After the three infantry regiments of the 98th Guards Division passed through the town of Kazachya Compass in sequence, Chuvashov left the unsatisfied artillery regiment in the town in order to prevent the target from being exposed, and temporarily placed it under the command of Koida.
After receiving the order, Captain Lida, commander of the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion, and Captain Ulanova, the instructor, immediately came to the headquarters of the 188th Division and reported to Koida.
Seeing the female commanders appearing in his headquarters, Koida was stunned for a moment, then recognized Lida and Ulanova. He quickly stepped forward to shake hands with the two of them and said politely: "Two female commanders
Comrades, welcome to my headquarters."
"Comrade Colonel," Lida said respectfully, "the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion will be under your command from now on. Please give us orders."
Hearing what Lida said, Koida muttered to herself: "The women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion has limited strength, and it is all female soldiers. It is obvious that dangerous tasks such as searching and infiltrating enemies cannot be left to them. We must find some
Give them easy work to avoid any accidents."
"Comrade Colonel," seeing Koida in a daze, Lida quickly called him twice in a low voice. After he woke up from his thoughts, she continued: "I want to ask, what is the mission of our battalion?
"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Koida turned to look at his political commissar, Colonel Mashkov, and decided to throw this troublesome question to him: "What tasks do you think should be assigned to the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion?"
Seeing Koida leaving the problem to him, Mashkov couldn't help but smile, and then asked Lida: "Comrade Captain, tell me, what kind of mission do you want to accept?"
Lida did not expect that Mashkov would actually ask herself this question. After hesitating for a moment, he replied with a normal expression: "Comrade Colonel, I obey your orders. No matter what work is assigned to us, I will never betray your trust.
"
"Very good." Mashkov was very satisfied with Lida's humble attitude. He smiled and nodded, and then said: "When our division was liberating the town of Kazachya Compass, we captured a group of German soldiers.
, they are currently being held by us in the grain station warehouse to the west of the town. The task I give you now is to assist our soldiers in guarding them. How about it, Comrade Captain, do you have no objections?"
When Ulanova heard Mashkov saying that the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion was to take care of the prisoners, her expression suddenly changed, and she wanted to refuse the job arranged by the other party. But Lida noticed her strangeness and quickly shook her head slightly at her.
, then faced Mashkov and said: "Yes, Comrade Colonel, I will immediately lead people to the grain station to assist the soldiers there in taking care of the German prisoners of war."
When the two left the 188th Division headquarters, Ulanova asked Lida with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we are anti-aircraft artillery, not guards. When they assigned us this task, why didn't you tell us
Did they question it?"
"Comrade Ulanova," Lida smiled faintly at Ulanova's question, and then comforted her and said, "Have you ever thought about it, if we don't accept this mission, I'm afraid we will only have to wait until the main force of the division returns.
Being able to stay in Kazachia Compass Town and do nothing while watching the commanders and fighters of other units make achievements. Do you want to see this happen?"
"Of course not." Ulanova shook her head and said, "But in addition to taking care of prisoners of war, we can also serve as the town's air defense mission. You know, the enemy will definitely not be willing to accept the occupation of Kazakhya Compass Town by our army. They
Sooner or later, they will launch a crazy counterattack to try to take back the town from our army."
"Comrade Ulanova, you are right." Lida continued: "Since we are an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, the air defense work in the town is our responsibility."
Hearing what Lida said, Ulanova's face showed joy: "Lida, so you agree with me?"
"What's your opinion?"
"Didn't you say that the air defense work in the town is our responsibility?" Ulanova said: "Then we will build an air defense position in the granary later."
"Don't be anxious yet, Comrade Ulanova." Lida shook her head and said, "Where to place the air defense positions must wait until we have surveyed the terrain."
The two of them did not return to the camp, but went straight to the grain station.
Still far away, Lida saw a sandbag fortification piled up on both sides of the entrance to the grain station, with machine guns mounted on them. The machine gunners were vigilantly observing the surrounding environment.
A second lieutenant who was leading the team at the door saw Lida and Ulanova approaching and quickly stepped forward to block their way. He said politely: "Comrade commanders, there is a military restricted area in front of you.
