Dongfang Bai, who was sitting on the command tank, looked over. Surrounded by refugees in various carriages, carts, or on foot, groups of wounded and discarded Soviet stragglers joined the desperate, ragged, war-torn flow of people who had been rendered homeless.

The snow was littered with smashed, twisted Soviet weaponry – German-made and Soviet-made, the charred frames of the houses smoking and the smell of burnt paste in the air. Through the smoke and thick clouds, the faint sunlight illuminated the scene of the bitter battle not long ago.

Soon, the Chinese tank group left the fleeing crowd behind, and the dozen or so Chinese tanks that rushed to the front lined up in a triangular charging formation, and the commander of the 503rd Tank Battalion, Captain Shang Wenliang, looked at the snowfields that flashed red light from time to time under the gray sky in the distance, and couldn't help but be full of pride.

“…… The battle is tough. Our battalion was deployed in the southern part of the city as a reserve under the direct command of General Dongfang Bai. The 18th and 19th Tank Brigades and the 32nd Infantry Division were already deployed on the first line, we were on the second line, and when the enemy broke through the defensive positions of the 32nd Infantry Division, our battalion launched an attack formation and launched a counterattack on the enemy. We dug trenches over the Russians one after another, and my 'Gray Wolf' tank stretched out its 100mm guns, and without the slightest fear, I destroyed two Soviet tank destroyers at a distance of 500 to 600 meters, and when the Soviet soldiers jumped from the burning tank, I fired at them with a machine gun, knocking them all to the ground. ”

"On April 15, the Soviets broke through the line and reached the village of Adom, and we, as reserves, arrived in time to help the infantry and artillery defending there, and in this battle, we destroyed 10 Soviet tanks, 15 cannons, 1 armored vehicle and 7 machine guns, and the village remained in our hands."

"When we arrived at the designated area, our brigade commander, General Hu Lian, came to the old Sverdlovsk road, where tank units were deployed, and it was night, a car with lights on was coming towards us at high speed, the brigade commander pulled out his pistol and stopped the car, which was sitting with a number of soldiers, and he stepped forward and said to one of the lieutenants who was sitting in the car: 'How dare you violate the light control?' Suddenly a gunshot rang out, the brigade commander dodged and fell to the ground, the car accelerated and rushed over, no one knew what was happening, and at this moment, one of our tanks opened fire, and the car was smashed to pieces with one shot, and the people in the car jumped down with fire, and the brigade commander shot with us and shot them all down, it was a dangerous battle experience, and I later learned that they were Russian partisans. On that occasion, our tanks also destroyed two trucks carrying infantry, both of which were also occupied by Russian reconnaissance units. ”

"When we started the counterattack, I was very impressed by the Russians'KV' tanks. Our brigade reached a town to the west on 21 April. The town was located on a hill on the west bank of the river of the same name, and the ladder bank on our side was somewhat gently sloping, and our infantry was pinned down by enemy fire and could not advance. We arrived at the time and found that the Soviets had four 'KV' tanks, and the rest were 'T-26' and 'BT'. We rushed forward like a bunch of grenadiers. These light tanks burned like candles under our blows, and the infantry feared that our 'Walker' tanks would not be able to damage the 'KV' tanks from the front. Therefore, the division commander assigned the 20th Tank Brigade to the attacking force and ordered ten 'Gray Wolf' tanks to be sent to assault and cover the infantry in front. Our tanks approached the enemy's defensive line, firing incessantly, destroying one enemy tank after another, and to our 100mm tank guns, the Russians' tanks were as fragile as paper houses. In the evening, the enemy attack was repulsed, and we destroyed 22 enemy tanks, including 5 'T-34' and 3 'KV' tanks. ”

“…… Our task now is to block a new Soviet offensive, and the disturbing news from the High Command, from the Front Command, did not stop when our troops cut into the southern flank of the Soviet army and drove the Soviet troops from Sverdlovsk to Chelyabinsk. There is intelligence that the Soviets are transporting many divisions from Moscow, and they want to prove themselves with a successful counteroffensive. Knowing that we had suffered heavy casualties in the defensive battle, they changed their deployment and tried to capture Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk. In order to prevent the enemy from breaking through this area, our brigade and other divisions began to build fortifications, and the enemy was preparing for defense. We held out there until the end of the campaign. ”

"In search of a good position to set up the tank, I went out to reconnoitre, and when I reached the infantry trench ahead, I was shot and wounded in the right arm. They bandaged my wounds, and after a few days, I was back in my tank again, which meant I was fine. ”

