Bezikov raised his hand to look at his watch, and then said to me: "Lida, there is one more thing that I almost forgot to tell you. Your award ceremony will be held at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, and I will pick you up at 8 o'clock."

I thanked Bezikov again and sent him to the door. Before I stepped out of the room, he raised his hand to stop me: "Lida, just send it here. It's getting late. You just came back from the front line. You must be very tired. Let's rest early." , Raised his hand to his forehead, saluted me, then turned around and took his men and left.

The first thing I did when I returned to the house was to ask Yushchenko with concern: "Comrade Captain, where do you live?"

Hearing my question, Yushchenko immediately replied: “We are all living in an eight-person room at the end of the east corridor on the first floor. The rest of the soldiers are resting in the room at the moment, and I am worried that something will happen to you. Come up and have a look. Who knew that as soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I met the colonel who came to give you new uniforms.

When Yushchenko said this, I finally figured out why he and Bezikov appeared at the same time. I nodded and asked casually: "Lieutenant, have you eaten dinner?"

Seeing Yushchenko shaking his head, I immediately turned to Aksala, who was still sitting at the table, and said politely: "Aksala, look at me and my subordinates have not eaten dinner yet, can you help us? Go get some food."

"No problem, I'll go get food for you right away." Aksala jumped up from her seat, rushed out of the door, and went to the restaurant downstairs to fetch food for us.

When Aksala left, I greeted Yushchenko to sit down at the table and asked tentatively: "Captain, I remember you used to be under Bezikov's jurisdiction? You are coming back to Moscow this time. He Did you give you a new order?"

After hearing this, Yushchenko shook his head and said, "Comrade Commander, since I and my men have been under Stalingrad, they have truly been placed under your command. There is no longer a commanding relationship with Colonel Bezikov."

"Do you or your subordinates have any relatives or friends in Moscow?" I waited for him to finish, and then asked with concern: "If you want to visit relatives and friends, I can give you a temporary holiday."

Yushchenko waved his hand and rebuffed my kindness: "Thank you, Comrade Commander. But we don't need a holiday. Because our home is almost not in Moscow. One soldier is from Moscow, but his family is in the war. Soon after, we were evacuated to the rear. Moreover, our responsibility is to protect your safety. We will not leave you casually until we get a new order from the superior."

Yushchenko waited for me to finish, and immediately asked: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Bezikov said just now that the Supreme Command intends to let you serve as chief of staff in the reserve front. How do you think about it?"

Hearing this question from him, I couldn't help smiling bitterly in my heart, saying: "I have not been educated systematically in the field of military combat command. If I hadn't understood some historical process, I guess it would be worse than an ordinary squad leader." But these words can only be kept in my heart, but cannot be said. I can only say vaguely: "Lieutenant. With my ability, commanding an infantry army is a little weak. Now let me be the third in command of the front. I I feel it is difficult for me to do this job."

Yushchenko fell silent as soon as I spoke. He knew that he had no say in this kind of matter. So he laughed twice, and then he kept drinking tea while holding the teacup.

Fortunately, Aksala returned with dinner soon. Free the two of us from the awkward atmosphere.

Aksala sat next to Yushchenko and watched him devour dinner. When Yushchenko is almost eating. She picked up the napkin on the table and wiped his mouth, and at the same time said in a pleading tone: "Comrade Captain, can you tell me your battle story?"

Yushchenko heard Aksala's request and looked at me a little unexpectedly. He seemed to be asking for my opinion on whether he could tell the young waitress who had just met him about his combat experience. I knew Aksala had no other meaning, she just wanted to hear the battle story, so she nodded to Yushchenko and said in agreement: "Lieutenant, just tell her."

"But what should I say?" Yushchenko was a little flustered when he saw me and asked him to tell Aksala a story. "Comrade Commander, you also know that during the entire Battle of Stalingrad, I I have been by your side all the time, and you should know what happened."

"Then tell me some stories that I don't know." In order to avoid Aksala from keeping me telling stories, I withdrew this burden to Yushchenko and reminded him: "For example, you led the troops to Stalin. Some stories happened during Geller’s journey."

Yushchenko's eyebrows frowned, as if he was reminiscing about the things he had experienced. After a while, he finally spoke. He said gravely: "I was ordered to lead my company to Stalingrad to receive the command of Comrade Commander. When I arrived on the east bank of the Volga River, because there were not enough ships, I took two soldiers on board a ship almost Fully loaded ferry.

When the ship was about to reach the West Bank, an enemy plane appeared over the ferry. These German robbers not only dropped bombs at the ships moored on the pier, but also swooped down towards the places with the largest crowds, and fired frantically at our peaceful residents with airborne machine guns.

I stood on the bow of the ship, looking at the woman with the child in his arms, the limping old man, and the residents carrying their respective large and small luggage, all along the burning streets, through the burning flames, towards Volga The river ran.

Although this kind of scene, after the outbreak of the war, I have watched too much, and maybe I will see more in the future, but the situation of enemy planes bombing residents so unscrupulously does not necessarily happen again. My heart became heavy with anger, and I even imagined that the rifle in my hand could become a broomstick in the hands of a giant, taking pictures of all these **** planes in the sky.

The boat we were on landed, and the residents waiting at the pier swarmed up without waiting for the people on the boat to finish off. An old man covered in blood squeezed in front of me, holding only two children in his hands, one of whom was long dead, and the other still angry. However, one arm and one leg were broken. I guess the old man may be the grandfather of the child, and he is completely mad at the moment. He cursed viciously at the enemy plane in the sky: ‘You **** villains, don’t you even want to let such a small child go? ’

Then, he collapsed weakly on the deck, howling for a while: ‘my grandson. My grandson! After a while, he cursed the enemy plane with vicious words at the sky: ‘you **** villains and executioners, even if I become a ghost, I will continue to curse you. ’

At this time, two stretchers carried an injured woman aboard the ship. In order to fear that she would be squeezed out of the crowd, the soldiers and I placed her in a relatively spacious area at the stern of the boat. I saw her dying and she was going to die. But she still only held the baby in her arms, because at the moment the enemy plane was still bombarding the pier..."

