Red Moscow

  Chapter 526 The White Rose of Stalingrad (Part 1)

  In the normal Soviet air force system, a flying regiment has three flying squadrons, a squadron has three crews, and each crew has three aircraft. The eight women pilots selected for Stalingrad were split into two new squadrons before leaving Saratov Air Force Base, and were assigned to the 434th and 437th Flying Regiments respectively.

   The squadron assigned to the 437th Flying Regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Raisa, and included Ensign Lilia, Sergeant Maria and Sergeant Katya. Lilia, who served as the deputy squadron leader, soon made the German pilots frightened because of her brilliant achievements. The enemy mistakenly mistaken the lily on her fuselage for a white rose, and called it the "White Rose of Stalingrad".

  Two days ago, when they drove the plane to the airport where they were scheduled to land, they found that it had just been attacked by the German army. The runway was covered with dense bomb craters, and the plane could not land at all. They could only fly to a new backup airport.

  Unexpectedly, as soon as it landed at the alternate airport, the German long-range artillery fire began to bombard the airport. Since the commander of the 437th Flying Regiment didn't know they were coming, no one was arranged to pick them up. The girls who had just got off the plane saw the shells that exploded around them, and they were so frightened that they trembled, not knowing where to hide.

   "Hey, what are you standing there for?" Just when the girls were at a loss, a loud voice suddenly came from not far away, "Hurry up and hide, do you want to be shot by the Germans?"

   Lilia turned her head and saw that the person shouting at them turned out to be a young and handsome air force captain. After the captain finished yelling, he rushed towards them, embraced Lilia and Katya with open arms, and ran towards a bullet shelter not far away. Pushing the two into the bunker, the captain turned around and rushed over to bring Raisa and the others back.

  Five people squatted in the bomb shelter, listening to the explosions outside one after another, the captain asked loudly: "Hey, let me say, girls, where did you come from?"

   "Comrade Captain," Raisa, who was squatting beside him, replied loudly, "We came to report from the 437th Flying Regiment, but we were bombarded by the enemy as soon as we landed."

  The captain was taken aback when he heard what Raisa said, and then asked, "Are you the women's flight squadron sent by the superior?"

"If this is the 437th Flying Regiment, then it should be us." When Raisa said this, she thought that the captain had saved their lives, so she reached out to him and said politely, "I am Raisa, the squadron leader." Lieutenant, I don't know what to call you?"

  The captain held Raisa's hand, and replied politely but somewhat distantly: "I am Alexei, the captain of the second squadron of the 427th regiment. Welcome to Stalingrad."

"Captain Alexey, thank you for saving us." Lilia noticed Alexey's indifference to her, and said bluntly: "You said you welcome us, but from your expression, you seem We are not welcome?"

Seeing that the young and beautiful blond beauty in front of him saw through his thoughts, Alexey just grinned and did not answer her question, but turned to Raisa and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, wait until the enemy's shelling is over." , I will take you to the regiment headquarters to meet the regiment commander and let him assign combat missions for you."

  After the shelling stopped, five people crawled out of the bunker in disgrace. Alexey took Raisa to see the regimental commander, while Lilia and two other female pilots went to check whether the plane was damaged.

   Along the way, the two encountered many pilots and enemy personnel who had just come out of hiding places. Seeing a female pilot by Alexey's side, they couldn't help pointing and whispering about why there was a female pilot here.

  When they came to a semi-underground shelter, the sentry standing at the door saw the female pilot following Alexei, and asked curiously, "Comrade Captain, who is she?"

   "She is the squadron leader of the women's flight squadron. Before the bombardment started, their plane just landed at the airport." Alexey asked the sentinel: "I'm going to take her to see the regimental commander now. Is the regimental commander there?"

   "Yes," the sentinel nodded, and stretched out his hand in a gesture of invitation: "Comrade Captain, please."

