When I opened my eyes, I saw that everything around me was white, white ceilings, white walls, white bedding. When I saw these things, I realized that I was now lying in the hospital. I closed my eyes and thought about it for a while, but I didn't think about how I got to the hospital, and the most obscure impression left in my mind was that a cannonball exploded behind Bahadou.

"Comrade commander, you're awake!" A girl shouted in surprise from beside me, and I turned my head to see that it was a young nurse in a white lab coat.

"Where am I?"

"This is in the rear hospital of Yuzhnaya." After answering my question, she ran out of the room. I looked around, it was a single room, and in addition to the bed I was sleeping in, there was a table in the room, and a hoop chair. There was a pile of clothes stacked on the chair, and I immediately recognized it as the military uniform I had been wearing.

I moved my hands gently, without the slightest pain; I moved my feet a little more, but everything was still feeling good, and it didn't seem that my injury was serious at all. I groped my hands all over my body for a long time, but I didn't find any injuries.

At the strange moment, the door to the ward opened, and the little nurse came in with several doctors and nurses. When they came in, they took my temperature and blood pressure, and they were very busy.

After some intense examination, I found that everything was normal. An old military doctor wearing a mask who had only examined me with a stethoscope said: "Comrade commander, it's a miracle that you woke up. You have been in a coma in a hospital bed for a week, and although you have no scars on your body, we have never been able to revive you. ”

"Huh?!" The words of the military doctor frightened me that I had been lying in the hospital bed for so long. I couldn't help but ask him worriedly, "Comrade doctor, is it okay with my body?" ”

"It doesn't matter, Comrade Commander. Judging from the results of the examination just now, you are in excellent health and can be discharged from the hospital at any time. When he said this to me, there seemed to be a sense of relief in his tone. Then he turned to the little nurse and said, "Aniya, you stay and take good care of Comrade Commander." Do you understand? ”

"Yes, Comrade Dean." Listening to her words, I couldn't help but be secretly surprised, in order to check my body, it was actually the courtyard of the military hospital that went out in person, so I must have paid too much attention to me.

The group of doctors and nurses packed up their instruments and left the ward with peace of mind, leaving only the little nurse named Aniya.

After everyone left, my little nurse handed me the clothes on the chair, and then chatted with her while getting dressed: "Honey, your name is Ania?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." She replied to me with some restraint.

"What did you do before being a nurse?"

"I am a student of Lenin Normal and I am a sophomore this year. When the war broke out, the school was closed, and although no one mobilized us, most of the students went to the front, and I followed. ”

"Do all your classmates work in the hospital?" I then asked.

"No, Comrade Commander. With the exception of a few female classmates and I who worked as nurses in hospitals, the rest went to the frontline to fight in the troops or build fortifications in the cities. ”

"Oh." I nodded, lifted the covers, and began to put the ill-fitting men's pants on my legs.

"Comrade commander, why are you wearing men's military pants?" Ania asked curiously.

"It was too cold to wear a skirt, and the quartermaster didn't give me a well-fitting military pants, so I temporarily borrowed one from my comrades."

"Do all the female soldiers wear skirts?" When she asked, it really stopped me. I just remember that when I was in Leningrad, the female soldiers of the anti-aircraft machine gun company wore blue skirts, and the female soldiers who commanded traffic on the street also wore skirts. As for the other female soldiers, I don't seem to have seen any other women in the army since I arrived in Moscow, so I really don't know what they wear in their bottoms, skirts or trousers.

"How's the situation at the front?" I quickly digressed the conversation and asked about what I was most interested in.

"It's still fighting." Her answer was very vague and general. It is no wonder that the information within the Soviet army is too closed, not to mention that she is a small nurse, even the commander at the battalion or regimental level also does not know where the battle is going on, all they can do is to assemble the troops and enter the combat position assigned to them by their superiors on time.

"Did I really stay in bed in a coma for a week?" I had a slight suspicion of the military doctor's words just now, I didn't have a single scar on my body, I was just stunned by the air wave of the cannonball, how could I be in a coma for so long?

"It's true, Comrade Commander." Ania replied with an innocent expression on her face. "During the days when you were unconscious in bed, there were many calls from your superiors every day to find out about your situation. I heard from a classmate who worked in the office of the courtyard that the commander of your division, the commander of the group army, and even the commander of the front army, General Zhukov, called. ”

I put on my military shirt and cotton military pants, but I didn't find the military coat I wore every day, so I asked Aniah: "Aniah, I still have a military coat, do you see it?" ”

"I know where the road is." Ania nodded desperately and said, "The day you were taken to the hospital, your coat was covered in blood, and it was as wet as if it had just been fished out of the water, so as soon as I took it off, I sent it to the laundry room." Wait a minute, I'll get it back for you right away. So saying, she opened the door and ran out.

