When the lieutenant of the escort team asked me how to deal with the prisoners, I tried to save trouble and wanted him to shoot them all, but now that his immediate superiors have arrived, it has nothing to do with me what to do with the prisoners.

Without waiting for my command, the lieutenant trotted all the way to Lieutenant Colonel Harpy, raised his hand in salute after standing upright, and respectfully reported what had just happened.

I looked at Lieutenant Baku, who was standing straight in front of me, and said with a pretended to be serious: "Comrade Lieutenant, you are moving too slowly!" You see, the battle is over, and you and your men are on the battlefield. If you had done it earlier, you might have been able to capture a few more captives. ”

Perhaps hearing that I addressed him with "you" instead of "you", and that there was a sense of businesslike air, he couldn't help but panic a little and explained: "Report to Comrade Major, as soon as I received the notification from the soldier Naya, I immediately rushed over with the men I could muster to support. You also know that your speed on the ice is affected......"

Seeing his nervous and helpless look, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Only then did Baku realize that I was joking with him, and he laughed awkwardly with me twice, and then asked: "Comrade Major, did you come to my company to inspect the defense?" ”

"Yes, if it hadn't been for the battle of the German sneak attack just now, I would have been at your company's station right now."

"Then go now," Baku said enthusiastically, "and the fighters and I will show you the way." ”

When I saw that Savchenko was still standing next to me, I reached out and shook his hand, and said in a friendly manner: "Second Lieutenant Savchenko, thank you for your help today, so that we can eliminate these nasty Germans." See you again, there will be a period later! ”

The second lieutenant shook my hand a few times and said, "You are too polite, it is your first initiative to use anti-aircraft machine guns to shoot tanks and armored vehicles." See you again and good luck! ”

As Lieutenant Baku and I were leaving, we saw Lieutenant Colonel Harpy's gaze looking at me, and we raised our hands and saluted him from afar. He watched our group leave, and as we returned the salute, I caught a glimpse of a slight grin on the corners of his mouth.

On the way to the Bakulian station, I took Naya's little hand and asked her with concern: "Naya, are you still afraid?" "I was so impressed with her performance.

Naya didn't say anything, and after a while, she whispered, "Don't be afraid!" Lida. ”

I nodded, didn't speak, just gently patted the back of her hand with my other hand.

After letting go of Naya's hand, I walked side by side with Baku, explained my air defense plan to him on the way, and asked him to arrange for manpower to form an air defense post as soon as possible after he returned to the station.

When I arrived at the station of the 2nd Company, I, accompanied by Baku, inspected the adjusted anti-aircraft gun emplacements, chatted with some of the fighters, and severely praised the fighters who shot down the enemy planes and captured the prisoners. In the end, when everyone was happy, they had a simple dinner in advance before they and Naya set out on their way home.

Passing by the place where the battle had just begun, there were a number of covered trucks and several ambulances marked with a red cross parked on the side of the road. A group of fighters were busy, not only the wounded but also civilians were loaded into ambulances, while the bodies of fighters and civilians were thrown into covered trucks.

As we were passing by these vehicles, we suddenly heard someone shouting, "Comrade Major, please wait!" I turned my head and saw that it was the lieutenant who had fought side by side, so I stopped and waited for him to come running.

The lieutenant ran up to me, saluted, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Major, are you going back to the station of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion?" ”

I could tell with my toes that I was the commander of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion, and I could think with my toes that it was Lieutenant Colonel Harpy who told him, but I wondered why he would ask me if I was going back to the station, and if he was going to drive me and Naya back? I didn't speak, just nodded in the affirmative.

"That's great! Comrade Major, I was ordered to drive you back to the station, and the commander of the road convoy, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy, wanted to see you. The lieutenant straightened his waist and said, "Please wait a moment with your female warrior, and I will go and explain the work." ”

It was undesirable to have a car to sit in so that Naya and I could walk for more than an hour, and I didn't object, so I nodded and agreed.

The lieutenant ran to the soldiers, called an officer, gave some orders, and then ran up to me again and said, "Comrade Major, please come with me, the car is ahead." ”

There was an empty truck parked in front of it, and the lieutenant went over to get the driver down, sat down on the bridge himself, and beckoned Naya and me to get in. Naya pulled the car door and told me to get in the car first. After I was seated, she followed into the car and closed the door.

While the car was moving, I couldn't help but ask the lieutenant: "Comrade lieutenant, did you interrogate the prisoners just now?" ”

"I was interrogated by a fighter who knew German, and the two armored vehicles got lost during a patrol and mistakenly straddled near our ice transport line. Originally, they found out that there was activity of our army nearby and planned to leave immediately, but one of the armored vehicles was somehow stuck in the ice and couldn't move. The other car hung a leash and tried to pull it away, but the movement was too loud, which alarmed the soldiers on duty in the road escort team, and the battle was triggered. ”

I let out a sigh and asked, "What are our casualties?" ”

"The casualties are not small," the lieutenant hesitated a little when he said the question, but after seeing the rank on the red diamond on the collar of my coat, he continued, "According to preliminary statistics, the soldiers of the road escort team lost 15 people and 21 were wounded, and the driver and escort of the transport team lost 8 people and wounded 19 people. Civilian casualties were even higher, with 35 killed and 49 wounded. ”

I counted the numbers and was shocked, oh my God! It was only a small German army without heavy weapons, and the Soviet army was three times the cost of the enemy, and if it encountered a large German army equipped with heavy weapons, it was not known how many casualties would be inflicted.

While I was thinking about it, the lieutenant pulled the car to a tent on the side of the road, stopped, and pointed to the tent and said, "Comrade Major, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy's command post has arrived. ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, it hadn't been more than ten minutes since I got into the car, and Naya and I had walked for more than an hour just now, and these four wheels were faster than walking on two legs.

After getting out of the car, I told Naya to go back to the camp and report to Kirianova and Orlova that I was a guest at Lieutenant Colonel Harpy's command post across the road, and told them not to worry. Seeing Naya carrying her gun and trotting all the way to the station of the women's anti-aircraft artillery company, I followed the lieutenant and entered the command post of Lieutenant Colonel Harpy.

As soon as I walked into the tent, I choked on the puffs of smoke inside and coughed violently. Lieutenant Colonel Harpy and another officer sat at a small wooden table, smoking a cigarette while looking at a map. Hearing my cough, they both raised their heads and looked at me. Harpy stopped the lieutenant, who was about to report to him, snuffed out the cigarette in his hand in the ashtray on the table, then stood up, reached out to shake my hand in a friendly manner, and said, "Hello, Major Oshanina, we meet again." ”

Then he pointed to the officer who was looking at me from beginning to end, and introduced to me: "This is the political commissar of our road escort team, Pucciko," and pointed at me and said, "This is our neighbor, Major Oshanina, the commander of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion stationed on the south side of the road." ”

I shook hands with the commissar again, exchanged a few polite words, and then found a place to sit down.

Seeing that I was seated, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy ordered the lieutenant who had sent me to pour me tea and prepare something to eat. I wanted to refuse Harpy's kindness, but when I opened my mouth, I still didn't say anything. This was mainly due to the shortage of food in Leningrad and the poor food supply of the troops defending the ice transport lines, although the food quota was higher than in the city, but there was often not enough to eat. I just had a meal in Baku, and I really didn't have enough to eat, and since someone had a treat, I didn't refuse to come.

As soon as the lieutenant stepped out of the tent, I asked straight to the point, "Lieutenant Colonel Harpy, may I ask you to come to me, is there anything you wanted?" ”