Chapter 19

Before the German truck across the way came, pastuhov had come out with the soldiers.

First, a soldier with a bucket of white lime spread a white line in front of the position where we were standing, then a team of sailors came on the stage. They walked out of the trench with neat steps and lined up according to the guard position.

I paced in front of the team, loudly assigned them tasks: "our task is to stay here, do not allow the Germans to cross the white line, to the side of the trench."

"What if I step over?" It was a soldier with the rank of sergeant.

"Luzhkov!" Pastuhov, who followed me, stopped him discontentedly.

"No cross is no cross. If they want to pass by force, what's your rifle for?" I sternly reprimanded him.

Then I gave a loud order: "listen to my command, all of us have bayonets!"

The soldiers immediately opened the folding bayonet.

"Raise your gun!"

A rifle equipped with bayonets was raised in the hands of the soldiers, and the shining bayonets pointed to the German soldiers not far ahead. If there are photographers in the trenches at this time, maybe there will be another exciting photo in the field press tomorrow, which is called "German prisoners of war who toiled under our bayonets".

By this time, the truck had arrived at the German formation, and the first car was slowly turning around. All of a sudden, I found that there were trucks with awnings, and I became nervous. I remember in an old film, the guerrillas set out at night to try to blow up the covered trucks parked in the square. As soon as they got close, the tarpaulin was lifted. The German army had already set up machine guns in it. After a while of shooting, all the guerrillas died.

Thinking of this, I could not help but panic, and quickly called to pastuhov, and several of their officers returned to the trench together. As soon as I got into the trench, I told pastuhov, "Captain, I'll order you to be ready for battle." With that, I got into the nearest machine gun bunker.

The shooter inside saw me go in and stood up to salute me. I did not care to reply, hastened him: "the machine gun at the German truck, ready to fire." Although the machine gunner was at a loss, he resolutely carried out my order and pointed the muzzle of the heavy machine gun at the German truck in front of him.

There was a long trail of trucks parked neatly, and then with a command, the tarpaulins of all the trucks were lifted at the same time. Without the machine guns I imagined, only a lot of unarmed soldiers jumped out of the car and helped the soldiers in line to carry the bodies onto the truck.

I secretly relieved, secretly wiped the cold sweat on my head, ordered the shooter: "OK, it's OK, close the insurance, pay attention to the guard."

"Pastuhov," I called out the captain's name. When no one answered me immediately, I looked around and found that I was still in a small machine gun bunker. I couldn't help laughing to myself. Leaving the bunker, I saw the captain standing not far ahead, explaining the task to his officers, and went over.

When I came to him, I called his name again, then pointed out to the outside and said to him, "now lift the battle alarm, and the soldiers on duty outside will rotate every hour. The work here is up to you. Sometimes I'll call you. "

"Yes," he readily agreed. I just walked a few steps, and heard him ask a question in the back: "are you going back to the shelter?"

"No," I answered without thinking as I walked, "I'll go back to the female soldier's dormitory and find time to wash my clothes."

Because there was no combat mission, the women soldiers had a very leisurely life. The open space in front of the wooden house was lined with colorful underwear. Some of the women soldiers who had finished drying their clothes even took off their clothes and stood there scrubbing their bodies with cold water.

I came to the pool with a basin of my own dirty clothes. As I washed them, I thought to myself: it's troublesome to be a female soldier. I have to wash my underwear every other day or two. Otherwise, I feel very uncomfortable. The box of soap I brought last time was almost used up after it was distributed to the female soldiers. When I have a chance, I will ask the superior for more boxes.

Just after washing the clothes and drying them, Lieutenant sapchenko came over in a panic. After standing at attention and saluting, he reported to me: "Comrade lieutenant, just received a call from the division headquarters. The division commander asked you to report to the main peak position, saying that there was an important task arrangement."

He talked to me, but his eyes could not help glancing at the naked women soldiers. I coughed on purpose. He took back his eyes in a hurry, straightened up again, and put himself at attention.

"Lead the way ahead. I don't know the way."

"Yes." He agreed very readily.

I felt that we had walked for a long time, through many traffic trenches and trenches, and around many artillery positions, and finally reached the division headquarters built in the cave on the east slope of the Pulkovo highlands. The commander, Colonel Novikov, saw me go in and said cheerfully, "you've come so fast. I thought you'd have to arrive in half an hour."

I am a little puzzled to ask: "you invite me to come over, what task?"

Although my question was a little abrupt and impolite, the Colonel didn't care at all. He asked me, "do you have any work in progress on the Nameless Highland at present?"

