Surrounded by a group of commanders and fighters, I stepped onto the position that had just been occupied by our troops. The bombed-out tanks of our troops on the positions were still burning, and the ground was crisscrossed with trenches and corpses piled with corpses—it seemed that the desperate white-knuckle battle that had been fought here not so long ago was far more dangerous and brutal than what I had seen in my binoculars.

The soldiers of the Guards Division were busy cleaning up the battlefield. The corpses of our and German officers and soldiers collected on the battlefield were piled up separately and in stacks. The wounded fighters were simply bandaged by the medics, the lightly wounded themselves left, and the seriously wounded were placed on stretchers and carried away by two fighters.

"Comrade General!" As I passed by a stretcher carried by two fighters, I suddenly heard someone call me softly. I looked around and saw that it was the wounded man on the stretcher who called me, and he was not lying down, but lying on the stretcher. When I got closer, I saw clearly that the wounded man lying on the stretcher with his face blackened by gunpowder turned out to be Major Malafeyev.

I took two steps forward, took his outstretched hand, and asked with concern, "Comrade Major, what's wrong with you?" "When the troops went south, I temporarily incorporated him into the tank brigade, and I originally wanted him to take the opportunity to make some combat achievements, and also to say good things to him in front of Vlasov, and let him take over the position of division commander when the 389th Tank Division was replenished in the future. Unexpectedly, in such a battle in which our army had an absolute advantage in strength, he was actually wounded.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," the hygienist, who was standing next to the stretcher, saluted me, reported: "Comrade Major had extensive burns on his back, three submachine gun bullets in his right leg, and no vital injuries were made. ”

I comforted him and said: "Comrade Major, your injuries don't matter, go to the rear hospital to recuperate in peace, or you will be able to return to the unit in a short time." ”

"Comrade General," he did not say about his condition, but timidly asked, "Is there any news from our division commander, Colonel Bunyachenko?" ”

His words left me speechless for a while, and finally Yushchenko relieved me, and he leaned over to Major Malafeev and said: "Comrade Major, please rest assured that you will recuperate from your wounds, and we will pay attention to the colonel's affairs." ”

I shook his hand vigorously and said insincerely: "Don't worry, I will inform you as soon as I have news from your division commander." With that, he let go of his hand and waved at the hygienists, motioning for them to carry the stretcher away.

Malafeev looked at me from behind, sighed deeply, and then twisted his head to the side and fell back on his stomach.

I walked on, past the wrecked and burned tanks, past the corpses of our soldiers and German soldiers that had not been cleaned up. I was imagining again what a bloody battle, how appalling, in terms of its intensity and brutality, which had just stopped. There were only two German infantry companies in this defensive position, at best four or five hundred men, but in the face of our artillery fire and tank assaults, they still inflicted such heavy casualties on us, and if they still had tanks to cooperate, it was also a big question whether the battle could have ended so quickly.

In fact, the fighting did not stop. From the southeast, the sound of shell explosions and faint machine-gun fire was constantly heard - the battle was still going on there, and the 16th Infantry Brigade and the 44th Cavalry Division of the 44th Army were fighting the enemy in Lialovo.

As I was walking forward, I suddenly heard a commotion from a group of German prisoners who were under the care of our soldiers, and I glanced at the place with a frown, and my dislike for the Germans increased a little. I turned my head away, but for now I was still staring at the group of prisoners, and ordered Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, go over and see what is going on?" If a captive wants to make trouble, don't be soft, just destroy him physically. ”

"Yes!" Yushchenko excitedly agreed, and ran over with two fighters.

As soon as Yushchenko left with his people, Chistyakov hurriedly greeted him with several commanders. Although it was still a long way away, I could already see that he was followed by Lieutenant Colonel Chernyugov, the commander of the 1073rd regiment. The infantry who had just followed the tank to attack was the fighters of the 1073rd Regiment.