I sat on the edge of my bed staring at the roof, thinking back to the time before I was injured, and I was stunned when the shell exploded behind Bahadou, and he was even more vicious. The blood stains on our coat are probably from him.

Ania returned to the room with the military coat and handed it to me, I took the clothes and looked at them carefully, and found that although the military coat had been carefully cleaned, there were still large brown marks on the placket, and it seemed that Bahadou had been sacrificed, and I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"Comrade Commander, what's wrong with you?" Ania asked curiously beside her.

"It's nothing," I said to her, wiping the tears that had just slid down my cheeks with the back of my hand, "don't keep calling me Comrade Commander, I sound too awkward, let's call me Leda." ”

"Understood, Leda." The little girl changed her words quite quickly.

"Do you know where you can make a phone call?" After putting on the military coat, I asked Ania again.

"You can fight in the yard office." The little girl volunteered to say to me, "I'll take you." ”

In the office of the courtyard, there is only another little nurse present, and she is probably the classmate that Ania just said. Sure enough, Ania stepped forward and muttered a few words to her, and the nurse picked up the phone and asked me, "Comrade commander, where are you going to call?" ”

I thought about it for a moment, let's call Panfilov, I am afraid that the battle is unfolding near his division headquarters, and it is not appropriate to call at this time; Call the army group headquarters, in case Rokossovsky is nervously directing the battle and receives a call from me when he is in a bad mood, he may scold me, and he will not be able to call. Let's call Zhukov, the commander of the Front, in any case, I am also his special commissioner sent to the 16th Army, and there are more reasons to call him. So I said to the little nurse, "Give me the command of the Western Front." ”

"Good thing, comrade commander." The little nurse began to dial a number, and then said to the inside: "Hello, please pick up the Western Front Headquarters." ”

While waiting for the phone to connect, I said to Aniya, "Aniah, please go and help me go through the discharge procedures, I need to get back to the army as soon as possible." Ania agreed, turned and ran out of the dean's office.

"The phone is on, Comrade Commander." The little nurse handed me the microphone. I took the microphone and heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from inside: "I am the headquarters of the Western Front, where are you?" ”

"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, please pick me up with General Zhukov."

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I am the second lieutenant on duty Vasily, and I will immediately help you pick up Comrade General. "He reported his identity, which reminded me of the second lieutenant who stopped me at the entrance of the headquarters on the day of the major general's suicide, no wonder the voice just now sounded somewhat familiar.

"I'm Zhukov, where are you?" Zhukov's familiar and somewhat serious voice came from the microphone.

"Hello, Comrade General. I'm Oshanina, can I go back to the command and report to you? ”

"How's your health?" Zhukov asked with concern.

"Everything works."

"Since everything is normal, then don't stay in the hospital, hurry back to the headquarters, I'm short of manpower here." After saying this, he hung up.

With Ania helping me get my discharge certificate, I went to the gate of the hospital alone and stopped a military vehicle to the headquarters of the Western Front.

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, I met some familiar faces from time to time, and everyone smiled and nodded to me when they saw me. When I came to the door of Zhukov's office, the second lieutenant on duty quickly stood up from the table, greeted me, and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are here, Comrade General is waiting for you inside." With that, he opened the door for me.

I walked into the room and saw Zhukov busy at the desk, first taking off his military coat and hanging it on the coat rack, then walked over to him, stopping a few steps away from him.

"Is there anything you want to report?" He asked without looking up, sensing someone approaching.

"Report to Comrade General, Oshanina has recovered from her injuries and has been discharged from the hospital, and she has come to report to you. Listen to your instructions. I saluted him and reported loudly.

"Leda." He looked up and saw that it was me, threw the pencil in his hand on the table, stepped over to my side in one step, and held me tightly in his arms.

After letting go of me, he took two steps back, looked me up and down, and then frowned and said, "What kind of dress are you?" Wearing a summer army shirt for a female soldier on the upper body and ill-fitting men's cotton military pants underneath, it looks really awkward. ”

"These military pants were borrowed from my political instructor, and it was too cold to wear a skirt, and it was inconvenient to fight during the war." I hurriedly explained to him.

He listened to my words, did not say a word, but picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and said to the inside: "I am General Zhukov, you prepare a small winter military uniform for me, send it over immediately, and move quickly." Do you understand? ”