Mikhail Agibalov: The Heroic Feat of the 21st Tank Brigade in the Battle of Moscow

What makes this story unusual is that its subject performed the defining heroic act of his life after he had already been awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Pavlovich Agibalov received the title in the summer of 1939, during the war against Japan at Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia. 

 

There, as a company commander, he particularly distinguished himself in the battle near Mount Bain Tsagan on 5 July 1939. When his company’s tanks withdrew to the rear to replenish their fuel and ammunition, Agibalov’s BT-5 light tank remained alone to hold the positions captured the previous day. He repelled Japanese counter-attacks for an extended period. When Mikhail Pavlovich Agibalov’s tank began to run out of ammunition and the enemy closed in on the BT-5, the Hero of the Soviet Union hurled hand grenades at the Japanese troops. When these too were exhausted, Agibalov’s BT launched a counter-attack and crushed the Japanese infantry beneath its tracks until the main body of our forces arrived. 

 

Mikhail Agibalov was awarded not only the Gold Star and the Order of Lenin, but also the Mongolian Order of the Red Banner for Military Valour.

 

On 13 October 1941, as the Germans were driving towards Moscow, Captain Agibalov took command of one of the three battalions of the 21st Tank Brigade. To prevent the Germans from encircling Moscow further from the north, the brigade was tasked with carrying out a tank raid behind enemy lines in the Kalinin area. 

 

On 16 October, under cover of heavy snowfall, the 21st Tank Brigade advanced towards Kalinin, with Agibalov’s battalion in the vanguard. That evening, after defeating the German garrison, the brigade captured the village of Turginovo. The following day, the brigade split up. Agibalov’s group was assigned to attack the German garrison in the village of Pushkino. The appearance of Soviet tanks took the Germans completely by surprise. After swiftly defeating them, the battalion advanced towards Kalinin. During the march, it came under attack from enemy aircraft. After sheltering beneath the trees until the raid was over, Agibalov’s tanks continued their advance. Along the way, they fired on lorries carrying infantry, set fuel tankers ablaze and even damaged several aircraft at the airfields in Migalovo and Mamulino. Just ten kilometres short of Kalinin, Agibalov’s battalion came under heavy anti-tank artillery fire near the village of Naprudnoye. 

 

After breaking through the village, Agibalov’s T-34 emerged onto the Turginovo road, but was knocked out near the turning for Aksinkino. The wounded commander ordered his crew to abandon the tank and make their way back to Soviet lines. He removed the machine gun himself and, with a pile of spare drum magazines, took cover beneath the tank to provide covering fire for his comrades as they withdrew. 

 

 

Mikhail was killed, but his tank crew made it back to Soviet lines. As their commander, he had the right to order his subordinates to save his life. But Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Agibalov chose instead to exercise his right to save the lives of others.