In the evening, the fierce fighting stopped, and even the sporadic gunfire could not be heard.

I had dinner at the headquarters, and since Rokossovsky did not arrange for duty work, I went back to the women's dormitory with the chief of the division, Ina.

As we walked one after the other, I suddenly noticed that her military uniform seemed to fit very well, wrapping her slender body very ironingly, as if it were tailor-made. So I quickened my pace to meet her, and at the same time asked curiously, "Ina, where did you get your military uniform, it really fits on your body." ”

Perhaps women can find a myriad of common languages when it comes to dressing, she looked at the ill-fitting trumpet military uniform on my body, and then replied to me: "The military uniform was issued by the superior, but it used to be too big, but there was a soldier in the cooking class who knew how to tailor, and she helped all our female soldiers modify the uniform, so it looked so that it looked very suitable." ”

"Is she still there? I want her to help me change my uniform. You see, although this military uniform is the smallest size, it is still large when worn on the body, and it is really ugly to pout in front and back. ”

"Absolutely. Don't worry, comrade commander, Damana's craftsmanship is excellent, and it won't be long before you'll be able to put on the right uniform. ”

As he spoke, he unconsciously came to the outside of the female soldier's dormitory, which was a detached house not far from the kitchen. Ina stepped forward and pushed open the door and shouted loudly inside, "Girls, line up, comrade commander is here." ”

When I walked into the room, I saw a dozen female soldiers lined up in two neat rows, looking at me with curious eyes. I smiled at them and said, "Hello girls! I'm here for the night, not for inspection. You don't have to be so restrained, let's disband! ”

After the women disbanded, I looked around at the bunk beds against the wall and asked Ina, "Do you have any spare beds here?" ”

"Yes, please come with me." She led me to a bed, pointed to the lower bunk and said, "Comrade commander, you can sleep on this bed, the quilts and pillows are ready-made." ”

I looked at the neat bedding and asked with some hesitation, "This bed seems to be slept on, right?" ”

"This soldier died yesterday, and while delivering food to the commander, he was killed by the sniper of the German devils." Ina's words reminded me of the female soldier who had fallen in front of me, and I felt a sudden sting in my heart. How fragile human life is in war! A few days ago, he was as lively as everyone else, but now he is lying alone in the dark mud and sleeping alone. But then again, if she hadn't happened to block the sniper's bullet for me, I would be lying in the grave right now. I sat down on the bed silently, gently stroking the neatly folded bedding with my hand, without saying a word.

"Damana, come here." Ina saw my gloomy expression and immediately shouted at the side. As she shouted, a tall female soldier ran up to us and asked, "Comrade Secretary, is there anything wrong?" ”

Ina pointed to my military uniform and said, "Look, Comrade Commander's costume doesn't fit, can you help her change it?" As Ina spoke, I looked at the seamstress-skilled warrior in front of me, afraid that she would say "no."

Damana looked at it for a while and said, "No problem, Comrade Secretary, I can change it immediately." Then he said to me: "Comrade commander, in fact, women look very good in military uniforms, but the uniforms they issue are too fat. Stand up and I'll take your size and you'll be able to make changes. ”

After I took off my cotton clothes and pants and handed them to Damana, I was left with only underwear and underwear, and there was no heating in the room, which made me choke with the cold, so I hurriedly sat on the bed with my back against the head of the bed, shook off the quilt and covered my body. It was cold in the room, but I didn't expect the quilt to be cold and cold, and as soon as it was covered on my body, it immediately made me shiver.

"Comrade commander, you are in such a good shape!" Ina, who was standing next to me, patted my ass slightly, and when she said this, I felt a heat on my face, but I still politely thanked her.

She then asked curiously, "Comrade Commander, how long have you been in the army?" ”

"A soldier a month before the outbreak of war."

