It was a whim for the soldiers to push the broken trucks into an open area away from the roadside, but it was also an important part of my plan to figure out how to deal with the night attack by the German planes.

Although Lieutenant Colonel Harpy of the road escort stood right in front of me, staring at me with impatient eyes, and at any moment he might throw a tantrum at me. However, for the sake of secrecy, I still do not intend to tell him the real reason for this for the time being until General Shilov and Political Commissar Shikin adopt my plan and formally set up an air defense post on the ice transport line.

So I replied with a smile on my face: "Comrade Colonel of the report, I ordered the fighters to push the truck into an open area for the needs of air defense at night. As for the specific reason, I can't tell you for the time being without the authorization of my superiors. I beg your pardon! ”

As soon as I finished speaking, Harpy's face immediately changed. The lieutenant colonel's eyes became stern, his lips twitched, and he said, "Not authorized?!" Hmph, I have to be authorized to answer my question. Is this the attitude of a subordinate towards his superior? ”

Although his attitude was extremely unfriendly, I calmly replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although your rank is higher than mine, I can't say anything to you without receiving an official order from my superiors. ”

He was so surprised by my attitude that he couldn't believe his ears and asked again. "What do you mean?!" He was already asking in a threatening tone.

I don't know exactly when the air defense post will be officially set up at the moment, so I can't say when the truck will be used, so I can only answer vaguely: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please don't worry, maybe there will be an order from the higher authorities soon." When the time comes, you'll be able to understand the purpose of this broken truck. ”

After saying that, I looked at Harpy warily to see if he would be going to lash out right away. But to my great surprise, he didn't lose his temper at all. He just sneered and said, "Alright then, Comrade Major, then be it, I'll wait for you to be authorized to explain the reason to me." After speaking, he shook his head to the male officer next to him and said, "Let's go, second lieutenant, go back to the camp, we still have a lot of work to do." After saying that, he turned around and left.

The second lieutenant officer saluted me and followed. I vaguely heard Lieutenant Colonel Harpy muttering, "...... I don't believe that a broken truck can come in handy in air defense ?! ”

Seeing Lieutenant Colonel Harpy and the second lieutenant leaving, Kirianova walked up to me and asked worriedly: "Lida, are you not afraid of offending the road escort by doing this?" Orlova echoed: "Yes, if they sue your superiors, it will affect your future promotion." ”

I walked between the two of them, smiled and patted them on the shoulder, and said confidently, "Don't worry, after the German air raid tonight, his attitude towards me will change." Then he instructed them: "Now you two go to the company and select soldiers to serve as air raid posts, maybe they will be of use tonight." ”

After the two of them accepted the order, I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and saw that it was still early, it was only one o'clock at noon, and I had served as the commander of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion for so long, except for the female soldier company, I had not been to the other two companies, and now I had nothing to do. So I went back to the tent, found my assault rifle, and slung it over my shoulder.

I was standing on the side of the road, looking at the convoy of transports and the retreating crowd, and was thinking about where to go, when a timid voice suddenly sounded behind me: "Comrade Major, are you planning to go out?" ”

I turned my head and saw that it was Naya, wearing a military coat and a cotton military cap, and she was carrying a rifle on her shoulder. So I smiled and replied, "Yes, Naya." I'm going to go to the other two companies to have a look, but unfortunately I don't know how to get there? ”

"If you don't object, I can show you the way."

"Alright then, let's go together."

The two of us joined the group of residents who had been evacuated from the city, following the hordes of people along the ruts of trucks and sleds. It's not too cold at the moment, and there's no wind on the lake, at least you won't be out of breath when you walk.

