Sun Hui took out the notebook again and was about to open it, but suddenly found a pair of bright eyes looking at him in the dark.

Sun Hui was startled and almost touched the pistol on his waist, but he immediately recognized who it was and let out a sigh of relief.

"Little Ryuda! You little scoundrel, do you want to scare me to death? Sun Hui stepped forward and stretched out his hand, and the little girl immediately jumped out of the darkness and threw herself into his arms.

"How did you get in?" Sun Hui stroked the little girl's long golden hair and asked, the little girl raised her head and pointed to the top of the turret, "It's not closed there, I got in by myself." She giggled, "You came in and didn't see me, big idiot!" ”

Sun Hui smiled, he had been thinking about his mind at the time, but he didn't even notice this little uninvited guest.

Now the child, who has lost his mother, has been adopted by Aunt Osania under the arrangement of his superiors and lives near their station. Aunt Osania is usually too busy to take care of her all the time, but the four girls in the "521" crew are all the same and take on the responsibility of taking care of her whenever they have time.

Perhaps missing her father too much (her father is said to be a naval officer who is now besieged in the city of Leningrad), she unconsciously likes to be close to Sun Hui, the only man in the "521" crew.

"Tell me a story!" Xiao Yanagida took out a fairy tale book with missing pages and shook it in front of him.

Sun Hui grinned ugly, with his Russian level, let him tell fairy tales in Russian, and he didn't know if it was a fairy tale or a joke.

Under the little girl's strong begging, he had no choice but to open the fairy tale book and stammered to tell her. Although he did not speak well, she listened very carefully and happily.

With the company of the little girl, time passed quickly, and after lunch, after exhausting all his Russian reserves, Sun Hui finally coaxed the little girl to sleep, and after watching her lie on the bed in her room, Sun Hui returned to the tank.

When he first entered the tank, he saw a Soviet army correspondent running over, went to the girls' house and knocked on the door, Ye Chuchu got up and opened the door, after the correspondent saluted her, he said something, Ye Chuchu's expression became solemn, took off the military hat and left with the communicator.

Sun Hui saw this scene, and with his inference, it may have been a combat mission, so he went into the tank to check it, and about half an hour later, Ye Chuchu came back, called the other three girls over, and entered the tank together.

"Got a new mission?" Sun Hui saw them move quickly into their respective positions and asked Ye Chuchu.

"Yes, the scouts just spotted a German panzer division, in the woods very close to the fortress." Ye Chuchu replied.

"Holy!" Sun Hui was startled, he knew that another battle of life and death was coming.

The chirping of birds echoed through the forest, and the tips of the ancient trees in the forest intersected over the narrow road. The sentries walked back along the side of the road, their overcoats draped over their rain-proof cloaks. Trenches were dug near the main road and around the station, and sleepy machine gunners were on duty in the trenches next to the machine guns. The warriors lay on the spruce branches that lay on the ground, and snuggled up to each other to rest. The cold was too heavy for them to sleep, so they ran to collect cones and twigs to make a fire.

"This is war," thought Polasov, a combat sapper, curled up a little in the cold, "and thousands of people are homeless. ”

Suddenly, the sappers saw the figures of three riders rapidly approaching from the west. Bolasov was taken aback: he knew that there was not a single Red Army soldier in front. The riders were speeding away, and Bolasov was relieved that he soon recognized one of them as Toltkin.

Toltkin did not dismount and said: "The Germans are not far from here, there are cannons and self-propelled guns. ”

On Bolasov's map, he indicated the German defenses, which passed through the edge of a forest.

"Twenty German tanks and six self-propelled guns are parked here, probably trying to ambush ......" came to Toltkin again: "Look...... Semenov...... Flowers were hung when the fire was connected with the Germans. ”

Semenov sat awkwardly on his horse and smiled with a guilty face, as if he, by his own negligence, had caused great trouble for everyone.

Bolasov didn't know what to do, and hurriedly asked: "What can I do?" ”

They agreed that the sappers would wait here and Toltkin would report to the chief of staff. Toltkin whipped the horse and galloped away again.

Colonel Sheplechenko stood in the middle of the shack, next to his jeep. Around him were regimental commanders, lieutenant colonels, and majors, and a little farther away were adjutants and heralds.

Toltkin jerked his mount, rolled over and jumped off, and because he was not accustomed to long rides, he limped up and down and reported: "Comrade division commander, the Germans are not far from here. ”

Everyone gathered around him, and he briefly reported that the German position was arranged by a small river nearby, and that it was a continuous series of trenches. He saw artillery positions and 6 self-propelled guns there. The trenches were full of German infantry. About 20 kilometers from here, 20 tanks and 6 self-propelled guns were in ambush.

The division commander wrote down the information provided by Toltkin on the map. There was a slight bustle. The regimental commanders and staff officers also took out the map, and Lieutenant Colonel Kazantsev unloaded his felt cloak from his shoulders to the ground, and suddenly he was no longer afraid of the cold. The director of the political department ran to gather the political workers.

"So, do you think that line of defense is strong?" The division commander finally asked, after drawing the last line with a blue pencil on the map that was spread out on the jeep engine.

"Yes."

"Did you also see tanks and self-propelled guns with your own eyes?"

"Yes."

"You didn't lie at all?" The Colonel raised his slightly narrowed gray-green eyes to look at Toltkin, and unexpectedly ended his question.

"Yes, no lies." Holderkravkin replied.

"Don't be surprised," said the division commander in a conciliatory tone, "I ask this for the sake of reliability, because, Cossacks, I know that scouts like to add fuel to their words. ”

"I'm not talking nonsense." Toltkin repeated.

In some places, the command to "take the gun" had already been issued, and a muffled voice rose in the forest, and the troops were about to be deployed.

The division commander looked at the map and ordered: "All regiments will advance in line formations as usual. The avant-garde regiment sent a reinforced battalion as an advance detachment. The regimental artillery set off with the synchronized troops. Scouts and submachine gunners were to be sent on both flanks. After the pre-remnant regiment reached the 452nd height, it should start a battle formation. The regimental command post was located on the 452 heights. I was on the western edge of this forest, near the ranger's house. Kazantsev, prepare the battle order, report to the military headquarters. ”