Without waiting for the German trucks on the opposite side to come over, Pastukhov had already come out with the soldiers.

First a soldier carrying a bucket of white lime and throwing a white line in front of the position where we were standing, and then a group of sailors appeared on the scene, and they followed Pastukhov out of the trench with a neat step, lined up according to the guard position.

I paced at the front of the line and gave them the task loudly: "Our task is to stay here and not to allow the Germans to cross this white line and come to the side of the trenches." ”

"What if I step over?" It was a soldier with the rank of sergeant who said this.

"Luzhkov!" Pastukhov, who was following me, resentfully stopped him.

"If they want to force their way through, what is the rifle in your hand for?" I kept a straight face and reprimanded him sharply.

Then I commanded in a loud voice: "Listen to me, all of them, bayonet!" ”

The fighters immediately opened the folding bayonets with great skill.

"Raise your gun!"

A rifle with bayonets loaded was raised in the hands of the soldiers, and the cold light of the bayonets was pointed at the German soldiers not far ahead. If there had been a photojournalist in the trenches at this time, perhaps tomorrow there would be another inspiring photograph in the field press, entitled "German Prisoners of War Doing Hard Labor Under the Bayonets of Our Army."

By this time, the truck had already driven to the place where the Germans were lined up, and the first car was slowly turning around. I suddenly noticed that they were all covered trucks, and I was nervous. I remember watching in an old movie, the partisans went out at night to try to blow up the covered truck parked in the square, but as soon as they got closer, the tarpaulin was lifted, and the Germans had already set up machine guns inside, and after a burst of strafing, all the partisans died heroically.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but panic, and hurriedly beckoned Pastukhov and several of his officers back to the trench together. As soon as I entered the trenches, I instructed Pastukhov: "Captain, immediately order everyone to prepare for battle." With that, I slipped into the nearest machine-gun bunker.

The Heavy inside saw me go in and quickly stood up and saluted me. I didn't care about returning the salute, and hurriedly urged him: "Aim your machine gun at the German truck and prepare to fire." "The machine gunner, although at a loss, resolutely carried out my order and aimed the muzzle of the heavy machine gun at the German truck in front.

A long line of trucks was parked neatly there, and then, with a single command, the tarpaulins of all the trucks were lifted at the same time. There were no machine guns that I had imagined to be set up, only a number of soldiers who were also unarmed jumped out of the wagons to assist the soldiers in the line to carry the bodies onto the trucks.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, secretly wiped the cold sweat from my head, and ordered the machine gunner: "Okay, it's okay, turn off the insurance, pay attention to vigilance." ”

"Pastukhov," I called out the name of the captain, and when no one answered me at once, I looked left and right, and then I found myself still nestled in a small machine-gun bunker, and I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Leaving the bunker, I saw the captain standing a short distance ahead, explaining his mission to his officers, and walked over.

Walking up to him, I called his name again, then pointed outside and said to him: "Now lift the battle alarm, the fighters on duty outside rotate every hour." The work here is left to you, and sometimes you call. ”

"Yes," he readily agreed. I had just taken a few steps when I heard him ask from behind, "Are you going back to the Shelter?" ”

"No," I replied without thinking as I walked, "I'll go back to the women's dormitory and take time to do my laundry." ”

Because there are no combat missions, the life of the female soldiers is very leisurely. Long ropes were stretched out in the open space in front of the wooden house, and they were covered with colorful underwear and underwear. Some of the female soldiers, who had finished drying their clothes, even stripped off their clothes and stood there scrubbing their bodies with cold water.

I came to the sink with a basin of my dirty clothes, and while washing, I secretly sighed: being a female soldier is troublesome, and the underwear I wear must be washed every day or two, otherwise I will feel very uncomfortable. After the box of soap I brought last time was distributed to the female soldiers, it was almost used up, and when I had the opportunity, I asked my superiors for a few more boxes.

As soon as the clothes were washed and dried, Second Lieutenant Savchenko ran over in a panic. After standing up and saluting beside me, he reported to me: "Comrade Lieutenant, I just received a call from the division headquarters, and the division commander asked you to report to the main peak position, saying that there is an important task to be arranged. ”

As he spoke to me, his eyes involuntarily glanced at the naked female soldiers. I coughed deliberately, and he hurriedly withdrew his gaze and straightened up again in an upright position.

"You lead the way, I don't know the way."

"Yes." He readily agreed.

