Chapter 293

Kirianova was carried into the tent, and we carefully placed her on her bunk.

After settling her in, I sent the women out, picked up the phone on my desk and called the other two company commanders of the antiaircraft artillery battalion, Captain Ali and lieutenant Baku, to find out what was going on there.

Both men replied to me on the phone that they were fighting when the enemy planes attacked the transport line. Although the enemy plane was not shot down, there were no casualties in the company.

When I put down the phone, kiriyanova had awoke. Her eyes were not focused on the top of the tent, and she said in a tired voice: "Rita, are our women's anti-aircraft guns finished?"

I crouched down, holding one of her hands in both hands, comforted her and said, "honey, don't be so pessimistic. The organizational structure of the company is still very complete. When the headquarters get the information, they should soon add up the company. "

"One platoon, more than thirty girls, is gone. They are still teenagers. " Kirianova said, covering her eyes with her other hand and sobbing.

"In war, sacrifice is inevitable." I know that she is sad, but I don't know how to persuade her. All I can do is to say, "in order to protect the lifeline of Leningrad and to stop starving more people in the city, it's worth the price we pay." With that, she patted her hand gently on the back of her hand.

Kiriyanova dried her tears, sniffed loudly, and suddenly asked, "Rita, as a friend, please tell me the truth. Do you think we can defeat the Germans and win the final victory?" Speaking of the latter, she hesitated a little, because these are taboo words, once heard by the people of the interior department, they may be evaporated.

"Yes." Although I have limited knowledge of the history of the Soviet Union's Patriotic War, I know the final result, so I gave her a positive answer without hesitation, "you are injured. Close your eyes and have a good rest. If you have anything to say tomorrow, there are still a lot of work waiting for you to do." Finish saying, let go of her hand, shake the quilt that put aside to give her to cover on the body.

I got up and was thinking about whether I should go out and help Orlova with the aftermath. The phone on my desk rang. I grabbed the microphone and said, "I'm major oshanina of the antiaircraft artillery battalion. Where are you?"

"It's the major," came the voice of general hilov, who asked with concern, "you have returned to the antiaircraft barracks?"

"Yes, Comrade General." My answer is concise and to the point.

"Are you safe on your way back? Did you encounter any enemy air strikes? I have just received a report from the convoy that German planes have just carried out an air raid on the ice transport line. Although the air defense forces opened fire in time, our transport team inevitably suffered some losses. "

"Report, comrade general," I replied in a deep tone, "I just want to report this to you. When we were marching on the ice, our tank unit and I met the enemy's air attack. The tank unit lost two trucks and a sled, a quarter of the casualties, and the tank did not lose any. "

"Ah?" Hilov was a little surprised and said, "the casualties of the tank unit are so great?"

"Yes." I added, "the tank unit was attacked in the vicinity of the women's antiaircraft artillery company. During the air raid, Lieutenant kirianova, the commander of the antiaircraft artillery company, issued a battle alarm in time, ordering the antiaircraft positions to open fire and attracting the attention of the enemy planes. After a fierce battle, the enemy plane was badly damaged, but... "

"But what, comrade major," pursued hilov anxiously, "please finish all at once. What happened? "

"Report to the general that in the battle, the women's anti-aircraft artillery company suffered heavy losses, three anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, more than 30 women soldiers were killed, and company commander kirianova, lieutenant and instructor Orlova were injured."

"Can they still command the battle?"

I looked back at kiriyanova, who was lying beside me with eyes closed, and said in a positive tone, "it's OK. But the casualties of the troops are too large, and they need to be supplemented in time. "

After listening to me, hilov was silent. After a long time, he sighed and said, "it's difficult, comrade o'shanina. There are more than 30 female soldiers in a platoon. You know, even if you count all the troops of the ice headquarters, you can't make up so many female soldiers. "

"However, the lack of anti-aircraft artillery forces can not guarantee the completion of air defense tasks. Comrade general, please think of a way to supplement the women's antiaircraft artillery company as soon as possible. " I knew that it would be difficult for him to supply dozens of female soldiers at this stage, so I went back to the second place: "if the number of female soldiers is not enough, can you give me the same number of male soldiers?"