  Alexey led Raisa into the underground shelter, stopped at the door of a room, turned to Raisa and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, please wait a moment, I will go in and talk to the regiment commander."

   Seeing Raisa nodding in agreement, Alexey smiled at her and walked into the room. Colonel Khostnikov, who was lying at the table and looking at the map, heard someone coming in, so he looked up, saw that it was Alek, and asked casually: "Comrade captain, where is your squadron?" Were there any casualties in the shelling just now?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Alexey quickly replied, "Before the shelling started, our squadron had done covert work. Although the enemy's shells caused some damage to the shells, we did not have any casualties. .”

  Khorstnikov straightened up, looked at Alexei and asked, "Since you didn't have any casualties, what are you doing here?"

   "It's like this, Comrade Commander." Alexey said with some embarrassment: "The new squadron leader wants to see you, and he is outside right now."

"Oh, the squadron that was added to us has arrived?" Khostnikov heaved a sigh of relief after listening to Alexei's words, and said with a relaxed face: "Thank God, they finally came, so we don't have to I'm calling the commander again for reinforcements."

When Alexey heard the regimental commander use "they" instead of "they" when referring to the new flying squadron, he immediately understood that the other party might not know that the superior sent a female pilot to the regiment. squadron. After Khostnikov finished speaking, he said with a wry smile: "Comrade commander, the situation may be different from what you imagined."

   "There is a discrepancy?" Khostnikov asked with a look of surprise: "Comrade Captain, I don't understand what you mean."

"Comrade commander, you will understand when you see someone." After Alexey finished speaking, without waiting for Khostnikov to make any response, he turned to the door and said, "Come in, please. Comrade Lieutenant."

Raisa, who was standing outside the door, heard Alexey's voice, hurriedly stepped into the room, raised her hand to salute Khostnikov, and reported dryly: "Comrade Colonel, the squadron leader of the Women's Flying Squadron Lieutenant Raisa is reporting to you, I am waiting for your orders, please instruct!"

Khostnikov couldn't help being dumbfounded after he saw the female pilot wearing a pilot uniform in front of him. After staring at Raisa for a long time, he turned his head and asked Alexey: "Comrade Captain, this is the superior officer." Supplementary squadrons for us?"

   "Yes, Comrade Colonel." Before Alexey could answer, Raisa answered first: "The superior assigned us to the 437th Flying Regiment to participate in the battle."

   "Participate in the battle?!" Khostnikov waited for Raisa to finish speaking, then snorted coldly, and said, "What we need are real pilots, not a group of yellow-haired girls with no combat experience."

  Khorstnikov’s words angered Raisa, she faced the other party and said in a neutral manner: “Comrade Colonel, on the battlefield there is only the difference between soldiers and civilians, there is no distinction between men and women.”

Khostnikov sneered again, and said: "The words are quite beautiful, I guess you have also conducted simple flight training, and performed a non-dangerous air training mission. When you go to the battlefield, maybe when you see the enemy, your first reaction is to turn around and run away."

Faced with Khostnikov's contempt and cynicism, Raisa tried hard to control her emotions, "Comrade Colonel, before we were sent here, we belonged to the 586th Fighter Flying Regiment. By fighting against the enemy, and achieved some victories."

"No, you can't stay in my 437th Flying Regiment." Khostnikov said stubbornly: "I can't let the honor of the Flying Regiment be ruined by a group of women. Where do you come from right now? Where to fly back, what we need are real pilots, not a group of young women. I will call Comrade Commander and let him personally give you orders."

  Khorstnikov has always been sloppy in his work. When he said to call the commander, he really walked to the table, picked up the phone, and asked the operator to connect to the army headquarters. After hearing the voice of the commander, Major General Khryukin, he said aggrievedly: "Comrade commander, didn't you promise to send us real pilots? But why are a group of women here?"

