Chapter 994

Bzikov looked up at his watch and said to me, "Rita, there's one more thing I almost forgot to tell you. Your ceremony will be at nine tomorrow morning. I'll pick you up at eight

After thanking bezikov again, I took him to the door. Before I stepped out of the room, he raised his hand to stop me: "Rita, let's send it here. It's getting late. You've just come back from the front line. You must be very tired. You'd better rest early. " With that, he raised his hand to his forehead, saluted me, then turned around and left with his men.

The first thing I did when I came back to the room was to ask Yushchenko with concern, "Comrade captain, where do you live?"

Hearing my question, Yushchenko immediately replied, "we all live in a room for eight people at the end of the East corridor on the first floor. The rest of the soldiers are resting in the room at the moment. I'm worried that you have something to do, so I specially come up to have a look. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, I met a comrade colonel who came to give you a new uniform. "

When Yushchenko said this, I finally found out why he appeared at the same time as bzikov. I nodded and asked casually, "Captain, have you had dinner?"

Seeing Yushchenko shaking his head, I immediately turned to aksara, who was still sitting at the table, and said politely, "aksara, you see my men and I haven't had dinner yet. Can you help us get something to eat?"

"No problem. I'll get you something to eat right away." Aksala jumped out of her seat and rushed out of the door to the restaurant downstairs to get us food.

As soon as aksara left, I asked Yushchenko to sit down at the table and asked tentatively, "Captain, I remember you used to be under the jurisdiction of bezikov, right? Did he give you any new orders when you came back to Moscow this time? "

After hearing this, Yushchenko shook his head and said, "Comrade commander, since I went down to Stalingrad with my department, it has really been under your command. It has nothing to do with colonel bezikov."

"Do you or your men have any relatives or friends in Moscow?" As soon as he finished, I asked with concern, "if you want to visit relatives and friends, I can give you a temporary holiday."

Yushchenko waved his hand and refused my kindness: "thank you, comrade commander. But we don't need a holiday, because almost all of our families are not in Moscow. One of the soldiers is from Moscow, but his family evacuated to the rear soon after the war broke out. Besides, our responsibility is to protect your safety. We will not leave you at will until we get new orders from our superiors. "

As soon as I finished, Yushchenko immediately asked, "Comrade commander, just now Colonel bzikov said that the Supreme Command intends to let you take the post of chief of staff in the reserve army. How do you think about it?"

Hearing his question, I couldn't help laughing bitterly. My heart said, "I haven't received systematic education in combat command. If I didn't understand some historical process, I would not be as good as an ordinary squad leader." But these words can only be kept in my heart, but I can't say them out. I can only say vaguely: "Captain, with my ability, I can't command an infantry army. Now let me be the third leader of the front army. I feel that I'm not qualified for this position."

As soon as my words came out, Yushchenko was silent. He knew that he had no voice in this matter, so he could only laugh twice, and then he drank tea with his cup in his arms.

Fortunately, aksala soon came back with dinner, which freed us from the embarrassing atmosphere.

Aksara sits next to Yushchenko, watching him gobble down his dinner. When Yushchenko was about to eat, she took the napkin on the table and wiped his mouth. At the same time, she asked, "Comrade captain, can you tell me your battle story?"

When Yushchenko heard aksara's request, he looked at me a little surprised. He seemed to be asking for my advice on whether he could tell the young waitress about her fighting experience. I knew that aksara didn't mean anything else. She just wanted to hear the battle story. She nodded to Yushchenko and said with approval, "Captain, tell her about it."

"But what should I say?" Seeing that I asked him to tell a story to aksara, Yushchenko was a little flustered. "Comrade commander, you know that I have been with you all the time in the battle of Stalingrad. You should know what happened."

"Tell me something I don't know." In order to avoid aksara pestering me to tell stories, I withdrew the burden to Yushchenko and prompted him to say, "for example, some stories happened on your way to Stalingrad with your troops."

Yushchenko's eyebrows wrinkled, as if recalling what he had experienced. After a while, he finally spoke. He said in a heavy voice, "I have been ordered to lead my company to Stalingrad under the command of the commander. On reaching the East Bank of the Volga River, due to the shortage of boats, I took two soldiers to a nearly full ferry.

As the ship was approaching the West Bank, the enemy plane appeared over the ferry. These German bandits not only dropped bombs on the ships moored on the docks, but also dived down to the most crowded places, and fired at our peaceful residents with airborne machine guns.

I stood at the bow of the boat, watching the women with their children in their arms, the limping old men, and the residents with their luggage, big and small, all running down the burning street, through the burning flames, towards the Volga River.

Although I have seen too many such scenes after the outbreak of the war, and may see more in the future, it is unlikely that there will be any more such unscrupulous bombing of residents by enemy planes. My heart became heavy with anger. I even imagined that the rifle in my hand could be turned into a broom in the giant's hand, and all these damn airplanes in the sky could be photographed.

The boat we took landed, and before the people on board finished getting off, the residents waiting on the dock swarmed on. An old man with blood all over his body crowded in front of me. He only held two children in his hands. One was already dead, the other was still angry, but his arm and leg were broken by the explosion. I guess the old man might be the child's grandfather, and he's completely out of his mind at the moment. He cursed at the enemy planes in the sky: "you damned villains, don't you even want to let go of such a small child?"