When Yushchenko said this, he turned his body sideways and secretly wiped away the tears from his face with his sleeve. And Aksala, who was listening attentively to the story, was already crying. In such an atmosphere. I also felt that my nose was sour for a while, and I quickly pinched it with my hands, lest I couldn't help it for a while and tears would come to my eyes again.

"Due to our insufficient air defense firepower, the enemy's air strikes on the pier have been uninterrupted. I still remember," Yushchenko continued in a stressed voice with excitement: "A ferry full of wounded people, just Soon after leaving the shore, the enemy plane was hit. The entire ship was immediately enveloped by gunpowder and fire. On the deck were the seriously wounded, and the wounded who did not die immediately crawled on the deck, desperately calling for help. ***Punished painfully.

Seeing that the ferry that transported the wounded was hit by a fire, many small boats moored on the shore rowed over to rescue the wounded. And put on the brave hygienists, no matter their hair and clothes are burning, they only know to lift the wounded up and carefully send them to the coming boat. Thankfully yes. At this time, two fighter planes of our army flew over. Bravely fighting with German flying robbers several times more than his own, he was shooting down two of them. After wounding one, the enemy plane was finally driven away from the pier on the Volga River.

I parked on the dock, waiting for my troops to cross the river. It wasn't until dusk that the ferry carrying our company's soldiers appeared in my field of vision. At this moment, the **** enemy plane flew over again. A wooden boat full of children evacuated from the kindergarten became the target of enemy aircraft.

After being hit and catching fire, the wooden boat sank quickly. Our engineers and sailors on the shore rushed out of their hiding place on the cliff, and rowed past the sinking wooden boat in small boats to rescue the children who fell into the water. The **** enemy plane was still circling the sinking wooden boat, using its airborne machine gun to shoot frantically at the boats rowing toward the wooden boat. Faced with the frenzied bursts of enemy planes, no one flinched. Everyone waved the oars in their hands and quickly rowed forward, because no one wanted to see hundreds of children die in front of them. .

Seeing the little hands reaching us floating on the river, my heart was twitched. I saw a woman who might be a kindergarten teacher jumped out of the ship's ship with a child in her arms. Lie on his back and hit the water with his feet vigorously, holding the child out of the water with both hands.

I saw that she was only fifty or sixty meters away from me, and quickly handed the rifle into the hands of the soldier next to her, took off the steel armor and army coat that was in the way, jumped into the water with a thump, and quickly swam towards the woman. Seeing that I was only twenty meters away from her, I shouted at her loudly: ‘My dear, work harder, work harder. Honey, let me help you! Just when the distance between us was shortened to less than ten meters, an enemy plane dived down and a series of bullets hit the river, hitting the woman. The poor woman and the child in her hand sank like rocks, and all that remained in front of me was a stream of river water dyed red by the blood donation. "

Having said this, Yushchenko couldn't help himself and roared emotionally: "Are they still human? Not even such a small child. No wonder that even Comrade Stalin called them'fascist beasts'. That's right. , They are just a group of inhuman beasts...."

I never expected Yushchenko to experience such unforgettable things before reporting to my headquarters. After finally waiting for him to vent, I sniffed, and tried to ask in a flat tone: "Captain, then, how many children did the officers and soldiers on our dock rescued?"

Hearing this question from me, Yushchenko’s face showed a smile that was uglier than crying: "After the full rescue of our officers and soldiers, 9 of the 312 children and teachers on board were successfully rescued, of which two were teachers. "Speaking of this, because of his excitement, he involuntarily increased his tone: "But after I joined your independent teacher, every time you go to the front, I will follow you all the time, hoping to one day be able to personally ask the Germans for repayment. This blood debt.

Once, where you went to inspect, there was a group of captured German soldiers. Although they were all beards, filthy bodies, and tattered military uniforms, some even couldn't stand up because of injuries. A large group of people cringed and squeezed in a corner, waiting for us to treat them. Disposal.

As soon as I saw them, I thought of those who died on the dock, and I couldn't help but become angry. I hold my rifle tightly every time~lightnovelpub.net~ waiting for your order. Even if you don't speak, even if there is a hint from your eyes, I will ruthlessly kill all these damned fascist beasts. "

Having said that, he raised his head and looked at me, and said with a firm face: "Comrade Commander, I think I can now understand why you ordered all the captured German soldiers to be executed when you were in Petrischevo. The reason is. It turns out that you did this because of your infinite love for the people of your motherland and your immense hatred for fascist beasts."

I smiled at Yushchenko's heartfelt remarks, and didn't answer him immediately. Instead, he raised his hand to wipe off the tears on Aksala’s face, and comforted her and said: "Aksala, don’t be sad anymore. This is war. As long as we completely defeat the fascist invaders, such a tragedy can be done. It won't happen again."

Then I turned my head and said to the emotional Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, don't worry, there are more opportunities to teach the Germans in the future. When we return to the army, you will continue to stay by my side as a guard. Battalion commander, I'll still go to the troops below but the basic commander, I will respect your choice."

Hearing my promise, Yushchenko immediately stood up from his seat, raised his hand to salute, and said loudly: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Commander. Please rest assured, I will not disappoint your expectations. To be continued)