By the time Lieutenant Palansky returned to the town of Gorodok with his men, the command of the 1st Guards Tank Corps on the Don had already moved here. In the newly built checkpoint at the entrance of the town, there was a captain wearing a brand-new military overcoat, chatting with the officers at the checkpoint, and saw several tank soldiers wearing tank uniforms and their faces blackened by gunpowder smoke approaching and hurriedly greeted them.

He came to Palansky, raised his hand in salute first, and asked politely: "Is it Lieutenant Palansky?" ”

Seeing an officer of a higher rank saluting him, Palansky paused for a moment, hurriedly raised his hand to return the salute, and replied respectfully: "Yes, Comrade Captain, I am Palansky." ”

"Comrade Lieutenant," after confirming the identity of the other party, the captain said respectfully, "General Panov sent me to wait for you here, please come with me, Comrade Commander is waiting for you in the command headquarters." ”

Hearing the captain say that the commander was waiting for him in the command headquarters, Palansky felt like he was in a dream, and because of his excitement, his tongue was a little inflexible and asked: "Comrade Captain..., you... You say... The commander was waiting for us in the headquarters, and I... Do you understand it correctly? You... You're not... Just kidding, right? ”

"Of course it's true, it's the first time I've seen you today, how could I make such a joke with you?" The captain put a hand on Palansky's shoulder and said in a friendly manner: "Okay, let's go to the headquarters, Comrade Commander should be in a hurry." ”

After confirming that he had heard correctly, Palansky finally controlled his emotions and said clearly to his subordinates: "Brothers, listen to me. Target, Command, walk in unison~! ”

I watched as several tank soldiers, who had obviously just come down from the battlefield and were still somewhat wounded, followed by a captain in a brand new military overcoat, and walked through the checkpoint with neat steps. A soldier at the checkpoint couldn't help but ask the officer curiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, who are these people?" ”

"Palansky tank platoon of the 157th brigade of tanks." The second lieutenant looked at Palansky's back and said in an admiring tone: "This Gorodok town is what they occupied, and they went deep alone, occupying the heavily guarded settlement of Starodubki by the German army in one fell swoop, and exterminating hundreds of German devils. ”

When the soldier heard what the second lieutenant said, his eyes widened in surprise: "My God, it turns out that the tank troops who occupied this town are them." I really didn't expect that a tank platoon without infantry cover could occupy a town and a settlement in a row, and also eliminate so many German devils, which is really amazing. ”

The captain took Palansky and them to the headquarters, and the commander of the army, Panov, had just finished making a phone call, and when he saw several people entering the door, he quickly got up to meet them, and he first said to the captain: "Comrade Captain, you can go about your own business, thank you!" After the captain saluted and left, he hugged the men one by one, and kept saying, "Good job, good boys, good guys, good guys, every one of you is good." ”

After the hug, Panov turned to the military commissar standing aside and said: "Comrade military commissar, please bring the prepared Order of the Red Banner." For the great results achieved by our boys, only medals are the best reward. ”

The military commissar came over with a smile and handed Panov a stack of red with medals. Panov stretched out his right hand, clasped Palansky's hand tightly, and said enthusiastically: "Thank you for your immortal exploits in the battle to defend the Motherland." With that, he handed one of the boxes to Palansky.

Panov then walked up to the deputy platoon commander, shook his hand and said sincerely: "Thank you!" Then he handed another box to the deputy platoon commander.

He then shook hands with the other three surviving tankers in turn, and thanked them as he handed them the medals.

When Palansky and his men left the corps headquarters, they felt like they were still dreaming, but they were personally received by the commander and received a valuable Order of the Red Banner. When he saw a tanker open the lid of the medal box and was about to take out the medal inside, he hurriedly stopped the other party: "Wait a minute, the medal can't be worn like this." ”

When the tankman heard Palansky say this, he couldn't help but look at him blankly and asked: "Comrade lieutenant, how should I wear it?" ”

"It should be soaked in wine before wearing." Fortunately, the deputy platoon commander still knew a little about these things, so he explained to his subordinates: "This is the tradition of the Russian army, which means that this is not the last medal you receive." ”

"But where are we going to find wine?" After hearing this, the tankman was happy for a moment, and immediately thought of a key question: "The taverns in the town are closed, and there is nowhere to buy alcohol if you want to." ”

Palansky accidentally saw the captain who brought them here, passed by, quickly stopped him, and asked politely: "Comrade Captain, where can I get vodka?" ”

The captain couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Palansky's brainless question, but quickly guessed what was going on, and hurriedly asked with a smile: "Are you going to use vodka for medals?" ”

Seeing that Palansky nodded in approval, he smiled and said, "Come with me to the dormitory, there is no place to buy wine in the town." ”

The group followed the captain to his quarters, and the small room was packed with six people at once. The captain greeted everyone warmly: "Tankmen, you're welcome, do whatever you want, you can sit on a stool or by the bed." As he said this, he took off a military kettle hanging on the wall, took out a round lunch box and put it on the table, and poured the wine in the kettle into the lunch box.

