Abstract: The work is devoted to the study of narrative sources about the battles of the 108th tank division of the Red Army west of Trubchevsk on August 30 – 31, 1941. Central attention is paid to the memoirs of the famous Russian weapons designer M. T. Kalashnikov, who took part in this battle as part of the 216th tank regiment.
In the work, fragments of M. T. Kalashnikov's memoirs, as well as memories of other participants in the events, on the one hand, and documentary sources, on the other, are subjected to comparative analysis.
For example, among the documentary evidence one can name the log of combat operations of the 108th tank division, reports of its headquarters from September 4 and 6, 1941. Among the narrative evidence, the most important are the memoirs of L. G. Katz, an ordinary tankman of the 216th tank regiment, and the future general of tank forces, Soviet Union Hero I. N. Shkadov, in 1941 – chief of reconnaissance of the regiment. In addition, a number of memories of front-line correspondents are used.
The author comes to the conclusion that, despite the fact that from a chronological point of view, M. T. Kalashnikov’s memoirs are completely unreliable, in detail they quite accurately reflect the reconstructed events of August 30-31. In particular, almost any specific combat episode of these memoirs can be compared with any specific message in the documents. In addition, the designer’s memories practically do not contradict the memoirs of other participants in the events.
Moreover, as the experience of comparing narrative monuments has shown, M. T. Kalashnikov’s memoirs are the most voluminous and detailed among them. It should be recognized that no scientific reconstruction of the battles of the 108th Panzer Division is possible without taking into account this monument.