At first, we just silently followed the crowd in front of us without saying a word. After a while, Naya couldn't help but chat with me: "Comrade Major, thank you that day. ”

"That day?!" Hearing her words, I was stunned for a moment, and then remembered the male soldier who was taught by Ensign Yelena in the second platoon that day, so I asked curiously: "Is that your boyfriend?" ”

Naya's face was flushed, and she didn't know if she was shy or frozen, but she hummed in a low voice and explained to me, "His name is Marado, he is my classmate in Grade 10, and he has been courting me since he was a student. After the outbreak of the war, the senior students of our school joined the army en masse. I thought there would be no chance to meet, but I didn't expect that his unit was only one road away from our company. He just came to see me that day, but he didn't expect to be discovered by the platoon commander. So he was reprimanded by Ensign Yelena in front of all the people in the platoon. At this point, she turned her head to look at me and said, "Fortunately, you came over to relieve him, otherwise I don't know how the road will end up in the end." Thank you! ”

In my mind, I am silently calculating whether grade 10 is equivalent to the first year of high school or the second year of high school in the Celestial Empire, if there are five years of primary school, it is the second year of high school; If you have six years, it is the first year of high school. No wonder there are jokes on the Internet: The Soviet Union can get married at the age of 16, and when he was in the first and second years of high school, everyone else was an old husband and wife, and it was considered early love in the Celestial Empire.

Hearing Naya thank me repeatedly, I just smiled at her and didn't speak. After walking for a while, I felt that my attitude was a little cold just now, which would make Naya misunderstand me for putting on a fight, so I took the initiative to chat with her: "Naya, don't blame your platoon commander, she is also for your good, but the expression is a little incorrect." ”

Naya nodded and said, "I know." ”

In fact, in terms of feelings, I really don't have much right to speak, I was afraid that the more I talked about this, the more embarrassing it became, so I quickly changed the topic: "Naya, which anti-aircraft artillery company is closest to here?" ”

"Report Comrade Major, the second company of Lieutenant Baku." She pointed her hand to the front and said, "It's about five hundred meters from where we are." ”

I nodded my head in understanding, and then said to her in a friendly way, "Naya, don't call me Comrade Major Comrade, let's call me Lida." ”

When the little girl heard this, she immediately happily agreed, and then she was not so restrained when she talked to me. After a while, she tugged at my sleeve, pointed to a white tent not far away, and said, "Leda, there's a warming shed, let's go there to warm up before we go?" ”

The tent was more than ten meters away, next to a large ice pile, and at the door stood a white wooden board with a few black words written on it: "Heating station". I looked at my watch, we had been walking for more than an hour after leaving the station, and I really felt a little cold when I heard Naya talk about the heating station. So we walked together towards the heating station.

Walking to the tent, Naya lifted the curtain first and walked in, followed by me.

The tents were crowded with people, men and women standing, and old people and children sitting on long wooden benches. On the floor of the tent were several thick planks, in which a stove was lit, and in the center of the pole supporting the tent hung two lanterns.

Although there were many people in the tent, no one spoke, giving people a particularly oppressive feeling. Because of the crowds and the fire, it was much warmer inside the tent than outside, and it was a great place for a short break for those who had braved the cold wind for a long walk.

From time to time, people walked in from outside, but few people came out, and the tent seemed more and more crowded. I whispered to Naya, "Let's go out and leave the place to those who are about to freeze." ”

Naya said yes and squeezed out with me. When I lifted the curtain, I saw that there were many people outside who wanted to come in, and when we saw that we wanted to get out, they took the initiative to flash to the side to make way for us.

On the way to the station, I was silent, and I couldn't help but think: "How far did I go when I came out of the station, and it was just over two kilometers, right?" Those residents who were evacuated from the city had to brave the cold to walk dozens of kilometers, and the number of heating stations on the ice transportation line was limited, and it was unknown how many people would freeze to death on the road. Thinking of this, I can't help but feel sad.

While he was thinking wildly, suddenly there was a crisp gunshot in the distance. Where to shoot? Almost as I thought about it, I had already grasped the assault rifle on my shoulder in my hand, turned on the safe, and half-crouched around to see where the gunfire was coming from.

"The Germans, it's the Germans who came up." From the north side of the road came a hoarse shout.

With his shout, the vehicle on the road that was moving towards the city stopped, and the driver of the car and the soldiers escorting the car jumped down from the bridge from the open door, lay on the side of the road, took the ice pile as a cover, set up the gun and pulled the trigger, and the gunfire was loud for a while.