After doing all this, the captain held out his hand to the crowd, "Give me the medal." Hearing the captain say this, the tankers opened their medal boxes one after another, took out the medals inside, and handed them to the captain.

After the captain put the medals one by one into the lunch box, he handed the lunch box to Palansky: "Comrade lieutenant, take a sip." ”

Palansky took the lunch box, and when he saw the fighters looking around at him, who were wondering whether he should take a sip of the anti-vodka in the lunch box, he heard the captain say: "Comrade lieutenant, say a few words." ”

After being reminded by the captain, Palansky felt that he should say something before drinking, and he hurriedly raised his lunch box and said loudly: "Cheers to us alive!" Cheers to us defeating the German devils! For the sake of final victory, let's make a toast, brethren! With that, he took a big sip of his lunch box.

After drinking, he wiped a handful of the remaining wine from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and handed the lunch box to the deputy platoon commander. "For victory!" The deputy platoon commander took the lunch box, said it loudly, and raised his head to take a sip.

While Palansky was drinking in the captain's quarters, the commander of the 48th Army, Romanenko, called Rokossovsky, who excitedly reported: "Comrade commander, I would like to report to you the good news that we have successfully captured Rechitsa. ”

"What, to occupy Lechicha?" Hearing his report, Rokossovsky hurriedly raised his hand to look at his watch, and just after three o'clock in the afternoon, he said with some surprise: "General Romanenko, your performance really surprised me, it only took a few hours to successfully occupy Lechicha." ”

"Comrade Commander," Romanenko personally commanded the offensive and defensive battles of the city, naturally understood what the reason for being able to occupy the city so quickly, and hurriedly and modestly said: "The reason why we were able to capture the city so quickly and at a negligible price was mainly due to the decisive attack of the 65th Army, which cut off the enemy's retreat route in Lechtsa, which had the effect of disintegrating the enemy......"

Batov, who was standing on the sidelines, heard that the main reason for Romanenko's victory was due to the fact that he had taken the initiative to send troops to cut off the retreat of the German army, so he thought of the tank detachment that was alone in depth, and hurriedly called the chief of staff over and ordered him in a low voice: "Chief of staff, you call Panov and ask him how he commended the tank platoon that established meritorious service." ”

After Rokossovsky and Romanenko finished talking, Glebov also learned about the commendation of Palansky from Panov, and he came over to report to the two: "I just asked General Panov, and he said that after the fierce battle, there were still five commanders and fighters left in the tank platoon, and he had awarded them all the Order of the Red Banner." ”

"Awarded the Order of the Red Banner?" Although the war has been going on for more than three years, and various medals are no longer as precious as before the war, it is still a bit too much to award five Red Banner Medals to a platoon-level unit at once. Batov, fearing that Rokossovsky would criticize the award of the medal too much, could not help but stare nervously at him to see what kind of decision he would make.

After listening to Glebov's report, Rokossovsky shook his head and said: "Palansky's tank platoon, which broke away from its own units during the battle, actively eliminated the enemy's defense in depth, successively occupied the town of Gorodok and the settlement of Starodukki, and also eliminated several hundred German soldiers. I don't think it's enough to just award them the Order of the Red Banner. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky did not reproach Panov for awarding too many medals, but was worried that the rank of the medal was too low, Batov's heart could not help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and he asked carefully: "Comrade commander, what kind of medals should you think to award them?" ”

Rokossovsky, after a little thought, made a final decision on how to honor Palansky, and he called Rajetsky and instructed him: "Comrade Military Commissar, please immediately contact General Terekin, Military Commissar of the Front, and confer the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union' on Lieutenant Palansky, in recognition of his meritorious service and great achievements in this battle." ”

Rajetsky waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his position: "Comrade commander, please rest assured, I will contact General Terekin as soon as possible and apply to him for the title of Lieutenant Palansky 'Hero of the Soviet Union'." ”