was created, in 1963 Stefan Szlachtycz directed a television play based on a story by Major Janusz Przymanowski, who managed to win a script competition organized by TVP. – He talked about four tankers taking part in the Battle of Studzianki. This was the beginning of “Four Tank Men and a Dog”. They get hit, but their gun works, so when they get the chance, they shoot at the German tank, destroying it. They themselves die fifteen seconds later – after years of Szlachtycz. Before their death, the characters (an exile, a peasant, a nobleman and a Jew) recall their lives so far. The story became the beginning of a book, which in turn became the beginning of a series that went down in history. But the characters and events presented in “Czterech pancerni…”, a series still broadcast on television and available on TVP VOD, were based on real events.

Before the series “Four Tank Men and a Dog” was created, there was a book. It’s about a true story

It is about the Battle of Studzianki, which took place between August 9 and 16, 1944. During it, the Poles faced much larger German troops. Near the village of Studzianki in Mazovia, 86 tanks and 2,200 Polish and Soviet soldiers faced 230 units and over 40,000. soldiers from Germany. After dramatic fighting, the battle ended with the victory of the Polish-Soviet troops, even though they were smaller in number. And the fate and accounts of the soldiers fighting at Studzianki inspired Janusz Przymanowski to write the novel “”. – Having great material and hundreds of authentic tank adventures, I didn’t make anything up, but I could choose and transform freely – he said years later. But where do “Rudy 102” and the dog come from?

Tank 102 was real, but Szarik was Kulka. The radio operator “simply stole it”

She fought at Studzianki, among others. crew of tank No. 102 under the command of Lieutenant Wacław Feryniec. And although the tank was not called “Rudy”, a dog was a member of the crew. The real Sharik turned out to be… stolen. The crew took it in 1944 while in Ukraine.

While camping in the Kiwier forest, Feryniec and his soldiers often visited the local forester. There they noticed that his dog had three puppies

– Piotr Korczyński in the book “I survived the war… The last soldiers of fighting Poland”. One of the puppies, which looked like a small ball, particularly liked the radio operator from “one hundred and two”. So much so that during one of his visits he decided to simply take the animal. “He just stole it,” but the forester wasn’t happy about it at first. And so the dog, Kulka, joined the crew of tank number 102. However, it is not known whether, just like in the series, he took part in the mentioned battle.