In October 1942 Red Army soldier Mikhail Panikakha went up against a German tank armed with only two Molotov cocktails. When one of the bottles was shot Panikakha was set alight by its contents. He then proceeded to use himself as a human torch and ran at the tank and set off the second bottle, killing the tank driver and stopping the tank, sacrificing his own life in the process.

The 28-year-old soldier was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and this impressive statue depicting Panikakha throwing himself at the enemy was erected in 1975.