The infantry assembled in the open space where we had parked our tanks, and said there were eight companies, but in fact there were less than fifty men left in each company. The so-called tank regiment was even more unreliable, there were only eleven tanks, and according to Colonel Dorofeev, the rest were lost in the battle, and now only one tank company remains.

The chief of staff had just sworn that the troops would be able to assemble within three hours, but after five hours, less than half of the companies were in the open field, and the rest were still on their way to the village. Captain Boroda and I stood at the front of the queue, watching with blank expressions as they lined up in a chaotic manner, and neither of us spoke.

Looking at these grinding commanders and fighters, I couldn't help frowning, it took so long to gather troops, if they had walked more than 20 kilometers, by the time they arrived at the village of Pyatnitsa, it was estimated that the Germans had already taken all the prisoners.

After the troops were finally assembled, Captain Boroda stepped up and shouted in a loud voice: "All comrades, listen to my command!" Attention! At ease! Turn right towards the village of Pyatnica to the north of the target, and go! ”

Following his command, the soldiers lined up in a four-way column marched in a neat march along the road to the north.

Not long after the infantry set off, Boroda got on the tank just now, stood on the body, and directed the tank troops to set off. They quickly crossed the ranks of infantry and galloped forward. 、

I wanted to march with the infantry, but the chief of staff who was traveling with the army refused to let me go with him. Seeing that it was difficult to refuse, I didn't excuse myself and sat directly in the back seat of the jeep.

After nearly ten hours of marching, our reinforcements finally arrived two kilometres away from the village of Pyatnica shortly after dawn. The tank unit led by Boroda was in an offensive formation at the moment and stopped in front.

Our car stopped next to Captain Boroda's tank, and when I saw him holding a telescope and looking at the village in the distance, I couldn't help but call out to him: "Comrade Captain, how is the situation in the village?" Did you see the Germans? ”

Boroda put down his binoculars, bowed his head and said to me: "Comrade Major, the village is very quiet, not a single figure can be seen, and I don't know if General Vlasov is still there?" ”

My proposal was quickly approved by the Chief of Staff, who rushed ahead of me and said to Boroda: "Comrade Captain, since the enemy is not moving, perhaps they are not aware of our arrival. You immediately organize an attack on your troops and take them by surprise. ”

Boroda didn't answer, but looked at me. Seeing that he turned his attention to me again, I felt a little unhappy, didn't you provoke a conflict between me and my superiors? Someone gives you an order, and you look at what I do? Although I was full of complaints, on the surface, I still had to pretend that nothing had happened, and said to the captain: "Captain Boroda, since Comrade Chief of Staff has given orders, you can carry it out!" The tank corps advanced to the village, and the infantry entered the designated position and advanced towards the village in a scattered formation. ”

Boroda agreed loudly, rushed to the open hatch, and shouted inside: "Tankmen, advance, rush to the village." The tank under his feet let out a thud, a puff of black smoke from behind his buttocks, and then quickly rushed towards the village, followed by the eleven tanks. The two three-wheeled motorcycles also rushed into the village after them.

Seeing that the tank was approaching the entrance of the village, my heart couldn't help but rise to my throat, and my heart said that the Germans would not ambush anti-tank men at the entrance of the village, right? Will they wait for our tanks to enter the village and open fire?

As it turned out, I was completely unfounded until all the tanks had driven into the village, and there were no anti-tank men as I had imagined to jump out to stop the tanks, and I didn't even hear the gunshots. I was secretly surprised, where did the Germans go? Could it be that they went to the village of Pyatnitsa just to capture Vlasov and evacuate them all after they were all killed?

Soon after the tank troops entered the village, the infantry, after a long journey, entered the designated positions one after another, and set up an attacking skirmish formation, waiting for an order to be ready to enter the battle at any time.

The chief of staff, Samoilov, looked at the telescope for a while, then asked me when I could attack, to which I replied that I would wait for Captain Boroda to send someone to inform the village of the situation before letting the infantry attack.

Just when we were anxious, a motorcycle pulled out of the village. The chief of staff pointed to the approaching motorcycle, and excitedly said to me: "Comrade Major, you see, Captain Boroda has sent someone back. ”

When the motorcycle came to a stop five meters away from us, a soldier jumped out of the sidecar, trotted up to the two of us, saluted and reported loudly: "Report to Comrade Commander, Captain Boroda asked me to report to you that the village is empty and there is no one. ”

"Not a single one?" The chief of staff asked in disbelief: "Isn't there even a common man?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander, we searched carefully, and there was no one in the village."

"What, no one?" This answer made me depressed, how did the Germans do it, since Vlasov's troops have surrendered, you just take the soldiers away, why don't you even spare the civilians of the village?

