Due to the relatively well-organized retreat of the South-Eastern Front, in the subsequent battles, although the highly motorized Central [***] squadron reached the "Stalin Line" on April 15 ahead of the Soviet army, the Southeastern Front was able to successfully escape the encirclement and prevent the first attack of the Chinese army on Ufa. In this regard, Chinese General Du Yuming later recalled: "We could only carry out a frontal assault on the enemy (in the south), but the motorized corps failed to penetrate the enemy's strategic depth or detour the enemy at one time, let alone a large-scale encirclement." In general, the Chinese High Command was not satisfied with the fighting in the north-western direction, which Jiang Baili commented on as follows: "Army Group Northwest is making slow progress and, unfortunately, has suffered great losses. The enemy in front of the Northwest Army Group was stubborn and powerful. ”

But in any case, at this time, the iron pincers of the Chinese army had been closed, and for the Soviet soldiers and civilians in the encirclement, the end had come.

Sverdlovsk, south of the city, railway station.

"Do you really want to allow the civilians here to leave?"

Hu Lian looked at Dongfang Bai, who looked a little haggard, and asked in a dumb voice.

"Of course." Dongfang Bai said, "We are soldiers, not butchers. Besides, the civilians consume too much food, we are not butchers like Stalin, we can't watch them starve to death, and it is a relief for us to give them a way to live. ”

Hu Lian heard the "subtext" in the Oriental vernacular, looked up at the train crowded with Russian civilians, and smiled bitterly: "You actually allowed them to leave by train, this is too exaggerated, right?" This train is also very useful for us! ”

"We don't need trains anymore." Dongfang Bai said expressionlessly, at this time, Russian civilians who were eager to flee for their lives were swarming to the carriage, Dongfang Bai saw a little girl being squeezed to the ground, and cried loudly, he ran over quickly and picked up the little girl from the ground.

Probably due to hunger, the little girl looked very thin, and her face seemed to be whiter than Dongfang Bai.

Dongfang Bai took out a pack of "Saqima" from her pocket and put it in the little girl's hand, the little girl recognized that it was food, her eyes flashed, she carefully tore open the wrapping paper with her trembling little hands, put it in her mouth and took a bite, and chewed it carefully.

"Lisa! Lisa! Where are you? In the window of one of the carriages, a middle-aged woman in a headscarf shouted anxiously in Russian. The little girl heard the shouting and immediately turned her head and cried out: "Mother! Mom! ”

Dongfang Bai hugged him and walked towards the crowd, the Russians saw a lieutenant [***] officer, and immediately automatically got out of the way, Dongfang Bai came to the car window, handed the little girl through the window, and handed it into her mother's hands.

The little girl's mother looked at Dongfang Bai gratefully, the little girl looked at him in a daze, Dongfang Bai looked at them, there was still no expression on his face, he nodded at them, and then turned around and walked away.

Hu Lian looked at this scene from afar and couldn't help but smile.

At this time, Dongfang Bai and Hu Lian didn't know that the scene just now would go down in history because of the relationship between that little girl.

The distant cannonfire became intense.

“…… I remember very well how our family left hungry Sverdlovsk. The fighting was fierce at that time. Once upon a time, beautiful cities were turned into gloomy, icy, and dull piles of stones. …… People are hiding in their houses and trying to survive. The Soviet political axe has long since moved away, and all that remains is desperate people......"

"Mom took my hand. I wrapped myself in a scarf and tried to pick up my pace. On the streets, the wind blew rotten newspapers, advertisements and melon seed skins. A group of disheveled soldiers with bayonets on their shoulders came ......"

"At Dad's factory, Mom received a week's worth of food: half a loaf of brown bread, two fish and four potatoes. She was in a hurry to get home, and her father was lying at home with typhoid fever. My father, who was always strong and energetic, is now so helpless......"

"There was no heating in the house anymore, so we were all crammed into one room. There was no chopping wood for the fireplace, but a small tin stove saved us. It has four long legs and rests on an iron plate in the middle of the living room. Drain-like pipes cling to the ceiling and zigzag to the windows for air openings. We've burned out a dozen chairs, as well as my grandfather's desk. Now it's the turn of the cupboards in the kitchen. There were shrewd merchants who produced these small iron stoves. Households in wealthy areas now rely on such stoves, because the central heating system has long since failed. It quickly boils red, and the water in the teapot boils in a few minutes. However, the small iron stove also cools down quickly. At night, the indoor temperature is below freezing. ”

"My father is slowly recovering, and he is able to go out on the streets. There was no fuel, no metal materials, the factories had long been closed, and most of the workers were mobilized to the battlefield. Life in the city is getting harder. My father had an older sister named Lyuba, who lived in Ukraine and worked as a midwife in a village hospital about 100 miles from her father's hometown of Chernihiv. 'Or get there?' The father proposed, 'That place has always been rich and hospitable,' '...... what do you live there?' Grandma was skeptical. I'm just looking for a job, and it's better to live there than here, anyway." Look at how skinny your grandson is. He won't last much longer here. He now needs milk, vegetables and fruits. These things are more in Ukraine ......'Listening to them, I imagined myself lying in a small coffin. I've seen this happen a lot in recent weeks. Grieving people dragged small coffins down the frozen sidewalks. I lay motionless in the small coffin, while the three of them, bent over, shed tears. So I started crying. 'What's wrong with you?' Mom rebuked sternly, 'Shut up! It's all so thin......'"

