That was the  very first surfacing of military vehicle in the Club’s history.

The tank sunk in July 1941 in the area of Senno-Lepel-Beshenkovichi during the counterattack of 5th Mechanised Corps of the Red Army. This was the battalion commander’s tank marked with white stripe on the turret.

Supposed circumstances were as follows: attacking along the road Lepel-Orsha, the crew recognized that there was a marsh in front of them and decided to pass it through with the highest possible speed. It was almost done: the crew needed another 100 meters to get ashore, but the tank came to the stream and sunk there. Crew members were forced to abandon their vehicle so fast, that they even left behind all their personal belongings.

Belorussian marsh kept the tank for 57 years and it was found by the Club members only on summer 1998. There was no possibility to come close to the tank during summer season - upper layer of the marsh consisted of sward, which was too thin to keep heavy trucks and other equipment.

The Technical Group could finally start its job on November, 4 when the marsh and surrounding area became frozen.

First of all an artificial wooden road was laid to the place and poured over with water for hardening. This ice-wooden road was hard enough for excavator to come to the spot to remove the upper level of wet soil. Then divers started their part of the job. In fact, the tank was located 3 meters below the surface.  All these activities took 15 days before first attempt to surface the BT-7. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful - some hooks were too rusted and they crashed. The tank fell down and sunk even deeper. Now it was 11 meters below. The weather became extremely frosty with the temperature down to -20° C. Divers again needed to go down in full darkness and search for another option to fix steel ropes on the vehicle. Second attempt was absolutely successful! BT-7 came out of the marsh, but not for a long time: it was necessary to move it in and out of the water every day because of very cold weather. Ice could really crash the engine and Club members were not in the position to allow this to happen. They cleaned and disarmed the tank during the day time and kept it under the water during the night. The ambient temperature came close to 0°C only on December, 30. Then the decision was made to finish the surfacing. The turret was turned 180° and the tank was moved to the hard earth together with the wooden framework which it was fixed on. The main job was done. In total it took 57 days.

3 men fulfilled this task using excavator, military type off-road truck and caterpillar truck.

The BT-7 tank was surfaced in a very good shape. Even the ignition key was still there. Of course, it helped a lot to the Restoration Group, but nevertheless full restoration took more then three years.

Currently, the BT-7 light tank participates in military parades dedicated to the most famous jubilees in our country.

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