"In fierce and brutal battles, the front has advanced up to two hundred and fifty kilometers. There is no doubt that Sverdlovsk was saved, however, the enemy was afraid of a new offensive on Moscow, so they still used the Moscow direction as the main line of defense. So they are constantly strengthening, strengthening, and strengthening this line of defense. But there was a lack of ammunition, artillery and other military supplies. Their high command knows nothing about our plans. Stalin and Zhukov were sure that we would do everything we could to attack again, but they did not know what our real goal was. ”

"Our battalion is all equipped with 'Gray Wolf' tanks. We attacked from the railway station, and General Vostok Bai wanted us to occupy the bridgehead of the enemy's assault on Sverdlovsk. As the battalion commander, I gathered all the company and platoon commanders together and said to them: 'In this attack, the Soviets will definitely be driven back to Chelyabinsk and bravely advance in your invincible tanks!' But we didn't go far. Although we made good progress in the first five or six days, we managed to push the Soviets back about 20 kilometers. During the offensive, our line of defense advanced 3 km, which, of course, was not accurate, the infantry advanced no more than 2 km. ”

"We later found out that in the direction of our attack, the Soviets had succeeded in building their defenses, not by spreading their limited forces on a single line of defense, but by concentrating their forces in small areas to form solid support points, from which together they formed a defensive position. They learned from the Germans how to build defensive positions, so they used the same defensive positions here. And in the past, their line of defense was a 3-kilometer trench without machine-gun and submachine gun firing ports. ”

"At the beginning of the campaign, we had more than 150 divisions on the battlefield, the Soviets divided into three assault groups, formed a superior encirclement in these areas, their tank forces were replenished, and a number of 'T-34' tanks were brought in, unfortunately they were produced in Stalingrad, and the load wheels were all steel mortars - they made a terrible rumbling sound when they traveled. They fought with such tanks. A number of 'T-60' light ones were also delivered, and they were assembled by hand at the Gorky plant. 'KV' heavy tanks are still very few, because Chelyabinsk has stopped producing 'KV' tanks, so 'KV' tanks can only be assembled from those destroyed tank parts. ”

"The Soviet offensive was generally led by the 'T-34' tank, followed by the 'T-60' light tank and the 'KV' tank. Since we are under siege, it has become very difficult to replenish us, and because of the great cost of fighting, we are now short of everything. But when this offensive began, I once again saw the heavy artillery fire of our troops, which made a deep impression on me. ”

"We went on the offensive. My tank was a kilometer or a kilometer and a half behind the battle formation, and I suddenly saw a field with dead and wounded enemy soldiers lying on the ground. These young lads, wearing the insignia of the guards, wore brand new uniforms and soldier shirts...... The soldiers were eliminated by a machine gunner of our army who was hiding in a pillbox. All this was caused by the incompetent command of the enemy commander. Their soldiers were not prepared in any way, but the commander did not know how to make the right attack either. They needed to suppress this our machine gun with mortars or other artillery, but they didn't do it, the commander just urged the soldiers: 'Forward!' Advance! ’”

"It was a very cold day, and I saw a Soviet nurse running around in the field shouting loudly in Russian: 'Hi! Good people! Help me, help me transport the wounded to a hidden location! 'A couple of our fighters went over to help her drag the wounded. Most of them were in a coma, that is, unconscious, so it was difficult to distinguish who was wounded and who was dead...... With such heavy losses, how much will the war cost them? I've never seen such a stupid command as one of our machine guns in the open to wipe out all the people there. In the war they exposed too many problems, and they still don't know how to fight properly. And we have learned to fight, we learned to fight from the Europeans in the First World War, and now we have finally matured, we have become good troops, capable of fighting well. ”

"We traveled 10 kilometers in tanks, and everywhere there was abandoned equipment from the Soviet troops: supply vehicles and repair vehicles. Sometimes stop in front of such a vehicle and have a white towel for maintenance of the equipment. I wiped my nose with such a towel, but the Soviets put the towel in the toolbox and used it to wipe it when repairing equipment. 'Hehe, their life is not bad! Somebody laughed, and I thought the same way. Then I came out and saw a BMW motorcycle, and the intelligence officer jokingly said to me: 'You need to fight, so I'm going to take your motorcycle away.'" ’”

"On about the seventh day, I caught a wounded Soviet officer near a village. He was the commissar of a tank battalion. At that time, they had only three tanks left in the battalion: two 'T-34' and one 'T-60', and the rest of the tanks were destroyed by us. I asked him why he didn't run away, and he said that they had a rule that even if the last tank was left after receiving the battle order, the tank unit would carry out the order, and if the last tank was destroyed, the tank unit would have the right to withdraw from the battle because it could not carry out the order, and the personnel would go back to the rear and wait for the arrival of new tanks and regroup. I only know now that they even have this rule, but I didn't know about it before. ”