"I can't give you an answer immediately about the replenishment of troops. I'll study it with the political commissar. As for the lost antiaircraft guns, there are still some stocks in the city, which can be replenished tomorrow. "

At the end of the call with general hilov, Orlova came in from the outside and reported to me that the bodies of the dead women soldiers had been removed, and the seriously injured women soldiers were also sent to the military hospital in the city by ambulance.

Because I didn't get any definite information from general hilov about the replenishment of troops, I didn't sleep soundly all night. I kept getting up from my bunk and staring anxiously at the motionless telephone on the table by the moonlight coming in from the curtain of the door. After confirming that it would not ring suddenly, he fell down on the bed disappointed.

After dawn, kiriyanova, who had been lying for almost a day, had almost returned to normal. After breakfast with Orlova, she went to the air defense position, while I continued to stay in the tent waiting for general hilov's call. The phone didn't ring, but there were neat steps and loud commands outside. Are our troops coming? I couldn't help but feel happy, but I soon felt that something was wrong. Why are all the men's voices calling the orders outside? Did general hilov really send a group of men soldiers to me? When I was putting on my military coat, the command of "stand at attention" and "relax" came out of the door. I quickly buttoned up, lifted the curtain and went out. What came to my eyes were three neat lines of young men. To tell you the truth, I know many of these young soldiers, especially the officer of the guard, Lieutenant ugad of the road guard. Seeing me coming out, Lieutenant ugad trotted towards me. He came to me and stood at attention. After saluting, he said in a loud voice, "report major, our department is ordered to supplement the women's antiaircraft artillery company. I'm waiting for your order." As I saluted, I murmured in my heart: "this general hilov is too unreliable. I'll recognize a group of male soldiers in the female company, but you can't transfer a group of infantry to be anti-aircraft artillery? Artillery can quickly turn into infantry, but infantry may not be able to be a good artillery, you know, this is a technical job, not everyone can be But now that they are all here, I can't turn them out any more. When I saw Orlova coming, I stopped her and asked her to take the men to the air defense position. I went back to my tent and the phone rang after a long night's waiting. When I heard it was hilov's voice, I immediately complained to him, "Comrade General, what did you say? I need antiaircraft artillery, but you sent me a group of infantry“ Comrade oshanina, "hilov said earnestly," now our air defense forces are insufficient. We can only consider converting one infantry unit into anti-aircraft artillery. As for the fact that they don't know how to operate anti-aircraft guns, it doesn't matter. You can ask the women soldiers to teach them. Maybe soon, they will become an elite air defense force. " I said in my heart that before they became elite, all the female soldiers in the company were taken away by them. Although I thought so in my heart, I still had to follow Shilov's meaning and say, "yes, comrade general, you are right. I will arrange the women soldiers to teach them how to use anti-aircraft guns as soon as possible."“ Rita, what the hell is going on? Why did the headquarters send us the infantry of the convoy? " As soon as kirianova entered the tent, she complained to me. Although I have resentment and dissatisfaction with the headquarters, I can't show it in front of my subordinates. I can only say, "kirianova, this is the order of the headquarters on the ice. We must carry it out." Even though they have mastered the anti-aircraft gun shooting technology, their combat effectiveness is not flattering in the short term. At present, it seems that the best way is to divide them into parts and disperse them among the female soldiers so that their combat skills can be improved rapidly. So I finally told kiriyanova: "I plan to adjust the organizational structure of the women's company. I will take a class from each of the two women's platoons and add a male class to form a new platoon. The class that the women's platoon has taken away will be supplemented separately by the men of the remaining two classes. " I don't know if I said something wrong, but kiriyanova thought for a long time before she understood. Before she left, she asked, "what's the position of lieutenant ugad?" I waved my hand and said, "let him be the deputy commander of the company."