In the evening, the Germans, who had been repulsed by us, never launched a new offensive.

The whole battlefield fell silent.

I took Pastukhov and Savchenko in the first trench to inspect the soldiers' work in repairing bunkers and communication trenches. I was a complete layman in the construction of the fortifications, and when I saw that the soldiers were in full swing, I did not give any opinions. As for Second Lieutenant Savchenko, before he was transferred from the air defense forces, he did not know much about fortifications, and naturally he could not express any guiding opinions and suggestions, and like me, he did not say a word.

Pastukhov seems to have taken part in defensive battles in other areas and has a certain say in the quality of the fortifications. After inspecting the newly repaired fortifications, he immediately pointed out to me the deficiencies of the fortifications: "Look, Comrade Lieutenant," he said to me, pointing to a newly repaired machine-gun emplacement, "from a military point of view, this fortification cannot withstand criticism, and the machine-gun points are positioned so that they can only be fired in one direction." When the battle was going on, the fighters who hid inside and controlled the machine guns could at best dodge stray bullets or shrapnel. And the German devils usually bombarded with artillery and planes before attacking. If a shell hits a shell at a firing point like this, or is directly hit by a bomb, it will hit the people inside without even leaving a trace. ”

"So what to do?" Listening to his analysis, it seems that he has a lot of experience in building fortifications, so I hurriedly asked him for advice.

Although his rank is higher than mine, for special reasons, he is still under my command, so when answering my question, he explained to me very patiently with the attitude of a subordinate to a superior: "To build fortifications on open ground, you need to cover and reinforce those temporary fire points with steel plates, so that you can support them for a longer time when the artillery is aimed at bombardment." In addition to the construction of temporary fire points, permanent fire points are also essential."

While he was talking incessantly, I suddenly heard Second Lieutenant Savchenko next to me whisper: "Comrade lieutenant, you see, a commander is coming." ”

I looked back and saw in the distance a burly soldier with a big-brimmed hat and a mustache, with a few men, striding along the freshly dug bunker.

As he got closer and closer, I saw the colonel's epaulette on his shoulder clearly, and quickly trotted over to him and saluted in front of him, "Comrade Colonel, Lieutenant Oshanina reports to you that the troops are rushing to repair the fortifications, please instruct." ”

The colonel didn't speak, but pulled me over, hugged me, and said excitedly, "Well done! Lieutenant, you're so good! ”

Although according to Russian custom, when shaking hands or hugging, the greater the force, the more friendly and affectionate it is. But his strength was so great that I was a little out of breath.

Not noticing my pained expression, he continued to say to himself, "You're amazing! I'm a veteran, and I know how hard it is to stand up from the whistling of bullets and the explosion of mortar shells; The first seconds were decisive, and the fighters, driven by a sense of responsibility and the will of their commanders, either summoned up the courage to stand up to death or remained in the trenches"

His hug touched the wound on my chest, and I almost screamed in pain, but I held back, but tears still came out of my eyes. With tears streaming down my eyes, I thought that my son had once said: Impulse is the devil. It seems that he was so right, that I must have been possessed by the devil at that time, otherwise I would have had a fever in my little brain, jumped out of the jaw without thinking, and then led the charge heroically. If it weren't for the fact that the bronze key hanging from my chest blocked the shrapnel, I would have gone to have afternoon tea with God at this time.

He let go of me, stood at the front of the position, affectionately called me by my nickname, and said to me with emotion: "Lieutenant Leda, do you know the way? Today you have blocked not only the German devils, but also in other places, and they have not been able to advance a single step. According to aircraft reconnaissance, today's long-range artillery fire of our navy also wiped out a large number of tank and armored units that were trying to bypass the high ground again" His voice sounded familiar, it should be the person I was talking to on the phone during the day, but I still don't know who he is. Although he said it lightly, from the history I knew, I knew that many important facilities and buildings in the cities behind Lu Dao were planted with explosives, and if the defense line was broken by the Germans, those places would be in ruins.

"Comrade Division Commander," a signal soldier hurriedly ran over, saluted Colonel Lu, and reported loudly: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, Comrade Major General Fedyuninsky, commander of the group army, that you should go back immediately, saying that there is an important task. "Listening to the signal corps, I learned that this was the commander of the 21st Division, Colonel Novikov.

By the time I was done with all my work and rushed back to rest, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening. I walked into the women's dormitory, and saw that it had been cleaned up, with rows of bunks arranged in an orderly formation, and the moonlight passed through the young faces, who exhaled evenly, with the sweetness of sleep, and occasionally someone muttered a few words indistinctly.

My bed was in the lower bunk of a wooden bed near the door. When I chose this position, I said that it was close to the gate, so that I could go out and command the battle at any time. In fact, because I am more afraid of death, if I encounter German artillery bombardment or air raids, it is also the most convenient to escape if I am close to the door.

"Leda," I walked over to the bed, bent down and was about to get into bed, when I heard someone from above whispering my name, and when I looked up, it was Lena the warrior who was sleeping on the top bunk. I straightened up, leaned in front of her, and asked softly, "Lena, why haven't you rested so late?" ”

"Can't sleep, can I talk to you?"

"Alright, alright, of course, Lenachka." I was a little surprised, but I agreed. Anyway, she doesn't know my details, and she's not afraid of worrying about goofs because of her long and short questions. I lay down with my coat and covered the quilt, and she climbed down from the top bunk in a thin silk underwear that only covered key areas, and quickly slipped into my bed.

She lay in my arms, and she didn't speak, but one hand began to grope my chest, and my goosebumps popped up, and I thought to myself, she couldn't be Lala, or she would have groped around with me as soon as she came in. When I was considering whether to grab her hand and stop her from touching me, she stopped, grabbed the bronze key hanging from my chest through her clothes, and asked me curiously, "Leda, what key do you have on your chest?" ”

I reached out and touched the bronze key that had long been deformed, and sighed to myself, fortunately, I have this key hanging on my chest, and I can guarantee my life today. I organized the words in my head and heard myself say as if I were outside, "This is my house key, this is a gift from my husband." "When I said the word husband, I was very embarrassed, and my face was flushed with shame, but fortunately in the dark, Lena did not notice my unusual expression.

"Is your husband in the army too?" Lena asked curiously and softly.

I stroked the key on my chest, and the fragments of broken memories of the key's origin were finally pieced together into a complete story. I began to tell the story of Leda and Oshanin to Lena, but I used the first person: "My husband's name is Oshanen, he is a captain officer at the border post, he has an inseparable military dog by his side, although I am afraid of dogs, but every time I go on a date with him, the military dog follows us, but I am not afraid at all that after getting married, we have our own house, this key is the key he personally hung around my neck for me, he rushed back to the front after the outbreak of the war, and before leaving, I hung this key around his neck againOne morning, a few days later, I found his military dog, lying dying outside the house, with this glittering key around his neck, and as soon as I took the key off its neck, it closed its eyes, and since then, I have been hanging this key on my chest."

I whispered the story, holding the hand of Lena's body, but habitually roaming around her body, from her buttocks to her plump breasts, up and down. At the same time, I secretly sighed in my heart, this Russian girl is good, not only beautiful, fair and smooth skin, but also a first-class figure, and the feel is good, but unfortunately the shelf life is shorter, and when people reach middle age, they will become Aunt Katyusha with a bucket waist.

I fumbled around Lena, and not only did she not have the slightest disgust, but she seemed to enjoy it, and after a while, she actually fell asleep in my arms.