Memorial - T-34 Tank - Balti

The tank crews of the 3rd and 16th Tank Corps and the 15th and 57th Motorized Rifle Brigades, which were part of these corps, played a decisive role in liberating the city of Bălți from the German-Nazi invaders. The tank crew of Captain F.T. Dankov (in some sources, Donkov) distinguished itself in the battles for Beltsy. The numbers 720 on the tank turret mean: 7 – belonging to the 107th Guards Tank Brigade, 2 – the company number, and 0 – the company commander's tank. Two Heroes of the Soviet Union fought on the tank with this side number: Captain Fyodor Dankov, commander of a tank company in the 2nd Tank Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and Senior Sergeant Boris Makeev, a mechanic-driver. It is believed that tank No. 720 was the first to break into Bălți on March 26, 1944. In 1972, Boris Makeev was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Bălți. In the 1960s, Red Pathfinders studying the history of the city's liberation wrote a letter to the Minister of Defense of the USSR requesting that a tank be allocated for a monument from the arsenal of military equipment from the war years. The tank was provided. Builders erected a pedestal, and on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Army, on February 23, 1968, the monument was solemnly unveiled. Since then, for most residents of Beltsy, this monument has been a symbol of the liberation of their hometown. On holidays, flowers are laid at the monument, and an “eternal flame” burns in memory of the fallen soldiers.