January 1945. Having broken the enemy's fierce defenses, Soviet troops began the Vistula-Oder operation. The forward detachments crossed the Oder, 80 kilometers remained to Berlin. The rear services did not keep up with the attackers, and the commander of the tank corps, General Shubnikov, instructed one of his combat commanders, Colonel Lebedenko, to organize a fuel and lubricants base in the recently captured small town of Himmelsfoort.