The sudden appearance of Soviet tanks on the streets of Elbin frightened the officials in the city enough, and almost as soon as the Soviet tanks drove out of the city, he issued an evacuation order through various means, telling all the non-military personnel in the city to leave Erbin as soon as possible and withdraw to a safe place.

In all its hearts, the intentions of this order were good, and the German officials did not want to see the inhabitants of the city fall victim to the battle between the two armies in the coming battle. However, at the moment, countless refugees are heading towards the city, and the roads in all three directions except the north are becoming congested. The residents who were about to escape from the city knew that the Soviet tanks were heading north, so they naturally would not flee in that direction, so they left the city from the east, west, and south.

Refugees from outside the city want to enter the city, and residents who have been ordered to evacuate want to escape from the city through these roads. The two teams of refugees who went in opposite directions made the already congested road even more congested. Fortunately, the Soviet troops are still far from here, otherwise the tens of thousands of refugees blocked around the city will survive a very small exchange of fire between the two sides.

The only four tanks left in the tank company drove another five or six kilometers north to a high ground. It was a German defensive position with trenches and a few reinforced concrete pillboxes, but no defenders.

Diachenko stood on the body of the tank, carefully examined the environment, and finally made a decisive decision: "We will build a defensive position here." He knew very well in his heart that with his current strength, it was simply unrealistic to withstand the German attack, so after arranging the defensive position, he immediately ordered the telegraph operator to send a telegram to the battalion headquarters to report that the tank company had successfully passed through Erbin and established a defense north of the city.

Diachenko's telegram, after being reported layer by layer, came to Kirichenko, the commander of the 29th tank army. After reading the telegram, he immediately instructed the chief of staff: "Send a telegram to the tank brigades and tell them to immediately speed up the march and get to Erbin as soon as possible to join up with Captain Diachenko's tank company." ”

Kirichenko, having ordered the tank brigades to speed up the march, personally called Rokossovsky to report the matter. After listening to the report, Rokossovsky asked: "Comrade General, how long do you think it will take for the main forces of the tank army to join forces with Captain Diachenko's tank company?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, it's hard to say." Kirichenko said with some embarrassment: "Our tanks, after a long assault, need to stop for overhaul and replace some parts. Otherwise, even if they rushed to Elbin, they would not be able to immediately enter the battle. ”

Long before the outbreak of the war, Rokossovsky personally participated in the long-distance march of the tank division, and as a result, after walking dozens of kilometers, half of the tanks broke down due to various reasons. If you simply want to be quick and let the 29th Tank Army rush to Erbin, the number of tanks that can be put into battle will be very limited. Therefore he asked understandingly: "Comrade General, I would like to know, if you have to stop the overhaul, how long will it take for your army to reach Erbin?" ”

After pondering in his mind for a while, Kirichenko replied: "Comrade Marshal, if optimistic, our vanguard tank brigade will be able to reach Elbin early tomorrow morning." But even if we got to Erbin, we could not immediately go into battle, because without the cooperation of the infantry, the German anti-tank men could easily destroy our tanks. ”

"The infantry will, Comrade General." Rokossovsky looked at a battle report in front of him, and said into the microphone: "You are not fighting alone, the troops of the 10th Tank Army are also advancing north at the moment, and they will reach the east of Elbin tomorrow morning." As for the infantry, Gusev's 48th Army is still more than fifty kilometers away from Erbin, and I will ask them to speed up their march and rush over to join you as soon as possible. ”

Before putting down the phone, Kirichenko suddenly remembered the two missing tank crews, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, two tank crews are missing in Diachenko's company, I wonder if their whereabouts have been found?" ”

"Nope." Rokossovsky replied very dryly: "After repeated searches by the Air Force, no trace of them was found at all, I don't know if they hid to hide from the Germans, or accidentally fell into the swamp." ”

"Hopefully they're just hiding for the time being." Kirichenko didn't want to think about the worst possible outcome, after all, one of the missing tank crews was Shura's. Therefore, he said with a hint of luck: "Maybe when they see the main force of the tank army arriving, they will take the initiative to come out and join them." ”

After waiting for Rokossovsky to make a call, Bogolyubov carefully reminded: "Comrade Marshal, due to the speed of the advance of the tank corps, the infantry has been left far behind. Without the cooperation of the infantry, it would have been very difficult for the tank corps to capture Elbin. ”

"Chief of Staff, call General Gusev and order his troops to pick up speed. Be sure to arrive in Erbin tomorrow morning to cooperate with the tank army in the assault on the city. Rokossovsky stressed to Bogolyubov: "Diachenko's tank company suddenly appeared in Erbin and managed to pass through the city. While shaking the enemy, it also aroused the vigilance of the German army. If our troops do not reach Erbin quickly, the enemy may strengthen our defenses, making our next attack extremely difficult. ”

"Understood, Comrade Marshal." As soon as Bogolyubov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he immediately continued: "I will immediately convey your intention to General Gusev and ask his troops to rush to Erbin as soon as possible." ”

When Gusev received a phone call from Bogolyubov, he first complained to the chief of staff, saying that his troops had become very tired after a series of battles. And there are still more than fifty kilometers from Erbin, and it is simply impossible to make the infantry march fifty kilometers on foot overnight.

After waiting for the other party to finish complaining, Bogolyubov said to him: "General Gusev, we already have a tank detachment that has stormed Erbin, and is currently under siege by the Germans, and if our troops do not rush to support them as soon as possible, they are in danger of being annihilated. ”

Knowing that there was a tank detachment trapped in the city of Elbin, Gusev's attitude immediately changed, and he hurriedly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, since we have troops besieged in the city of Elbin, then we must not sit idly by and watch them be destroyed by the enemy. In this way, it will certainly not be possible for the main forces of the army group to arrive in Elbin tomorrow morning. However, I can send a motorized infantry brigade and have them rush to Erbin overnight, confident that they will be able to rescue our trapped troops. ”

While Rokossovsky was arranging his troops, the enemy in the city of Elbin was not idle. The commander of the city's defenses, Colonel Shepfeld, used his limited forces to begin to set up defenses around the city. As for the tank company that had established a defensive position in the north, he ignored it for the time being, not because he did not want to immediately destroy this Soviet detachment that caused panic in the city, but because he had too few troops at his disposal. After confirming that the other party did not have the strength to attack him, he still did not have any intention of attacking, but sent a platoon of troops to the north of the city to monitor the tank detachment of the Soviet army.