The troops left the road and continued their advance towards Volokramsk, to the northeast.

Due to the presence of baggage, wounded, and prisoners, the entire team advanced much slower than before the battle. A company led by Feltov and Lukin, separated by two hundred meters from the main force, walked at the front of the entire army, and they searched and advanced in squads.

The further you go northeast, the more intense the gunfire comes from ahead. Pavlov and I stood on a small hill, observing the place where the shots were fired, and through the binoculars, we could see the smoke and flames rising in front of us, accompanied by large fires rising from time to time, and a few sporadic explosions could be clearly heard.

"Pavlov, where is the battle ahead?" I put down my binoculars and turned my head to ask the battalion commissar standing next to me. Hearing my questioning, he raised his freshly captured German-made telescope and looked carefully for a moment at the place where the fierce battle was taking place, and then replied in the affirmative: "Comrade commander, judging from the direction, it is the bus station in Voloclemsk. ”

"Oh!" I said thoughtfully: "When I contacted General Rokossovsky the night before, he mentioned that at that time the Germans had occupied the Volokramsk bus station, and that Division Commander Panfilov was organizing a counterattack in an attempt to drive the Germans out of the station. It's been two days, and I don't know if it's our troops attacking the station now, or the Germans attacking the station? ”

"It doesn't matter who owns the station now, as long as the gunfire hasn't stopped, it means that our people are still fighting." Pavlov put down his binoculars and calmly said to me, "We should go and help them." ”

"Okay, Instructor Pavlov, you go and gather all the company commanders, and I will assign them combat missions."

"Yes!" Pavlov agreed, then turned and ran down the hill, stopped after running for two steps, turned to me, and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you can't let me stay behind and listen to the gunfire this time." ”

I smiled wryly and replied, "No problem, I will definitely let you fight this time." ”

It was not a lot of effort, and dozens of company platoon commanders ran up the hill from all directions, stopped in front of me, and lined up neatly in two rows. Ferstov, who was standing at the front of the queue, stepped forward, saluted, and reported loudly to me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, all the commanders have been assembled, please instruct!" ”

I waited for Filstorv to return to the ranks, then walked to the front of the line with my hands behind my back, coughed first, then pointed to the place where the gunfire was dense, and asked them straight to the point: "You see, in front of us is the Volokramsk bus station, our army is engaged in a fierce battle with the fascist bandits, what should we do?" ”

Even the platoon commanders looked at me and did not speak, and I was very dissatisfied with the performance of everyone, because there was no scene in front of me as I imagined: I had thought that we had fought a beautiful ambush only a few hours earlier, and that these commanders should all be in a very high mood to participate in the battle, and it was inevitable that they would fight for who would take the lead. My gaze went around again, and I saw that their expressions were still the same, still looking at me without saying a word, and I realized that they had become accustomed to obedience, and that whatever their superiors said was what they were, even if it was wrong, they had to carry it out without discount. There have always been differences between Eastern and Western cultures, but I have always considered things with an Oriental mindset, so it's no wonder that this awkward situation has arisen.

Since no one was left to comment, I assigned the tasks according to my ideas, and I issued them a series of tasks with a blank face, starting with a few familiar names: "Ferstorv, Pavlov, Lukin, Sapochuk, Ishaev!"

"Here!" The five replied neatly, and then took a step forward at the same time.

"The 1st Company, 2nd Company, and Artillery Company you led will follow me to the bus station for reinforcements."

"Yes!" The five retreated into the group.

"Rysdaev!"

"Here!"

"You lead the three companies to escort the heavy and wounded back to the defense line of the 316th Division."

Hearing my order, his face showed a very unhappy expression, and he complained to me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, in the ambush battle just now, our third company listened to the sound of gunfire in the back for a long time, and the soldiers had a lot of emotions. Now it's finally time to go to war again, and you ...... again, you see...... In this case, the comrades' minds will not be able to turn around. ”

Hearing him say this, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said in my heart that it was you who couldn't turn the corner of my mind, and if you had jumped out earlier and said this, I would have arranged for you to go to the battle, and it would have been too late to say it at this time, but I still had to explain to him patiently: "Comrade Rysdayev, you should know that the presence of wounded and prisoners has greatly slowed down the march of our troops. If we continue at the current pace, it is estimated that by the time we arrive at the station, the battle will be over, and our reinforcements will be meaningless. Do you understand? ”

"Perfectly understood, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." He reluctantly replied to me.

"However, since the comrades of the Third Company want to participate in this battle, I will definitely grant their wishes." The infantry company was formed according to the 44 organization, with four platoons under its jurisdiction, each platoon under four squads, and a total of 180 people. After the battle just now, the first and second companies have been attrition to varying degrees, and if they want to attack, they need to replenish their troops. Now only the three companies are fully manned, so I plan to draw men from them, so that's why I say so.

"Really?!" Hearing this, Resdaev's face showed a look of surprise.

"Yes, in the ambush battle just now, the first and second companies had varying degrees of casualties, so I decided to draw a squad from each platoon of the third company and supplement it to the first and second companies."

"But ......," Rysdayev was about to defend himself, but was interrupted unceremoniously by me: "I promised you to let the soldiers of the third company participate in the battle, and I have not broken my promise." "I said in my heart that I would only promise to let the soldiers of the Third Company participate in the battle, but I didn't say that I would also let you participate in the battle.

"Yes!" He saluted me and retreated to the middle of the queue disappointed.

The third company was quickly assembled, leaving behind the fighters who had been drawn out, and the rest followed Rysdayev to the northeast of the defensive area. As Rysdayev led his troops past the foot of my hill, he stopped alone, gave me a solemn salute, and after a long time lowered his raised hand.

Just as I was watching the third company go away, Agumint's voice suddenly sounded beside me, and my guard platoon commander said to me: "Comrade commander, you should leave with them!" ”

"For what?" I asked, puzzled.

"Because you're a woman! You also know that this battle is very dangerous, maybe all of us will die, and we have no right to let our future mother accompany us on the adventure! ”

I was touched by his words, at least he cared about me. But I still said in a calm tone: "There is no distinction between men and women on the battlefield, we are all soldiers." After a pause, he asked, "Have all the troops been assembled?" ”

"Okay, the additional soldiers have all entered the company, and I have come to ask you to give instructions."

"No instructions, ready to go."