In order to fulfill his promise to Rokossovsky, Panfilov personally led the 3rd and 18th Guards Tank Brigades to the outskirts of Stolp overnight to join the infantry who had arrived in advance. When the tank corps arrived at its destination and began to camp, a jeep drove into the camp and stopped near the command vehicle from Panfilov. A lieutenant officer poked his head out of the car and asked the crowd outside the command car: "Comrade commander, is it from the tank army?" ”

"Yes, we are from the tank army." Panfilov guessed that the other party might be a liaison officer from the 19th Army, so he nodded and replied: "Which part are you from?" ”

"I'm General Romanovsky's adjutant, and I'm here to find General Panfilov." The officer turned to Panfilov and asked: "Do you know where the general is?" ”

"I am Panfilov."

Hearing that the general in front of him was Panfilov, the lieutenant hurriedly opened the car door and jumped out of the car, came to Panfilov and raised his hand in salute, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade General. ”

"Comrade Lieutenant," Panfilov asked, looking at the lieutenant, who called himself the commander's adjutant, "where is your command?" ”

"Report to Comrade General," replied the adjutant respectfully, "the headquarters of the army group is now located in the west of the city of Stolp, and the commander has heard that your troops have arrived here, so let me ask you to come there." ”

Panfilov guessed that the other party might be discussing joint operations with him, so he greeted his deputy army commander, chief of staff, and political commissar, and then hurried to Romanovsky's headquarters with several guards in a car following the adjutant's jeep.

When he arrived at the headquarters, Romanovsky was assigning tasks to several of his subordinates. Seeing Panfilov walk in, he immediately greeted him with a smile, "Our tankmen are here, and I welcome you on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the army group." ”

"Comrade Commander," said Panfilov, although the tank army was only fighting with the 19th Army and was not under the command of Romanovsky, but Panfilov still said respectfully: "Please give us orders." ”

After beckoning Panfilov to sit down, Romanovsky said to him: "Comrade Panfilov, early tomorrow morning, we are preparing to launch another offensive against Stolp, hoping to get the cooperation of your tank army. Comrade Chief of Staff will introduce the specific situation to you. ”

The chief of staff of the army group stood up and said to Panfilov: "Comrade General, today we launched two consecutive attacks on Stolp, but regrettably, our offensive ended in failure. Tomorrow we will again try to attack the city in order to break through the enemy's defenses. ”

After listening to this general introduction by the chief of staff, Panfilov frowned slightly, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you elaborate on this?" With what forces and from what position are you going to attack Stolp tomorrow? ”

A map was spread out on the table, and the chief of staff pointed to it and said to Panfilov: "We intend to attack from the south of the city with an infantry division, under the cover of artillery fire,......

Panfilov stared at the map for a while, and then asked his own question: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if I am not mistaken, it seems to be a wide body of water in the rationale of your attack. ”

"You're right, there's a lot of water there." The chief of staff said to Panfilov: "The frontage of the water area is five kilometers wide, two kilometers in depth, and the average depth of the water is one meter. ”

After listening to these data, Panfilov's brow furrowed again: "So it will take at least half an hour for our infantry to pass through this body of water?" After receiving an affirmative reply from the Chief of Staff, he said dissatisfiedly, "Comrade Chief of Staff, have you ever thought about how heavy casualties our infantry will pay when passing through this body of water, intercepted by German artillery fire? ”

After the chief of staff turned his head to look at Romanovsky, he said helplessly: "General Panfilov, you are right, the reason why our attack failed today is that the infantry was intercepted by German artillery fire when passing through this water, and the troops who were lucky enough to rush ashore could not pose any threat to the enemy at all. ”

"Since we know this water, it is a huge obstacle for our army." Panfilov continued to ask his own questions: "Then why did you choose to attack from here? Look here," he said, pointing to the west and north of the city, "and judging from the map, the terrain in these two directions is flat and conducive to the deployment of troops, so why don't we attack from here?" ”

"Comrade General, you don't know anything." How could the chief of staff not know about the direction indicated by Panfilov, he explained: "Both directions are open areas, there is nothing to cover. If our infantry were to attack from here, they would be directly killed by German artillery......"

"General Panfilov," Romanovsky saw that Panfilov seemed to have his own thoughts, so he interrupted the words of the chief of staff, looked at Panfilov and asked, "What do you think, just say it." ”

"Comrade Commander," said Panfilov, pointing to the map, "it is obviously unrealistic for our tank units to pass through this water, and it is possible that many tanks will get stuck in the mud and become targets for German artillery." Therefore, I intend to attack from both the north and the west. ”

"Attacking from both directions?" Romanovsky leaned down, stared at the map on the table, and said thoughtfully: "General Panfilov, didn't you just hear the chief of staff say that these two places have no shelter and are easily attacked by German artillery fire, causing huge casualties to the troops?" ”

"I hear you." Panfilov nodded.

"Now that you have heard it," Romanovsky asked puzzled, after listening to Panfilov's answer, "then why are you attacking from these two directions?" ”

"This kind of terrain is very conducive to the use of tanks." Panfilov replied: "I intend to direct the troops to attack from two directions at the same time, taking advantage of the speed advantage of the tanks, to quickly rush to the city and take the enemy by surprise." ”

Romanovsky's original intention was to hope that Panfilov's tank corps would attack the city from the south together with the infantry. But at this moment, hearing that Panfilov already had his own ideas, he changed his mind and decided to attack from several directions at once to ensure that the city could be taken as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Romanovsky nodded and said: "Well, General Panfilov, since you say so, then how to use the tank units in tomorrow's battle, it is up to you to decide." ”