November 22nd was a lucky day for me.

First met Rysdaev, whom he had not met for a long time, and learned from him the good news that Lukin and Sapochuk were still alive. What is even more surprising is that in the cafeteria of the hospital, I actually met the mother of the former artillery company commander Ishaev, who was lucky to survive and was recuperating from his wounds in a military hospital in Moscow.

The old lady brought us another pot of tea from the kitchen, and after pouring it for both of us, she sat down unceremoniously beside me. Because of the common topic of Ishaev, everyone is not so inhibited and chatting is much more casual.

"Mother Cheka," Rysdayev's mouth was very sweet, and he immediately called the old lady by a nickname, which made the old man smile, and then asked: "Tell us about Ishaev quickly." ”

"Well, tell us how he got back to Moscow, is he seriously injured?" I also echoed that I had hardly seen Isayev since the reconquest of the station, and that I had no idea when he would be transported back to Moscow as a wounded, which shows how incompetent a commander like me was.

"That day, just in time for me to rest, in response to the call of the district Soviet for professional labor, I was not idle, digging trenches in the neighborhood with the remaining women of the residential buildings. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice asked in a loud voice: 'Excuse me, who are the relatives of Comrade Ishayev here?' ’

We were stunned, and we all looked at the speaker, and it turned out to be a woman dressed as a government worker standing above the trench. 'is the civil assistant of the district Soviet. When I heard this, my heart sank suddenly, and I wondered if it was my son Isayev who had died, and I felt as if all my strength had been drained away, and I sat down in the trench.

'Who are the relatives of Comrade Isayev?' The staff member asked again, with a hint of impatience in his tone.

All of them didn't speak, they just looked at me.

I held on to the wall of the trench and tried to get up, but I was only halfway up and fell to the ground, but it was a neighbor who came by me who helped me to get up with difficulty, and staggered to the man, came to her, and answered her in a somewhat out of tune: 'I am the mother of Ishayev.' ’

The staff took out an envelope from her briefcase, crouched down and handed it to me. I took the envelope, but I didn't have the courage to open it, so I returned it to the staff and begged her to read it for me.

I originally thought it was a notice of the death of my son Ishayev, but I didn't expect that my son was injured and was recuperating in the XX military hospital, and I was notified to visit. The notice also stated that Comrade Ishayev was awarded a medal for bravery and promoted to the rank of lieutenant in recognition of his bravery in battle. ……”

Hearing this, Rysdaev excitedly turned at me and said, "Do you hear that? Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Ishayev also received the rank of lieutenant. I looked at him and nodded, but did not speak, saying in my heart that during the war, promotion is always the fastest, and you will not become a major too.

The old lady continued: "I will follow the address on the notice and go to the military hospital where my son is recuperating from his wounds. When I first met my son, I was startled by the blood-stained bandages on his body and head, and he looked like he was seriously injured. But as soon as he spoke, he found that he was in good spirits. Later, when I inquired with the doctor, I learned that he only had a skin injury, and the injury was not as serious as it seemed on the outside.

I stayed with my son at his bedside and listened to him talk about his fighting experience. He told me that his unit had escaped alone when Borodino had been broken up by the Germans. In the forest, he met the platoon commander of Ferstov and followed them to the rear.

On the way to transfer, meet the reconnaissance unit you lead. Since you are the commander of the highest rank, it is only natural that you will take over the command of the entire army, and when you first accepted the army, he looked down on you, thinking that a woman would fight a battle, and maybe everyone would soon be taken prisoner.

But in the battle for the station, you were seen leading the charge, brandishing a submachine gun and leading the fighters to charge; When holding the position, he is not afraid of the bullets whizzing overhead, always stay at the forefront, and fight face to face with the German like an ordinary soldier, he admires you so much. ……”

The old lady was so talkative, she was talking almost the whole afternoon, and Rysdayev and I didn't even have a chance to interject. If it weren't for the waitress in the restaurant who came back to work and had to prepare dinner for the wounded, I don't know when she would have spoken.

I sent Rysdaev off and returned to my room. As soon as I pushed the door open, I saw the beautiful nurse walking around the room, I closed the door casually and asked teasingly, "Comrade nurse, what's wrong with you?" How can it be like a lion in a cage and keep spinning in circles? ”

When the nurse heard my voice, she stopped and asked angrily, "Comrade commander, where have you been?" I've searched almost the entire hospital and haven't seen anyone with you, so I thought something was wrong with you. ”

I smiled and said, "What can happen to me, you are so anxious to find me, is there anything wrong?" ”

"It's time to change the dressing," and then ordered me, "Get on the bed, and I'll change your dressing." ”

With the help of the nurse, I took off my hospital gown and lay down on the bed naked. She carefully removed the bandage to change my dressing, and when she cleaned the wound with alcohol, I felt a coolness, no pain, and it seemed that the wound was almost healed.

After changing the medicine and getting the injection, she covered me with a quilt and said, "Comrade commander, you have a good rest, don't run around anymore." Then he walked out of the room with a tray of bottles and cans.

The injection she gave me was probably a sedative, and after a while, I felt that my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and I gradually couldn't open my eyes, and soon I fell asleep unconsciously.