Can’t wait to get in.”
Ulanova glanced at the military rank on the opponent's epaulette and said politely: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, we are not just idle people, but we are here to help you take care of the prisoners."
"Assisting us in guarding the prisoners?" The second lieutenant looked the two men up and down, stretched out his hand and said, "Two comrades, commanders, please show your IDs."
After hearing what the second lieutenant said, Lida was very happy and took out her ID and handed it over. However, Ulanova's face was full of reluctance. After taking out her ID, she held it tightly in her hand and refused to hand it over.
Give it to the other party. Lida quickly took the certificate from her hand, handed it to the second lieutenant, and said politely: "Comrade second lieutenant, this is our certificate, please take a look."
After the second lieutenant quickly checked the IDs of the two people, he said politely to Lida: "Captain Lida, please wait a moment. I will call the battalion commander and report the matter to him."
"Go, go." Lida said reasonably: "We will wait for you here."
The second lieutenant took the IDs of the two of them and walked quickly towards the gate, preparing to make a call in the duty room at the door to inform his battalion commander of the arrival of Lida and the others.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked to the door, an officer came out. Seeing the second lieutenant in such a hurry, the officer asked: "Comrade second lieutenant, what can I do?"
The second lieutenant raised the two military certificates in his hand and replied: "Captain Grisa, two commanders from friendly forces are here, saying they are here to help us take care of the prisoners."
Captain Grisa reached out and took the certificate from the second lieutenant's hand. After flipping through it, he only glanced at it, and an expression of surprise appeared on his face. He looked around and saw Li, who was standing about ten meters away.
Da and Ulanova quickly walked over and said loudly at the same time: "Lida, Ulanova, I didn't expect that it was you who came!"
The second lieutenant standing at the door saw Captain Grisa striding toward the two female commanders. After the three walked in, they shook hands first, and then gave them a warm hug. He couldn't help being dumbfounded, and said to himself:
I really didn't expect that Captain Grisa actually knew them.
As Sokov's old subordinate, Grisa had fought in many places, so he was naturally very familiar with Lida and Ulanova. Seeing acquaintances here now, he was filled with surprises. After a brief exchange of greetings,
He returned the certificates to the two of them and asked curiously: "Captain Lida, why are you here?"
"That's it, Captain Grisa." Lida explained to Grisa: "We are currently in the artillery regiment of the 98th Guards Division. Since the main force of the division has to perform an important task, we have been assigned to the artillery regiment.
Stay in the town and hand it over to the command of your division commander, Colonel Koida. When we just went to the division headquarters to receive the mission, the division political commissar Colonel Mashkov ordered us to come here to help you take care of those German prisoners of war."
"It turns out that you are helping us, that's great." Grisa said as he led the two of them towards the gate: "After successive battles, our battalion has been reduced by nearly half, and now we only have
There are less than 200 people left, and it is really difficult for them to take care of such a large grain station."
Grisa took the two of them to the battalion headquarters and met the battalion commander, Major Golia. Coincidentally, Golia also knew Lida and Ulanova, and when he saw the two appearing, his face was full of surprise.
Color: "Lida, Comrade Ulanova, why are you here with us?"
"Comrade Major," although they are both battalion commanders, Golya's military rank is higher than hers, so after raising her hand to salute, Lida politely replied: "We are under the orders of Colonel Mashkov, the political commissar of the division.
I’m here to help you look after the prisoners of war.”
"Help us take care of the prisoners of war?" Golia looked at Lida and said with confusion: "Comrade Lida, I remember that there are no female officers in the division. Where did you two come from?"
"Golia, what are you talking about?" Even though Golia's military rank is much higher than that of Ulanova, Ulanova was not afraid of him at all. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and asked, "What does it mean to be subordinate?"
Where did it come from? We are..."
"Goria, we belong to the Artillery Regiment of the 98th Guards Division. Since the main force of the division is going to perform an important task, if we follow, I'm afraid it will affect their actions. Therefore, the division commander ordered us to stay in the town.
Go ahead and put it under the command of Division Commander Koida for the time being."
