On the second day of the battle, the protagonist was Batov's 65th Army, and the whole day of fighting was fought around the German fortified area of Putusk. Standing in front of them were three German divisions: the 35th Infantry Division in the north, the 252nd Infantry Division in the middle, and the 542nd People's Grenadier Division in the south.

In real history, the presence of the 7th Panzer Division and the Großdeutsch Division caused certain problems for the advance of the 65th Army. And now, under Rokossovsky's deployment, these two elite German divisions have been wiped out before the East Prussian campaign was launched, and even their division commanders have become prisoners of the Soviet army.

Although the weather was still not suitable for the air force to attack, in order to allow the troops to quickly break through the German defenses, Rokossovsky decisively ordered the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, General Panov, to engage them in battle south of the Putusk fortified area, and launched a fierce attack on the 35th Infantry Division holding on to Naschelsk.

In the face of the Soviet tanks rushing over, the commander of the 35th Infantry Division hurriedly asked the commander of the 27th Army, General Filtsmann, for help, and asked the other side to assign the 190th Assault Artillery Brigade deployed in this area to his command.

After much deliberation, Feltsman agreed to the request of the division commander and personally called the commander of the 190th Assault Gun Group, Major Colerne. After hearing the other party's voice, he immediately said straight to the point: "Major Collerne?" I am General Filtsmann, commander of the 27th Army. I formally inform you that from now on, you will be under the command of the 35th Infantry Division. The tanks of the Russians are rushing towards their defense area, and you immediately go to repel them. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Your Excellency." Major Colene hurriedly replied: "My assault artillery brigade will make the Russian tanks, in front of the positions of the 35th Infantry Division, become burning torches, and we will give them a lesson that they will never forget." ”

Regarding Colerne's statement, Feltsman nodded with a smile and said with great satisfaction: "Major, I believe that you and your assault artillery brigade will not let me down." ”

As soon as Colene put down the phone, he sent a small detachment of six assault guns to the 35th Infantry Division's defense area to support. The brigade was armed with the No. 3 assault gun, which used a long-barreled 75-mm main gun, which was mounted in a fixed manner due to the lack of a turret, with a long barrel extending to the front of the vehicle, and although it had great firepower, it was difficult to maneuver between forests or buildings.

While the assault artillery squad was still on the march, it saw more than a dozen T-34 tanks approaching the 35th Infantry Division. The commander of the detachment, Lieutenant Hans, hurriedly ordered to stop and prepare for battle.

Hans was directing the gunners to load the shells when he suddenly felt a sudden shock to the body, and it turned out that a T-34 rushing to the front spotted Hans's car and stopped and fired at him. Thankfully, the shell ricocheted at the sloping frontal armor and did not penetrate the body of the assault gun.

Hans raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and when he saw that the shells had been loaded, he immediately ordered loudly: "Fire!" ”

Following Hans's order, the gunners immediately opened fire on Soviet tanks in the distance. After a loud bang, the disemboweled shell flew towards the Soviet tank in the distance, and the hit tank exploded in response, stopping in place and billowing black smoke rose.

Breaking through the German defense line was a tank battalion of the 1st Brigade of the 19th Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Army, and in the process of advancing forward, they found the oncoming No. 3 assault gun, and the commander of the Soviet battalion, Captain Rumako, hurriedly gave an order to his fighters by radio: "Comrades, if you find the German assault guns in front, immediately rush forward in battle formation and kill them all!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the T-34 tank in which the battalion instructor next to him was riding exploded and burned in place, billowing smoke rising from the body. Rumako was startled, and hurriedly shouted at the radio again: "Fire, shoot now!" ”

The tank commanders who received Rumako's order stopped the moving tanks one after another and began to search for the German assault guns, preparing to annihilate them all and avenge their comrades.

Just as the individual tanks had just locked onto the assault gun trucks in front, Lieutenant Hans ordered their troops to use the tactic of alternating cover with two vehicles to carry out a surprise attack on the Soviet tanks. The well-trained German tankers used one assault gun to stop aiming and fire, and the other advanced to a more advanced position to stop and aim and fire. In just seven or eight minutes, the Soviet tank battalion was beaten to pieces, and one tank after another was disemboweled by armor-piercing shells and stopped on the battlefield burning.

