I looked at the T-34 parked on the road, and the two three-wheeled motorcycles, and instead of answering his question directly, I asked rhetorically: "Captain Boroda, you don't just want to lead this guy to rescue General Vlasov, do you?" ”

"Rescue?! Major Oshanina, what do you say about it? Could it be that General Vlasov is now in danger? ”

"You guessed right, Comrade Captain." I pointed to the north side of the road and said, "Along this road to the north, about ten kilometers, there is a small village called Pyatnitsa, where General Vlasov and his headquarters are located. Seeing that the captain turned to go to the tank, I continued, "But, comrade captain, if I were you, I wouldn't have taken the risk lightly. Because the village was now surrounded by Germans. ”

"Huh?!" When Boroda heard me say this, he could not help but stop and asked anxiously: "Major Oshanina, how do you know that the Germans have surrounded the village, and that you have escaped from there?" ”

"Yes," I replied in the affirmative, and then took the initiative to remind him: "Comrade Captain, if you can contact Commander Meretskov, it would be better to ask him to send reinforcements, knowing that the Germans are besieging the village with at least two battalions of infantry, and tanks and other heavy technical equipment, and we must have at least one division to have a chance to repel the Germans and save General Vlasov from the siege." "Although I said that, I knew very well in my heart that not to mention one division, even two or three divisions, would not necessarily be able to save Vlasov, who had become a prisoner of the Germans at the moment.

After listening to my words, Captain Boroda frowned slightly, thought for a while, and then made up his mind and said, "I'll go and report to the commander." After a few steps, he stopped and turned back to me and said, "Comrade Major, please come with me too." I'm going to find a way to get you to a safe place first. ”

After he climbed back into the tank, he opened the roof of the turret and said loudly inside: "Report to the front headquarters that the rescue team brought by Captain Boroda, after advancing twenty kilometers to the north, met Major Oshanina, who broke through alone, according to her, the Vlasov headquarters is surrounded by heavy German troops, and with the existing strength of our department, it is impossible to complete the assigned task, please send me reinforcements as soon as possible." ”

After saying that, as soon as he turned around, he saw that I had already carried Alik to the tank, and quickly squatted down to pick up Alik, put him on the body of the car, and then reached out and pulled me up. After I stood firm, he said: "I have asked the tank crew to report to the front command through the on-board radio, and we will decide on future actions when the reply comes." ”

I looked at the motorcycles parked next to the tank and the six soldiers, and couldn't help but ask Boroda again: "Comrade Captain, you take this little people, and you dare to go deep behind enemy lines to carry out rescue missions?" ”

Hearing my question, Boroda replied with a wry smile: "Actually, when I set off, Commander Meretskov sent me five taels of tanks and a company of motorized infantry. But on the way here, there were several encounters with the Germans, and four other tanks, some of which were mineged, some were destroyed by the enemy. And only these few people remained in the motorized infantry company. ”

I used to think that Boroda was a bold man, with a tank and two motorcycles, and a dozen or so men, who dared to trespass into the area where the Germans were heavily armed. When I knew that the reason why there were only a few people in front of me, it was because the small army was constantly fighting the enemy on the road, and it took a lot of hardships to get here.

While waiting for Meretskov's reply, I suddenly remembered that he had seen me through the binoculars and had quickly identified me, but I was very unfamiliar with him, and I wondered how he had recognized me, so I asked my question: "Captain Boroda, there is something I would like to ask you about. I don't think I've ever seen you before, how do you recognize me? ”

"Major Oshanina, in fact, we have met for a long time." Seeing my confused look, he continued: "Remember the last time you took up your post at the 2nd Shock Army, the Germans attacked the 52nd Army? ”

I nodded vigorously, picked up Alik next to me and sat on top of me, and said, "Of course, I remember that Commander Meretskov also asked me to lead the second lieutenant training team and the junior officer training company in the battle. ”

"I was standing behind Commander Meretskov when you accepted the mission, maybe there were too many people there at the time, you didn't bother to pay attention to me." Boroda, while explaining the reason, also gave me a small step.

So I pretended to be in my senses and said, "Oh, so you are the adjutant who was standing behind Commander Meretskov at that time!" Don't even say it, there were so many people in the house that day that I didn't even pay attention to what many people looked like. ”

At this moment, a tank crew leaned out of the open turret and said loudly to Boroda: "Report to Comrade Captain, the commander has instructions to return the squad by the same route, and at the same time to protect the personal safety of Major Oshanina." ”

Boroda nodded at the tank soldier and said with a smile: "Thank you, comrade tank soldier." We're going to turn around and join up with the reinforcements sent by the Front Command. ”

I sat with my back to the turret, one hand grasping the handle, the other holding Alik firmly.

The tank restarted, spun in a circle, and headed south along the road.