Overview
Four Tank-Men and a Dog (Polish: Czterej pancerni i pies, ) was a Polish black and white TV series based on the book by Janusz Przymanowski. 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, and follows the adventures of a tank crew and their T-34 tank in the 1st Polish Army. The book and TV series have achieved and retain a cult series status in Poland, the former Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries.
The T-34-85 tank Rudy (Ginger) with the identifying number "102", a German Shepherd dog from Siberia Szarik (pronounced "Sharik" – little ball in Russian, a nickname in the vein of "furball"; in Polish, the word is similar to Szary meaning gray and szalik meaning scarf) 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.
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's book Four Tank-Men and a Dog. After the first airing of the show, it rose in popularity quickly, leading to Przymanowski writing two other volumes of the book.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