"What happened to the woman?" Khryukin immediately guessed what happened when he heard Khostnikov say, and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Colonel, let me tell you, these female pilots have rich combat experience." Yes. That's why the superiors decided to transfer them from the 586th Fighter Flight Regiment to strengthen your regiment. I warn you, don't discriminate against them, or I will dismiss you. Understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Khostnikov hit a snag with Khryukin, and replied with a bitter face: "I will follow your instructions and keep them."

  After putting down the phone, Khostnikov stood up straight and said to Raisa in an official tone: "Lieutenant, follow Captain Alexey out, he will arrange accommodation for you."

Watching the backs of Raisa and Aleksei leaving, Khostnikov silently made up his mind: Even if manpower is tight, he cannot assign combat missions to the women's flight squadron, lest they drag the rear of the whole regiment. leg.

  Raisa couldn't guess what Khostnikov was thinking. As soon as she left the regiment command post, she asked Alexey curiously: "Comrade Captain, where do you plan to arrange us?"

  Alexey pointed to a forest not far away, and said: "Our barracks are there, and the rooms of the third squadron happen to be vacant, so you should live in their place first."

   "Comrade Captain, I don't understand. Why are the rooms in the third squadron empty?" Raisa asked in puzzlement after hearing Alexey's arrangement, "Where did they all go?"

"They all sacrificed." Alexey's face immediately became serious, and he said to Raisa: "Lieutenant Raisa, let me help you clean up the room first, you go and call them all over." After speaking, he walked towards the woods without looking back. Raisa stared at Alexei's leaving back and was stunned for a while before walking towards the parking spot.

   Still far away, Raisa saw several planes belonging to her squadron, surrounded by a group of male pilots and ground crews. She didn't know what happened, so she ran over quickly. When she came to the back of the crowd of onlookers, she said loudly: "Please step aside, comrades, please step aside."

   When Raisa squeezed into the crowd, she saw Lilia and the three of them standing in front of a plane with sad faces. She walked over and asked curiously, "Lilia, what happened?"

Lilia pointed to the plane beside her, and said to Raisa with a bitter face: "Comrade Lieutenant, one of the fuel pipelines of this plane was broken by the German shrapnel. I want to ask the mechanics at the airport to help us fix it, but they can't Standing on the sidelines watching the fun, not willing to help at all."

Raisa turned her head and glanced at the male pilots and ground crews around, and immediately waved to them, saying with some disgust: "Since you are not willing to help, go away and don't be surrounded here." The pilots and the ground crew, when they heard what Raisa said, were embarrassed to stay any longer, and dispersed one after another.

When the people around were almost gone, Raisa raised her hand and patted Lilia's shoulder twice, comforting her and said: "Lilia, don't be discouraged, since these men are not willing to help us repair the plane, then we Just fix it yourself!"

   "Fix the plane by yourself?!" Lilia couldn't help being stunned when she heard Raisa say that, and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, can you repair planes?"

"Why, don't you believe that I can repair it?" Raisa replied with a smile, "Before the war, I worked as a mechanic in an automobile factory. Since cars can be repaired, I think it is not a big problem to repair airplanes." .” In order not to let the male soldiers look down on her, Raisa asked Lilia and the others to find tools, and began to repair the blown oil pipeline by herself.

  After working for half an hour, Raisa finally repaired the blown oil pipeline. Just as she was packing up tools, she saw Alexei walking over with a man in a worker's uniform. Still far away, I heard Alexei saying loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I heard that there is something wrong with your plane. I have specially found a mechanic for you."

   "Thank you, Comrade Captain." Raisa replied proudly while wiping her hands with a towel dipped in kerosene, "We have repaired the blown oil pipeline."

   "What, what did you say?" After hearing Raisa's answer, Alexey was so surprised that his jaw almost fell to the ground. He asked dubiously, "Comrade Lieutenant, you can't just joke about this kind of thing."

   "Look at what you said," Raisa said with a smile, "If you don't believe me, you can call the mechanic next to you to check it."

  (end of this chapter)