For three whole days, the station, surrounded by barbed wire like trenches and cobwebs, always woke up or fell asleep to the rumbling sound of cannons and gunshots like bursting beans, and was quiet only in the middle of the night, but occasionally the Germans fired flares into the sky illuminated the station as if it were daylight for a short time.

After talking to Rokossovsky that day, he and Panfilov patted their butts and left, and the responsibility of guarding the station still fell to me. Although I was given the establishment of an independent battalion, Rysdayev's third company was not rebuilt, and only the company led by Gélia with more than seventy percent casualties was assigned to my command. As a result, I had only three infantry companies with heavy casualties, plus a platoon of artillery units, for a total strength of less than four hundred.

In order to hold this damn station, I had to rack my brains to figure out a way. In order to strengthen the defense, we organized the soldiers to dig a half-man-deep circular trench outside the ruins and pull barbed wire outside the trench. Later, I accidentally discovered that although the buildings near the station were blown up on the surface, the basement below was still intact, so in addition to the excitement, I immediately organized people to dig a tunnel and connect the basement with the trench. When the Germans bombed or shelled, except for a few observation posts, the rest of the people hid in the basement.

After the 139th Regiment attacking Volokolamsk in the direction of the station was completely annihilated, the Germans changed the direction of their offensive and did not launch a new attack on the station, but took the method of sending planes to bomb or shelling with large-caliber heavy artillery to deal with us.

Although the various measures I have taken have effectively reduced the casualties of our army. But it is only reduced, not completely avoided. In yesterday's shelling, the station building became the main target of the German attack, and in just half an hour, at least hundreds of shells hit it directly, and then collapsed with a bang, and the surrounding houses were in ruins. When the building collapsed, more than 20 fighters did not have time to escape, and all of them were buried alive. Lukin and Sapochuk were seriously wounded and taken to the military hospital in Yuzhnaya. Gélia, on the other hand, was directly hit by a cannonball, and was blown to pieces on the spot, and even the body was not found. As a result, I lost three of my right-hand men in one day. Now I am left with only four people left by my side: Ferstov, Pavlov, Aggie, and Agumint, and I hope that they will not have any accidents, otherwise I will not even have anyone to use.

In the evening, I was crouching in the trenches, observing the enemy outside with a telescope. Suddenly, I heard someone next to me shouting: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Division Commander Panfilov is calling, asking you to go to the division headquarters immediately." "I looked away from my telescope and looked in the direction from which the sound came, and saw Ferstov bending over and running towards me along the trench.

He ran to me and squatted down, repeated what he had just said, I handed him the binoculars in my hand, and asked, "Do you know what the Daoist Master told me to do?" ”

"The division commander didn't say anything on the phone, he just asked you to hand over your position to me immediately, and then rush to the division headquarters immediately."

"Well," I said with some helplessness, "during the time I am away, you and Pavlov should be vigilant and keep an eye on the movements of the German army. They use bombs and shells every day to deplete our forces, and at some point they will launch a new offensive. ”

"Got it!"

I took Agumint and Aji through the city to the location of the division headquarters east of Volocramsk. Guided by a patrol sentry, we made our way to the door of the semi-underground shelter where the division headquarters was located.

Seeing us approaching, the sentry at the door shouted with a rifle for a password. I stopped and said loudly to the sentry, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, and I have been ordered by the division commander to report to the division headquarters. ”

"Comrade Sentinel, let her in, we've been waiting for her for a long time." Hearing this, the sentry put away his weapon and returned to his post. When I saw it, it was none other than the political commissar Yegorov, who had spoken cool words a few days ago.

I told Agumint and Aggie to wait for me where they were, and I went up to salute the commissar who had not been welcomed by me, and followed him into the shelter. As soon as he entered, he saw the division commander with a small mustache sitting at a table with a lantern and a radio, on which it seemed that someone was making an important speech, so that he could listen very attentively. Seeing me come in and salute him, he nodded, and then beckoned me to sit down: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you have come just in time, hurry up and sit down and listen to Comrade Stalin's speech at the celebration of the October Revolution Day." ”

The radio was not easy to hear, and there was a crackling sound on the loudspeakers. The division commander and the political commissar couldn't help but come to the radio, gathered and listened attentively, trying not to miss a word. I sat at the long table and listened to Stalin's eloquent speech on the radio: "...... The German aggressors wanted to wage a war of annihilation against the peoples of the Soviet Union. All right! Since the Germans want to fight a war of annihilation, then they will definitely get a war of annihilation! ”

When Stalin finished his speech, a storm of applause and cheers rang out over the radio. Then came the music of the Internationale, which seemed to cross the raging sea, faintly audible at first, but soon became louder and louder.

