Fragment

At the end of July 1941, the German Army Group North submitted the report on the deployment of troops to the head of state:

... We decided to re-deploy the battle plan as follows: (1) form the Northern Assault Group with Reinhardt's 41st Panzer Army and Küsseler's 18th Army, break through the defense line from the lower reaches of the Luga River, and attack through Gatchi Leningrad (2) took Manstein's 56th Armored Army as the West Assault Group, attacked Luga from the middle reaches of the Luga River, and then attacked Leningrad along the Luga-Leningrad highway (3) took Boucher's 16th The Army Group and the 3th Armored Corps of the 57rd Armored Corps of the Central Army Group formed the Southern Assault Group, broke through the defense line from the upper reaches of the Luga River, and then attacked Chudovo, cutting off the railway line from Leningrad to Moscow.

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Moscow, the dining room of the Umanov family.The teapot sizzled cheerfully on the stove, and the dense steam sprayed from the spout and slowly dissipated in the air.Electricity in the city has been curtailed, but candles in metal candlesticks on the table still keep the room bright and warm.The smell of beetroot soup mixed with the aroma of toasted bread, and Umanov's wife Vika served delicious roast beef with potatoes.

Umanov's twin boys immediately showed excited expressions. After the main course was served, Vasya restrainedly bit the spoon and looked around. Andryusha had already stretched out his hand impatiently. "Slow down," his wife Vika scolded in a low voice. "Boys, be polite in front of guests," Umanov said, scooping up a large spoonful and putting it on Daria's plate. "Eat quickly, my boy."

Andryusha held out his plate with a grimace at his father, looked at the potatoes Umanov had put on it, and said, "I want some beef!"

"Ah, the naughty boy!" Vika smiled at Kitia, "Alexei is too lenient with children."

Half an hour later, there was no food left on the table. Katia whispered something to Vika, and Vika nodded and said to the children: "Go play in the house, I will take you to wash your clothes first. hands." Umanov watched his wife lead the children away from the dining table, took the teapot and poured a cup for himself and Katia, and he heard Katia say: "Alexei, I want to ask you a favor; help me find a wife Obstetrician, I'm pregnant and want to do a prenatal checkup."

Umanov stopped, and there was a hint of surprise in his gentle tone: "When did this happen?"

"About three months."

"Does Ilia know?"

"He left so suddenly; I didn't have time to tell him before he left."

"Oh..." Umanov took a breath, and then exhaled it like a sigh.As a good friend of Grinkov during his lifetime, he has always regarded it as his responsibility to take care of Katia, even after she and Kulik remarried.

"Oh, there's no problem with this." He touched his chin, his tone a little embarrassed, "I'll ask Vika to accompany you then."

Katia smiled and said: "Maybe the most troublesome thing is how to explain this to Daria; in order to answer her various questions, I am almost becoming a novelist now."

Umanov murmured, "Well, to be honest, it's really not easy..."

They were silent for a while, as if wondering whether to end the subject; finally, Umanov nodded and said, "Congratulations, and Ilia."

It's not that he can't understand Katia's remarriage intellectually, life should go on no matter what - he just has deeper nostalgia and sympathy for the deceased as he said "naturally".

Dr. Grinkoff took a lidocaine from the medicine room and a suture kit from the procedure room, locked himself in the room, gave himself a local anesthetic in the groin area, and then dissected himself. The femoral artery was cut off with one knife.

Blood sprayed all the way to the ceiling.

Grinkov did not leave anything like a suicide note; as far as Umanov knows, a tumor patient in Grinkov died due to postoperative dyscrasia and organ failure, and the patient's identity was the People's Commissar committee member.This medical incident, which was not particularly unexpected at first, became the most serious incident in the hospital. Greenkoff was therefore subject to review/examination for several months. He was required to submit written explanatory materials continuously. Questioning and talking, in order to get rid of some kind of suggestive "conspiracy/murder" charges.

No one thought that the incident would end like this.