"Huh?!" She was very surprised and said: "I thought you were all veterans who have been in the army for two or three years, but I didn't expect that you have only been in the army for a few months, but you are now a lieutenant colonel." ”

"It doesn't matter how long you've been in the army. Some people have been in the army for more than ten years and are still ordinary soldiers; However, some people can obtain high positions and ranks in a very short period of time, one by ability, and the other by luck. I said thoughtfully, "I belong to the latter." ”

She listened to me and was about to ask something more when there was a soft knock at the door. Hearing a knock on the door, the room fell silent, and a female soldier closest to the door ran over and opened the door. The door opened, and I saw a handsome and shy male soldier standing outside, his expression was particularly nervous, and he looked into the room, as if he was looking for someone, he opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't say it.

The female soldier who opened the door asked him, "Is there anything wrong with you?" Comrade Barcelona! Her tone was full of ridicule, and her words immediately caused the girls in the room to laugh. The male soldier became even more shy and nervous, and his face was as red as Guan Gong.

"Barcelona, is that you?" Not far away, a female soldier jumped up from the side of the bed, and without even caring about putting on her shoes, she rushed out of the door, and in a few moments, she threw herself into the arms of the male soldier.

Just as the two of them hugged each other, Ina stood up, walked to the door, and said loudly: "Hey, I said Barcelona, can you take Vanya to another place to make love?" None of us would be interested in seeing you two perform here. Besides, on such a cold day, open the door and let the cold wind pour into the house, do you want to freeze us to death? Ina's words immediately caused another round of laughter.

I thought that the male soldier named Barcelona would go down the river and leave with Vanya. Unexpectedly, he gently pushed Vanya away, took a step towards Ina, and then stood up and saluted, and reported: "Hello, Comrade Secretary, I am here to invite the female soldiers to the headquarters for a dance party on the order of the commander. ”

Hearing that there was going to be a ball, the female soldiers immediately became active, and the house immediately became a magpie's nest. I sat on the bed and thought to myself: Maybe it's because the war has been relatively smooth in the past two days, that's why Luo Shuai has this interest in calling everyone to a ball.

Ina pulled in Vanya, who was standing at the door, and then said to Barcelona, "You go back first, let's get dressed and go over." After speaking, without waiting for Barcelona to say anything, he slammed the door shut.

After closing the door, the female soldiers began to get busy, they took off their cotton clothes and pants, changed into summer clothes with skirts, and light boots. I feel cold when I look at their dress, although it is only a few degrees below zero outside, but this dress is out of the blue, and it is not cold and cold, and the typical demeanor does not need temperature.

"Comrade Commander," Ina said as she walked up to me with a summer dress in her hand, "please put this suit on." ”

I wanted to refuse, but when I looked to the side, the Damana was still sewing clothes for me with a hand-cranked sewing machine, and it was estimated that I would not be able to finish my work for a while, and it was better to wear summer clothes to the ball than to wear underwear, so I didn't shirk and took the military uniform from her hand. Ina turned her head and shouted at Damana again, "Damana, you should hurry up and change your clothes." ”

Damana stopped what she was doing, looked at us with some embarrassment, and said, "Comrade Secretary, Comrade Commander's clothes haven't been changed yet, so I can't leave." ”

In this case, I can't delay others to go to the ball because I asked her to help me change my clothes, so I simply behaved generously: "It's okay, Damana, you can change your clothes first, and you can change my military uniform when you have time!" ”

The ball was held in the chapel, which was originally the office of the Operations Division and the Reconnaissance Office, and the tables and the like were moved to a position against the wall, and the vacant space in the middle became the dance floor of the ball. There were two gas lamps hanging on the walls on all four sides, and the hall was lit as if it were daylight. Cheerful songs were singing on the gramophone, and many conductors who had long been unable to hold back were already dancing in the middle of the dance floor.

As the female soldiers entered, the atmosphere became more enthusiastic, and the male commanders rushed up and invited their favorite female soldiers to the dance floor, and only me and another chubby female soldier were left to sit on the cold bench next to them. The female soldier looked at Luo Shuai, who was sitting on the opposite side of the dance floor, and said to me: "Comrade commander, look, the commander is really handsome, if only I could dance with him." ”

"Since you like the commander, go over and ask him to dance, don't be ashamed!" I encouraged her to give it a try.

