The men reached the Dnieper at night. They looked at its grey and hostile face, shivered in the chilly wind, tried to fight the weariness that comes to a soldier after days of fierce fighting.
But the daybreak was near, the time short. Pontoons, captured from the Germans in earlier campaigns, were quickly launched. Guns, ammunition, supplies were hastily loaded aboard. Then, guided by guerrillas, the men cautiously crossed the river. By daybreak the entire mechanized unit had landed. Immediately trenches were dug, guns emplaced.
The Red Army's heavy tanks remained on the east bank, and through the terrible day which followed...