Red Moscow

  Chapter 437 The Heroic Pilot

   As soon as Sokov led the commanders and fighters of the 42nd Guards Regiment into the tunnel of Beigang, Sidolin in the South Gang headquarters got a report. After he put down the phone, he smiled and said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, the brigade commander has returned, and he will appear in the headquarters in a few minutes."

"Thank goodness, he's finally back." Belkin crossed his chest, and said happily, "I just heard from the artillery observer that the factory area was attacked by the German army. I'm really worried about what happened to him. .”

  According to normal circumstances, it only takes ten minutes at most before Sokov will appear in the headquarters. Unexpectedly, the two waited and waited, but Sukov never appeared. Sidolin couldn't sit still: "Comrade political commissar, what's the matter with the brigade commander? Why hasn't he appeared yet?"

   "Did something happen to him?" Belkin's speculation was rejected by himself as soon as he said it: "Impossible, the tunnel is full of our people, what will happen to the brigade commander."

"However, he hasn't shown up until now." Sidolin said worriedly: "Comrade political commissar, you and I both know that even if he walks slowly, it only takes ten minutes to get from Beigang to Nangang headquarters. Maybe not showing up for such a long time? No, I'm going to call and ask."

  The information about Sokov's return to Mamayev Post was provided to Sidolin by Captain Briski, the commander of the Fourth Battalion. At this moment, in order to track down Sokov's whereabouts, Sidolin first called the command post of the Fourth Battalion. Hearing Briski's voice coming from the receiver, Sidolin immediately asked impatiently: "Comrade Captain, did you really see the brigade commander entering the tunnel in Beigang just now?"

   "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Briski couldn't help but thumped in his heart when he heard Sidolin ask this, and then asked, "Did something happen to the brigade commander?"

  Belkin walked up to Sidolin, snatched the microphone from his hand, and asked, "Comrade Captain, did you see that the brigade commander came back alone, or did someone accompany him?"

  Bliski replied without thinking: "The brigade commander didn't come back alone, he was accompanied by about a platoon of soldiers."

After Belkin put down the phone, he said to Sidolin: "Captain Briski said that Comrade Brigadier brought back a platoon of soldiers. This is strange. When he left, no guards around him were waiting. How did he come back?" And brought back a platoon?"

   Sidolin understood Belkin's question very well. You must know that there is a serious shortage of troops everywhere, and all the commanders look bright when they see the soldiers, and they can't wait to call more people to their troops. Sidolin echoed: "Yeah, it's really strange. The reason why the brigade commander didn't take anyone with him to the army headquarters this time was because he was afraid that the people he brought would be left behind by the headquarters. You know, two days ago the commander A guard platoon that was taken away has not yet been rebuilt."

  The speaker was not interested, but the listener was interested. Sidolin's casual sentence reminded Belgin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think the brigade commander brought back the platoon we lent to the commander last time?"

"It's impossible." Sidolin and Chuikov had been together for a long time, so he naturally knew the character of this commander, how could he easily spit out the meat in his mouth, he shook his head and said: " I know that the headquarters has paid a lot of money in this transfer, and it would be good if they no longer ask us for personnel, how can we dare to expect them to return the borrowed troops to us..." Speaking of this, Sidolin Suddenly thinking of a possibility, he slammed his hand on the table and said angrily, "Damn, why didn't I think of this possibility."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter with you?" Sidolin's strange reaction aroused Belkin's curiosity, and he hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

   "Comrade Commissar," Sidolin said bitterly, looking at Belkin, "I think I might know where Comrade Brigadier is now?"

   "Where is the brigade commander?" Knowing that Sidolin knew about Sokov's whereabouts, Belgin hurriedly urged: "Tell me quickly."

"I think the platoon of soldiers who came back with him should belong to the 42nd Guards Regiment." Sidolin explained to Belkin: "The purpose of their coming to Mamayev Post is to protect the comrade brigade commander. Safe. More importantly, come here to collect the weapons and ammunition they need."