Rumako was annoyed to see the tanks in his battalion being destroyed one by one by German assault guns. When the tank battalion crossed the trenches held by the German infantry, the battalion instructor had allowed the battalion instructor to slow down for a while, and then continue to attack after the infantry behind them could catch up. However, he was eager to make meritorious contributions, and he did not listen to the instructor's suggestions at all, but kept ordering the tanks in the battalion to speed up, speed up, and speed up again.

Fortunately, the driver who commanded the tank was smart, and seeing that the German assault guns were so powerful, he hurriedly drove the tank into a huge crater, hid in it and fired at the rushing assault guns, so as to avoid the fate of being destroyed.

Seeing that the number of assault guns on the opposite side of the other side was increasing, Rumako hurriedly reported to the brigade commander by radio: "Comrade brigade commander, I am the commander of the first battalion, Captain Rumako, after our battalion crossed the trench defended by the German 35th Infantry Division, it was stubbornly blocked by the German assault artillery, our battalion suffered heavy casualties, ask for support, ask for support!" ”

The situation reported by Rumako quickly reached the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, Panov. After receiving this information, Panov immediately asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, we broke through a tank battalion of the 35th Infantry Division, which was blocked by German assault guns and suffered heavy casualties. You immediately check, what kind of anti-tank forces does the enemy have there? ”

The chief of staff soon found out what Panov wanted to know, and reported to him: "Comrade commander, it has been figured out that in the rear of the 35th Infantry Division of the German army is Major Kolnerne's 190th assault gun brigade, which is probably armed with 30 assault guns No. 3. ”

"I see." After learning about the anti-tank forces of the German army, Panov immediately instructed the chief of staff: "Immediately inform the commander of the 19th tank brigade that tomorrow the main forces of the brigade will immediately rush to the place where the 1st tank battalion is blocked, and must destroy this German assault artillery brigade at all costs." ”

The order was given, but because after the 1st Tank Battalion crossed the trenches, the German infantry resumed their positions in that area, making it difficult for the main force of the Tank Brigade, which was in a hurry to rescue the 1st Battalion, to move an inch.

When Panov learned that the 35th Tank Brigade, which had been blocked by the German 19th Infantry Division, had not only failed to break through the enemy's defenses for an hour, but had also lost seven or eight tanks, he couldn't help but be furious. He said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, since the 19th Tank Brigade cannot break through the German defenses, then change the unit to accomplish this task." ”

"Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff asked respectfully, "which unit do you intend to accomplish this task?" ”

"The attack of the 157th Tank Brigade will be replaced by the 19th Tank Brigade." Panov felt that this was not enough, and added: "Let the 14th Motorized Rifle Brigade also enter the battle and assist the tank brigade in breaking through the German defense line as soon as possible." ”

And at this moment, the situation of the 1st Tank Battalion became precarious. The assault guns that the Germans arrived one after another, together with the original detachments, had reached thirteen, which had already exceeded the number of remaining tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion.

A T-34 tank, which had run out of shells, rushed out of the crater where it was hiding with increased horsepower and rushed towards an assault gun truck more than 300 meters away, and the driver was ready to die with the enemy.

The German assault guns, seeing a Soviet tank rushing quickly, immediately aimed at it and opened fire. But I don't know if the German tankmen were too nervous, or the Soviet tankmen were too lucky, more than a dozen shells fired by the assault guns fell around the tank and exploded, not a single shot hit the target, and it did not slow down his impact in the slightest.

With a loud bang, the T-34 tank crashed into the German assault gun. The assault gun, which was hit at high speed, did not explode, but the front of the car was raised high, and the occupants inside were stunned. Of course, the tank crews of the Soviet troops were no better, and in the violent impact, the driver died on the spot, and the remaining tank crews were shocked unconscious.

