Panfilov decisively handed over the city and booty to the infantry, and directed the tank forces to continue the advance to the east, which soon received unexpected results. Don't look at the fact that Stolp has already been lost, but when the German commander in the city gave the order to surrender, he did not inform other cities, so that there were reinforcements from various cities along the way, and they were traveling along the road to Stolp in trucks.

The Germans did not know that the Soviets had occupied Stolp, so when driving at night, all the vehicles drove forward with their headlights on and in a long line of snakes. The tank that the Soviet army opened the road was the car of the brigade commander, Colonel Shukin, who was exposing half of his body outside the turret at the moment, observing the movement in front at any time, and when he saw the lights of the car in the distance, he knew that it was the enemy, and hurriedly sent an alarm to his subordinates through the throat transmitter: "Battle alarm, battle alarm!" A German convoy appeared ahead, and the crews immediately prepared for battle. "The tanks on the march, having heard Shukin's order, stopped on the side of the road in turn and were ready for battle.

Shukin raised his binoculars and looked ahead, and soon saw that it was only a convoy of trucks, and he hurriedly ordered his gunners to reload their shells and prepare to open fire. Then, he contacted the commander of the infantry division, Colonel Bratash, through the throat microphone: "Colonel Bratash, I'm Shukin, I'm Shukin. ”

"Hello, Colonel Shukin." Colonel Bratash, who was sitting on the bus, heard Shukin's call and immediately asked rhetorically: "What is happening ahead?" ”

"A German convoy was spotted ahead." Shukin said loudly: "Comrade Colonel, please immediately order your fighters to get out of the car, and when our tanks rush to the enemy's convoy, you will rush up and destroy the enemy's infantry." ”

"Understood, understood." Bratash hurriedly replied: "I immediately gave an order to the troops to prepare them for battle. ”

But when the German convoy was only two hundred meters away from Shukin's tank, Shukin decisively gave the order to open fire. The first truck of the German convoy was hit by a shell and was instantly blown into a ball of fire, and the German soldiers on the car were either blown to pieces on the spot or swept to the side of the road by the wave of explosion.

Without waiting for the enemy to come to his senses, Shukin retracted into the tank, closed the hatch with his hand, and ordered the driver: "Rush forward with full speed and knock over the enemy's truck." ”

The driver drove the tank at full speed and rushed towards the German convoy that was in disarray. Several trucks that tried to turn around and flee were knocked over by the speeding tanks, and the soldiers in the compartments fell heavily on the road under the action of huge inertia, and their screams even drowned out the roar of the tank engines.

Seeing that the brigade commander's tank had already rushed into the German convoy, the other tanks were naturally not to be outdone and also increased their horsepower and rushed up. They saw a number of German soldiers jumping out of the intact truck beds, and they continued to fire with their machine guns, knocking the enemy down in pieces on the side of the road.

The German commander was sitting in the middle of the vehicle, and he heard movement when the first truck was hit by Soviet tank shells. After a moment of consternation, he knew that the convoy had been ambushed by the Soviets, and before the driver could stop, he pulled the door and jumped out, rolling and crawling into a ravine on the side of the road.

Watch as Soviet tanks rumble past in front of you, knocking over and crushing trucks that are trying to turn around and escape, and the high-speed turning tracks crush the German soldiers in front of you into meat sauce. Seeing this scene, the German commander was frightened, and he hurriedly shouted at the soldiers who had just jumped out of the car and tried to stop the Soviet tanks: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, we surrender, listen to my orders, surrender to the Russians immediately!" His shouts, however, were muffled by the roar of tank engines, gunfire, and explosions.

Colonel Shukin commanded the tank unit to rush to the rear of the convoy before stopping, turning the muzzle of the gun to the truck parked on the road. The troops under the command of Colonel Bratash also rushed up behind the tanks, and the fighters used the light of the fire to eliminate the enemy who were hiding behind the cars and tried to put up stubborn resistance, and gathered the prisoners with their hands raised and escorted them to the rear.

The battle lasted only a quarter of an hour before the German convoy of forty trucks was destroyed. Of the 600 German officers and soldiers in the convoy, except for a dozen who escaped, the rest were either killed or taken prisoner by the Soviet army.

Through the interrogation of the prisoners, it was revealed that the enemy had no idea that the Soviets had captured Stolp, and that the troops had been ordered to rush to reinforcements. And similar reinforcements are coming in from the southeast and north.