"What, are they here to collect weapons and ammunition?" Belkin was taken aback: "Last time we provided thousands of rifles and several light and heavy machine guns to the 42nd Guards Regiment. We are here to collect weapons and ammunition. No, this is absolutely not possible, I will immediately go to the underground ammunition depot to find the brigade commander, and I cannot let him give all our precious ammunition to the guard regiment."

Sidolin stopped Belkin, shook his head at him and said: "Comrade Commissar, it's useless. Don't say you and I can't stop this matter, I'm afraid even Comrade Brigadier Commander can't stop it. If I guessed correctly , This matter must have been brought up by General Rodimtsev, and the brigade commander had no choice but to bring the soldiers of the Guards to collect the weapons."

"But we don't know how long this battle will last." Belkin waited for Sidolin to finish speaking, and said a little impatiently: "And in the next battle, can we get supplementary supplies?" , is also an unknown, how can we give the ammunition in the warehouse to others casually? If we wait until our ammunition is exhausted, how will we fight this battle? Should the soldiers hold bayonets and fight hand-to-hand with the German army?" said After that, he tried to walk outside the house again.

  Sidorin held Belkin tightly, and said helplessly: "Comrade Commissar, I advise you not to go. Even if you went to the ammunition depot, you have changed a lot..."

   "I'm not going to the ammunition depot." Belkin said angrily, "Now the German army's attack on Mamayev Hill has completely stopped. I'll go to the top of the hill to have a look, okay?"

  Since Belkin did not go to the ammunition depot to stop the soldiers of the Guards, Sidolin let go of his hand and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commissar, do you want me to send someone to go with you?"

  Belkin left with his front foot, and Sokov, who looked tired, returned to the command post with his back foot. Seeing Sokov enter the door, Sidolin hurried up to meet him, "Comrade Brigadier, you are back!"

"I'm back." Thinking about the batch of munitions he had just provided to the Guards, Sukov felt exhausted, and he asked feebly, "Did anything happen in the brigade while I was away?" ?”

   "The German army launched two attacks on Mamayev Gang." Sidolin reported to Sokov lightly: "But we were repelled."

  Sokov nodded slightly after hearing this, his eyes scanned the room, but he didn't see Belkin, and asked quickly: "Where did the political commissar go?"

  Sidorin raised his hand and pointed upward, and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Comrade Political Commissar has gone to the top of the hill."

"Damn it, there are still German planes in the sky, it's too dangerous for him to run on it." Sokov, who had just sat down, immediately stood up from his seat when he heard Sidolin say this: "No, I want to Go and call him down."

   "Comrade Brigadier, it's too dangerous up there." Sidolin saw that Sokov also thought of the top of the hill, and quickly persuaded him: "I'll find another soldier to call down the political commissar."

From the expression on Sidolin's face, Sokov guessed that something must have happened, otherwise Belkin would not have ran to the top of the hill to get some air for no reason, so he waved at Sidolin and said : "It seems that the political commissar is in a bad mood. If he just sends soldiers up, I'm afraid he won't pay attention. I'd better go up in person."

   Sokov came to the top of the hill and found that the circular fortification he proposed had already taken shape. Belkin was standing by an unfinished trench, looking up at the sky. Sokov quickly walked over, and shouted at Belgin from a long distance away: "Comrade Commissar, what are you doing standing there?"

Belgin heard the shout, turned his head and saw Sokov walking towards him, he grinned, pointed to the air with his hand, and said: "Comrade Brigadier, the German bombers are approaching their fighter jets." Under cover, bomb the ships on the Volga, our air force is engaged in an air battle with them."

   Sokov looked up, no, two Soviet Lager-3 fighter jets were fighting with four German fighter jets escorting the bomber. I saw a Lager-3 fighter numbered "47", just like a dexterous petrel, shuttling among the enemy's bombers and fighters, shooting at the German planes ahead from all angles.

