Domnin stayed more than 500 meters away from the German position, and when he saw the sudden increase in the intensity of the fire on the position, he couldn't help but be taken aback, he didn't expect the Germans to be so cunning, and when facing the tanks rushing towards them, they actually only let the extremely weak people's stormtroopers block them, so that his judgment was wrong.

Fortunately, Domnin was also a well-informed commander, and after a brief panic, he immediately ordered the enemy to be suppressed by fire with light and heavy machine guns to cover the charge of the troops towards the enemy's positions.

The infantry, which had been suppressed by German fire, had been supported by light and heavy machine-gun fire, and then got up from the ground again and continued to rush towards the German position. In order to eliminate the enemy's machine-gun fire points, the Soviets even used flamethrowers. In a short time, one of the machine gun fire points was eliminated by the flamethrower, and the German machine gunner, covered in fire, screamed and ran around, until he was hit by a flying bullet, he stopped screaming, fell to the ground and continued to burn.

The Soviet tanks that drove through the German trenches, except for those that were destroyed, stopped a few hundred meters away and used artillery fire to eliminate those exposed fire points. After two rounds of shelling, all the German machine guns were dumbfounded, and the remaining submachine gun fire was simply not enough to suppress the Soviet offensive.

When the soldiers of the grenadier regiment hiding in the trenches were killed and wounded, the surviving members of the People's Stormtroopers, where did they still have the courage to fight, hurriedly stretched out the wooden sticks tied to white shirts out of the trenches, shook desperately, and surrendered to the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed up.

After the battle, Domnin could not help but fall into silence after learning about the battle damage of his troops. In order to seize this small position, the troops lost eight tanks and paid the price of more than 300 casualties. And the German army, which inflicted such heavy casualties on itself, was nothing more than a grenadier company of only more than 80 people, and more than 400 members of the People's Stormtroopers who had no combat effectiveness. He had a hunch that the next battle would be even more brutal.

Gusev, who was a few dozen kilometers away, saw that it was already dawn outside, and was anxious to know where the motorized brigade had reached, so he ordered a telegram to be sent to Domnin. It didn't take long for him to receive a call back, and seeing that the motorized brigade was still thirty kilometers away from Elbin, he couldn't help but be furious, and he called the chief of staff over and ordered: "Immediately send a telegram back to Colonel Domnin, ordering him to rush to Erbin within two hours, if he can't rescue the trapped tank company in time, he will lose the colonel's epaulette." ”

After receiving Gusev's harshly worded telegram, Domnin did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly ordered the troops to follow the surviving tanks of the tank battalion and continue to rush towards Elbin. At the same time, he contacted the tank brigade through the staff officers from the tank brigade, so that the main force of the tank brigade quickly followed.

The troops of the motorized brigade advanced to a distance of twenty kilometers from Erbin, where they were again met with stubborn resistance from the Germans. The main forces of the German army that served as a blockade this time were no longer the vulnerable people's stormtroopers, but a battalion of the 1142nd Grenadier Regiment, which had a sufficient number of anti-tank weapons.

The first attack launched by the motorized brigade was quickly repulsed by the Germans. The remaining tanks of the tank battalion were routed in front of the positions. As the surviving tankers escaped from the burning tanks, they were sniped by German snipers, and the accurate bullets penetrated their vests and the back of their heads, causing them to collapse around their tanks.

Elbin's commander of the city's defenses, Colonel Shepfeld, learned that the Soviet troops advancing north were blocked by the 1142nd Grenadier Regiment at a distance of twenty kilometers from the city, and immediately transferred two companies and ten tanks to attack the tank company that had established a defensive position in the north of the city.

After the tank company established a defensive position north of the city, Diachenko ordered all the men to stay in the trenches with their weapons in addition to the driver and gunner, and to use them as infantry. After waiting all night and not seeing any enemy approaching his defensive position, the operator couldn't help but ask Diachenko: "Comrade company commander, why haven't the Germans come to attack yet, don't they know that we have built a defense here?" ”

"It's not that the enemy doesn't know, but our troops who are advancing towards Erbin, leaving them unarmed for the time being." Diachenko looked at the silhouette of the city in the distance and said with a blank face: "As soon as the offensive of our army is contained, then the enemy will send troops to attack us. ”

After hearing this, the operator said disapprehantly: "Comrade Company Commander, since we were able to get here so smoothly yesterday, presumably the main force will also advance here very quickly, and the Germans will not be able to stop them at all." ”

Diachenko turned his head to look at his operator and said, "We were lucky to be able to get here." The enemies along the way treated us as their own, so they didn't stop us. If our army wants to attack, it will be stubbornly blocked along the way. The defensive positions several kilometers deep south of the city of Elbin alone were enough to hold off all our tanks. ”

Diachenko's words soon became a reality. After the attack of the motorized brigade was repulsed by the Germans, Domnin sent his reserves, and after a fierce battle, with the cooperation of the main forces of the 87th tank brigade, which had just arrived, managed to break through the second line of defense of the Germans and continue to advance in the direction of Elbin.

However, when they came to the south of Erbin, the endless anti-tank trenches and criss-crossing trenches made the tank brigade commander's scalp tingle. He spoke to Domnin via radio inside the tank: "Colonel Domnin, the anti-tank trenches and trenches of the German army have completely destroyed the road to Elbin. Our tanks are no longer able to move forward, and can only provide some artillery cover for your attack, and the rest of the battle will be left to you. ”

Unable to move on, the tanks relied on infantry to attack the German positions south of Erbing. But in order to prevent the breakthrough of the Soviet army, Colonel Schupfeld deployed all the elite units in his hands in this direction. The offensive of the motorized brigade did not achieve any results.

Seeing that his attempt to attack had failed, Domnin sent a telegram to the headquarters of the army group, reporting the situation here to Gusev and begging for artillery support.

After receiving the telegram and inquiring the chief of staff about the progress of the troops, Gusev felt that the artillery might have to wait until the next day to reach the perimeter of Elbin, so he sent a telegram to Rokossovsky, hoping to get the help he wanted from him.

Rokossovsky, having learned that Gusev's vanguard was trapped outside Elbin, hurriedly asked Sokolisky: "Commander of artillery, how long will it take for the artillery of the Front to reach Elbin?" ”

Sokolsky tilted his head, looked at the map in front of Rokossovsky for a while, pointed to the west of Erbin, and said: "Comrade Marshal, according to the information I have, General Fedyuninsky's troops are advancing to the west of Erbin. I think that his artillery unit should be able to reach the perimeter of Elbin in a few hours. ”

Rokossovsky stared at the map for a while and was surprised to find that the advance of the assault 2nd Army was faster than that of Gusev's 48th Army. Once the army group reached the west of Erbin, it was able to cut off the enemy's retreat from East Prussia. Seeing this, he hurriedly called Bogolyubov over and instructed him: "Chief of Staff, immediately send a message to Fedyuninsky, and ask his troops to speed up and quickly rush to the west of Elbin to cut off the road for the withdrawal of German troops from East Prussia." At the same time, if possible, provide the necessary artillery support for friendly forces south of the city that are preparing to attack Elbin. ”