Residents who had evacuated outside the city were immediately confused after the gunshots rang out, some ran forward, some turned around and ran back, and some hid behind the ice pile on the south side of the road.

From the direction of the gunshot, I could tell that the Germans were from the north, and I didn't care to think about where they came from, and shouted to Naya in the back: "Naya, follow me!" So he rushed across the road with his gun in his hand, and learned from the drivers who lay on the side of the road and put their guns on the ice. But instead of shooting right away, I took a closer look at what was going on.

Only after this observation did we find that about 200 meters away from the road, there were two armored vehicles parked there, the white crosses on the bodies were clearly visible, and more than a dozen German soldiers were using the ice pile as cover, alternately covering our side.

I took a look at our side, and there were at least forty soldiers in the driver and escort car, and with the soldiers of the road escort team coming one after another, it was estimated that we would soon reach a hundred people. A hundred people against a dozen people, as long as the other party does not have any heavy weapons, there should be no problem in holding the transportation line, and it is even possible to wipe them out.

It was not far from the second company in Baku, and if he had been told to bring a few dozen fighters to help, the battle should be over quickly. So I tilted my head slightly and shouted Naya to the back, but after shouting a few times, I didn't hear an answer. When I turned my head, I saw Naya sitting behind me, holding the gun in her arms, trembling all over, shaking her head vigorously, almost crying.

I reached out and grabbed Naya by the collar and said sternly: "I order you to go to Lieutenant Baku's company at once to convey my order, and ask him to bring twenty fighters at once." Do you hear that? ”

The muscles on Naya's face twitched violently, and she suddenly couldn't help crying. Seeing her crying so sadly and so aggrieved, I couldn't help but sigh secretly. But these are extraordinary times, and I can't be soft-hearted, so I grabbed her by the collar and shook it vigorously, and shouted loudly: "This is an order, go quickly!" Then he loosened her collar.

Naya cried and got up on the ground, turning to run. I yelled at her again, "Don't run upright, bend over." ”

After watching Naya run to the side of the road and disappear into the ice of varying heights, I turned my attention back to the Germans. In just a minute or two, they were within 100 meters, and although our guns were earth-shattering, they didn't seem to have caused them any casualties. The two armored vehicles in the distance were still parked in place, and it was not known whether the road was malfunctioning or stuck in the ice. The machine guns on the car that covered the attack of the soldiers did not stop firing, but they were firing unhurriedly and pointedly, not only did the soldiers who blocked the attack continue to be shot and wounded or killed, but even the residents who were running around on the road were hit by stray bullets from time to time, and the screams and cries came one after another.

I lay on the ice and didn't shoot, looking around again. I found behind a chest-high wall of snow on the south side of the road a quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun, the kind I used to use, and if I used it to hit German armored vehicles, it should be fine. Just as I was about to get up and run across the road, a lieutenant with a submachine gun ran up to me with a dozen fighters and lay down, and the gun crackled at the rushing Germans.

In the crisp sound of gunfire, I shouted at the lieutenant: "Comrade lieutenant, you are from the road escort, right?" ”

The lieutenant glanced at me, and when he had finished changing the magazine, he asked me angrily, "yes, what's the matter?" ”

I turned sideways and pointed at the anti-aircraft machine gun across the road and said to him: "You immediately send a fighter to inform the anti-aircraft machine gun position and let them suppress the fire of the German armored vehicles." There were also a few more fighters to evacuate the residents who were running around and take them to safety. ”

The lieutenant rolled his eyes at me and said unconvinced, "Who are you?" Why should I listen to you?! ”

I didn't talk nonsense with him, unbuttoned my clothes, opened his collar to show him my collar badge, and at the same time pulled the trigger and fired three shots in a row, knocking down a German soldier who had just jumped from behind the ice.

The lieutenant saw my rank clearly, immediately agreed, and immediately gave orders to the men he had brought. My order was swiftly conveyed, and a soldier with a gun bent over the road to the anti-aircraft machine-gun position; Five fighters leaned against the car parked on the side of the road, shouting loudly, directing the scurrying residents to evacuate to safety.