Behind the German assault guns, there was a long trench in which a platoon of the 35th Infantry Division was stationed. After seeing the Soviet tank collide with his own assault gun, a German corporal hurriedly led a few soldiers out of the trench and quickly ran towards the colliding tank and assault gun.

They first helped the bloodied assault gun crew out of the scrapped assault gun, and then climbed onto the body of the T-34, lifted the lid, and carried out all the surviving crew inside.

The commander of the assault gun, seeing the Soviet tankmen who were dragged out of the tank by the infantry, couldn't help but feel angry, held on to the body of the tank, staggered to the Soviet tankmen lying on the ground, pulled out the pistols on his waist, and shot them one by one.

Rumako saw his men in front of him, shot by German assault gun crews, and his eyes were about to burst into flames. He wanted to immediately rush over in a tank, kill all these executioners, and avenge the death of his comrades. But his reason finally prevailed over impulse, and he knew that not to mention that one of his tanks rushed up, even the remaining five or six tanks rushed up, and it was basically impossible to defeat the numerically superior German assault guns.

He gritted his teeth and said to the rest of the crew of the tank: "Comrades, remember this scene, this is another blood debt owed by the fascist bandits. The blood debt must be paid with blood, and I promise these sacrificed comrades that I will avenge the hatred of the fascist bandits by destroying ten times as many fascist bandits. ”

After waiting for more than half an hour, the 157th Tank Brigade and the 14th Motorized Rifle Brigade finally broke through the German defenses and rushed here.

Lieutenant Hans saw that the main force of the Soviet army was coming up, and the small detachment he led had almost exhausted the shells, so he took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield, leaving only the seven assault guns that arrived later to block the Soviet tank brigade here.

In the face of the Soviet troops rushing up, although the broken assault guns made a stubborn resistance, they were quickly overwhelmed by the Soviet tanks rushing up like a tide.

Passing a few blazing assault guns, the Soviets continued their assault, and the commanders and fighters of the 14th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which followed behind the tank brigade, captured all the German infantry hiding in the trenches. No sooner had the prisoners been escorted out of the trenches than they were subjected to heavy machine-gun fire, and their bodies tumbled into the trenches.

The soldiers who escorted the captives, thinking that they were attacked by the enemy, hurriedly crouched down on the spot and hid in the trenches. Fortunately, the machine-gun fire soon stopped, and when they poked their heads out of the trench in trepidation, they realized that it was a T-34 tank parked not far from the trench that had fired.

The company commander who led the team climbed out of the trench, came to the tank in a rage, and struck his fist on the tank body several times, he wanted to see who was so bold as to shoot the prisoners they had captured with a machine gun.

When the roof of the turret was lifted, a tanker emerged from inside. After seeing the other party's rank clearly, the company commander raised his hand and saluted, and asked in a dissatisfied tone: "Comrade Captain, why are you using machine guns to strafe the prisoners?" ”

Rumako jumped out of the tank, came to the captain and said to him: "Comrade Captain, I will give you a satisfactory answer. Now, please come with me. With that, he walked with the captain towards the tank that had collided with the assault gun not far away. The captain was anxious for an answer and hurriedly followed.

Rumako came to the body of the sacrificial tankman, knelt down on one knee, looked up at the captain and said: "Comrade Captain, have you seen it all?" Our tankmen, after being captured by those fascist bandits, shot them directly here. ”

The captain looked down at the bodies of the four tankers on the ground, and saw that they were all lying on the ground with their heads down, each with a bullet hole in the back of their heads, and according to his experience, he immediately judged that they had been shot at close range. Seeing this scene, the captain's eyes turned red, he raised his hand to salute Rumako, turned around and walked towards his company without looking back.

The company instructor, who was standing next to the trench, saw the captain coming back and hurriedly asked: "Comrade company commander, the prisoners were all shot and killed by the tankmen, and the superiors want to ask, how should we answer?" ”

"Answer as you please." The captain said angrily: "Comrade Captain has done the right thing, we must not be merciful to such fascist bandits who have mutilated our soldiers, and we absolutely cannot accept their surrender, and all the officers and men captured do not need to be sent to the prisoner of war camp at all, but should all be shot on the spot." ”