Half-asleep, I felt my body float up, out of the room, out of the city, into the artillery battle. Looking down from the sky, in the open ground in the middle of the boundless forest, fierce battles are going on everywhere. Countless shells exploded on the positions of both sides, and the smoke was blown away by the wind, creating a smoke zone on the battlefield.

I continued to drift into the depths of the Soviet army, and soon came to the top of a village. There is a T-34 tank parked at the west entrance of the village, and several tankers are sitting on the tank smoking and chatting, looking leisurely and complacent. Apart from them, there are no more fighters of our army around. At the entrance of the village is a large wooden plaque with the name of the place written in black pen: "Peshki Village".

There seemed to be quite a few people in the wooden house next to the tank, and I drifted over curiously to see what was going on. There was a noise in the room, and everyone discussed and analyzed the situation with each word. I looked at the people present, and I knew almost all the senior commanders, except for the commander of the 16th Army, Rokossovsky, the chief of staff, Malinin, and General Carmela and General Kurkin from the headquarters of the Front.

At this time, General Carmela stood up and said loudly to those present: "Comrades of the Front Command, there is no need to discuss any further, General Rokossovsky, who is responsible for the defense of this area, has arrived, let's stop hindering him in directing the battle, let's go!" After speaking, he walked over and shook hands with Luo Shuai, and left with the investigation team of the Front Army Headquarters.

I followed them through the village to the south of the village, and found that in the middle of the buildings here, more than 20 cars, large and small, were parked, and a group of drivers were chatting together. The drivers from the front headquarters saluted, hurriedly ran to open the car door, and asked their commander to get into the car.

Watching the convoy of the survey team of the Front Command go away, I returned to the wooden house where Rokossovsky was. At this time, the commander and chief of staff were analyzing the battle situation with the staff officers in the headquarters. According to various indications, some units of the 8th Guards Division reached the forest five or six kilometers north of the village, while the other units were still fighting and withdrawing, and did not enter the designated defensive area for the time being.

When everyone was studying the situation of friend and foe, there was a sudden loud noise, which startled everyone, and they collectively looked back in the direction where the sound came from, only to find that it was a German tank shell that broke through the wall and fell into the room, but fortunately, the shell did not explode.

Rokossovsky's face turned to one of the commanders and anxiously asked him: "Comrade commander, where are your tanks arranged?" What are your tankmen doing? How did the Germans easily touch the outside of the village, and no one raised the battle alarm. ”

The answer of the commander of the tank corps surprised everyone: "I'm sorry, comrade commander!" I left two tanks for the infantry in the northern position of the village, and the rest of the tanks went to Durekino to refuel. ”

"What?" Ma Lining slapped the table and scolded angrily: "Nonsense! It's nonsense! ”

Rokossovsky was still trying to keep his composure, and asked the tank commander lightly: "Are you sure that the two tanks left for the infantry are still in their positions and have not been driven to refuel?" ”

The tank commander appeared blind and argued: "According to the doctrine, in a war it is common to send fuel to tanks from the rear, not from the front. As soon as I received the order to transfer all the tanks to Peshki, I began to send tanks to refuel. ”

"Report!" An operational staff officer pushed open the door and hurriedly broke in, loudly reporting to Rokossovsky: "Report to Comrade Commander!" German tanks stormed the village along the road, and submachine gunners advanced in all directions of the village, firing at house after house. In three minutes at most, German tanks will arrive at us. ”

Rokossovsky was taken aback and asked loudly at the commanders present: "Where exactly are our troops blocking the road?" Also, where is our car, is it still intact? ”

"Comrade Commander," said Chief of Staff Malinin, who said melancholy, "at times like these, we can only gamble on our luck. ”

"Let's go!" Rokossovsky shouted, and then led everyone out of the wooden house and looked around. From time to time, shells flew over the village, sometimes in front of them, sometimes on either side of them. Some cannonballs whizzed by, but landed gently; Some shells landed on buildings or walls, but did not explode. When I looked closely, it turned out that these were fake bombs fired by German tanks.

The T-34 tank was still parked next to the house. The tank commander suggested that Rokossovsky sit in the tank. However, Rokossovsky ordered him to immediately take this tank to his own troops, and instructed the tank crews to cover the road and prevent the enemy from continuing to advance along the railway, knowing that the railway crossed the Leningrad Highway 6~8 kilometers south of Peshki.

A group of 12 of them dispersed, keeping a distance from each other and quietly walking towards the south side of the village. The T-34 tank, on the other hand, was moving westward at full speed, attracting the attention of the enemy. The skill of the tank driver was excellent, and the tank he was driving quickly disappeared from our field of vision under heavy enemy fire.

Rokossovsky, on the other hand, cautiously approached the south end of the village along the street, and soon found his car. The drivers who were anxiously waiting here saw the arrival of the commanders, and immediately rushed to their cars, opened the doors and beckoned them to get in and flee for their lives.

Since there was no defense of our troops on the positions north of the village, the Germans were able to drive straight into the village and quickly break through to the village. The German tanks took the lead, rushing to the front of the entire force, and when they saw Rokossovsky's convoy, they immediately increased their horsepower to catch up.

Seeing Rokossovsky's dangerous situation, I couldn't help but cry out in fear.