Then he collapsed feebly on the deck and howled, "my grandson, my grandson!" After a while, he cursed the enemy plane with vicious language in the sky: "you damned villains and executioners, even if I become a ghost, I will curse you constantly."

At this time, two stretchers carrying an injured woman on board. For fear that she would be damaged in the crowded crowd, the soldiers and I put her in a relatively spacious place at the stern of the ship. I saw that she was dying, and she was about to die, but she just held the baby in her arms, because the enemy planes were still bombing and shooting at the dock at the moment... "

When Yushchenko said this, he turned sideways and secretly wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve. Aksara, who is listening to the story attentively, has been crying. In this kind of atmosphere, I also feel that my nose is sour. I quickly hold my nose with my hand, so as not to burst into tears again.

"Because our air defense firepower is not enough, the enemy's air strikes on the dock have been uninterrupted. I still remember, "Yushchenko continued in a voice changed and emphasized by excitement," a ferry full of wounded people was hit by enemy planes shortly after it left the shore, and the whole ship was immediately shrouded in smoke and fire. On the deck were all the seriously wounded. The wounded who did not die immediately crawled around on the deck, crying for help desperately and crying out in pain.

Seeing that the ferry carrying the wounded was shot and on fire, many boats anchored on the shore rowed towards them one after another to rescue the wounded. And the brave health workers, no matter their hair and clothes are burning, only know how to lift the wounded and carefully send them to the boat. Thankfully, at this time, two fighters of our army flew over to fight bravely with the German flying bandits who were several times more than themselves. After shooting down two and injuring one, they finally drove the enemy plane away from the wharf over the Volga River.

I stopped on the dock, waiting for my troops to cross the river. It was not until dusk that the ferry carrying our company soldiers appeared in my view. Just then, the damned enemy plane flew over again. A wooden boat full of children evacuated from kindergarten became the target of enemy aircraft.

The wooden boat was hit by fire and sank rapidly. Our engineers and sailors on the shore rushed out of their hiding places on the cliffs and drove small boats toward the sinking wooden boats to rescue the children. The damned enemy plane is still circling the sinking wooden boat, shooting at the boats with machine guns. In the face of the enemy plane's crazy shooting, no one retreated. They waved their oars and rowed forward quickly, because no one wanted to see hundreds of children die in front of them.

When I saw a small hand floating on the river, it pulled my heart. I saw a woman who might have been a kindergarten teacher jumping off the side of the boat with a child in her arms. Lying on his back on the surface of the water, he hit the water with his feet and lifted the child out of the water with both hands.

I saw that she was only 50 or 60 meters away from me. I quickly handed her rifle to the soldiers nearby, took off the steel armor and military coat that were in the way, jumped into the water with a plop, and swam quickly towards the woman. When I saw that it was only 20 meters away from her, I yelled at her: "honey, do more, do more. Honey, I'll help you! " Just when the distance between us was reduced to less than 10 meters, an enemy plane dived down and a series of bullets were fired into the river, just hitting the woman. The poor woman and the child in her hand went down like a stone, and what remained in front of me was a stream of water dyed red by blood donation. "

At this point, Yushchenko could not control his emotions and roared: "are they still human? Even such a small child. No wonder even Comrade Stalin called them "wild animals.". Yes, they are a group of inhuman beasts. "

It never occurred to me that Yushchenko had gone through such an unforgettable experience before reporting to my headquarters. After he finished venting, I sucked my nose and tried to ask in a flat tone, "Captain, how many children did our officers and soldiers rescue later?"

Hearing my question, Yushchenko's face was more ugly than crying: "after the full rescue of our commanders and fighters, nine of the 312 children and teachers on board were successfully rescued, two of them were teachers." Speaking of this, he involuntarily accentuated his tone because of his excitement: "but since I joined your independent division, every time you go to the front line, I will follow you all the way, hoping to pay back the blood debt to the German one day. Once, where you went to inspect, there were a group of captured German soldiers. Although they are all bearded and dirty, and their uniforms are in tatters, some of them even can't stand up because of injuries. A large group of people are huddled in a corner, waiting for us to deal with them. As soon as I saw them, I thought of the dead on the dock, and I was furious. Every time I hold my rifle tightly, waiting for your order. Even if you don't speak, even if there is a hint in your eyes, I will kill all these damned animals mercilessly. " At this point, he looked up at me and said with determination: "Comrade commander, I think I can now understand why you ordered all the captured German officers and men to be executed when you were in the village of petrichevo. It turns out that you did so out of your boundless love for the people of your motherland and your incomparable hatred for the wild animals. " I laughed at Yushchenko's heartfelt words and didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face and comforted her by saying, "aksala, don't be sad any more. This is the war. As long as we have completely defeated the Communist aggressors, such a tragedy will not happen again. " Then I turned my head and said to the emotional Yushchenko, "don't worry, comrade captain. There are still many opportunities to teach the Germans a lesson in the future. When we return to the army, will you stay with me as a guard battalion commander or go to the army below, but I will respect your choice as a grass-roots commander. " Hearing my promise, Yushchenko immediately stood up from his seat, raised his hand and said in a loud voice, "thank you, thank you, comrade commander. Please rest assured that I will live up to your expectations. "