"'Don't be so rude,' Grandma intervened, 'She's so weak, and her nerves are weak.' ”

"I cried even harder. I can't stand the pity of others, even if someone jokingly says, 'Little pity, little pity', I immediately cry out loud. ”

"My seizure, combined with my weak appearance, became a new reason to leave. But my grandmother became stubborn: 'Go away, I'll stay here.' No matter how much she tried to persuade her, she just wouldn't listen. ”

"'I'll be able to survive on my own,' she reassured us, 'everything is sold, and I don't need much.'" Anyway, it's the end of the fun. I've lived enough. There are graves of fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers. I'm going to stay here too......' final decision, we're going to go on our own. ”

"It's easy to pack up and hit the road. Mom put clothes, blankets, bedding, etc., into a rattan basket that resembled a box. She asked her grandmother for a family photo album. I added a couple of volumes of the illustrated magazine Golden Childhood. The illustrations are very beautiful, similar to today's humorous paintings. Later, I learned to read and write through these magazines. ”

"It's finally time to say goodbye. For the whole day, my grandmother hugged me tightly and made sweet pies with her own hands from the flour she had saved before the revolution. For the first time, I saw her cry. Or maybe she felt like she would never see us again. I later learned that my grandmother had starved to death shortly after we left. ”

“…… On a small station, a large crowd of people crowded around a train of wagons. All of them were carrying backpacks, boxes, baskets, etc. People crowded around, shouting and screaming. The train is about to depart. We had to catch up and squeeze into the carriage. My father squeezed into the carriage with a basket on top of his head, and he reached out to his mother, who was holding me with one hand. The crowd on both sides hurt me. I was about to struggle to lift my legs up the stairs when suddenly, the crowd pushed me aside. I slipped out of my mother's hands and fell on the platform. The crowd was crowding, and I saw my mother being pushed into the carriage little by little. My father tried to squeeze it out, but the people around him were overwhelmed. I was left alone on the platform. Mom stuck her head out from behind a person and shouted loudly, but no one paid attention to her. Suddenly, someone's strong arm scooped me up. A tall, military officer picked me up, and when he saw that I was hungry, he gave me a very delicious cake, and when he saw me being separated by the crowd and heard my mother's cry, he put me in the carriage and handed me to my mother. Why did he do it? I do not know...... I can't remember anything about the rest because of my nervous strain. ”

"The train stopped in a town. There is no way forward. All the bridges over the river leading to the front were blown up. It was a cold early morning, but it was still dark. There were neither flashlights nor campfires. The passengers, who could barely make out the difference, dragged their belongings and squeezed them out of the carriages. We also came out to the frozen platform. The cold wind blew up the snow and pricked it in the face like a pinprick. The houses at the station were destroyed, and the windows were broken. The remaining half of the door hung from a rope and slammed against the wall from time to time. We walked into the station, trying to escape the biting cold wind. It is also ventilated on all sides, but in the corner of the wall, where the original ticket office was located, the wind is lighter. We sat on the floor and waited for the dawn. Mom spread out the woolen blanket and laid me down, and I fell asleep at once. ”

"'Get up,' I heard my mother's voice in my dream, 'and Dad found a car. ......'"

"There was a layer of snow on the square in front of the station, and it was empty. The passengers were scattered in all directions. The father stood next to a small, skinny horse-drawn sleigh. Dressed in a tattered half-length fur coat, it was none other than the coachman. The basket and baggage were loaded, I was stuffed in the middle, my parents sat on either side, and we set off. It was only a few miles to the river, but the pony dragged it with difficulty. For the first time, I noticed a strange thing: when I closed my eyes, I always felt like I was going back. Perhaps, it really is. Is it because of this why we can't get to the river? I tried my best to drive away my sleepiness, struggling with my eyes so that I could move forward. The road passes through a wooded field. The road here is full of potholes, and the sleigh bounces up and then slides to the side of the road. It made me laugh, sometimes out of breath. ”

"There is a big river in front of me. The river on the bank has frozen, revealing a black path on the ice. However, in the middle of the river is a narrow surface of water. Here, between several brick piers, there are blown out bridges. Further on, again covered with a layer of snow, to the opposite bank, followed by a steep peak, where the golden dome of the Kazan cave monastery can be seen. ”

