Mikhail 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.
On 2nd October 1942 Panikakha was helping to repel the German attacks when the German troops sent in tanks. He had already thrown his grenades but 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 his trench and on to the engine deck of the nearest tank and hit it with the cocktail.
The German tank was set ablaze causing the other tanks to withdraw due to seeing the fierceness of a Soviet soldier attacking in spite of being on fire.
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