Travel Stories - Russia

The van is full and we go in time - the route is boring - there are rows of trees on both sides of the road and behind flat agriculture land. I see cornfields and a slightly sloping landscape with here and there some houses, a farm, a dilapidated shed and some green bushes. Ideal country for a big tankbattle. When we stop at a bus station I can stretch my legs and talk to the driver again so he will not forget me - the Russians lit a cigarette. As we get closer in the bus, I see the first war memorial - obelisks, a tank and a memorial. Close to it sits an old woman with two buckets of fruit on the side of the road. After another stop, the driver calls me to the front and he point to the bus stop that is perpendicular to ours. When I want to get out suddenly the drivers asks for more money and I’ve got no idea why. For what? I do not have a big bag and I've paid already for Belgorod which is much further away, so what does he want? I tip on his shoulder, laugh my biggest laugh but the man is dead seriously. Then I wave goodbye, thank him and walk away - behind me I hear him grumble. It is only half past nine so I’ve got a lot of time left although I’ve got no idea how far I still have to go and if there’s some other means of transport is coming along to pick me up. On the corner of this field with junciton is a truck with a "katusja" rocket installation built on it and an old wooden mill.

It looks like there is not too much public transport here and see only a few old “lada” cars pass. Then I decide to get a hitch from here to Prokhoravka. In Russia you don’t use you’re tumb for hitchhiking but use you’re hand and move it upside down. The first car that passes stops immediately. Luck or something else? The door doesn’t open and the man on the driverseat comes out and asks where I want to go. His face changes immediately when he understand I’m foreigner. But I understand that he’s going the same way and I try to get in. The door almost comes out. I see absolutely nothing of all those gigantic big tank ditches, trenches and other things that were built to stop the Germans in the biggest tank battle of all time in WW2. It is a quiet area with wheat fields, other crops and here and there a few houses and some patches of forest. We pass the sign indicating that we are entering "Prokhorovka" and we pass big sugar factories. Fortunately, yesterday I wrote down the two sites that I would like to see in the city. I have also taken into account that I will soon have to open my notebook to show the pictures of the church and the battlefield that I want to see and visit. The man in the car growls when I give him the piece of paper. I think he knows where the church is. The town is an extensive area without cityheart or noteworthy things - all low-rise buildings and tufts of houses here and there. We drive past a parking lot full of T-34 tanks and a few artillery pieces - behind them is a museum and I assume that this is the museum I have found on the internet which is closed today. Although it seems much smaller. There is also a small white tower similar to the church that I want to visit later. When we stop in front of the church I immediately recognize it from yesterday; I want to give the man 100 rubles but the man does not want to know anything about it and I thank him for the lift.

I see the large tank museum next to the memorial church "St. Peter and Paul " which I wanted to visit but unfortunately this one is closed today. The museum is entirely dedicated to the great battle that took place here on 12 July 1943. There are, among other things, uniforms, handguns, documents and objects captured on the Germans.

Because I didn’t know where and when I would arrive somewhere I took some sandwiches with me; I take a seat on one of the benches around the “tower of Pisa” and take a bite. I look at the other monuments on the square and walk into the church which fortunately is open. This church was built after the war in memory of the Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for the Motherland during the tank battle. The names of 7,000 killed soldiers have become part of the interior of the church in a very special way. It is a strange phenomenon to see all those large marble plaques with names besides Biblical frescoes and a large golden altar as in many Russian Orthodox churches.  

After checking out the church and look at the remarkable monument of three or four tanks that crash which is been built in front of the museum. There are countless plaques with Russian script, but also many flowers and wreaths. I walk around the big museum and in the back is a part of a preserved mini-battlefield. Unfortunately, the modern building in which the museum is located is next to it, just like a busy road and some other buildings that are blocking the view. There are some (reconstructed) wooden trenches, there is a tank, an artillery piece, some rusty helmets and pieces of other weapons. In the wooden bunker I am shocked because there are two women inside harvesting something. It’s very hard to imagine a big battle took place here.