This incident was settled later, and the name "Grenkoff" became an untouchable topic for a long time.Umanov and Grinkov were colleagues who entered Moscow No. [-] Hospital in the same year, and they followed his ballet wife more than once, that is, Katia's "Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake".When they applauded and praised enthusiastically on the stage, the usually gentle and steady man would smile extraordinarily innocently.Looking back on those scenes, Umanov still felt that he could not believe that Grinkov disappeared from them in such a way.

He lowered his head to drink tea, and when he raised his head, he accidentally met kitia's unusually bright eyes—the eyes that were his best friend's favorite during his lifetime; she said in a calm tone: "I have known Ilia for a month Just got married, you know, it was a stormy pursuit."

She went on: "Sergey and I lived in pink velvet and I never felt like I had anything to worry about, nothing to worry about; even when we got home from the store, no matter how much we bought He alone carries the basket, wallet, door key, supply coupons, I don't care about anything... I love him, like a little girl clinging to her father... Even if one day he suddenly leaves and it's impossible When I come back, I still love him..."

A warm smile floated on her lips: "Ilia is different from him, yes, completely different and nothing like it - but I met him and became his wife a month later - no, I never Regret, Sergey's death began to make me believe that life is unpredictable and hopeless, as if my life has come to an end, there is no way to go - and then Ilia appeared, he stood in front of me, everything changed It's safe, secure, and everything goes well; and I believe [-]% for no reason, it's not impulsiveness..."

The charcoal in the stove popped out sparks, and the room was quiet again.

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The Soviet Army’s Military Information Bulletin (partial) (arranged) in mid-August 1941:

... On August 8, the German Army on the North Road cut off the railway and highway from Leningrad to Kingisepp; Manstein's 13th Armored Army marched south to support and attack Luga...The Finnish Southeast Army marched towards Lake Ladoga and launched an attack on the Soviet 8rd Army...

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When Sasha was about to go to work, he found that his roommate hadn't woken up yet. He walked over to take a look and found the surgeon lying flat on his back with his eyes wide open.

Sasha asked: "Are you resting today?"

He didn't hear the answer, but suddenly saw the doctor sitting up, his face full of panic. Sasha turned around and looked in the direction he was staring at. It was the half-open window of the room, and the sky was half cloudy.

Then, he heard a heavy muffled sound on the road downstairs outside the window, which was a bit like the sound of a shot man falling down on the snow; Sasha shuddered for no reason, he ran to the window, and the asphalt road downstairs There was a figure lying on his stomach, wearing casual clothes, blood snaked out from under him like a snake, and soon spread into a bright red patch. Sasha couldn't help frowning.

"He's dead?" He heard his roommate ask behind him, "I saw him fall from our window just now..." He seemed to be pondering his words, "Passing by..."

Sasha looked back, and the surgeon, who was wearing only a vest and shorts, looked as young as a high school student at the moment, his face was pale, and he was shivering from the cold and shock.

Sasha didn't say anything, he just walked over and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.Even though he was used to seeing death, this was the first time he witnessed a person end his life in an unnatural way outside the battlefield.

"Do you know?" At noon that day, on the way to the cafeteria, a colleague in the office asked him in a low voice.

Sasha knowingly asked, "Know what?"

"The guy who lives in the dormitory opposite you jumped off the balcony this morning."

Sasha gave a low "hmm" to express her knowledge, "The news really spreads fast..."

"Everyone knows that even if the news is blocked, this kind of thing cannot be hidden."

Someone came from the opposite side, and they briefly interrupted the topic; Sasha heard his colleague sigh softly at the end: "To be honest, human curiosity is really a cruel thing."

The students sat upright by the long table at one end of the cafeteria, eating lunch according to the uniform instructions as if they were completing a program, and no one even spoke.Perhaps this seems a little ridiculous, but in fact, it is this little bit of iron-like discipline that melts into the blood of young people, so that even if they know that they are close to death on the battlefield, they will not take half a step back privately.

In the teaching staff's free dining area, Sasha couldn't find a seat. When he was looking around, he saw Zhulin pointing to the empty seat opposite him and beckoning to him.