"There is a river in front of us, there is a bridge over the river, and as is customary, the Soviets should have laid mines on the bridge. There is a swamp in the river. If you drive the tank there and it will get trapped, it means that you won't be able to complete the mission. So I decided to take a risk - to sacrifice an enemy 'T-60' tank, because if the 'T-60' tank can cross the bridge without any problems, it means that there are no mines on the bridge. However, we all passed, and the fact that there were no mines buried on the bridge at all is really gratifying. We entered the village, the Soviets fired heavily at us with their machine guns, and we also began to return fire. I wanted to destroy the enemy's artillery, but then I had to stick my head out of the tank and look for the artillery, because it was dark and I could neither see the sky nor touch the ground. I saw a Soviet 'KV-2' tank hidden behind the cottage, our tank immediately opened fire, the first shot did not hit the target, at this time the enemy also opened fire, and our tank was almost hit. Just as we were about to open fire again, the Soviet tank suddenly exploded with a 'boom', and I saw one of our tank destroyers, which, like our 'Gray Wolf', had a powerful 100mm gun. Two Soviets tank destroyers rushed out and tried to launch a countershock at us, and our tanks opened fire, and in a few minutes they were burning wreckage. ”

"It was still very cold in the morning, and the Soviets launched a counter-attack at about six o'clock. It was the first time I had seen such a dense charge of Soviet troops, dressed in open overcoats, armed with automatic weapons and carbines. I saw their faces—they were heavily furnished and looked like they were drunk. I knocked them down with my machine gun like a mowing grass, their coats were smashed to pieces and flew off them, and then they all fell. It was as if I was executing...... I coped with it, I stopped the enemy's attack. I destroyed five enemy tanks that had dug in bunkers. They can't do anything, because they're old tanks, and their guns can't penetrate the frontal armor of my 'gray wolf'. ”

"Leaving our location, I saw an open field bathed in light on the other side, and I had only one thought - to reach that open field, if the enemy did not add defensive positions, it means that they had planted mines in the village. I didn't want to go too far, so I looked out through the periscope and found a cannon of a tank that I had never seen before! Then a shell hit the side of my tank! The driver shouted: 'Captain! They killed the radioman! I bent down to look at the radioman, Taunagang, who had been shot through. Another blow followed! Our tanks stopped and started to catch fire! We had to abandon the car to survive – because the tank was burning. I pushed open the hatch and shouted to the crew: 'Abandon the car!' Then he jumped out. Several others also jumped out, and the bodies of the radiomen killed in the battle remained in the tank. ”

"We ran into a potato field. Bullets whizzed around us, I was shot, blood coming out of my left arm. The driver came up to me and said, 'Captain, give me your revolver and I'll protect you.' ’”

"'Where's your pistol?' I asked, 'Where's your pistol?' ’”

"'I'm sorry, Captain, I accidentally untied it and left it in the tank.' ”

"I know he always unloaded the pistol and put it in his seat, because the pistol was in the way of his control stick, so fate punished him this time."

"'No!' I said, 'I can't give you the gun because I'm wounded, and in case of an accident, I don't have anything to kill myself, and I don't want to be captured by the Russians and tortured.' Why did the tank stall? ’”

"He told me that the tank was destroyed before it hit the battery board that powered the starter a second time. Why don't you try to start with compressed air,' I asked. ”

"'I ran away - I forgot to do it......'"

"While we were lying there, the tank stopped burning. I lay on the ground and said to myself, 'Why didn't it burn?' If the tanks are no longer burning, we should go back. Because the main gun of the tank was intact. ”

"'When all the vaporized liquid is burned out, and all the fuel under the tank is used up, the tank will not continue to burn.' The driver replied. ”

"I lay on the ground and said to the driver, 'Climb over there. If you crawl over alone, the enemy must think that we are gone. You climb over and try to start the tank. Then, driving the tank to our side, we managed to get into the tank through the hatch at the bottom of the tank. ’”

"Our driver bravely jumped into the tank. The tank roared, the driver drove the tank over to us, and I and the others got back into the tank, when the gunfire died down and I looked up to see that the tank I had never seen before had been destroyed by a combination of other tanks that we had rushed up. ”

"I asked the driver to stop the tank, and I jumped out of the car and walked towards the destroyed enemy tank. I want to take a closer look at this tank that can break the 'Grey'. ”

"It's a heavy tank that we've never seen before, it's completely different from Soviet tanks, it's very tall, it's very bulky, and it has a huge gun, and everyone is amazed around this tank. At this point, an intelligence officer said in a very positive tone: 'This is a German heavy tank. ’”

(To be continued)