''Four Tank-Men and a Dog'' (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
: ''Czterej pancerni i pies'', ) was a Polish
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
based on the book by
Janusz Przymanowski
Janusz Przymanowski (1922–1998) was a Polish translator. He wrote the novel '' Four Tank-Men and a Dog''.
1922 births
1998 deaths
Polish United Workers' Party members
Polish Workers' Party politicians
Polish people of World War II
Poli ...
. Made between 1966 and 1970, the series is composed of 21 episodes of 55 minutes each, divided into three seasons. It is set in 1944 and 1945, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and follows the adventures of a tank crew and their
T-34
The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, anti-tan ...
tank in the
1st Polish Army. The book and TV series have achieved and retain a
cult series
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
status in Poland, the former Soviet Union and other
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
countries.
The T-34-85 tank ''Rudy'' (
Ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
) with the identifying number "102", a
German Shepherd dog
The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899.
It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...
from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
''Szarik'' (pronounced "Sharik" - little
ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
in Russian, a nickname in the vein of "furball"; in Polish, the word is similar to Szary meaning
gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
and szalik meaning
scarf
A scarf, plural ''scarves'', is a piece of fabric worn around the neck or head for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, religious reasons, or used to show the support for a sports club or team. They can be made in a variety of diff ...
) and to a lesser extent the crew Jan Kos, Gustaw Jeleń, Grigorij Saakaszwili, Tomasz Czereśniak, and their commander and mentor Olgierd Jarosz, as well as other heroes of the series, have become icons in Polish
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
.
History
The first episode of the series was aired on
TVP on 25 September 1966. It was in TVP from 1966, 1969, and 1970, though it had multiple reruns on other channels.
The first series was based on
Janusz Przymanowski
Janusz Przymanowski (1922–1998) was a Polish translator. He wrote the novel '' Four Tank-Men and a Dog''.
1922 births
1998 deaths
Polish United Workers' Party members
Polish Workers' Party politicians
Polish people of World War II
Poli ...
's book ''Four Tank-Men and a Dog''. After the first airing of the show, it rose in popularity quickly, leading to Janusz writing two other volumes of the book.
The next two volumes of the book were adapted into the second season (1969) and the third (1970).
Characters
The crew
*''Olgierd Jarosz'', "''Olgierd''", a tank commander, played by
Roman Wilhelmi
Roman Zdzisław Wilhelmi (June 6, 1936 in Poznań – November 3, 1991 in Warsaw) was a Polish theatre and film actor, notable for his roles in two of the most popular Polish television series of the 1980s.
In 1958, he graduated from the Natio ...
.
*''Gustaw Jeleń'', "''Gustlik''", a loader, played by
Franciszek Pieczka
Franciszek Maksymilian Pieczka (18 January 1928 – 23 September 2022) was a Polish actor. A graduate of the National Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw (1954), he first made his debut in the theatre in Jelenia Góra. He won the award for Best ...
.
*''Jan Kos'', "''Janek''", a gunner/radio operator, later the second commander, played by
Janusz Gajos
Janusz Gajos (; born 23 September 1939) is a Polish film, television and theatre actor as well as pedagogue and photographer. Professor of Theatre Arts and an Honorary Doctor of the National Film School in Łódź, he is considered one of the gr ...
.
*''Grigorij Saakaszwili'', "''Grześ''", a driver. Native
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, played by
Włodzimierz Press.
*''Tomasz Czereśniak'', "''Tomuś''" / ''Tomek''", a second gunner, played by
Wiesław Gołas
Wiesław Ryszard Gołas (Polish: vʲε.swav 'gɔ.was 9 October 1930 – 9 September 2021) was a Polish actor and Armia Krajowa soldier. He was cast in the role of Tomasz Czereśniak in ''Czterej pancerni i pies'' (Polish: ''Four tank men a ...
.
*''Szarik'', "''Kuleczka''", the dog mentioned in the title of the series.
* ''Franek Wichura'', a truck driver, played by
Witold Pyrkosz
Witold Pyrkosz (24 December 1926 – 22 April 2017) was a Polish actor.
He was best known as Lucjan Mostowiak in Polish TV series " M jak miłość", as Pyzdra in " Janosik", as Wichura in "Czterej pancerni i pies", as Balcerek in "Alternaty ...
. His surname means "gale", which is a relation to his energetic character.
Secondary characters
* ''Marusia "Ogoniok"'', a Russian nurse and Janek's love interest, played by
Pola Raksa
Apolonia "Pola" Raksa (born 14 April 1941) is a Polish movie star, singer, and model who was especially popular in Poland and abroad in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born to Edward Raksa, Pola was born in Lida. Her parents left German Nazi-occupied terri ...
.
* ''Lidia Wiśniewska'', ''"Lidka",'' a radio operator, played by .
