"What should we do, sir?" Leviagin asked me in a low voice, "fight?"
I did not answer him immediately, but carefully observed the German army marching up the street below. The armored radio car was driving very slowly, and the German soldiers, all carrying guns, were looking around while walking. They were looking around with vigilance, but they didn't want to go into the building to search at all.
Seeing this situation, I confidently answered leviagin: "it seems that these Krauts haven't found us yet. Don't rush to open fire, so as not to expose our own targets."
"I understand!" He promised, and then told the officers: "pass the order, everyone keep vigilant, pay attention to the enemy outside, no one is allowed to shoot without order."
"Yes The officer agreed, turned and ran away.
Every day, the color is getting darker and darker, and the German army below is becoming more and more blurred. Finally, the armored car stopped broadcasting, turned around and drove back. The German infantry, who had been following, also stopped moving forward. The rear team changed and the front team moved back in order.
Watching the German army gradually leave, I feel relieved. The fierce battle in my imagination has not happened. It seems that tonight is destined to be a peaceful night.
"What's next?" Leviagin asked me what to do next.
As soon as I relaxed, I felt extremely tired. Because of the injury, I haven't had a good rest these days. Now I want to find a place to lie down and have a good sleep. I told him, "leave a few soldiers on guard and watch the enemy's movements. The rest of the soldiers will have a rest as soon as possible. After daybreak, there may be a big war to fight." Then I couldn't help yawning, and then embarrassed to ask, "is there any quiet place?"
"Yes, yes," he quickly replied, "there is one next to the regiment headquarters. Please follow me."
He led the way in front of him and soon came to the door of a room not far from the headquarters. He pointed to the door and said, "this is the place where the regimental commanders rest. Now there is no one in it. If you are tired, you can go to rest first."
I nodded and pushed the door open. The dim light in the room suddenly reminded me of one thing, so I stopped and asked, "is the light in the headquarters a little too bright, so it will be exposed in the dark?"
"Please rest assured, sir." "There are no windows in the room where the headquarters is located. Don't worry that the light will show through the room and expose our position," he said with confidence
After listening to his words, I still worried and asked: "if the room is closed, there will be no hypoxia and suffocation, right?"
"No," he said patiently, "don't worry, there's a hidden ventilation system in the room. What you're worried about will never happen." Then he stepped forward, pushed the door wider and said to me, "it's the same with this room. You can have a good sleep here."
"OK," I stepped forward into the room, turned and politely said to leviagin standing at the door before closing the door, "good night, Comrade General!" Then he closed the door.
On the left side of the door was a small table with a silver candlestick with four burning candles. Facing the wall in the past, there were two marching beds with blankets. I went over, leaned the submachine gun against the wall, chose a bed to sit on, then covered my left shoulder, lay down carefully, pulled the blanket and covered myself randomly.
I closed my eyes and lay down for a while. As the general said, although there were no windows in this room, I didn't feel stuffy at all. The concealed ventilation system was really wonderful. I haven't had a good rest these days because of my injury, so I fell asleep unconsciously.
I don't know how long I've been sleeping. In a daze, I feel that someone is shaking me gently. At the same time, a familiar voice is shouting: "Comrade teacher, comrade teacher. Wake up
I opened my eyes, blinked hard, and the scene began to clear. I found the guard company commander Ramis standing in front of the bed. I was awoken from my sleep. I was very upset, but I didn't dare to get angry. Since someone called me at this time, it might be something important. So I asked coldly, "what's the matter? Comrade lieutenant. "
Ramis replied, "commander leviakin, please answer the phone. He said it was general rokosovsky, commander of the group army."
I sighed, some things want to hide or can't escape, finally still have to face. I closed my eyes wearily and said, "Comrade lieutenant, help me up."
"Yes He promised to help me sit up from the bed.
I sat by the bed for a while, feeling completely awake, then I grabbed the submachine gun by the wall, stood up and said to Ramis, "come on, let's go to the headquarters."
As soon as levigin saw me enter the headquarters, he quickly handed me the phone. I put the submachine gun on the table, took the microphone and said, "Hello, comrade commander!"
"Rita, you're making a fool of yourself! Why did you order the troops to withdraw from the city without asking for instructions, causing so many unnecessary casualties. What's more, you are a division commander, not a soldier. Who allowed you to go to the front line on your own There came the angry voice of rokosovsky on the other side of the phone.