   Less than two minutes later, a German bomber was emitting black smoke, plunged into the rushing Volga River, and was smashed to pieces with a bang. After the No. 47 fighter jet shot down a bomber, it was immediately bitten by a German fighter jet. The Soviet pilot quickly pulled up and performed a beautiful backflip in the air. He lightly landed behind the German fighter and shot decisively from the rear. The German fighter dragged a long line of black smoke towards the distance. Fly down.

   "This pilot is really great!" Seeing that the pilot shot down and wounded one enemy plane in such a short period of time, the soldiers watching the battle on the top of the hill couldn't help applauding. Even Belkin, who looked frustrated, showed a smile repeatedly, and he said to Sokov: "If we have more fighter jets, we may be able to shoot down all these enemy planes."

  However, although the Soviet pilots were heroic, the strength of the two fighters against the German four fighters and eight bombers was too great. After the two fighters shot down three bombers and damaged one fighter, the Lager-3 fighter serving as wingman was shot down, and the remaining fighter No. 47 also became the target of siege by German aircraft.

  Seeing that the only remaining Soviet aircraft was surrounded by eight enemy aircraft, Sokov couldn't help but raise his heart in his throat. He wanted to order the soldiers to help his comrades in the air force, but because the distance was too far and the range of the MG34 machine gun was not enough, he could only sigh in awe.

  After fighter No. 47 shot down a German bomber again, the ammunition it carried was exhausted. It stands to reason that under such circumstances, he should return immediately, but seeing that the German bombers were still bombing the ships on the river, the pilot changed his mind and bravely rammed the German formation leader.

  The German pilot never dreamed that the Soviet plane, which had run out of ammunition, would suddenly hit him, and quickly pulled up to try to get rid of the No. 47 fighter plane. Although the German pilots tried their best to avoid collisions, the propellers of the Lager-3 still cut off the wings of the Bf-109 fighter jets. The German formation leader immediately lost control and fell from the sky while spinning. The German pilots did not even have time to parachute. , The plane hit the ground head-on, and an earth-shattering explosion occurred.

  Knocked down the No. 47 fighter jet of the leader of the German formation, and after losing its propeller, it rushed towards Mamayev Gang. Seeing the plane rushing towards the hill, Sokov broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly shouted at the soldiers who were still watching: "Hide, hide quickly."

  Fighter No. 47 rushed obliquely to the top of the hill, and hit heavily on the piled up sandbags. The huge impact force broke the sandbags, and the raised sand blocked everyone's sight.

  As soon as the sand fell, the fighters hiding nearby rushed up to rescue the pilots who were still in the cabin. With the help of his companions, a soldier climbed onto the plane with all his hands and feet. He opened the hatch with difficulty and saw the pilot's head tilted to the side covered in blood. He quickly put his hand under the other's nose and found that When he was still angry, he quickly turned his head and shouted to Sokov who was walking towards the plane: "Comrade Brigadier, he is still alive, he is still alive!"

   "Hurry up and lift the pilot out." Seeing black smoke rising from the direction of the nose of the plane, Sokov hurriedly shouted at the soldiers, "Hurry up, the plane is about to explode."

  The direction of the nose is also covered by mud and sand, the plane is just smoking, but not burning. Several fighters climbed onto the fuselage of the plane and hurriedly got the pilot out of the cabin. When they carried the pilot to Sokov, the soldier who was the first to board the plane handed Sokov a military certificate. Sokov opened it and saw it read: "Captain Sergey Danilovich Lugansky, Squadron Commander, 270th Fighter Aviation Regiment."

"What an amazing pilot." After Sokov finished speaking, he handed over his passport to Belkin, and then ordered the soldiers who carried Lugansky: "Send the captain to the health team immediately and tell Pa Doctor Flov, we must bring him back to life."

  Belkin glanced at the military ID that Sokov handed him, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, should we report this to our superiors immediately?"

   "Comrade Political Commissar, you are right. We should immediately report the situation of the pilot to the superior." Sokov nodded after hearing this and said, "As for the pilot himself, let's wait until the wound is treated."

  (end of this chapter)