Then we were preparing to cross the border: intensive training, moving through the Gobi desert to Khingan. It started already in June, as an exercise, and we almost reached the border on foot, even before the declaration of war. Exercises, as usual. Our division (36th) was stationed, and next to it, the 57th. Well, appendages, army special units. These (parts) were not moving, but, let’s say, they gave us a direction, and we are moving. In another division– there. But in fact, we are almost all nearby. You can’t tell the distance between the divisions. Because when war was declared, we managed to get six hours earlier: we crossed the border in cars and were 90 kilometers behind the Japanese lines. Khingan - a gorge has been leveled with the sky. It was dark during the day, and then, when we entered the gorge, we had to abandon the equipment: it was stuck in the mud, but it was blurred, and we walked 350 km. You can’t let everyone into the gorge. Colonel-General Kravchenko’s 11th Tank Corps was also attached to the 36th Division. Even water was brought by car for 100 kilometers (we followed), we poured flasks. Again, the more you drink, the body weakens and you sweat more.
If a soldier gets tired, you take a submachine gun or a Simonov self-loading rifle (with a bayonet) and help. Our direction seemed to be going west. Then to Mukden, and from there to Port Arthur. When we crossed Khingan, we came to settlements with barguts. Rice and watermelon fields were already located there. It turns out that on the ninth of August we crossed the border and on the second of September (Victory Day) we reached Taonan.
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