"Comrade commander, please listen to me." I quickly laughed, "because our division suffered too many casualties in the battle and could not be supplemented in time, there was no reserve in the depth of defense. Once the troops were exhausted in the war of attrition with the German army, the defense line would collapse. The task given to me by my superiors is to guard volokoramsk. As the head of a division, I have the right to adjust the deployment of troops according to the changes in the situation on the battlefield. As for casualties, it was a complete accident. No one expected that the German infantry would suddenly stop attacking and bombard the city with artillery fire at that time. "
"Even if that makes sense, what do you do at the forefront? You know, your task is to command the troops to block the enemy's attack, rather than squatting in the trenches and fighting face to face with the enemy like a soldier. Once you have an accident, who should command this unit? "
"..." I was speechless for a moment.
"Talk! Why don't you talk? " The phone is almost roaring.
"Comrade commander, I..."
"What are you doing? I don't want your explanation. Get out of the city and go back to your division headquarters. The rest of the city is under the command of general leviagin, understand? "
Looking at the sympathetic expression on leviagin's face, I had to give him a wry smile.
"Did you hear what I said?" Rokosovsky's voice is eight degrees higher.
"Yes, yes! Comrade commander, I'm listening. " When I heard that his tone was not good, I quickly agreed.
"When are you going to withdraw?"
"I..." I thought, when to retreat, is it up to me? I am now surrounded by the German army. Can I withdraw as soon as possible?
"Why don't you answer?"
"I..." I hesitated for a moment, and decided to report the truth to rokosovsky: "my place is surrounded by the German army, and I can't withdraw at all."
"What?" The commander on the other side of the phone was in a hurry. "Nonsense, it's just nonsense. You have just been awarded the honorary title of the eighth division of the guards. In less than one day, the division commander was surrounded by the Germans. It's ridiculous. You must hold on. I'll report to Comrade Zhukov immediately and ask him to send a reserve team to pick you up and lead you out of the encirclement. "
"No, comrade commander." Listening to his fuss, my head was sweating. "Our division has enough troops in the city. Although it's very difficult to defeat the enemy, we can drag most of their troops in the city so that they can't attack Moscow."
When I spoke, I was quiet in the microphone, and no one spoke for a long time, so that I thought rokosovsky had hung up. I coughed and asked, "Comrade commander, are you still there?"
"Yes, what's the matter?"
"I want to stay in the city for a few more days and try to hold down as many German troops as possible, so as to ease the pressure of the group army's positive defense."
"Good!" When he finished, he added, "you have to be safe. What I want to see is a living Rita standing in front of me, not your body lying in front of me. Do you understand? "
"I understand!" I agreed very readily.
"Good luck!" Then he hung up.
Put down the phone, leviagin asked with concern: "Comrade commander angry?"
I nodded and didn't tell him what he had just called. Instead, I asked, "how is our defense work going?"
He pointed to a piece of paper on the table and explained to me, "please see, this is the defense plan of our regiment." When I look at it carefully, it's not a city defense map or something like that. It's a plan drawn on a piece of paper. A few lines and squares represent the distribution of our army. He pointed to one of the squares surrounded by lines and explained to me, "we are here now. The lines around represent the roads that can be passed. Around these roads, we've set up firepower points so that we can suddenly open fire when the Krauts pass through the middle of the road, so that we can give them a good beating. "
"That's a good idea." I'm very satisfied with leviagin's ability. From the bottom of my heart, I really hope he will take the position of teacher. He should be more suitable for this position than me. Then I asked a key question: "how is our communication with these fire points? Can we contact them in time?"
"No problem, our communication is unimpeded." He confidently pointed to the dozen telephones on the long table beside the wall and said, "I can directly give orders to the class through these telephones."
I was about to speak when the door was pushed open by a man. A soldier with a submachine gun rushed in. He panted and said, "report, comrade commander, the Germans are coming up."
Before leviagin spoke, I said, "let's go, take us to have a look." Then he picked up the submachine gun on the table and went out. The soldier looked at me, didn't move his steps, or stood in a daze. Leviagin raised his hand and patted him on the back of the head. He said with a smile, "you didn't hear the teacher say you want to go out and have a look. Why are you still standing here?"