Colonel Chistyakov trotted up to me, stood up and saluted, and said with a happy smile on his face: "Comrade division commander, you are here!" After speaking, he glanced behind me, and then asked: "What about Comrade Political Commissar Yegorov, haven't the other two regiments led by him come yet?" ”

After Lieutenant Colonel Cherniugov saluted me, I shook hands with him and complimented: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you did a good job, it took less than an hour to wipe out all the enemy." You fought beautifully and victoriously completed your mission, and I thank you. Speaking of this, I deliberately paused, carefully observed his expression, and saw that he was still immersed in the joy of victory, so I couldn't help but pour cold water on him, "It's that the casualties of the troops are a little bigger, you must know that under the condition that our army's technology, equipment and firepower are superior, the ratio of infantry to enemy casualties still reaches 1:1, continue to fight like this, and when we meet with the 16th Army, it is estimated that your regiment will be completely wiped out." ”

Hearing my criticism, Lieutenant Colonel Chernyugov lowered his head in embarrassment, even his neck turned red, and muttered to me: "In today's battle, most of the casualties are fighters who have just been replenished. Many of these fighters had only recently joined the army, and they did not even know how to lie down when shooting. So much so that when they charged, they all rushed forward with their bodies straight against the enemy's bullets, resulting in a large number of unnecessary casualties. ”

Because the troops were going to fight next, I couldn't discourage Cherniugov too much, so I diverted the topic: "Are the troops preparing for defense ready?" ”

Hearing my question, he immediately straightened his waist and replied loudly: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, I have arranged for the battalion with the strongest combat effectiveness to enter the defensive position, and I am ready to make all preparations to repel the enemy's counterattack attempts. ”

"Good, good!" I said hello twice in a row, and was about to raise my hand to pat him on the shoulder, when Yushchenko, who had just been dispatched, had already returned to me and saluted me: "Comrade division commander, I have already brought the troublesome Germans here. ”

Because Chistyakov and a few of them blocked my view, I only saw the sleeve of the red cross on the left arm of the German soldier who was carried by two soldiers, and said that he was a hygienist, and I didn't know why he was making trouble in public, and was he not afraid of losing his life because of this?

When two soldiers dragged the German soldiers in front of me, the first thing that caught my eye was the full rise of the chest of the gray-green uniform. I couldn't help but be stunned, I thought I was dazzled, so I rubbed my eyes with my hand and blinked vigorously a few times before I looked at the troublesome hygienist again.

Under the steel helmet, fiery red locks of hair peeked out, and the fair, smooth face clearly belonged to a woman, telling me plainly that the German hygienist standing in front of me with two soldiers was a female soldier.

As I observed the other party, the other party was also looking at me, and the eyes that were staring at me were full of curiosity, maybe she wondered how there could be a female general in the camp of the enemy.

I coughed twice, cleared my throat, looked around, and asked, "Which of you knows German?" ”

No one spoke.

When I asked a second time, Chistyakov replied: "Maybe there are German interpreters in the tank brigade, I just heard them shouting to the Germans through the loudspeaker to persuade them to surrender." ”

Hearing Chistyakov say this, I immediately instructed Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, you immediately go to the tank brigade and call someone who understands German to come over." ”

"No, I speak Russian." It was a female hygienist who spoke, and not only did she use relatively accurate grammar, but she also pronounced the words correctly.

"Do you speak Russian?" I couldn't help but ask in amazement, gesturing for the two warriors to let go of her.

She gently shook her aching arms and said lightly: "I studied at a medical school in Moscow for two years, so it is not unusual for me to speak Russian. ”

I looked up and down at this somewhat beautiful female hygienist, and then asked with a straight face: "Girl, I want to know why you took the lead in making trouble just now?" ”

"Miss General," the hygienist immediately retorted, "I am not making trouble. There were a few of our wounded lying in the trenches, and I bandaged them and tried to be carried away, but your men would not allow them, so I quarreled with them about this. Miss General, please let me take the wounded away, or they will freeze to death. ”

When I heard her say that, I immediately understood what was going on. It must have been the soldiers of our army, who were troubled by the wounded of the German army, did not want to capture them, and wanted to leave them to fend for themselves in the cold trenches. And this female hygienist refused to give up these wounded, so she had a dispute with the soldiers of our army. If I hadn't encountered this incident, I would have let it be, but since the hygienist had already pleaded with me, I could not ignore it, so I could only put on a business appearance and order Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, you should bring a few soldiers and this female hygienist over to deal with this matter, and let their own people be responsible for carrying all the wounded away." ”

Hearing my order, the hygienist looked at me gratefully, and before following Yushchenko away, she took the initiative to say: "Thank you, Miss General!" My name is Abigai, I don't know what to call you? ”

I got goosebumps all over my body when I heard the title of Miss General, and when I heard her ask my name, I quickly replied: "Oshanina, Major General Oshanina!" ”