Entering March, the ice on Lake Ladoga begins to thin as temperatures rise.

Since the ice could not bear much weight, the Ice Command decided to stop using trucks from now on, and rely on horse-drawn sleds to deliver food and daily necessities to the city.

Lieutenant Colonel Harpy's regimental unit escort team, except for one company left to maintain order on the ice, the rest of the troops were transferred to the south of Lake Ladoga. At the same time, Lieutenant Ugard, who had been temporarily reinforced to the women's anti-aircraft artillery company, and the male soldiers of the platoon he brought with him at that time.

Not long after Harpy's troops were transferred, General Shilov of the Ice Command sent a driver to bring me a transfer order. The order reads: "In order to quickly break the siege of Leningrad by the fascist bandits and to effectively strengthen the command of the assault troops outside the encirclement, Major Lida Mushidakova Oshanina, commander of the 2nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion, was transferred to the 54th Army under the command of General Fedyuninsky. This order takes effect from the date of service. Commander of the Leningrad Front: Mikhail Semenovich Khozin. March 10, 1942. ”

After I finished reading the order, General Shilov's driver said dryly: "Report to Comrade Major, I was ordered to send you to the command of the 54th Army of General Orkhov Fedyuninsky. ”

"Good job, comrade driver. Please wait outside the tent and I'll pack up and leave right away. ”

The driver saluted and turned and walked out of the tent, and Kirianova, who had been staying next to her, got up and hugged me. After parting, she asked with red eyes, "Lida, is this about to break up again?" ”

"Yes, Kirianova." I am actually quite helpless about this kind of personnel arrangement, since I have crossed over to now, I have not had any comforting days, I always keep transferring from one unit to another, and I feel that I am a trick. Or, in layman's terms, a brick that is moved wherever it is needed.

I didn't really have any luggage to pack, so I basically just put on my coat, put on a belt and straddle my briefcase, and then put my assault rifle on my shoulder, and I could walk with my feet up.

I'm still a little reluctant to leave this place where I've lived for nearly two months. The thought of separating from these female soldiers made my nose sour. Before leaving the tent, I couldn't help but hug Kirianova again, wrap my arms around her waist, put my head on her shoulders, close my eyes hard, and hold back the tears that were about to burst out of my eyes.

When my mood stabilized, I let go of Kirianova, tried to pretend to be happy, put my hands on her shoulders and said: "Dear comrade company commander, don't be sad, they are temporary, we will meet again sooner or later." ”

With my hand removed from her shoulder, I turned around and was about to lift the curtain, when I heard her ask from behind, "Leda, don't you need me to gather the female soldiers to see you off?" Even if you call Instructor Orlova back. ”

"No need, you all have things to do, I want to leave alone, don't alarm anyone." With that, I lifted the curtain and walked out of the tent.

The driver stood straight outside the tent, saw me coming out, turned around and led me to the parking position. I followed him, pretending to be casual, and raised my hand to quietly wipe away a tear that had slipped from the corner of my eye.

The driver seemed to be a taciturn man, from the moment he got into the car, he didn't say a word, just looked ahead with his eyes and drove with full attention.

After driving for more than an hour, the first checkpoint was encountered. While our car was waiting in line for inspection, I took a closer look at the checkpoint. The scale seems to be not small, there are seven or eight soldiers in short fur coats in the middle of the road, checking vehicles and pedestrians coming and going, there are snow-covered guard posts and machine-gun fortifications stacked with sandbags on the side of the road, and there are several earthen hut-style bunkers in the distance, and it is estimated that the troops guarding this place are at least the size of a company.

When it was our turn to inspect the car, it was a second lieutenant who had several special passes attached to the windshield, but he carefully checked my and the driver's documents before letting me go.

After restarting the car, the driver, who cherished the words like gold, said: "Comrade Major, this is already Kobona." ”

"Kobona?" I muttered the unfamiliar name of the place.

"Yes, Comrade Major." The driver explained, "We have now entered the Volkhov River basin from Lake Lado. ”

I looked out the window, and it was still white, but it didn't seem to have been a war, and the snow on the ground was white and flawless, and there was not the slightest sign of bombs or shells.

"How far are you from your destination?" I asked the driver while looking out the window at the snow.

"Thirty-five kilometers to go." The driver simply replied, "the headquarters of the 54th Army, located in Plekhanovo." ”

As the car continued to drive forward, the scene outside the window began to change gradually, and I, who had been attracted by the beauty of midwinter, was suddenly pulled back to reality by the things that suddenly appeared in my field of vision. The roadside was littered with broken tanks with broken tracks and turrets tilted to one side, burning only black-framed trucks, blasted artillery pieces, and corpses in the snow that hadn't had time to pick up.

"Comrade Major," the driver told me on his own initiative, looking out the window, "in order to protect the ice transport line, the 54th Army and the 4th Army had a brutal tug-of-war with the fascist bandits here not long ago. Having suffered huge losses, the enemy had to retreat to the west. ”

I thought to myself that the Germans had suffered huge losses and retreated, and the losses of the Soviet troops might have been even greater, and perhaps many units had been exhausted. Otherwise, there would not have been the strange phenomenon of being only a few kilometers away from the troops in the city, but never being able to break the German encirclement.

The road conditions are getting worse and worse, and the car, which was originally driving smoothly, is bumped from side to side from time to time, and the speed of the car is unconsciously reduced. But fortunately, it was not far from the destination, and although the speed of the car slowed down, it was still there before dark.

Plekhanovo is a relatively large town, and there are hardly any intact buildings in it, and even Fedyuninsky's headquarters is located in a building that has been half destroyed by the bombing, leaving only the ground floor and basement.

After the driver left, I showed my ID and the order to the second lieutenant on duty at the entrance of the headquarters. After checking the documents and, after handing them back to me, the officer shook hands with me and said with a friendly smile on his face: "Hello, Major Oshanina, welcome to the headquarters of the 54th Army. I received an order from Comrade Commander to take you to the command headquarters as soon as I saw you coming. ”

"Thank you!" I politely thanked the second lieutenant and said, "Please take me to the commander." ”

Fedyuninsky's headquarters, like all Soviet headquarters I've been to, were located in a room at the end of the corridor on the ground floor. There was a table at the door, as usual, and a lieutenant on duty sat him. Seeing us coming, he nodded at the ensign who led the way, got up and knocked on the door, then pushed the door open, stood upright in the doorway, and reported to the people in the room: "Report to Comrade Commander, Major Oshanina has arrived. ”

"Please let her in."

"Yes." The lieutenant agreed, turned to me, and made a gesture of please.

Thanking the ensign who led the way, I strode into Fedyuninsky's headquarters. Almost as soon as I walked into the room, the lieutenant on duty gently closed the door.

The room was small, and Fedyuninsky sat at a wooden table in the middle of the room, with maps and a few black telephones.

I hurriedly stepped up and saluted and reported: "Report to Comrade Commander of the Group Army, Major Oshanina has been ordered to come and report to you and listen to your instructions."