"Lie down!" When the second shell fell near us, General Leviagin shouted, but his cry was completely superfluous, the shell was still whizzing and flying over, and we all lay on the ground without being reminded, it was a complete survival instinct.

In addition to our fighters, even the German prisoners were all lying down. They knew better than anyone else that artillery shells could not distinguish between friend and foe, and could not only kill Soviet soldiers, but also blow them to pieces, so everyone reacted quickly and fell down en masse almost at the moment when the first shell exploded.

I was lying on the ground, my eyes blackened by the huge sound wave of the explosion, and I instinctively protected my head with my uninjured hand, and the rest of my body was hit by a stone falling from the air, even if I was injured, it would not be too serious, but if I was hit directly on the head by a stone, it was entirely possible to lose my life.

From time to time, shells exploded all around us, and the masonry and rubble in the rubble were lifted high into the air and then fell from the height with a clatter. A few pieces of rubble hit my back like a hammer, and it hurt so much that tears came out of my eyes. The pain from my body can't help but make me regret a little, I have to go to the front line to personally command the battle instead of waiting for the command post, was my original decision too hasty?

While I was secretly struggling, I suddenly heard a dense burst of gunfire in the distance, and the shelling of our area by German tanks suddenly stopped. I slowly lifted myself up with my hands on the ground and looked in the direction where the guns were most dense. I saw that from time to time there were clouds of fire and smoke rising from the direction from which the German reinforcements came, and it seemed that our troops on both sides of the road were attacking the German troops.

I was about to stand up when suddenly a couple of men crossed me and ran towards the place where the battle was raging. Before I could come back to my senses, an angry voice sounded beside me: "Stop! Stand for me!! I turned my head blankly to look in the direction from which the voice came, and saw a soldier with a flushed face, shouting and rushing in my direction.

"You damned Germans, go die!" He rushed to my side, stopped, raised his submachine gun, and pulled the trigger on the figures running wildly in front of him. "Da Da Da!" With a series of gunshots, the bodies of several people who were running fell back in unison, stumbled forward two more steps, and fell to the ground.

Only then did I realize that it turned out that a few German prisoners wanted to escape from the chaos, but they were discovered by highly vigilant soldiers and killed on the spot. Looking at the soldier who fired the shot, I also know the same soldier who went to the headquarters in the morning to report the situation to Leviakin. Although he saw that the fleeing captives were shot down by him, he still refused to give up, and walked forward angrily with his gun, and re-shot the few captives who fell to the ground one by one.

"Lieutenant Colonel girl, I protest!" Major Tolman, who had somehow stood in front of me, shouted angrily, "Since we have surrendered to you, please give us the treatment that a prisoner of war deserves." The killing of unarmed prisoners of war like yours is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions. ……”

"Enough! If they hadn't tried to escape, this wouldn't have happened. I got up from the ground, interrupted him unceremoniously, glanced at the Major, who was so angry that his face was like pig's liver, that I continued: "If you want to avoid a similar tragedy from happening again, you should restrain your men and let them be good prisoners. ”

"Yes!" He listened to me, reluctantly agreed, and then shouted a few words in German at the side. With his shout, the remaining dozen or so captives gathered in front of him, lined up in an orderly row. When he saw that his troops had been assembled, he turned around, walked up to me, gave me a military salute, and said, "I have assembled my troops, please take us where we should go!" ”

I looked around and saw General Leviagin standing on my right side, so I asked him in a low voice: "Comrade General, where are these prisoners housed, and can they be sent out of the city?" ”

He shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not, we are already surrounded by German troops on all sides, and it is almost impossible to send these prisoners out of the city smoothly." He looked up at the German prisoners standing in front of us, sighed softly, and whispered to me: "Or, for the time being, place them downstairs at the headquarters, where there are already many German prisoners, and you can keep them together." ”

I turned my head and saw the soldier with the gun, who was standing not far from me, and hurriedly beckoned to him: "Comrade soldier, come here." He ran up to me in three steps and two steps, slung his gun over his shoulder, and saluted me respectfully. I didn't return the salute, but pointed to the building behind me with my hand and ordered him directly: "You take these captives into the building." ”

"Yes!" He agreed, then took off his submachine gun again, aimed it at the German prisoners of war, and shouted loudly: "Come with me honestly, whoever wants to escape again, these people just now are your example." ”

He shouted these words in Russian, and it is estimated that no one except Major Tolman could understand them. I smiled wryly, and was about to remind him, when Tolman nodded at me, and then shouted a few words at his men, as if he were translating the warrior's words. After he finished shouting, he turned to salute me again, and then led his men to follow the warrior into the building.

Watching the POWs walk away, Leviagin walked up to me and opened his mouth to speak. "Tick Tick Tick ......Tick Tick Tick" The loud charge horn suddenly sounded, and I looked back in surprise to see soldiers with all kinds of weapons pouring out from all corners and rushing towards the place where the battle was raging.

"Let's go back to the headquarters, Comrade Division Commander." Leviakin's words discouraged me from charging with the troops, and he continued: "There, you will be better able to command all the troops in the city. ”

"Alright then!" I hesitated for a moment before agreeing to his suggestion. After all, I am now the commander of a division, no longer a company and platoon commander, there is no need to lead the soldiers to charge, stay in the command headquarters, I can play a greater role.

As soon as we entered the headquarters, a second lieutenant greeted us, saluted us and reported: "Comrade division commander, I am about to go down to look for you, and I have a phone number to find you." Seeing me looking at him blankly, he quickly explained: "It was the political commissar calling." ”

I grabbed the phone and said inside: "Hello, Comrade Political Commissar! I'm Oshanina. ”

"How's the situation in the city now?" The political commissar didn't say anything polite, but couldn't wait to ask me: "You're not hurt, are you?" ”

"Not bad," I was satisfied with today's results, and looked at Leviagin, who was standing next to me, and replied to the commissar in a happy mood: "I fought two battles with the German troops who entered the city, and destroyed a lot of enemies at a very small cost. What's going on over there? ”

"Comrade division commander, I'm calling you now to bring you bad news." The commissar said on the other side of the phone: "I just received the latest order from the commander of the army group, Rokossovsky......"

"What order?" Before he could finish speaking, I interrupted him and asked rhetorically, "Is the commander still like yesterday, ordering my division to hold the city at all costs, to drive it here like a nail, and not to retreat a single step?" ”

"It's not! I was ordered the opposite. The commander ordered our division to abandon Volokolamsk, and all the troops immediately retreated to the Istrian region, where a new defense was created. ”

"What?!" Leviakin and I were stunned by the news almost simultaneously.