@brhh I just went through the entire series. Yep, this chapter happens in 1941, and every chapter other than this happens in 1942 or later. Including chapter 2 (in which Vashenka already has her trusty S&W). So this one happens after chapters 0 and 1, and before chapter 2.
EDIT: I went throuhg the effort to do a full chronology of the series. Full breakdown is posted in the main series discusion, but for reference, the TL;DR version is 0, 16, 17, 11, 18, 3, 6, 7, 9, 15, 14, 2, 1, 4, 12, 8, 10, 5, 13, 19, 20, 21.