After receiving this important information, Shukin immediately used the walkie-talkie to talk to Panfilov, gave him a detailed report on the information he had obtained, and then asked: "Comrade commander, what should we do next?" ”

After listening to Shukin's report, Panfilov stared at the map in front of him for a while, and then said: "Comrade Colonel, you go about five kilometers further and there is the Lubov-Friyes River. The task of your brigade is to occupy the bridge and hold it until the main forces of the corps arrive. Do you understand? ”

"Comrade Commander," Shukin was greatly encouraged by the skirmish that had just ended, and he thought that he had a tank brigade in his hands, plus an infantry division, and that he would be able to hold the bridge over the Lubov-Friyes River with only a small number of troops, so he asked tentatively: "Do you think it is possible to keep only a small force and hold the bridge over the river, while our main forces continue to advance to the east and take more cities?" ”

"No, Comrade Colonel." Panfilov did not hesitate to veto Shukin's proposal: "The enemy has strong fortifications and a huge garrison of the cities to be attacked next, and it is impossible for you to capture them with only one tank brigade and one infantry division." Don't talk nonsense, after the capture of the bridge, your brigade and infantry division will remain where they are and stand by, and will not be allowed to move further without my orders. ”

The German troops, who were holding the bridge over the Lubov-Friyes River, never dreamed that the Soviets would rush in front of them so quickly, and after some weak resistance, they laid down their arms and surrendered to the Soviets.

No sooner had the bridge been captured, and while Shukin and Bratash were deliberating whether to leave a part of their forces for defense, and then the main force continued to advance eastward, an officer hurried over to report to them: "Report that a convoy of about a hundred covered trucks has been found in the upper reaches of the river, which is coming towards us along the road. ”

"How far is it from us?" Shu Jin hurriedly asked.

"There are about four or five kilometers left," replied the officer, "and at the speed of their march, they will be able to reach the bridge in ten minutes at most." ”

"Comrade Colonel," Shukin and the other officers finished speaking, then turned to Bratash and said, "It's still the old rule, wait for our tanks to bombard for a while, and then you infantry will go up and clean up the mess." ”

"Mr. Officer, Mr. Officer." As soon as Shujin finished speaking, standing in the middle of a group of captives not far away, an officer wearing a large-brimmed hat suddenly rushed out, and he said in stammering Russian: "No, you can't open fire, it's a convoy carrying grain." ”

"Grain, what grain?" After Shu Jingang said this, he suddenly realized that the German officer seemed to understand Russian, and hurriedly asked again: "Can you understand us?" ”

"Yes." The German officer replied in a panic: "Mr. officer, I can understand a little. ”

Since the German officer knew Russian, Shukin did not ask someone to call for a translator, but asked bluntly: "Tell me, where is this batch of grain being delivered?" ”

"Betuff," replied the officer, "all this grain was delivered to Betuff." ”

"Colonel Shukin," Bratash said to Shukin, knowing that the convoy was carrying grain, "since the cart is full of grain, then we can find a way to seize this batch of grain." ”

"That makes sense," Shukin agreed, agreeing with Bratash's proposal, and went on to state his plan: "I'll have the tanks lie in ambush on both sides of the road, and as soon as the German grain convoy enters the ambush circle, we will rush out by surprise......"

"It's too late, Colonel Shukin." Bratash shook his head and said: "The German convoy is approaching us, and if you send tanks to ambush at this time, you will be detected by the enemy." ”

"Colonel Bratash," seeing that the other party raised an objection, Shukin asked with some displeasure, "Then tell me, what should we do?" ”

"Since it is a convoy carrying grain, there must not be too many German soldiers escorted by the car." "Colonel Shukin, you can still rush along the road with tanks, rush to the tail of the convoy, cut off their retreat, and force the enemy to surrender to us," Bratash said with a smile. ”

"That's a good idea." Shukin thought for a moment about Bratash's proposal, then nodded in agreement, not to mention that the Germans came only with a convoy of grain, even if it was a tank column, if they rushed up by surprise, it would plunge the enemy into chaos. "I'll go and set it up."

"Wait a minute, Colonel Shukin." Seeing that Shukin was leaving, Bratash reminded him again: "Finally, turn on the megaphone of the tank, let the fighters who understand German shout at the enemy, and make them understand that there is no point in resisting, and the only way out is to lay down their weapons and obediently surrender to us." ”

Shukin looked at the German officer standing by and said to him: "Mr. officer, if you don't want us to destroy this grain convoy, then please cooperate with us and make the grain convoy surrender to us through a loudspeaker." ”

The German officer was silent for a long time when he heard Shukin say this, and finally nodded vigorously and said, "Okay, Mr. officer, I am willing to cooperate with you to make the grain convoy surrender." ”