The logistics department is on the second floor, but I've never been there before.

When I was going up the stairs, I happened to meet a soldier who was coming downstairs, and I stopped him and asked, "Where is the logistics department?" ”

"The first room on the right hand after going upstairs." The man replied and hurried away.

Walking to the door of the logistics department, I knocked on the door, and without waiting for any reply from inside, I pushed the door open and walked in. In this room, only one conductor was sitting at the table with his back to the door, bowing his head and writing something.

"Hello!" I greeted with some hesitation, "Are you the head of the logistics department?" ”

Hearing my voice, the commander, who had turned his back to me, turned around, and I could clearly see that his epaulettes were of the rank of lieutenant colonel. Take a step closer and salute him.

The lieutenant colonel looked at me bewildered for a few seconds, then slowly stood up from the table and said, "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Kudrin, and I'm in charge of the logistics department of the Front." Is there anything you can do? ”

"I'm Major Oshanina." I hurriedly reported my identity to him and explained my intentions: "There is a person downstairs who has died, and Comrade General has asked me to come to you to see if I can find the coffin so that the body of the deceased can be collected." ”

"Comrade Commander sent you, well, I'll try to see if I can find the coffin." Then he picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and said into the microphone: "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Kudrin, is there still a coffin in the storeroom?" Oh, and, that's great. You immediately send a truck with a tarp with a coffin and four fighters to wait at the entrance of the front headquarters. Who died? Comrade Ensign, your curiosity is too heavy, it will kill you, so be it. ”

He hung up the phone and said to me, "Luckily, there are still a few coffins in the warehouse. Then he asked curiously, "Who is the one who died, is it a general?" ”

"Yes, a general, a veteran of a hundred battles." Listening to the words of Major General Smirnov on his deathbed, I guess he had participated in many battles, so it is not an exaggeration to say that he was experienced in a hundred battles.

"How did you die, was it blown up by a German plane?" Lieutenant Colonel Kudrin was also very curious, and continued to ask me questions.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!" I said to him in the same tone he had just called, "Your curiosity is too heavy, and there are some things that you can't get to the bottom of, otherwise they will kill you." ”

Kudrin was embarrassed by what I said, and quickly diverted the topic, saying: "The truck is probably coming soon, let's go to the door and wait." ”

Ten minutes later, I came to the corridor with Kudrin and four fighters carrying the coffin. During the time I was away, Major General Smirnov had already been laid flat on the ground, lying on his back with his hands folded on his chest. I looked at his blackened face, and I felt nothing but regret.

"Put the coffin here." Kudrin's capable voice came from beside him.

The fighters placed the coffin next to the body of Major General Smirnov, lifted the lid and set it aside. Then he went over and raised the hands and feet of the major general, carefully put him into the coffin, and then closed the lid again. Then, in silence, the warriors began to tinkle and begin to bind nails.

When everything was done, Kudrin commanded again: "Carry it away!" Following his command, the warriors lifted the coffin and walked down the corridor to the door. After putting the coffin on the truck, several fighters also climbed onto the truck with their hands and feet and lowered the tarpaulin. Kudrin also opened the door to the cab and slipped inside.

Standing in the snow, I watched the truck carrying the body of Major General Smirnov staggering away, and it was not until I could see the car that I turned around and approached the building.

In the place where the major general committed suicide by drinking bullets, I don't know who placed a tall coffee table against the wall, and there were a few red carnations on it. I know very well what it means to place the carnation, in China, this flower is a gift for the mother; And here, it expresses infinite sorrow.

Sitting at the door of Zhukov's office was the young lieutenant who had just stopped me in my way, and when he saw me coming, he immediately stood up and stretched out his hand to open the door for me.

I walked into the room and saw Zhukov standing against the wall with his back to the door, and on the wall was a huge map of the enemy's situation. I shouted to him: "Comrade General! Oshanina has come to report to you. ”

Zhukov looked back at me and said: "The body of Major General Smirnov has already been sent away?" ”

"Yes, Georgy Konstantinovich!"

"It's a pity, such an old comrade who is loyal to the motherland died like this, alas~~"

Seeing that I was standing in front of him with a gloomy expression and did not speak, he changed the subject again, "Okay, don't say it, so as not to affect your mood." Next, it's time to talk about something happy. He walked to the table, picked up a piece of paper, raised it to me, and said: "This is something that Comrade Stalin sent in the morning, and it has something to do with you." ”

Something to do with me? I couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and thought to myself: Is it to give me another rank and honor? It is important to know that although Stalin was particularly strict with those generals who lost the battle, he was either exiled or shot. I remember that a few months ago, the commander of the 63rd Infantry Corps was directly promoted from colonel to lieutenant general because of his heroic and tenacious performance.

Zhukov took the paper and read it to me word by word: "In recognition of Oshanina's outstanding performance in the defensive battle in the Porodino region, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel." ”

Really got me promoted?! I can't believe it's true, in just over two months since this time and space, he has been promoted from corporal to lieutenant colonel, from an obscure petty soldier to a figure who has a place in the heart of the supreme commander.

After Zhukov finished reading the letter of appointment, when he saw that I was still standing here in a daze, without any reaction at all, he reminded me: "Have you forgotten what to say at such a time?" ”

Only then did I come to my senses, straighten up and take a step forward, and said loudly: "I am willing to serve the Soviet Motherland!" ”

Then Zhukov called me to the front of the map and asked me: "How do you see the situation in the future, tell me what you think." ”

I couldn't read the military map, not to mention the fact that it was densely packed with Russian place names that I didn't know most of them, so I didn't speak for a long time when I stood in front of the map that made me dizzy when I looked at it.

"Tell me, what do you think about the future?" Zhukov saw that I was slow to speak, and he couldn't help urging me a little anxiously.

"Georgy Konstantinovich," I said, using the honorific title of Zhukov, "do you think it is necessary to continue to hold on to this place?" ”

"Well, I'm thinking about that too." Zhukov pointed to the map and said to me: "You see, due to the fierce attack of the German army, the defense line of our army on both flanks of Borodino was forced to retreat twenty or thirty kilometers. The Germans had formed a situation of encirclement in the Borodino area. ”

"Yes," I added, "although the counterattack on the 16th disrupted the German disposition, restored all the positions of our troops in the Borodino area, and effectively delayed the enemy's advance towards Moscow, our troops suffered heavy casualties in the battle, and if they were surrounded by the Germans, it was inevitable that the whole army would be annihilated." Therefore, I propose that the troops be withdrawn from this area. ”

"Withdraw?" Zhukov asked rhetorically: "Where to retreat?" You must know that behind the line of defense is Moscow, and we have no way back. ”

"You can withdraw the troops to Tula." I only remember that during the Battle of Moscow, Guderian's armored forces repeatedly failed to attack Tula, and finally had to bypass Tula and attack Moscow from other directions. Originally, I wanted to show Tula to Zhukov in a very chic manner, but after looking at the map for a long time, I couldn't find Tula's location on the map, so I had to give up.

"Uh-huh, that's a good idea." Zhukov looked at the map and nodded, it seemed that he was very much in favor of my proposal. "I'll report this plan to the Supreme Command right away."

He gestured on the map with his hand for a long time, then turned to me and said: "You don't have to go back to the Fifth Army, I am going to let you work in the Sixteenth Army of Lieutenant General Rokossovsky as a special commissioner, do you have no opinion?" ”

"No, Georgy Konstantinovich." You must know that this Lieutenant General Rokossovsky is also a future Marshal of the Soviet Union, and it will be beneficial for me to know a few more big people, so I replied to Zhukov very cheerfully, "I resolutely obey your arrangement." ”