Just as Rokossovsky was returning to Lutsk, on a defensive strip northwest of Dubno, the 3rd Cavalry Division, which had just arrived on the battlefield after a long journey, entered the defensive positions of the remnants of the 22nd Mechanized Corps.

The sentry standing alone at the intersection panicked when he saw such a cavalry suddenly pouring out in the distance, because he knew that not far behind him was the headquarters of the Provisional Army, the chief of staff of the army, Tamruch, and several commanders of the 215th Motorized Division. It was in it to study how to resist the German attack.

Seeing that the winding cavalry troops were only about twenty meters away from him, the sentry hurriedly stopped in the middle of the road, picked up the rifle in his hand, pointed at the other party and shouted loudly: "Stop, password!" ”

The division commander General Mareyev, who was riding on horseback, couldn't help but smile bitterly when he saw this sentry blocking the road, and then bowed his head and said to him: "Hey, comrade soldier, I am Major General Mareyev, the division commander of the 3rd Cavalry Division of the 5th Cavalry Army, we just arrived from Rivne, how can we know your password?" Where are your commanders? ”

After listening to General Mareyev's number, the sentry put away the rifle in his hand, stepped aside, pointed to a large wooden house not far behind him, and said: "The headquarters is there, the chief of staff of the corps and the commanders of the division are there." ”

After thanking the sentry, Mareyev led his troops to the wooden house. After turning over and dismounting, he said to the lieutenant colonel, the commander of the 158th regiment, who was following behind: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, you can take the troops to the forest in front to rest." ”

Brovchenko nodded, then beckoned the cavalry behind him and headed towards the forest in front. And Mareyev walked up to the sentry standing outside the door and politely asked: "Comrade fighters, are the commanders inside?" ”

The sentry quickly glanced at his collar badge, and then said respectfully: "Yes, Comrade General, the commanders are inside, please come in!" With that, she pushed open the door and made a gesture of invitation to him.

When Mareyev walked into the room, he saw a group of commanders sitting around a long wooden table, discussing something with serious expressions.

"Hello, Comrade Commander." After greeting everyone, Maleev walked straight to Tamruch, the highest-ranking military officer in the room.

Hearing the sudden appearance, the commanders who were discussing all stopped and turned to look at the commander who suddenly appeared. Tamruch hurriedly stood up, greeted Mareyev, and took the initiative to extend his hand to him from a long distance, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Tamruch, Chief of Staff of the 22nd Mechanized Army. ”

Mareyev took his hand and shook it vigorously twice, "I am Major General Malayev, commander of the 3rd Division of the 5th Cavalry Army. Speaking of this, he looked left and right and asked strangely: "Where has your army commander, General Kondrusev, gone, I am an old friend with him, and we haven't seen him for almost ten years." ”

Hearing Mareyev's question, Tamruch's smile froze on his face, and after a long while, he muttered: "General Mareyev, I'm sorry, you will never have the opportunity to meet our army commander General Kondruschev in the future, he has already died heroically in the battle a few days ago." ”

When Mareyev heard the bad news, he was also stunned. It took a long time before he muttered, "Sacrificed?!" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." "On the second day of the outbreak of the war, while commanding a tank division and the German armored forces, he was unfortunately hit by a shell and seriously wounded. ”

After saying this, Tamruch found that he had not yet given up his seat to the guest, and hurriedly greeted the other party: "Comrade General, you must be very tired after such a long journey." Don't stand, hurry up and take a seat. ”

After everyone was seated again, Mareyev asked Tamruch: "Comrade Chief of Staff, when I came in, I saw that you seemed to be discussing something?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." Tamruch did not hide from him, pointing to the map on the table, he told him about the situation and said: "A small village to the south of us is occupied by the Germans. Although we launched a few counterattacks, they all failed because they were too long. ”

Maleev carefully looked at the map and, after drawing it with his hand, asked: "How far is it from us to the villages occupied by the Germans." ”

"It's almost three thousand meters away, Comrade General." Before Tamruch could speak, a colonel next to him interjected: "Because it is an unobstructed plain, our infantry will be heavily killed by German artillery fire and machine guns when attacking. Before we could get close to the enemy's position, more than half of our troops would have suffered casualties. ”

After listening patiently to what the colonel said, Mareyev turned to Tamruch and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think that such an offensive task should still be completed by our cavalry. ”

When Tamruch heard Mareyev say this, he couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy, but he still said with a look of embarrassment on the surface: "Comrade General, the Germans have built a fortification outside the village, and if you let the cavalry take charge of the attack, you will pay a very high price." ”

In response to such a statement by Tamruch, Maleyev nodded and said approvingly: "That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff. In this era of firearms, cavalry has gradually declined, but you should also be aware of the huge damage caused by cavalry to infantry who do not have a preset position in field battles. ”

Speaking of this, he stood up, put his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, looked at everyone and said: "My idea is this, when the German army attacks you tomorrow, the cavalry hidden in the position suddenly attacks the enemy, uses the speed of the war horse to gouge through the enemy's position, and rushes straight to the village occupied by the enemy. ”

As soon as Mareyev finished speaking, Tamruch stood up, grabbed his hand, held it tightly in his palm, and said excitedly: "Great, Comrade General, this is really good. With the help of the cavalry, I think we will be able to regain the lost village from the Germans tomorrow. He turned to another lieutenant colonel next to him and said, "Comrade lieutenant colonel, after our cavalry has broken through the German infantry ranks, your regiment will then attack, follow behind the cavalry, and go to clear the remnants of the German army in the village." ”