"Report!" Panfilov stood up, and just as he was about to say something, a man's voice burst in out of place. We turned our heads and saw that Krochkov, a political instructor of the first rank, was standing in the doorway. He wore a short fur coat with a fur collar, no hat, and hot air on his forehead, and looked like he had come running from far away. Without waiting for the division commander to speak, he continued: "Comrade General, I beg your pardon, I can't salute you. On the way here, the hat was knocked off by enemy snipers. ”

Panfilov smiled, turned off the radio, and jokingly said: "It doesn't matter if the hat is gone, the important thing is that the head is still there." Then he walked up to the commissar and bent down to talk to him. I took advantage of this opportunity to quickly stand up, stepped forward and shook Krochkov's hand, after all, we have worked together, and it is impossible to say hello.

The division commander turned around, held two red boxes in his hands, and said to the two of us: "Stand still!" "Krochkov and I hurriedly stood up and stood in front of him.

"Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina," he said with a serious expression, "for your valor and tenacious fighting spirit in the defense of our capital, Moscow, you are awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union." After saying that, I handed over one of the boxes, I took the box with the medal with both hands, straightened up and said loudly: "Serve the USSR." Panfilov held out his hand and shook me vigorously to congratulate him.

"Instructor Crochkov!" He looked at my former battalion commissar and said: "For your bravery, tenacity, and indomitable fighting spirit in the defense of our capital, Moscow, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded you the Order of the Red Banner." With that, he handed over the rest of the box. Crochkov took the box, also straightened up, like me, and said loudly: "Willing to serve the Soviet Fatherland." The division commander also grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Wait a minute." The commissar stood up with an enamel teacup, poured vodka into the cup, and said, "Take the medal." "I was puzzled by his actions, but I handed over the box containing the medal as he commanded, and Krochkov handed the medal to the commissar as I did.

As soon as the commissar threw the two medals into the cup, Crochkov asked curiously: "What are you doing?" "Wash it up, you should say," said the commissar, handing me the cup and explaining, "according to the tradition of the Russian army, hopefully this is not the last one." When he saw that I had taken the cup, he said to me in a commanding tone, "Drink!" ”

I held my glass and hesitated, "But I don't know how to drink!" ”

"It's okay, you drink a little as you like, and let Crochkov drink the rest." The division commander relieved me of the siege in a very timely manner.

I raised my cup high and said loudly: "Glory belongs to us, glory belongs to the motherland." Then he brought the rim to his lips, took a sip, and handed the glass to Crochkov. He took the cup and said with great embarrassment, "But I don't know how to drink!" ”

"Come on! For the sake of this kind of good thing, you can give it a try. At the same time, it is also to celebrate our great October Revolution Day. The teacher smiled and encouraged him to finish his drink.

The words have already been said for this part, and if Krochkov doesn't drink it again, it will be a bit too much. He took the cup and drank the rest of the wine as if it were boiled water. As soon as he finished drinking, his body began to shake, and I quickly helped him to sit down on the bench. He sat down and let out a few breaths, then smiled and said to the two division leaders, "I should be drunk." ”

"It doesn't matter, the Germans won't touch it at night, you can sleep with peace of mind." The commissar took out two medals from the cup and pinned them to my chest and Krochkov respectively.

At this moment, the telephone next to the wall rang, and the division commander went over to pick up the microphone and said loudly: "I'm number one, say it." Then he straightened himself up and said respectfully into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Zhukov! I didn't expect you to call like this, do you have any combat mission? Then he did not speak, but listened carefully to what the other party said, and when the other party had finished speaking, he continued: "Okay, everything is understood, Comrade General, I will arrange it immediately." Wishing you good health and see you soon! ”

Putting down the phone, he excitedly walked up to us and said to the political commissar: "I have just received a call from the commander of the Western Front, ordering us to immediately transfer manpower from all units to form a mixed battalion, and get on the car, which will be directly dispatched by the headquarters of the base camp. At this point, he turned his gaze to me, called my name and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina!" ”

"Here!" I hurriedly came to stand upright.

"I appoint you as the commander of this mixed battalion." Then he looked again at the political instructor of the first rank who was sitting on a stool: "Crochkov! ”

"Here!" Crochkov hurriedly jumped up from the stool.

"Appoint you as the battalion commissar of the mixed battalion."

"Comrade division commander," I couldn't help but interject and ask, "Can I ask, what is the task of this mixed battalion?" ”

"Yes. The task of the mixed battalion is to go to Red Square and participate in the review of the October Revolution Festival tomorrow! ”

"Great!" When Crochkov heard the news, he was as excited as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, and the drowsy drunkenness he had just now suddenly disappeared without a trace. I know that vodka is different from domestic liquor, there is no stamina, usually I feel uncomfortable when I drink it, and it will be fine after a while.

Crochkov belonged to the category of people who were in a hurry, and when he turned around, he wanted to run out, but was stopped by the division commander again. The division commander took off the hat he was wearing from his head, handed it over, and said, "It's cold outside, and if you don't wear a hat, you'll have a headache, so I'll give you this leather hat I wore." ”

Crochkov took the hat with some embarrassment, hesitated for a moment before putting it on his head, then slowly raised his hand, gave a military salute, and said: "Thank you, Comrade General." ”