Chapter 276

Orlova and the company's soldiers were standing next to a covered truck. There was a dark coffin on the ice. Lena, who had no breath, was lying in it. Her hands were folded on her abdomen, as if she were asleep. The women soldiers had wiped the blood stains on her face, put on clean military coats, combed her hair neatly, and even the dirty boots on her feet had been wiped without any soil by the girls with the towel dipped in water.

Looking at the women soldiers in a circle with tears, saying goodbye to their dead comrades, I can't help thinking about whether the women soldiers in the platoon faced the sacrifice of Weijia when they were at the 171 railway station.

"Do you remember, Rita?" Kiriyanova did not know when she came to me and said to me softly, "how familiar this scene is. All the soldiers in the platoon gathered around her and looked at the young face with tears in their eyes." I guess what she said should be the plot of Weijia's funeral, but I don't know whether it is consistent with the novel. So I didn't speak wisely, just looked at her silently and listened to her tell the story at that time.

She didn't find anything unusual about me and continued to recall the scene: "it was a light rain at that time. Brigadier vaskov knelt down on one knee, waving his shovel and digging out. He looked sad, his face full of rain kept twitching, so that others could not tell whether it was tears or rain. The four armed men brought by the major raised the coffin containing Weijia and slowly put it into the tomb dug by the brigadier. The women soldiers shed tears and scattered the unknown wild flowers on the coffin.

The major took the shovel from vaskov's hand, scooped up the Loess and spread it evenly on the coffin. Then he handed the shovel to kiriyanova. Women soldiers consciously line up, weeping to add a handful of loess to their comrades in arms.

A new grave rises

At this time, one of the four male soldiers standing next to the coffin was a corporal from the collar. He went to Orlova and whispered a few words, as if asking for instructions. Seeing that Orlova nodded his head, the corporal turned and made a sign to his men. Two men raised the coffin lid and gently covered it. Another soldier took an ax and some nails out of the carriage. When they began to drive the nail with an axe, I don't know who took the lead in crying loudly, which immediately caused a chain reaction, and the crying around suddenly rang out.

Four male soldiers carefully carried the coffin onto the car. The tearful female soldiers came forward and helped push the coffin into the car. Then the two wounded female soldiers got on the car with the help of the male soldiers. The corporal saluted Orlova, then ran to the bridge and started the car.

When the covered truck gradually disappeared from our sight, and I was thinking about what to do next, kirianova helped me out in time, only to hear her shout: "all of you, follow my orders. Assemble

With her order, the women soldiers who were still grieving for their comrades in arms a minute ago quickly ran over and formed a neat square array according to their usual queue.

Kiriyanova and Orlova stood in front of the team, turned to look at me standing with my hands behind my back, and saw me nodding. So kiriyanova began to shout the commands of "stand at attention", "relax" and "look left", and the women soldiers moved with her commands.

After calling out a series of commands, kiriyanova ran to me, saluted and reported, "report to battalion commander, female soldier company is assembled, please give instructions!"

I saluted and went to the front of the orderly line. Looking at these childish women soldiers, I guessed that they should be students studying. Because of the damned war, they were forced to put on unsuitable uniforms and go to the battlefield of life and death to defend the motherland. I coughed and began to introduce myself to them: "Hello girls! I'm major oshanina, the new battalion commander... "

"Ah?! O'shanina??? " Suddenly a woman soldier in the line screamed.

"Naya!" Kirianova's voice suddenly rang out beside me. She looked at a thin female soldier in the second row with severe eyes and said coldly, "what are you barking about?"

"Report Comrade lieutenant," the female soldier named by kirianova stood up and said with some grievances, "I was surprised to hear the name of Comrade battalion commander, which has the same name as the legendary female commander in our Red Army."

"What legendary female commander? Why don't I know? " Kiriyanova asked, frowning, in a tone that was much slower than she knew it. "Let's hear it." Hearing what Naya said, I was also very curious. There was a young woman soldier who knew my name thousands of miles away. I also wanted to know what was going on?

Naya tooted her lips and said, "Comrade lieutenant, have you never heard of our army's victory in the Moscow battle? There have been references to the commanders of the counterattack forces. " Then she read like an endorsement: "among the troops that took part in the great counter offensive, those who achieved brilliant results were general lelyushenko's troops... General rokosovsky's troops... General govorov's troops... General Vlasov's troops... General oshanina's troops..."

"General oshanina?" Listening to what Naya said, the team was in a mess. The women soldiers looked at me standing in front of the team, whispered to each other, and said in an incredible voice: "God, isn't general o'shanina really coming to our anti-aircraft artillery battalion as battalion commander?"“ No, general o'shanina should be a major general, but you see, this battalion commander is only a major! " Seeing the confusion of the troops, kiriyanova was worried and quickly stopped the laughter of the women soldiers with the command: "stand at attention." With her command, the discussion of the team suddenly stopped. Kiriyanova stopped the noise in the group and turned her curious eyes to me, as if to ask, "is what Naya said true?" I gave a wry smile, knowing that this problem can not be avoided, and that the soldiers under my command should always know it, so as to avoid their random suspicion. I went to the female soldier Naya who was still standing outside the line, patted her on the shoulder and said, "Naya, you're right. I'm general oshanina mentioned in the war report. In the great counter offensive under Moscow, I commanded the troops and fought with the enemy in many areas." I just said here, there was another cry of surprise in the team. I asked Naya to come back, and then I said to the women soldiers in a friendly tone: "but general oshanina is in the past. You just need to remember, I'm your battalion commander, major oshanina. Do you hear me“ I hear you The women agreed neatly“ Well, "I don't have much experience in speaking in front of the public, and I don't know what to say next. I quickly cut off the topic:" next, we are going to adjust the deployment of anti-aircraft artillery positions. Please give us a speech by company commander lieutenant kiryanova. " Kirianova took a look at me, went to the front of the line and announced in a loud voice, "the platoon leaders and squad leaders will stay, and the rest will be dissolved."