Burning Moscow

84 Military Parade on Red Square (Part 1

For three days, this station, surrounded by barbed wire like trenches and spider webs, always woke up or fell asleep to the rumble of cannons and bean-like gunshots. It was quiet only in the middle of the night, but Occasionally, there will be flares shot into the sky by the Germans, illuminating the station like daylight in a short period of time.

After talking with Rokosovsky that day, he, Panfilov and the others patted their butts and left. The task of guarding the station still fell on me. Although I was given the organization of an independent battalion, the third company of Resdayev was not returned to the establishment for a long time. Only the company led by Geria with more than 70% of the casualties was placed under my command. As a result, I had only three infantry companies with heavy casualties and an artillery platoon outside, with a total strength of less than 400 men.

In order to defend this damned station, I had to rack my brains to find a way. In order to strengthen the defense, I organized the soldiers to dig a half-deep circular trench outside the ruins, and pull barbed wire outside the trenches. Later, I accidentally discovered that although the surface buildings of the houses near the station were bombed, the basements below were still intact, so when I was excited, I immediately organized manpower to excavate the tunnels to connect the basements and trenches. . When encountering German bombing or shelling, except for a few observation posts, the rest of the people hid in the basement to hide.

Since the 139th regiment that attacked Volokolamsk in the direction of the station was annihilated, the German army changed the direction of the attack and did not launch a new attack on the station. Instead, it adopted plane bombing or heavy artillery. The method of shelling came to us.

Although the various measures I have taken have effectively reduced the casualties of our army. But it is only reduced, and cannot be completely avoided. In yesterday’s shelling, the station building became the main target of the German attack. In just half an hour, it was directly hit by at least hundreds of shells and finally collapsed. Like the surrounding houses, it turned into rubble. When the building collapsed, more than 20 soldiers were buried alive before they had time to escape. Lukin and Sapochuk were seriously injured and rushed to the military hospital in Yuzhnaya. Relia, on the other hand, was directly hit by a cannonball and exploded to pieces on the spot, with no corpse found in the capital. As a result, I lost three powerful men in one day. Now there are only four people around me, Festov, Pavlov, Aggie, and Aguminte. I hope they don’t have any accidents. Otherwise, I don’t even have anyone to use.

In the evening, I was squatting in the trench, watching the enemy situation outside with a telescope. Suddenly I heard someone calling me: “Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Commander Panfilov is calling, asking you to go to the division immediately.” I moved the binoculars away and looked in the direction of the sound, and I saw Fersto The husband was bending over and running towards me along the trench.

He ran in front of me and squatted down, and repeated what I had just said. I handed him the telescope in my hand and asked, “Do you know what the teacher told me to do?”

“The teacher did not say on the phone, but asked you to transfer the position to me immediately, and then rush to the division department immediately.”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly, “During my absence, you and Pavlov must be vigilant and keep an eye on the movements of the German forces. They use bombs and shells to consume our troops every day, maybe anything. A new offensive will be launched at some time.”

“understood!”

I took Aguminte and Aji through the city to the location of the division east of Volokramsk. Under the guidance of a patrol sentry, we successfully arrived at the door of the semi-underground shelter where the division headquarters was located.

Seeing us approaching, the sentry at the door was holding a rifle and asking for the password loudly. I stopped and rushed to the sentry loudly and said: “I am Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina. I report to the division headquarters under the command of the commander. I don’t know today’s password.”

“Comrade Sentinel, let her in, we’ve been waiting for her for a long time.” Hearing this voice, the sentry put away the weapon in his hand and returned to his post. I saw that it was not someone else who rescued me, it was Yegorov, the political commissar who said coldly the other day.

I asked Aguminte and Aji to wait for me where I was, and I stepped forward to salute the political commissar who was not inviting me to see, and then followed him into the shelter. As soon as I entered, I saw the teacher with a small beard sitting at the table. There was a lantern on the table and a radio. It seemed that someone was doing an important speech on the radio, so that he was very fascinated by it. . Seeing me coming in to salute him, he nodded and then beckoned me to sit down: “Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are here at the right time. Sit down quickly and listen to Comrade Stalin’s speech at the celebration of the October Revolution.”

The sound in the radio broadcast is not easy to hear clearly, and there are often crackling noises from the speakers. The division commander and the political commissar couldn’t help but leaned over to the radio, and listened intently, trying their best not to miss a word. I sat at a long table and listened to Stalin’s utterly loud speech on the radio: “…The German invaders want to carry out an annihilation war against the people of all ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. Well! Now that the Germans want to carry out an annihilation war, they will certainly do so. Get annihilation!”

When Stalin finished his speech, there was a storm of applause and cheers on the radio. Then came the “Internationale” music, which seemed to cross the turbulent sea. At first it was vaguely audible, but it soon became louder and louder.