* ''Honorata'', a former maid, played by
Barbara Krafftówna
Barbara Krafftówna (a.k.a. Barbara Krafft-Seidner; 5 December 1928 – 23 January 2022) was a Polish film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1946 and 2022. She died in
Skolimów on 23 January 2022, at the ...
.
* The colonel, ''Stary'', played by
Tadeusz Kalinowski
Tadeusz Kalinowski (1 June 1915 – 22 August 1969) was a Polish actor. He appeared in thirty films and television shows between 1954 and 1979.
Selected filmography
* '' How to Be Loved'' (1963)
* '' Pięciu'' (1964)
* '' Czterej Pancerni i ...
.
* ''Corporal Daniel Łażewski'', played by
Tomasz Zaliwski.
* ''Obergefreiter Kugel'', played by
Stanisław Gronkowski.
At least two real tanks were used as "Rudy" in this series. One of them, used for tank interior scenes with cameras placed inside the hull, is now displayed in the
Armoured Warfare Museum inside the Land Forces Training Center in
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
.
Although referred to as being armed with a 76 mm gun, the tanks seen in the show are the later model T-34/85.
List of episodes
Season I, 1966
# Załoga (Crew)
# Radość i gorycz (Happiness and Bitterness)
# Gdzie my – tam granica (Where We Are, There's the Border)
# Psi pazur (Dog's claw)
# Rudy, miód i krzyże (“Ginger”, Honey and Cross of Valour (Poland), Crosses)
# Most (Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
)
# Rozstajne drogi (Crossroads e Are Separating
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...
# Brzeg morza (Seashore)
Season II, 1969
# Zamiana (the Swap)
# Kwadrans po nieparzystej (A Quarter Past an Odd Hour)
# Wojenny siew (Wartime Sowing)
# Fort Olgierd (Fort Olgierd)
# Zakład o śmierć (Death Bet)
# Czerwona seria (Red Burst)
# Wysoka fala (High Wave)
# Daleki patrol (Long Patrol)
Season III, 1970
# Klin (Wedge
A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converti ...
)
# Pierścienie (Rings)
# Tiergarten ( Tiergarten)
# Brama (Gate
A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...
)
# Dom (Home)
Popularity
The popularity of the series came from it being one of the first postwar series to depict the era of World War II in a somewhat lighter vein. As the tragic events of the war receded, the Polish public became tired of the mandatory dark, tragic tone of previous television series and films dealing with wartime events. A similar change in attitudes occurred elsewhere in the world at the time. At the same time, the series was definitely not a comedy and contained many sad moments and intense battle scenes, while some of the main characters were wounded or killed. The series (especially in the first season) was very well prepared in terms of its technical side due to significant cooperation with the Polish People's Army
The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Peo ...
and good military training of the actors (most of them being already trained as a two-year military duty was compulsory at the time).
All main heroes were in a way extraordinary. The youngest, Janek Kos, was a marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-u ...
, and owner of a well-trained and clever dog Szarik. The loader Gustlik, from Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
, was very strong, while Grigorij (Russian name Grigoriy) was a skilled driver. Grigorij himself was a Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, representing numerous soldiers of the Soviet Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
assigned to Polish tank units lacking specialists. The first commander Olgierd Jarosz was a meteorologist and could forecast the weather (in the book he was Russian Wasyl (Vasiliy) Semenov). Tomek, the last member of the crew (appearing later), was joyful and played the accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
.
The upbeat view of the war shown in the series was popular, but in many ways problematic. From the standpoint of military realism, the series is in fact almost grotesque, as its heroes have a very relaxed concept of military discipline, frequently fight their own "private" battles in defiance of orders, and effortlessly defeat German soldiers, who are depicted as faceless military incompetents. An emphasis is put on the friendship between front-line Polish and Soviet soldiers, but little or no mention of the problems in general Polish-Soviet relations of that era (though they were often suggested in the background).
The series retained its huge popularity and was rerun yearly in Poland until 1989. After 1989 the series is still being sporadically shown in Poland. It was also shown in other countries of the Soviet bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
.
In 2006 the series was released on DVD as a boxed set by TVP.
In 2015, gaming company Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
introduced 4 premium vehicles to the game ''World of Tanks
''World of Tanks'' (''WoT'') is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Belarusian company Wargaming, featuring 20th century (1910s–1970s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to- ...
'' in an event marking VE day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
, one of the limited vehicles being Rudy, with a crew based on characters from the series including ''Szarik''.
See also
*Captain Kloss
''More Than Life at Stake'' (Polish: ''Stawka większa niż życie''), also known as ''Stakes Larger Than Life'' and ''Playing for High Stakes'' is a Polish black and white TV series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent in Soviet servi ...
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0120948, title=Czterej pancerni i pies
Polish drama television series
World War II television drama series
1966 Polish television series debuts
1970 Polish television series endings
1960s Polish television series
1970s Polish television series
Television series based on actual events
Telewizja Polska original programming