After they exchanged military salutes, Sasha sat down and took off her cap and placed it on her left hand.

"I heard someone committed suicide in your dormitory?"

Sasha didn't expect to hear such a question, and the dean would be interested in such a thing.He thought for a while and said, "Maybe it's an accident, I'm not sure."

Zhulin waved his hand as if to put his excuse aside: "Maybe some people think that such things should not be discussed, but I don't think so; there are too many things we avoid, which is not good. People should have a clear understanding of the current situation Concealment will increase the spread of rumors."

He continued: "This man, he heard that he was going to be transferred to the front line, and he collapsed with fright."

Sasha raised her head in surprise: "Because of this?"

"He hasn't been in a war, never has been; he thinks he's going to die, that's all."

Sasha did not express any doubts, and he did not need to question the truthfulness of this statement. In fact, the bloody purge resulted in the execution of a large number of officers and commanders in the army, and the organizational system of the army was almost broken up. There are very few officers with actual combat experience.

Yes, Sasha remembers that he also felt infinite panic when he stepped onto the battlefield for the first time, he didn't know what would happen, he didn't know what to do, as if all the training and education he had received had completely disappeared from his mind in an instant, Those romantic ideals of heroism were more fragile and pale than white paper at that moment - because at that time he realized that the boundary between life and death was really moving under his feet, this was not an exercise, there was no exit but death.

And this disease of fear is healed by the difficult nights in the cold trenches.

"I feel... sorry," he whispered.

Zhulin looked at him, seeming to hesitate to speak.

That night, when Sasha was writing the lesson plans, the doctor came over, "How can you write so many things? God, if you ask me to write something, I will definitely feel a headache..." He said in a fuss while drinking hot water , and his face at this time already looked much more normal than in the morning.

Sasha asked, "How are you doing there, I mean in the hospital."

His roommate was silent for a while, and suddenly asked: "Have you ever killed anyone on the battlefield?"

"Kill?" He repeated, wanting to make sure he heard correctly.At the same time, he saw the earnest and sincere eyes on the doctor's pale face due to lack of sleep.

Sasha thought for a moment, and then he said, "I have no personal grievances with every enemy who stands before me; but war always kills."

The doctor raised his hand, looked at his fingers, and almost muttered: "Sasha, I have a very strange feeling now... The wounded person died on the operating table today. Everyone said, He was injured so badly that God couldn't help it. But I don't know why, but I always feel like he died by my hand..." He raised his head, his light blue eyes were covered with confusion, "What the hell is going on? What's the matter?"

Sasha thought for a while and said, "You're too nervous."

"I'm terrified," the doctor said. He nervously flicked the nail of his right index finger, causing the nail bed to turn red and white. "It's war—I feel like my life has suddenly been messed up and ruined."

"I can understand." Sasha said softly, "This kind of thing suddenly came here, but we are not prepared yet."

What he said was very sincere, with emotion in his words; if this was when he was in Siberia 3 or 4 years ago, he might have said such words as a kind of insincere comfort—at that time, as a professional soldier, his body Every cell in his body is always ready to leap from the snow-covered ditch. War and death are like followers who follow him out at the door. He accepts that life like a shadow: he is not a fanatical belligerent molecules, but his life did become meaningful because of the possibility of war—at that time, he might really not be able to understand how it feels to be in chaos because of war.

But it was different now—he was horrified—when did he realize that he was different from before: he was no longer an officer of the Soviet Red Army, but a bystander.However, in the face of those exclusion and injustice, what can he choose?When the sanctimonious reality turns his back on him, all he can do is to turn away in the same silence; he is not a radical or cynical person, all he has to do is stick to his bottom line and dignity.

In these seemingly calm days, he could clearly hear the turmoil of blood in his chest, and a voice calling to him—this was his motherland, the mother he had sworn to defend with his life.

"But you know," he said finally, "that one day you'll be proud of all the sacrifices you've made now, and people in the future will forever remember the story of our present."

The author has something to say: cutting off the femoral artery is a true thing I have heard...