“Report!” Panfilov stood up, and when he was about to say something, a person’s voice broke in untimely. We turned our heads to see that Krochkov, the first-level political instructor, was standing at the door. He was wearing a short fur coat with a fur collar, no hat, and steam on his forehead, looking like he was running from a long distance. Before the commander could speak, he went on to say: “Comrade General, please forgive me, I can’t salute you. On the way here, the hat was blown by an enemy sniper.”

Panfilov laughed, turned off the radio, and jokingly said, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have your hat, but the important thing is that your head is still there.” Then he walked to the political commissar and bent down and said something to him. I took this opportunity to stand up and shook hands with Krochkov. After all, I have been working together and it is impossible not to say hello.

The teacher turned around, holding two red boxes in his hands, and said to both of us: “Stand up!” Krochkov and I hurriedly came and stood upright, standing upright on him. In front of.

“Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina,” he said solemnly: “For your bravery and tenacious fighting spirit in the battle to defend our capital Moscow, the Soviet Supreme Soviet award gives you the Red Flag Medal.” , Handed over one of the boxes, I took the box with the medal with both hands, and straightened my body and said loudly: “Serve the Soviet Union.” Panfilov stretched out his hand and shook my hand firmly to congratulate me. .

“Instructor Krochkov!” He looked at my former battalion political commissar and said: “For your bravery, tenacity, and indomitable fighting spirit in the defense of our capital, Moscow, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Grant you the Red Flag Medal.” After speaking, he handed over the remaining box. Krochkov took the box, straightened his body as I did, and said loudly, “I am willing to serve the motherland of the Soviet Union.” The teacher also grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

“Wait a minute.” The political commissar stood up with an enamel teacup, poured vodka into the cup, and said, “Get the medal.” Although I was puzzled by his behavior, I still put the medal on as he ordered. The box was handed over, and Krochkov followed my example and handed the medal to the political commissar.

As soon as the political commissar threw the two medals into the cup, Krochkov asked curiously: “What are you doing?” “It should be washed,” the political commissar said, handing me the cup and explaining, “According to The tradition of the Russian army, I hope this is not the last one.” Seeing that I took the cup, he said to me in a commanding tone: “Drink!”

I held the glass hesitantly and said, “But I don’t know how to drink!”

“It’s okay, you can drink a little, and Krochkov will drink the rest.” The teacher rescued me very promptly.

I lifted the glass high and said loudly: “The glory belongs to us, and the glory belongs to the motherland.” Then I put the mouth of the glass close to my lips, took a light sip, and handed the glass to Krochko. husband. He took the cup and said in a very embarrassing way: “But I don’t know how to drink either!”

“Come on! For this kind of good thing, you can try it. It is also to celebrate our great October Revolution.” The teacher smiled and encouraged him to finish drinking.

The words have already come to this point, and if Krochkov doesn’t drink it, it’s a bit unreasonable. He picked up the glass and drank all the remaining wine in the glass as if drinking boiled water. As soon as he finished drinking, his body began to shake, and I hurriedly helped him sit down on the bench. He took a few breaths after sitting down, 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 confidence.” The political commissar took out two medals from the cup and pinned them to my chest and Krochkov.

At this moment, the telephone by the wall rang, and the teacher picked up the microphone and said loudly, “I’m number one, let’s talk.” Then he straightened his body and said respectfully into the microphone: ” Comrade Zhukov, hello! I didn’t expect you to call back like this. Do you have any combat missions?” Then he did not speak, but listened carefully to what the other party said. After the other party finished speaking, he continued, “Okay. Everything is understood, Comrade General, I will make arrangements right away. I wish you health and goodbye!”

Putting down the phone, he walked in front of us excitedly and said to the political commissar: “I just received a call from the commander of the Western Front ordering us to immediately allocate personnel from the various units and form a mixed battalion. , Get in the car, and the car will be dispatched directly by the base camp headquarters.” At this point, his eyes turned to me, calling my name and saying, “Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina!”

“Here!” I hurriedly came and stood at attention.

“I appoint you as the battalion commander of this mixed camp.” Then he looked at the first-level political instructor sitting on the stool: “Krochkov!”

“Here!” Krochkov hurriedly jumped up from the stool.

“You are appointed as the political commissar of the mixed camp.”

“Comrade Master,” I couldn’t help but interject: “Can I ask, what is the mission of this mixed camp?”

“Yes. The task of the mixed camp is to go to the Red Square to participate in the review of tomorrow’s October Revolution!”

“Awesome!” Hearing the news, Krochkov was as excited as a chicken blood, and the sleepy drunken state just now disappeared without a trace. I know that vodka is different from domestic liquor. It has no stamina. I usually feel uncomfortable when I drink it. It will be fine after a while.

Krochkov belonged to the kind of impatient, turned around and wanted to run out, but was stopped by the teacher again. The teacher took the hat he was wearing from his head, handed it over, and said, “It’s cold outside, and it’s a headache if you don’t wear a hat. I will give you this leather hat that I wear.”

Krochkov took the hat with embarrassment, hesitated for a moment before putting it on his head, then slowly raised his hand, paid a military salute, and said, “Thank you, Comrade General.”