The chief of staff looked at me and asked suspiciously: "Major Oshanina, I would like to ask a question, who did you listen to about General Vlasov in this village?" ”

"What do you say," replied impatiently, "I had seen General Vlasov himself in the village yesterday morning, except that I had escaped before the Germans had joined in. ”

"Tell me, what are we going to do next?"

I looked down and thought for a moment, pointed to the forest around the village, and said to the chief of staff: "Although there is no one in the village, it cannot be ruled out that someone will flee to the forest when the Germans enter the village." Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I beg you, send half of your troops to search in the forest, and maybe there will be a harvest. ”

The Chief of Staff stared into my eyes for at least thirty seconds, then nodded and said, "Well, Major Oshanina, since you say so, do as you say." Then he sent a few company commanders, and except for two companies that were left to serve as guards outside the village, the rest of the troops all went into the forest to search for possible commanders and fighters.

As soon as the search force departed, Captain Boroda also came out of the village on a motorcycle. He came to us and said with a serious expression: "I have visited the village, although it is empty and there is no trace of a battle, but in several houses I have found standard weapons and uniforms belonging to our army. Judging from this, it is true that our troops were once stationed in this village, but where are they now? I still don't understand this question. ”

I said in my heart that they were all taken prisoners, and now no one knows where they were taken by the Germans, and of course you can't find them. But this is something that I can never say. In order not to be cold, I comforted him and said, "Captain Boroda, please don't worry, when the search force returns, everything will be understood." ”

The chief of staff looked at his watch and said, "I said, "I said, should we go to the village and wait for news, and eat something by the way." ”

Listening to the proposal of the chief of staff, Boroda patted his forehead and said with a smile: "Oh, comrade chief of staff, if you don't say it, I really forgot, it was my negligence to let you stand outside the village all the time." In this case, you let the troops who are on guard come into the village with us first, and we will go to the village and wait for news. ”

Boroda took us to Vlasov's former headquarters, a room where the Germans had probably moved everything except a few unloaded rifles thrown in the corner, maps on the walls, and telephones on the table.

We ate something in the abandoned headquarters, with cold well water, and soon company commanders with search missions came in to report to us the results of their search.

After an hour of searching, the troops in charge of the search found nearly 50 sick or wounded commanders and fighters in the forest. Some of them were carried out by the search fighters with their hands and feet—most of them were swollen and half-dead from hunger. Those who were in slightly better physical condition came out by themselves holding the shoulders of the fighters.

These commanders and fighters were found by streams or in thorn bushes. Every rescued commander and fighter was emaciated, and when they saw the commanders and fighters who went to rescue them, some of them remained silent and stubbornly refused to speak. Some people keep talking nonsense that doesn't match the preamble.

After repeated questioning, we figured out one thing: after the Germans surrounded the village, they captured most of the commanders and soldiers and villagers in the village without a fight. Some of the commanders and fighters, who did not want to be prisoners, took advantage of the chaos and fled into the forest. In order to exterminate them, the Germans went to the forest several times to hunt them down, and even released police dogs. In this case, some commanders and fighters were killed on the spot by the Germans, and some were taken prisoner. The commanders and fighters who survived were hiding in the forest, always on guard against the enemy's search and arrest. It was not until they saw the search party of our army appear that they came out of their hiding place. However, none of the surviving commanders and fighters could say anything about Vlasov's whereabouts.

After sending the commanders and fighters into the village, Boroda said to me with a sad face: "My mission is to meet General Vlasov, but no one knows his whereabouts. Major Oshanina, what do you say is going to be done? ”

I knew that it was very urgent to find Vlasov himself, and at the same time I knew that he was bound to be a prisoner of the Germans. Now that I heard that Captain Boroda had asked me for help, I could not ignore it, but could only reply vaguely: "I think you should immediately contact the Front Command, report the news of General Vlasov's disappearance to General Meretskov, and wait for his order to take a step forward." ”

Listening to my suggestion, the chief of staff also echoed and said: "Comrade Captain, I think Major Oshanina's proposal is good, you should immediately contact the front army headquarters, report the current situation, and let the higher authorities make a decision." ”

Seeing that both I and the chief of staff said this, Boroda nodded helplessly and said, "Since this is the case, then I will go and report to the headquarters." However, how should these troops be arranged, should they be stationed here, or should they return to the headquarters of the 378th Division? ”

The chief of staff, presumably waiting for him to ask this question, replied almost without hesitation: "The troops have been gone for a day and are already tired, let them rest in the village for the night, and then return to the division headquarters tomorrow." ”