As soon as the vanguard company of the infantry division entered the city, it was immediately stunned by the scene before it, and saw groups of German soldiers standing in a neat formation on the sidewalk on the right side of the street, with weapons stacked on the side of the street. Two Soviet tanks were parked on the street, on which stood four or five tank men with submachine guns, guarding dozens of times more German prisoners than them.

Seeing an infantry force entering the city, a tank lieutenant quickly jumped down from the tank and said to the captain who led the team: "Thank God, you guys are finally here." Comrade Captain, we have to go on a new combat mission, and these prisoners will be handed over to you now. ”

The captain looked at the German officers and soldiers in uniform or civilian clothes on the side of the street, and found that their number was dozens of times more than that of the tank soldiers who were responsible for the supervision work, and he couldn't help but be stunned and said: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, a few of you are guarding hundreds of prisoners, and they didn't make trouble for you, did they?" ”

"No, how is that possible?" The second lieutenant of the tank corps replied: "Since the German commander gave the order to surrender, these soldiers have behaved very cooperatively, and we need to take care of fifty or sixty soldiers alone, but they all honestly stand in the designated places. You see, they don't look like prisoners at all, but like troops waiting for a military parade. ”

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the captain looked forward along the street, and on both sides of the street in the distance, there seemed to be quite a few German soldiers standing on the side of the road, and hurriedly asked, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, are there many more in front besides the prisoners here?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Captain." The second lieutenant replied with some smugness: "There are about five hundred prisoners in front, guarded by two other tanks from our platoon. He raised his hand and looked at his watch, urging the captain, "Comrade Captain, the time is not early, you should hurry up and let your subordinates take over this group of prisoners." ”

After handing over all the prisoners, the tankmen got into the tanks one after another. The tank lieutenant stood in the turret with the lid open, revealing half of his body, and then gave the order into the throat microphone with great majesty: "Go!" ”

Four tanks lined up in a long line and drove down the street towards the city center. Halfway through, tanks kept coming out of other streets, and after handing over the prisoners to the infantry, they rushed to the central square to assemble.

Standing at the window of the German headquarters, Panfilov looked at the tanks that were assembling in the square below, and said to the two tank brigade commanders standing behind him: "After interrogation, the German commander confessed that he did not announce the surrender to our troops. In other words, the enemy may not know that we have captured Stolp until now, and we should take advantage of this and continue to advance rapidly eastward to destroy more enemies and capture more cities. ”

After the two brigade commanders glanced at each other, they both saw a look of surprise in each other's eyes, and then said in unison: "Please give an order, Comrade Commander, we will guarantee to complete the task." ”

"No hurry, no hurry." Panfilov turned to his two men and said, "Although we won the battle today, it also revealed a problem. ”

"Comrade Commander." As soon as Panfilov's words fell, the commander of the 3rd Brigade immediately asked: "I don't know what problems have been exposed." ”

"Without the cooperation of the infantry, even if we capture the city, we will not be able to continue to expand the victory." Panfilov pointed with his hand to the tank units that were assembling in the square outside the window: "The work of collecting prisoners, which should have been done by the infantry, has to be done by our tank crews, so that we will not be able to spare our forces at all, and we will continue to develop into the depth of the enemy's defense." ”

"Comrade corps commander," the brigade commander continued, "didn't the superiors equip us with an infantry corps and an infantry division?" With their cooperation, our tank brigade will be able to move forward after taking the city, leaving the work of clearing the remnants of the enemy and containing the prisoners to the infantry. ”

"Our tanks are advancing too fast for the infantry to keep up." "I have ordered the collection of available means of transport to carry our infantry and accompany our tank units," Panfilov said. ”

"Comrade commander, I would like to ask, when are we going to attack?"

Panfilov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said: "I have already negotiated with the commander of the 134th Infantry Corps, and he will send two divisions to accompany us. Now the infantry is on the way, and as soon as they enter the city, we will set out. ”

"Great, that's great." The commander of the 18th Brigade of Kintan said excitedly: "With the cooperation of the infantry, after we capture the city, we can leave a part of the infantry to clear out the remnants of the enemy and contain the prisoners, and the rest of the infantry will continue to advance with our tank troops." ”

…………

After more than two hours of waiting, the belated infantry finally appeared in the square. Seeing that the infantry had arrived, Panfilov began to arrange the task: "Okay, the infantry has arrived, and I now announce the offensive sequence: the 3rd Guards Tank Brigade with an infantry division, by truck and bus, immediately set off to the east. The 18th Guards Tank Brigade, as the second echelon, carried the infantry in captured wagons and set off after dawn tomorrow. "The reason why he arranged this arrangement was because by interrogating the prisoners and looking at the map, he found that it was difficult to deploy two tank brigades at the same time on the road to the east, so he changed his mind and actually divided the troops into two echelons and threw them into battle at once.

After listening to Panfilov's deployment, the commander of the 3rd Brigade of Jintan smiled, he had been waiting a little impatiently, and at this moment he saw that the infantry had arrived, and after saying a word to Panfilov, he hurriedly returned to the unit to prepare for departure. The commander of the 18th Brigade was particularly depressed, not only did his troops have to start later than the friendly troops, but took the infantry's means of transport, which was actually all horse-drawn carriages, and he said with a bitter face: "Comrade Commander, why do you cooperate with the infantry of the 3rd Brigade and move by truck or bus; And what about the infantry who cooperated with our brigade, who could only ride in a carriage? ”

Panfilov smiled faintly and said: "Comrade Colonel, to be honest, I also want those infantry who cooperate with you to fight can advance on mechanized vehicles. However, the limited number of trucks and buses we have captured is not enough to meet the needs of so many troops, so we have to give priority to the first echelon. ”

The brigade commander of the 18th Brigade waited for Panfilov to finish speaking, straightened his waist and asked: "Comrade commander, are you allowed to go back to the unit to assign combat missions?" ”

"Go," Panfilov admonished, "we must calm the emotions of the fighters and let them recuperate so that they can continue to carry out the next stage of the combat mission." ”