"Oh, that's it." After figuring out what was going on, Golia nodded, and then said to the two of them: "Boy, do you want to see the German prisoners of war who are under the custody of our army?"
"Needless to say, of course it depends." As early as during the Stalingrad Defense War, Golya, who was stationed at the Red October Factory, had pursued Ulanova. Due to the environmental impact at that time, Ulanova
Nova rejected the other party without hesitation, but this did not prevent the two from becoming good friends. She grabbed Golia's arm and pulled the other party up from her seat, "Stop dawdling, take us over quickly to see
Let’s see.”
Golia was pulled up from her seat by Ulanova and said to Lida: "Let's go, Captain Lida, I will take you to see where the German prisoners are kept."
Golya took Lida, Ulanova and Grisa out of the battalion command post and headed to the place where German prisoners of war were held.
More than two hundred German prisoners of war were imprisoned in an open space, surrounded by barbed wire. Outside the barbed wire were Soviet commanders and soldiers with loaded guns. The commanders and soldiers stood outside the barbed wire, staring eagerly at the German prisoners inside the net, with their guns looming.
Wu Di pointed at them, as if if he found out that the other party had even the slightest evil intention, he would pull the trigger without hesitation and send these captives to meet their God.
The four of them came to a stop more than ten meters away from the barbed wire fence. Golia pointed at the enemies inside the barbed wire fence and said to Lida: "Lida, these are the prisoners captured by our regiment."
Lida keenly captured the key words in Golia's words: the prisoners captured by our group. She asked tentatively: "Comrade Major, so there are many prisoners detained in other places?"
"That's right." Golia nodded and gave Lida an affirmative answer: "Originally, the superiors planned to imprison all the prisoners of war in the granary. They said that the area here was large, even if two or three thousand people were imprisoned, it would not be enough.
Problem. But because our troops were too small, the regiment commander rejected the plan to imprison all the prisoners here."
"Comrade Major, now that we are here to assist you, I think we can gather all the prisoners of war here." Lida said to Goliath: "This way we will not disperse our precious troops just to take care of the German prisoners of war.
"
"Lida, what you said makes sense." Golia agreed with Lida's statement: "Although the prisoners captured now are not many after they are dispersed to various regiments, we must always mobilize a certain number of prisoners.
We have to use troops to guard them, so we have to allocate manpower from the troops who are short of personnel to guard the prisoners of war."
"Ulanova," Lida said to Ulanova after observing the situation in the granary: "You return to the camp immediately and bring the troops over. We need to set up air defense positions here to prevent the Germans from attacking.
Possible air strikes."
"Lida, if you need any help, please just ask." Golia said politely.
Lida considered that her subordinates would need to prepare a large number of sandbags to set up anti-aircraft positions here, so she asked cautiously: "Comrade Major, I wonder if your subordinates can prepare a batch of sandbags for us?"
"No problem," Grisa replied before Goliath: "No matter how many sandbags you want, we can meet your needs."
"Captain Grisa," Golia's expression turned serious after hearing what Grisa said: "Now there are less than two hundred people left in the whole battalion, how can we allocate manpower to help women with orgasms?"
Where are the artillery battalions preparing sandbags?"
"Here, Comrade Major, look over there." Grisa nodded in the direction of where the German prisoners were being held, and said, "Aren't these people just a ready-made labor force?" He added with a sneer, "We didn't shoot them, but
We have treated them very well by giving them food to eat. Now, shouldn’t we let them do some work?”
"It makes sense, it makes sense." Grisa's words were like enlightenment, which made Golia's eyes light up. He nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, that's right, these prisoners have nothing to do anyway, so why not
Let them help prepare sandbags and help the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion build anti-aircraft positions. Lida, do you think this is okay?"
"Of course, no problem, Comrade Major." Lida was very satisfied. She was originally worried that the commanders and fighters of the 188th Division had become exhausted after repeated fierce battles, so she felt a little bit guilty about asking them to help her build anti-aircraft positions.
But since the labor force to be used now is the German prisoners imprisoned in the barbed wire fence, Lida thinks this is a matter of course. "I will do as you say."