I felt that we had walked for a long time, passed through many communication trenches and trenches, bypassed many artillery positions, and finally reached the division headquarters built in a cave on the eastern slope of the Pulkovo Heights. When the division commander, Colonel Novikov, saw me entering, he said happily: "You came so quickly, I estimated that you would have to arrive in half an hour." ”

I asked with some confusion: "You summoned me, do you have any tasks?" ”

Although my question was a bit abrupt and impolite, the colonel did not care at all, and asked me, "Do you have any other work going on on on the Nameless Heights?" ”

I immediately gave him a brief report on the fact that the Germans were collecting the corpses. After hearing this, he nodded and said, "You are doing the right thing, sending a group of soldiers with bayonets to serve as guards, which will not only improve morale, but also suppress the arrogance of the German army." ”

He went on to say: "Comrade Fedyuninsky, commander of the group army, has called and asked you to come over and report by name, and the person who will pick you up will be there in a moment, so hurry up and hand over the work to your deputy." ”

My lieutenant was Second Lieutenant Savchenko, so I took him aside and briefly explained to him the recent work schedule. When the handover was complete, he was sent back by the colonel. Looking at his back, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Captain Pastukhov, who had been commanded by people of lower rank than him since he arrived at the position, first me, a newly promoted lieutenant, and now still under the leadership of a second lieutenant, and I wonder if there would be resistance in his heart.

After the second lieutenant had left, the colonel said to me again: "Comrade Leda, you are about to leave the heights, and I will take you to see Leningrad behind us." ”

We walked through a building badly damaged by shells or bombs to a hole in the wall facing north. The colonel handed me a telescope and told me to look at the city below. The terrain here is much the same as that of the unnamed highlands, and the northern side of the mountain is not a slope like the southern one, but a cliff. Below, the Kyiv Highway, cut off by a number of anti-tank piles and barricades, leads from the foot of the cliff to the city. The colonel pointed and said, "You see, from the height of here, you can see the whole Moscow district of the city. On the left, part of the district of Narva can be clearly seen. Over there is a shipyard named after Comrade Zhdanov"

While he was briefing me on the terrain, a voice came from behind him: "Comrade Colonel, Second Lieutenant Beyrev reports to you that I have come to pick up Lieutenant Oshanina on the orders of the commander of the army, Comrade Major General Fedyuninsky. ”

I heard this voice a little familiar, and when I looked back, it turned out that this second lieutenant I knew, the same one who had taken me out of the hospital and sent me to the Air Defense Command. The colonel nodded, pointed at me, and said, "This is Lieutenant Oshanina." ”

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant!" The lieutenant didn't seem to recognize me, and saluted me again.

"Hello!" I took the initiative to extend my hand to him, and he hesitated, then reached out and shook my hand. Seeing that he had not yet recognized me, I took the initiative to prompt him: "Why, Comrade Second Lieutenant, you don't know me." You took me out of the hospital and sent me to the Air Defense Command! ”

"Air Defense Command?!" When he heard my prompt, it suddenly dawned on him: "I remembered." No wonder I think you're familiar, it's you. He looked up and down, and said with some envy: "At that time, you were still a sergeant, and now you are a lieutenant." Congratulations on achieving a higher rank. ”

"Okay," the colonel next to him interjected, "don't catch up here, hurry up and take Comrade Lieutenant away, don't let Comrade Commander wait." ”

When I got into the car, I took advantage of the second lieutenant's start to start the car and asked, "Where are we going?" ”

"Airport."

"Airport?!" I remember that the headquarters of the army group seemed to be near this high ground, how could they take me to the airport? I couldn't help the curiosity in my heart, and asked again: "What are you going to do at the airport?" ”

"Go, you'll know." The lieutenant smiled at me and avoided answering my questions.

The car drove all the way into the runway of the airport and then stopped. The second lieutenant pointed to a plane with soldiers not far away and said to me: "Comrade lieutenant, go over there, there are people waiting for you." ”

I got out of the car, thanked the second lieutenant, and hurried over to the plane. When he was still a few dozen steps away from the plane, he was stopped by a fighter on duty. Just as I was thinking about how to explain, a man with the rank of colonel came up to relieve me: "Comrade soldier, let her come, we are waiting for her." ”

The warrior flashed to the side and made a gesture of invitation to me.

The colonel greeted me, shook my hand, and said: "Lieutenant Oshanina, I am Colonel Korolev, the deputy chief of the operations department of the headquarters, and I am waiting for you here on the orders of the commander. ”

"Is it Commander Fedyuninsky?" I think it's a little curious, can the commander of an army group also command someone who moves the headquarters? So I couldn't help but ask curiously.

"It's not. It's Commander Zhukov, he's going back to Moscow today, and I'll take you with me. ”

General Zhukov?! I didn't expect him to remember me as a little person, and he even had to take me back to Moscow. Thinking of this, my heart couldn't help but beat faster, and I secretly wondered what he was doing with him taking me back to Moscow.

"Leda," the Colonel suddenly called out to me by my nickname. "Do you know Vera?"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel." I wondered why he suddenly brought up Vera.

"Vera is my daughter. My name is Pavel Maksimovich Korolev, and I can be contacted directly if there is anything in the future. Now let's get on the plane first. ”

"Good thing, Uncle Pavel."