Ajik threw all his forces and, after paying heavy casualties, finally captured the building that had been occupied by the Germans. But regrettably, Felix took dozens of soldiers to blow a gap in the wall and withdraw from the building when the Soviets stormed the building.

After clearing the building of the enemy, Ajik came to the building with the members of the regimental command post. As soon as the telephone line was laid out, the call of the division commander Pantai Leev came in: "Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, how are you doing?" ”

"Comrade division commander," replied Ajik with difficulty, "our regiment, after a fierce battle, has succeeded in capturing the building entrenched by the Germans, and now we have occupied the entire street, and the troops are now regrouping. ”

Bandeleyev hesitated for a moment before asking: "Can your regiment continue the attack?" ”

Ajik stood at the window, looking towards another street still occupied by the Germans, and saw one or several corpses in civilian clothes hanging on every telephone pole on both sides of the street, he quickly covered the microphone and asked the chief of staff standing next to him: "Chief of staff, what's going on, why are there so many corpses?" ”

The chief of staff glanced outside, and immediately replied clearly: "Comrade regiment commander, those are ordinary people who oppose the war and refuse to work for Hitler's gangs, and a staff officer who knows German has just been inspected, and a sign is hung on each corpse with their accusations written on it: 'I am not willing to serve Germany', 'I am a deserter.'" ”

"Damn the fascists, they are going to do this to their own people." Agik gritted his teeth and said, "Sooner or later, we will destroy them all." ”

Bantai Leyev heard that there was suddenly no sound in the microphone, and thought that there was a problem with the wiring, so he quickly raised his voice and shouted: "Hey! Feed! Can you hear ME? Feed?! ”

He shouted several times before he alarmed Agik, who was angry at the German civilians who were hanging from the telephone poles. Ajik hurriedly let go of the hand holding the microphone and said, "Comrade division commander, I can hear it." ”

"Why didn't you just speak?" Bandeleyev asked unhappily: "Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, you haven't answered me yet, can your regiment continue to fight the main attack?" ”

Ajik hesitated for a moment about Bandeleyev's question, and finally replied decisively: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, our regiment has already suffered more than half of the casualties, and it is difficult to continue to carry out the main attack mission. ”

"I see." Although he had long guessed that the troops of the 751st Regiment might have lost the ability to attack, when he heard Ajik confirm the news, Bandeleyev's heart was still a little lost: "I will let the 753rd and 755th regiments take over your fortifications, your current task is to hold on to the occupied area, and you must not let the enemy retake it again, are you confident?" ”

"Comrade division commander, please rest assured." Hearing what Bandeleyev said, Ajik hurriedly said: "Although the strength of our regiment is no longer enough to continue the attack, it is more than enough to be used for defense." You can rest assured, we will not lose an inch of the land that the commanders and fighters of the regiment returned with their blood and lives. ”

While the 249th Division was engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans in the west of Erbin, Rokossovsky was calling the commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army, Volisky: "Vasily Timofeevich, hasn't your 10th Tank Army already arrived in the west of Erbin?" Why hasn't there been an offensive yet? ”

As soon as Volsky waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he said with a little cry and laughter: "Comrade commander, do you know that the Germans have arranged artillery positions at the shipyard northeast of the city to intercept the units of the tank army, and because the road of advance is blocked by enemy artillery fire, the tank army cannot advance to the city. ”

"What about your heavy artillery brigade? Is it used as an ornament by you? Rokossovsky asked in a stern tone: "General Volisky, I order you, immediately transfer the heavy artillery brigade over and destroy the enemy's artillery positions." According to our intelligence, the Germans have a limited number of troops in the city, and it will be easier to capture the city if you can open the breach from the east first. ”

As soon as he finished calling Volysky, Rokossovsky then called Fedyuninsky. He asked bluntly on the phone: "General Fedyuninsky, have all your troops reached Elbin?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, the situation has changed unexpectedly." Fedyuninsky reported to Rokossovsky: "According to the report of the scouts, the Germans have deployed a new artillery regiment in Marienburg, a dozen kilometers west of Erbin. If our troops were to the west of Elbin, they could attack us from behind with artillery fire. In order to prevent this from happening, I ordered the remaining four infantry divisions, three tank brigades, and several artillery regiments to temporarily halt their approach to Erbin, and instead concentrate their forces on the capture of Marienburg first. ”

Rokossovsky quickly checked the map and, having found the location of Marienburg, spoke into the microphone and said: "Comrade Fedyuninsky, you are doing the right thing. If, before the attack on Erbin, the enemy's artillery in the Marienburg area is not knocked out, then huge losses will be inflicted on our siege forces. ”

After a pause, Rokossovsky asked Fedyuninsky with some concern: "Marienburg is a fortress established by the Teutonic Knights after the conquest of Prussia, it is the largest Gothic fortress in all of Europe, the castle is divided into several areas, and several layers of walls are built, it is not easy to capture this place. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Marshal." After listening to Rokossovsky's worries, Fedyuninsky said with confidence: "We are fully confident that we will seize this fortress and advance to the banks of the Vistula and Nogat rivers to find a way to build a strong landing ground on the opposite bank and lay the foundation for the next battle." ”

Seeing that Fedyuninsky was preparing to give priority to the task of capturing Marienburg and capturing Elbin, Rokossovsky planned to hand it over to Gusev's troops to complete, after all, the army group had already assembled two infantry divisions, one infantry brigade and two tank brigades south of Elbin, plus the artillery support of the Estonian 8th Army, it should not be a problem to take the south of the city.

Gusev's attitude was similar to what Rokossovsky had imagined. After learning that Fedyuninsky's troops could not take part in the attack on Erbin for the time being, he took the initiative to express his position to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, please rest assured, according to the information we have, the German army has only a few thousand people in the city, and most of the civilians who have just taken up arms, and their combat effectiveness is quite limited, and I am confident that they will crush their defenses in the south of the city." ”

Rokossovsky was skeptical of Gusev's statement, and if the defenders of the city were really so vulnerable, then why his troops had been stagnant for two days in the southern direction of the city without achieving any success. However, since Gusev has already expressed his position to himself, it is obviously inappropriate to criticize him again, so Rokossovsky said in an encouraging tone: "General Gusev, since this is the case, then I will wait for your good news." ”