After the German attack was repulsed, the German commander immediately reported the situation here to Colonel Schupfi in the city of Elbin, saying that he had been stubbornly blocked by the Soviet army and asked for artillery support.

Although Schupfi knew that the Soviet troops in the north of the city had only a few tanks, he was a henchman after all, so after receiving the call, he decisively ordered a heavy artillery regiment in the city to shell the position occupied by the tank company. As soon as the shelling ended, before the smoke of the guns on the position cleared, the German infantry attacked again under the cover of tanks.

Diachenko crawled out of the hot void, dug out the radio operator, who was also buried in the void, and leaned close to his ear and asked loudly: "How is it, can the walkie-talkie continue to be used?" ”

The operator's ears were already deaf from the shock, and Diachenko shouted at him twice before he could barely hear clearly. He nodded and said loudly: "Comrade Company Commander, everything is normal with the walkie-talkie, but my ears are not good now, so I can't talk directly, so I can only send a telegram." ”

"Send another telegram to the brigade headquarters." Diachenko knew very well in his heart that if he followed the procedure, he would report to the battalion headquarters first, and then wait for them to report to the brigade headquarters, it would take a lot of time, so he decisively ordered the operator to send a report to the brigade headquarters, repeating again the predicament he was facing.

While Diachenko and the remaining tank crews were engaged in a fierce battle with the onrushing Germans, the telegram they sent was placed in front of Kirichenko. After reading the telegram in front of him, the tank commander instructed his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, forward this telegram to the Tank Army Headquarters and the 48th Army Headquarters, tell them that our troops occupying defensive positions on the northern outskirts of Elbin are now in danger of total annihilation, and ask them to provide assistance as soon as possible." ”

The commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army, Volsky, could not help frowning after receiving this telegram from Kirichenko, and he looked down at the map in front of him, thinking in his heart which unit he had in his hands could rush over as soon as possible to join the tank company that was being attacked by the Germans on the northern outskirts of Elbin. Regrettably, however, after repeated inspections, he found that the closest was the 89th Brigade of the 29th Tank Army, which was now south of Erbin, blocked by continuous anti-tank trenches, and could not move forward.

In desperation, Volsky had no choice but to say to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, to General Gusev of the 48th Army, see if their troops can quickly occupy Erbin and relieve our heroic tank company?" ”

After talking to Gusev, the chief of staff said to Volsky in a regretful tone: "Comrade commander, I have just spoken with General Gusev, and he said that his vanguard has launched two storms against Erbin, but neither of them has achieved the desired results, and it is temporarily impossible to send troops to rescue the tank company. ”

"So what are we going to do?" After listening to the words of the chief of staff, Volysky looked at the map and said with a sad face: "Are we just watching our troops being wiped out by the Germans?" ”

The chief of staff stared at Elbin on the map and said tentatively to Volisky: "Comrade commander, at present our 29th Tank Army has reached the south of Elbin, and the 10th Tank Army has reached the east of the city, but neither of them can rescue the tank company trapped in the northern suburbs. We can only pin our hopes on the west. ”

"West?" After repeating the words of the chief of staff, Volsky asked tentatively: "What do you mean, the assault 2nd Army, which advanced on the left flank of our army?" ”

"That's right." After the chief of staff waited for Volysky to finish, he nodded and said: "Although we do not know the progress of General Fedyuninsky's troops for the time being, in my estimation, they should not be far from the western outskirts of Elbin, and perhaps only they can rescue the tank company." ”

As for the chief of staff's proposal, Volysky pondered for a while, and then said: "I think it would be better to report this matter to Comrade Marshal, and let him intervene, maybe it would be more effective." ”

After making a decision, Volysky picked up the high-frequency telephone on the desk, and when he heard a voice coming from the receiver, he immediately ordered: "Operator, I'm General Volysky, immediately give me the command of the front and find Marshal Rokossovsky." ”

When Rokossovsky heard that Volysky was looking for him, he was still a little surprised, and asked if the other party was in a hurry? He actually bypassed the chief of staff, Bogolyubov, and called himself directly. Therefore, as soon as he heard Volisky's voice, he asked bluntly: "Comrade Volisky, do you have any good news for me?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," Volysky said on the phone, "I guess I don't bring you good news. ”

"General Volisky," hearing Volysky say this, Rokossovsky immediately realized what was wrong, and hurriedly asked: "Is there something wrong with your troops?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, the situation is such that I have a tank detachment, which managed to break through the German defenses in Erbin, has already established defensive positions on the northern outskirts of the city." "At the moment they are under onslaught by the Germans, and if we can't rescue them in time, they may not be able to hold on," Volysky said quickly. ”

Rokossovsky had known about the successful passage of the tank company through Erbin and the establishment of a defense in the north of the city, but he did not know that Diachenko and they were in such a dangerous situation. He hurriedly asked: "General Volysky, when will your troops be able to break through the German city defenses in Erbin?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," Volysky said with a bitter face, "the troops of the 29th Tank Army have reached the south of the city, but they are blocked by enemy anti-tank trenches; The same situation happened to the 10th Tank Corps east of the city, and to the north of them, swamps and forests prevented them from coming to the rescue of the besieged tank company. Therefore, I can only ask you to send the 2nd Shock Army of General Fedyuninsky to rescue them. ”

"Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky heard this, and hurriedly covered the microphone with his hand and asked Bogolyubov, who was standing not far away: "Where has Fedyuninsky's 2nd Shock Army arrived?" ”

"Here," Bogolyubov said, pointing to the map and to Rokossovsky, "they have reached the western outskirts of Erbin and are attacking the city. ”

"You immediately called Fedyuninsky and ordered him to send an elite unit to the northern outskirts to rescue the trapped tank company. Do you understand? After Bogolyubov walked away, Rokossovsky said into the microphone: "Comrade Volisky, I have asked the chief of staff to contact Fedyuninsky and ask him to send elite troops to rescue the tank company, you can rest assured." ”

"Great, Comrade Marshal." When Volisky heard Rokossovsky say this, he was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly said: "I will immediately send a telegram to inform the encircled tank company of the good news." ”