The rescue convoy consisted of a jeep and five trucks. After leaving Mamayevgang, the convoy drove towards the direction of black smoke. Although the city defense committee told Belkin that the crash site was three or four kilometers away from Mamayevgang, the convoy drove seven or eight kilometers away. Sokov, who was sitting in the passenger seat, saw the burning plane.
Sokov pointed at the place with his hand and said loudly to the driver: "Where are you, drive the car!" As the car drove towards the plane's position, Sokov looked at the black smoke mixed with flames and raised high, thinking to himself: The plane has been burned like this. If the people inside did not escape in time, they would have been burned to coke.
The convoy stopped more than 30 meters away from the plane. Sokov got off the car and looked at the still-burning wreckage of the plane. Seeing that there seemed to be no one in the cockpit, he ordered the platoon leader who was running over: "Let the soldiers scatter and search, and be sure to find the crew on the plane."
After more than ten minutes of searching, a shout suddenly came from the west of the wreckage of the plane: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we have found the crashed pilot."
When Sokov heard this, he quickly trotted toward there. When he arrived at the place, he saw two people lying on the grass, one was a pilot wearing a black flight jacket, and the other was a general wearing a military coat. He hurriedly walked forward, squatted down beside the general, helped the other party sit up, and asked, "Are you General Cuikov?"
"Yes, I am Cuikov." Cuikov looked at Sokov in front of him and asked weakly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, who are you? Why did you appear here?"
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and I am ordered to rescue you." After saying that, Sokov turned his head and shouted to the medical team not far away: "Come here quickly!"
After the medical team came, Sokov immediately instructed them: "Hurry up and check General Cuikov and the pilot to see if their injuries are serious."
The assistant military doctor who led the team quickly conducted a check on the two, ordered the health officer to bandage the two, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, General Cuikov did not find any obvious external injuries on his body except for the injuries on his forehead, but the possibility of internal injuries is not ruled out. I suggest sending him to the military hospital in Stalingrad for examination immediately."
"No," as soon as the assistant military doctor finished speaking, Cui Kefu sat up with the help of the health officer. He waved his hand and said, "When the plane fell to the ground, the pilot and I were thrown out of the cockpit by inertia. The injuries should not be serious, so we don't need to be hospitalized anymore."
"Comrade General, this is not possible." Sokov guessed that he might be assigned to Cui Kov's command soon, so he decided to take advantage of this opportunity to establish a good relationship with Cui Kov: "If there is really internal injury, it will endanger your life. If you really don't want to go to the hospital, you can go to the health team of our brigade to observe for a while. If your injury is really not in the way, I will send someone to send you back to the front line."
Faced with Sokov's kindness, Cuikov did not stubbornly, but nodded to agree to go to Mamayev hill and go to the health team of the infantry brigade to observe for a while.
The pilot was carried by the soldiers onto the truck that the health team was riding, while Cuikov and Sokov took a jeep back to Mamayev. The assistant military doctor sat in the passenger seat of the jeep so that Cuikov could rescue him in time when an accident occurred on the way.
On the way back to Mamayev, Sokov asked Cuikov curiously: "Comrade General, can I ask, how was the plane you were on shot down by the German army?"
"My troops are moving towards a new defensive area. I decided to perform a frontier flight of the group army to view our position from the air." In the story, Cui Kov, perhaps for confidentiality, deliberately avoided the unit number and stationed position, and only talked about how his plane was in distress: "... The plane I was riding encountered a fighter jet of the German army. You must know that the plane we were riding was not equipped with weapons. Facing the enemy fighter jet, we were the lambs to be slaughtered.
German fighters attacked us at least ten times, but fortunately the pilots were skillful and all of them were cleverly avoided. We had tried to land, but there were empty grasslands below. Once landed, they would be destroyed by German planes as fixed targets. In order to get rid of enemy planes, the pilot flew hard in the direction of the sun, hoping to find a small village or grove to land in order to get rid of enemy planes that were reluctant to leave.
Although our plane was constantly doing various evasion actions, it was finally hit by the enemy plane. Fortunately, before the plane landed, the pilot cleverly adjusted the angle so that when we fell, we were thrown out of the cockpit and did not die on the spot. The enemy planes in the air saw our plane burning, and might have thought we were finished. After a circle in the air, they flew westward."
Speaking of this, Cuikov reached out to Sokov and said gratefully: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, thank you. If you hadn't brought people here in time, I probably might have had life worries."
Although Sokov had seen many big names, when Cuikov reached out his hand to him, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated. He hurriedly held the other party's hand and said excitedly: "Comrade General, don't thank you. It is the honor for me and all the commanders and fighters of the infantry brigade to serve you."
When he returned to Mamayevgang, Belkin learned that Cui Kov had been rescued successfully, and hurriedly came out of the tent to greet him. He and Sokov helped Cui Kov out of the car, then raised his hand to salute, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Cui Kov, I am Belkin, the political commissar of the Infantry Brigade. I am very happy to see you here."
"Hello, Political Commissar Belkin." Cui Kev held the other party's hand and said with a smile: "I'm very happy to know you."
Belkin originally wanted to say a few more words, but the assistant military doctor interrupted: "Comrade Political Commissar, General Cui Kefu is still injured. I need to send him to the health team for examination immediately."
As soon as the assistant military doctor reminded him, Belkin found that Cui Kov had a bandage on his forehead and asked nervously: "Comrade General, your injury is not important, right?"
"It's nothing, it's just a piece of skin on your forehead. When you hit the ground, your chest and spine were hurting." Cuikov turned his head and looked at Sokov next to him, and said with a smile: "I originally thought it was okay to be injured, but your brigade commander insisted that I go to the health team to observe for a while before sending me back to the front line."
"Comrade General, for your health, necessary examinations are still needed." After Bilkin and Cui Kov finished speaking, he said respectfully: "You will go to the health team with the assistant military doctor to go there for a while. After confirming that your injury is safe, we will send someone to send you back to the army."
"Yes." Cui Kefu readily agreed to Belkin's proposal, and then said to him: "You can find a way to call the 64th Army Command and tell them my whereabouts so that they will not worry."
Chapter completed!