"'How can we get to the other side?' Mom asked desperately. ”

"'It's all right, ma'am,' said the coachman unhurriedly, helping his father to stack things on the snow. Everybody's gone. You take the trail first, and then you walk over the bridge. But be careful, walk slowly, and don't fall into the water. ’”

"There were a couple of people next to us, just coming from the other side. They confirmed that the bridge frame is very strong. The driver took the new passengers, turned the sleigh and left us. ”

"We dragged things on the ice and finally moved to the I-beamed bridge. Someone tied a thick wire to the bridge and used it as a handrail. My father helped my mother cross to the other side first. Then he took the belongings in two parts. Now it's my turn. My father held my hand firmly and walked forward on the slanted I-beam. It was slippery, so I struggled to walk sideways, clutching the wire with one hand. The biting cold wind seemed to into the water. I don't think we'll ever get to the next pier, where my mother is anxiously waiting for us......"

"The journey was long, difficult, and complicated, and we had to cross several fronts, sometimes on a train full of people, sometimes in a horse-drawn carriage, sometimes on a wheelbarrow, and my father pushed the cart all the way to the next stop. For 4-year-olds, the road was too difficult. Remember, sometimes there was chest pain, just like the pain you felt when you had a heart attack years later. I couldn't walk on my own, I couldn't even move my hands. My father was so tired from the long journey that he got angry that he thought I was pretending. There was even a slight slap in the face on the face. Mom spoke for me and told us to stop and catch our breath. But he still wanted me to keep going. I felt like one more step and everything was over. I fell to the ground and couldn't move. My father had to put me on a wheelbarrow. I knew it was already hard for my father, but there was nothing I could do about it. I even thought they would be happy if I disappeared. Of course, it's unfair and wrong to think that way. But whenever there is pain, I want to die and get rid of them......"

“…… We finally got to somewhere in Ukraine, and there was a crooked house on the edge of the village. A Jewish family gave us a place to stay. It wasn't too late, but it was already dark. Water was boiling on the stove. Mom was going to wash my hair. The head of the family was in the corner of the house, draped in striped cloth, praying in a low voice. The two sons sat around the table and looked down at their textbooks. The father whispered to the mother, 'Look at what a strong man. Schools must be closed now. But they learn on their own, and they will definitely be successful in the future. The hostess put an old wooden basin on a small stool and poured boiling water. My mother added some cool water to it, and she pressed my head against the tub, and I saw the little yellowish animals crawling out of the cracks in my hair in piles, struggling in the hot water for a while, and dying. ”

"'Look,' I shouted, 'it's lice......'"

"'Oh my God!' The hostess sighed, 'I'm sorry. Now lice are everywhere. Without soap, people are malnourished, and lice are not going to get lice. ’”

"'It's okay,' my mother reassured me, 'that lice do happen everywhere. Now let's pour out the water and scald the tub with boiling water, and it will be fine. I'll give you two bars of soap, which we've kept for ourselves. ’”

"'Thank you so much.' The hostess thanked her. ”

"In the morning, I went for a walk around the village with my master's two sons. Most of the village has been abandoned. We came to a small shop. The owner of the shop, the fat, elderly, typical Jew-looking Uncle Joseph, sold us a small iron bucket of kerosene - the best way to get rid of lice. He gave me a whistle made of clay. ”

"At night, we were woken up by the sound of gunfire, horses' hooves, and shouting. The hostess whispered a warning that she wanted us to hide. Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door. ”

"'Damn Jew, open the door!' Drunken shouts were heard. ”

"'There are no Jews here. We are all Ukrainians, Orthodox Christians. Father hadn't forgotten the Ukrainian language, he shouted outside. ”

"'Forget it!' ……’”

The horse neighed and heard the sound of the horse's hooves. Then a few more gunshots rang out. ”

"When I looked out of the window in the morning, everyone was running in the direction of the store. We followed and passed. Next to the door with a broken hinge, Uncle Joseph lay in a pool of blood. His clothes were lifted and his belly bulged high. His wife knelt beside her and wept bitterly......"

"There was a famine everywhere and the family who had taken us in was preparing to leave, and when they were gone we could use the house, which had two rooms, a washroom and a kitchen. After a long period of wandering, this is a very good prospect. My father wanted to find a job here so that our family's wandering could be over. However, to his surprise, there was also a famine here. Our meal consisted of thin oatmeal, a small piece of rusk, and the occasional hint of russet herring. My father worked as a janitor in a warehouse. Mom went to a certain institution early in the morning and mopped the floor there for a small bag of oats. I was alone at home and didn't know what to do. I've memorized the illustrations and text in "Golden Childhood". I don't have any toys either. The family is not allowed to go out - there are bad people on the street. Legend has it that they kidnapped children and used them to make soap......"

(To be continued)