I immediately made a brief report to him about the German army's efforts to control the corpses. After hearing this, he nodded and said, "you've done the right thing. Send a group of soldiers with bayonets on guard. This will not only improve the morale, but also suppress the arrogance of the German army."

He went on to say, "Comrade feijiuningsky, commander of the group army, called and asked you to report. The person who received you will be here in a moment. Please hand over your work to your deputy as soon as possible."

The Deputy designated by my superior was lieutenant sapchenko, so I pulled him aside and gave him a brief account of the recent work arrangements. After the handover, he was sent back by the colonel. Looking at his back, I can't help but feel sorry for captain pastuhov. Since he arrived at the position, he has been under the command of a person with a lower rank than him. First, I was a newly promoted lieutenant, and now I have to accept the leadership of a second lieutenant. I don't know whether he will have any resistance in his heart.

After the second lieutenant left, the colonel said to me, "Comrade Rita, you are leaving the highlands. I will take you to see Leningrad behind us."

We passed through a building badly damaged by shells or bombs and came to a hole in the wall facing north. The captain handed me a telescope to show me the city below. The terrain here is similar to the Nameless Highland. The north side of the mountain is not a slope like the south side, but a cliff. Below is the Kiev Road, cut off by a number of anti tank piles and barricades, leading from the foot of the cliff to the city. "You see, the whole Moscow district of the city is as clear as the back of your hand when you look down from here," the Colonel pointed out. On the left, you can see clearly part of the narwa district. Over there is the shipyard named after Comrade zhidanov. "

While he was introducing the terrain to me, a voice came from behind him: "Comrade Colonel, second lieutenant berev reports to you that I have come to meet lieutenant oshanina on the order of major general feijiuningsky, commander of the group army."

I heard the sound a little familiar. Looking back, I found that I knew the second lieutenant, the one who took me out of the hospital and sent me to the air defense command. The Colonel nodded, pointed to me and said, "this is lieutenant o'shanina."

"Hello, comrade Lieutenant!" The second lieutenant didn't seem to recognize me and saluted me again.

"Hello I took the initiative to reach out to him, he hesitated for a moment, also reached out and shook me. I don't think he recognized me yet. He suggested to him on his own initiative and said, "why, comrade lieutenant, you don't know me. At the beginning, you took me out of the hospital and sent me to the air defense headquarters! "

"Air defense command?" When he listened to my suggestion, he suddenly realized: "I remember. No wonder I think you look familiar. It's you. " He looked up and down, and said enviously, "at that time, you were still a sergeant, but now you are a lieutenant. Congratulations on your higher rank. "

"Well," the Colonel next to him interposed, "don't talk about the past here. Take the lieutenant and don't let the commander wait."

After I got in the car, while the second lieutenant started the car, I asked, "where are we going?"

"The airport."

"Airport?" I remember that the headquarters of the group army seemed to be near this highland. How could it take me to the airport? Can't help the curiosity in the heart, and asked: "what to do at the airport?"

"Go, and you will know." The lieutenant laughed at me and avoided answering my questions.

The car drove straight into the runway of the airport and then stopped. The second lieutenant pointed to a plane with soldiers on guard not far away and said to me, "Comrade lieutenant, go there. Someone is waiting for you there."

I got out of the car, said thanks to the lieutenant, and hurried to the plane. There were dozens of steps away from the plane when he was stopped by a soldier on duty. Just as I was thinking about how to explain, a man with the rank of Colonel came up to me and said, "Comrade soldier, let her come. We are waiting for her."

The soldier stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation to me.

The Colonel came up, shook my hand and said, "Lieutenant oshanina, I'm Colonel Korolev, deputy director of the combat division of the headquarters. I'm waiting for you here on the order of the commander."

"Commander fejaninski?" I feel a little curious. Can a group commander also command the people in the headquarters? So I couldn't help asking curiously.

"No. It's commander Zhukov. He's going back to Moscow today. Let me take you with him. "

General Zhukov?! I didn't expect that he still remembered me, a little man, and even brought me back to Moscow. Thinking of this, my heart beat faster and wondered what he would do with me when he took me back to Moscow?

"Rita," the Colonel suddenly called out my nickname“ Do you know Vera? "

"Yes, comrade colonel." I wonder why he mentioned Willa all of a sudden“ Vera is my daughter. My name is Bavier maximovic Korolev. You can come to me if you have anything in the future. Now let's get on the plane first. "“ All right, uncle Pavel