Orlova and the female soldiers of the company were standing next to a covered truck, a dark coffin on the ice, and Lena, who had no breath and a blue face, was lying quietly in it, her hands folded on her abdomen, as if she were asleep. The female soldiers had already scrubbed the blood off her face, changed into a clean military coat, combed her hair neatly, and even the dirty boots on her feet were wiped without a trace of mud by the girls with towels dipped in water.

Watching the female soldiers gather in a circle with tears in their eyes and say goodbye to their sacrificed comrades, I can't help but think of whether it was the same scene when the female soldiers in the platoon faced the sacrificed Weijia at the 171 Railway Club.

"Leda, do you remember?" At some point, Kirianova walked up to me and said softly to me: "How familiar this scene is, all the fighters in the platoon are gathered around her, staring at that young face with tears in their eyes. I guessed that she was talking about the original episode of Vija's funeral, but I didn't know if it matched the novel, so I didn't speak, just looked at her silently and listened to her tell the story that happened at that time.

She did not notice anything unusual about me, and continued to recall the scene: "It was raining lightly, and Warrant Officer Vaskov got down on one knee, wielded his shovel vigorously, and dug out with a shovel. His expression was sad, and his face covered with rain kept twitching, so that others could not tell whether it was tears or rain that was flowing from his face. The four heavily armed male warriors brought by the Major lifted the coffin containing Vidja and slowly lowered it into the grave that the warrant officer had dug up. With tears in their eyes, the female soldiers threw the unknown wildflowers they had picked on top of the coffin.

The major took the shovel from Vaskov's hand, shoveled up the loess, sprinkled it evenly on top of the coffin, and then he handed it to Kiryanova. The female soldiers consciously lined up, crying and adding a handful of loess to their comrades.

A new grave is raised. ……”

At this time, one of the four male fighters standing next to the coffin, who was a corporal from the collar badge, walked up to Orlova's side and whispered a few words, as if asking for something. Seeing Orlova's nod in agreement, the corporal turned and gestured to his men, two men lifted the lid of the coffin resting next to him and gently covered it, while the other soldier took out an axe and a few nails from the carriage. When they started to nail with their axes, I don't know who took the lead and cried loudly, which immediately caused a chain reaction, and the surrounding cries suddenly rang out.

The four male soldiers carefully carried the coffin onto the car, and the weeping female soldiers stepped forward to help push the coffin into the carriage, and then the two wounded female soldiers also got into the car with the help of the male soldiers. The corporal saluted Orlova, then ran to the bridge and started the car.

When the covered truck gradually disappeared from our sight and I was thinking about what to do next, Kirianova rescued me in time, only to hear her shout: "All of them, listen to my orders." Gather! ”

With her order, the female soldiers, who were still grieving for their fallen comrades a minute ago, quickly ran over and lined up in a neat phalanx according to their usual queues.

Kyrianova and Orlova stood at the front of the line, turned their heads to look at me standing with their hands behind their backs, and saw that I nodded, so Kirianova began to shout loudly the commands "stand upright", "take a break", "look to the left", and the female soldiers moved in unison with her commands.

After shouting a series of commands, Kiryanova ran up to me, saluted and reported: "Report to the battalion commander, comrade, the female soldier company has been assembled, please instruct!" ”

I saluted back, walked to the front of the neatly lined line, looked at the childish female soldiers in front of me, and guessed that they should be students who were studying because of this damn war, and they were forced to put on ill-fitting military uniforms and go to the battlefield of life and death to defend the motherland. I coughed and began to introduce myself to them: "Hello girls! I am the new battalion commander, Major Oshanina......"

"Huh?! Oshanina??? Suddenly, a female soldier in the team screamed.

"Naya!" Kirianova's voice suddenly sounded beside me, she stared at a thin female soldier in the second row with stern eyes, and said coldly: "What are you screaming nonsense? ”

"Comrade Lieutenant," the female soldier whose name was called by Kirianova stood up and said with some grievances: "I was surprised to hear the name of Comrade Battalion Commander, which has the same name as our legendary female commander in the Red Army." ”

"What legendary female commander? How do I not know the way? Kirianova asked with a frown, her tone unconsciously softened, "Tell me about it." "Hearing Naya's words, I was also very curious, thousands of miles away, there was actually a young female soldier who knew my name, and I also wanted to know what was going on?

Naya pouted and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, haven't you heard the report of our army winning the Battle of Moscow?" The commanders of the various counterattack units were mentioned. Then she read like an endorsement: "Among the troops who participated in the great counteroffensive achieved brilliant results, there was General Lelyushchenko's troops...... General Rokossovsky's troops...... General Govorov's troops...... General Vlasov's troops...... General Oshanina's troops ......"

"General Oshanina?!" Hearing Naya say this, the team suddenly became chaotic, and the female soldiers looked at me standing in front of the team, exchanged their heads with each other, whispered, and discussed in an incredible tone: "God, it can't be that General Oshanina really came to our anti-aircraft artillery battalion as the battalion commander, right?" ”

"No, General Oshanina should also have the rank of major general, but you see, this battalion commander is only a major!"

Seeing that the team was in chaos, Kirianova was anxious, and hurriedly stopped the laughter of the female soldiers with a password: "Lizheng." With her command, the group's chatter suddenly stopped.

After stopping the commotion in the group, Kirianova turned her curious gaze to me, as if to ask: "Is what Naya said just now true?" ”

I smiled bitterly, this question cannot be avoided, and the soldiers under my command should always know it, so that they don't suspect randomly. I walked up to Naya, a female soldier who was still standing outside the team, patted her on the shoulder in a friendly manner and said, "Naya, you are right, I am the General Oshanina mentioned in the war report, and I once commanded troops to fight the enemy in many areas during the great counteroffensive under the city of Moscow. ……”

As soon as I said this, there was another exclamation from the ranks. I asked Naya to return to the team, and then said to the female soldiers in a friendly tone, "...... But General Oshanina is in the past. You just have to remember that I am now your battalion commander, Major Oshanina. Do you hear that? ”

"I heard you!" The female soldiers replied neatly.

"Okay," I didn't have much experience in speaking in front of everyone, and I didn't know what to say next, so I quickly changed the topic: "Next, we are going to adjust the deployment of anti-aircraft artillery positions, and I will ask the company commander, Lieutenant Kirianova, to speak to everyone." ”

Kirianova glanced at me, walked to the front of the line, and loudly announced: "The platoon leaders and squad leaders of each platoon will stay, and the rest will be disbanded." ”