Pin made in the Soviet Union. The text on the pin reads:”The feat of Mikhail Panikakh”, ad at the bottom:”Volgograd”. Volgograd was formerly known as Stalingrad.
Mikhail Averyanovich Panikakha (1914-1942) was a Red Army soldier. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for destroying a German tank with two Molotov cocktails while on fire during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Panikakha was helping to repel German attacks when the German troops sent in tanks. He had already thrown his grenades and had two Molotov cocktails left. Panikakha raised the bottle in order to throw it when a bullet smashed it, setting him on fire. He then took the remaining bottle, jumped out of the trench and onto the engine deck of the nearest German tank and hit it with the cocktail. The German tank was then set on fire, causing the other tanks to withdraw due to seeing the fierceness of the Red Army attacking in spite of being on fire.