In the quiet classroom, Wei Ran stared at Nikolai across the table in silence for a long time, and finally said truthfully, "The records I found show that you were once the correspondent of Don Position 19. Based on this clue, I also found
You attended the Suvorov Junior Military Academy and were sent to work in East Berlin after the war. But after that, your clues were lost."
Nicholas nodded insignificantly, and did not continue to ask how the young man opposite found him after the clues were broken. He just picked up the cup again and took a sip of the tasteless water-mixed vodka before continuing, "
So what do you want to know?"
Wei Ran pushed the photo frame on the table towards him, "About the war at Position 19 on the Don River, and all the history you are willing to tell me."
Nicholas put down the cup, slowly stood up and walked to the window, looking at the yard outside the window in silence. After a long time, he said in a voice full of regret and remorse, "I... am the 19th position
deserters."
Wei Ran raised his head sharply, "You..."
Nicholas sighed and said tremblingly, "I was indeed a postman at Don Position 19. But on the morning of July 28, 1942, before the Don Position 19 was breached by the Germans, I left.
That position."
"July 28th?!"
Wei Ran stood up suddenly and asked tremblingly, "Mr. Nicholas, what day did you just say? July 28th? Did you leave position 19 on July 28th? You didn't remember
wrong?!"
Nicholas looked at Wei Ran strangely, turned around completely and leaned his back against the window sill and said, "Even if I forget my birthday, I will never forget this time."
Compared with the firmness in Nikolai's eyes, Wei Ran's heart was filled with huge waves. In the No. 19 position he experienced, Nikolai had already been coaxed to the rear by himself on the 23rd. And on the 28th,
, it was precisely before Position 19 was breached that Aleutian bluntly stated that he could be a deserter!
Could it be that those letters have been taken away by Nicholas?
Wei Ran's heart moved and he was about to say something when Nikolai lit a cigarette and continued, "But until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, even until the end of World War II, and to this day, I dare not go back there again, let alone
Dare to recall everything that happened there."
"Feel sorry..."
Wei Ran stood up. Only then did he realize belatedly that he probably shouldn't have come to meet Nikolai. Everything about Position 19 might just be a week-long memory fragment for him. But obviously
, for the elderly Nicholas, that memory is definitely unforgettable but heartbreaking.
Nikolai waved his hands carelessly in the smoke, and continued in an uncertain tone, "I was only 13 years old at that time, and I was a field postman at the Don River position field post office. My daily job was to deliver letters to everyone who was still alive.
The soldiers then delivered the letters they wrote to the field post office, and occasionally helped carry artillery shells or wounded soldiers or even corpses.
Young people, you won’t believe it. At that time, although I had to run back and forth countless times every day in the trenches full of wounded and corpses, I still had memories of delivering letters to those soldiers, reading letters to those illiterate soldiers, and even writing letters for them.
It is truly the most precious memory in my life.”
As Nicholas murmured to himself, the old but sturdy figure standing in front of the window gradually merged with the skinny little postman. At this time, Wei Ran was already sure that this old man was already old.
Nicholas is the person he is looking for.
But what makes Wei Ran worried is that the other party's memories of Position 19 are very different from his own experience. In Nikolai's memory, the field post office did indeed support No. 14, No. 18 and No. 18 in response to the request of Captain Aleutian.
Position 19, but he did not mention the person "Postman Victor" at all.
Even the person who handed him the letters home of the soldiers at Position 19 and asked him to move with the rear was not the postman Victor, but the female reporter Zoya.
And as Nikolai mentioned at the beginning, he did not leave on July 23, but persisted until the morning of July 28, and then under the force of the Aleutian captain, he ignored Stalin's 227th order issued that day.
Order No. 1, using his identity as a postman and the pretext of delivering letters, he escaped alive from Position 19 and returned to the rear area.
When Nicholas finished his long memory, the classroom had become filled with smoke. And the two people in the classroom fell into silence at the same time.
After a long time, Wei Ran picked up the hot water bottle at his feet, filled his cup, took a sip to moisten his throat, and then asked hesitantly, "Mr. Nicholas, I want to know, are you sending back the cup?"
Letters from the rear..."
Nikolay shook his head sadly, "After I was sent to Suvorov Junior Military Academy to study, I sent all those letters to the corresponding people, except for the Aleutian Company Commander's application report for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union."
"Why?" Wei Ran asked nervously.
"Why?"
Nicholas asked strangely, and then said lonely, "The Germans had already crossed the Don River at that time, and there was no way to verify what happened at Position 19. So what if there was the application report? The witness was just a 13
He's just a 20-year-old child, not to mention that the acting company commander Alyushin who submitted this report is a prisoner from a correctional camp."
"so..."
Nikolai sighed, "Until the end of the entire Battle of Stalingrad, the soldiers at Position 19 did not receive the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Since then, I have never dared to go to Position 19 on the Don River. I...
.I have not completed the mission assigned to me by the Aleutian company commander, and I am just a deserter who is greedy for life and afraid of death."
"But they are indeed heroes." Wei Ran picked up the wine bottle and poured a full glass for the other party, "Including you."
"hero?"
Nikolay shook his head noncommittally, picked up the enamel jar and drank it all in one gulp, "Young man, this land is now called the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union that those at Position 19 fought for is long gone, so what does it mean to be a hero?
What’s the significance? Could it be that Stalin could still live to award them a Gold Star medal? Forget it, it’s just a bigger regret than not being able to win the title of hero.”
"Is Suvorov considered a hero?" Wei Ran asked abruptly.
"Of course!" Nicholas replied without thinking, "Of course he is a hero! An eternal hero!"
"So Tsarist Russia is still there?" Wei Ran asked with a smile, "If Tsarist Russia is no longer there, then Suvorov is no longer a hero?"
"this..."
Nikolai was speechless when asked. Tsarist Russia was naturally gone long ago, but the fact that Suvorov was a hero and even a military god in the hearts of Russians would never change.
"Mr. Nicholas"
Wei Ran pushed a piece of paper with his phone number to the other party along with the silent pistol that the other party handed to him when he entered the door. Then he stood up and walked outside the classroom and said, "A hero will not give up because of a rightful person."
The hero's evaluation standard is not the golden five-pointed star. Just like Brezhnev, even if his medals are enough to block the direct fire of anti-tank guns at close range, I'm afraid in the eyes of you Russians
, he is far from a hero."
At this point, Wei Ran has already taken one foot out of the classroom, "I have got the history I want to know. Maybe soon, my client will turn that Zis-3 anti-tank gun into a memorial to the 19th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The monument at the No. 1 position. If you want to see it, you can call me at any time."
As the words fell, the wooden door of the classroom was gently closed by Wei Ran, leaving only the elderly Nicholas sitting in the classroom and staring blankly at the photo frame still placed on the desk.