"I'm going to invite him, and he won't refuse, right?" She was still a little lacking in confidence.

"Definitely not, a gentleman would never say no to a woman." I continued to cheer her up.

The female soldier listened to my words, stood up suddenly, took a deep breath, and then walked through the dancing crowd and resolutely walked towards Luo Shuai on the opposite side.

Before she could walk in front of Luo Shuai, the gramophone began to play another song, and I listened carefully to the melody, and immediately heard that it was the familiar song "Evening on the outskirts of Moscow". At this time, a man came up to me and said loudly: "Comrade Oshanina, why are you sitting here alone, don't you mind if I ask you to dance?" ”

I looked up and saw that standing in front of me was the Chief of Staff, Colonel Malinin, who hurriedly stood up and replied with a smile: "You are so polite, of course I will not mind." ”

While dancing with Malinin on the dance floor, I whispered to him: "How did Comrade Commander think of having a ball?" "I wondered why Rokossovsky was holding a ball at such a time, knowing that it was the beginning of the campaign, and the commanders had a lot to deal with, and he left everything aside to gather his men for a ball. If the later stages of the campaign go well, no one has said anything yet; If the battle is frustrated or lost, someone will definitely make a big fuss about him holding a ball, and then it will affect his future.

"The commander said that everyone has worked hard for so long, and it is rare that there is no battle tonight, so hold a small dance party to let the comrades in the headquarters relax and combine work and rest, so as to maintain the best working condition."

Ma Lining's explanation did not reassure me, but made me more worried, and I reminded him: "It's a bit too abnormal to have sporadic gunfire at night, but tonight it's unusually quiet, right?" ”

"It doesn't matter," said the chief of staff disapprovingly, "now that we have the initiative on the battlefield, and the Dekou are being defeated by us, they will not make any moves in the short term." ……”

Although I heard the chief of staff say this, I still have no steadiness in my heart, because I clearly remember that the date of the Soviet counteroffensive was December 6, not November, which means that this hastily organized counterattack will eventually end in failure. My eyes were on where Rokossovsky had been sitting, but I didn't see his figure. After searching the dance floor for a long time, I found Luo Shuai, who was hugging the fat female soldier in a circle.

Time passed unconsciously, and the commanders and fighters who participated in the dance danced to the music, and the whole chapel became a sea of joy.

"Boom!" Suddenly there was an explosion of cannonballs or bombs outside, and the people who were dancing stopped, and then the sound of the gramophone also stopped, and everyone listened intently to the movement outside. My heart was beating faster, and it seemed that what I feared had finally happened: the Germans had begun to launch a counteroffensive!

"Boom, boom!" The sound of explosions outside became more and more intense, and in a short time it became loud. At the same time, the phones on the tables against the wall rang one after the other. The staff officers of the headquarters threw away their dance partners and rushed to the table to answer the phone, and the chapel, which had just been quiet for a while, suddenly became noisy.

I saw Ina gather the female soldiers and quietly exit the church, and Luo Handsome with a blushing face and the political commissar and chief of staff into his office. I stood there and hesitated, but walked into Luo Shuai's office.

The information was soon placed on Rokossovsky's desk, and the information that the troops returned was that the Germans were carrying out heavy artillery bombardment of the positions occupied by the 50th Cavalry Division and the 18th Infantry Division, and that the troops suffered heavy casualties in the shelling because our positions were only built with simple fortifications and could not withstand the heavy artillery bombardment of the German army. Thankfully, however, the Germans have not yet sent infantry to attack these positions.

After reading this information, Rokossovsky walked around the house a few times with his hands behind his back, and then gave an order to the chief of staff: "Immediately bring the commanders of the second echelon and the reserve, and we will study how to conduct the battle after dawn." ”

"Yes!" Malinin agreed loudly, and then ran out of the room to give orders.