In the normal air force system of the Soviet army, a flight regiment had three flight squadrons, and a squadron consisted of three crews, each with three aircraft. The eight female pilots selected to rush to Stalingrad were split into two new flight squadrons before leaving the Saratov Air Force Base and were organized into the 434th and 437th Flight Regiments respectively.
The squadron assigned to the 437th Flight Regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Laisha, including Lieutenant Lillia, Sergeant Maria and Sergeant Katya. Lillia, who served as deputy squadron leader, soon after, was frightened by the brilliant record of the German pilot. The enemy mistakenly thought the lily on her fuselage as a white rose, and called it "the white rose of Stalingrad."
Two days ago, when they were flying the plane to the airport where they were scheduled to land, they found that it had just been air strikes from the German army. The runway was covered with dense bomb craters, and the plane could not land at all. They had to change to a new backup airport.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they landed at the backup airport, the German long-range artillery fire began to attack the airport. Since the commander of the 437th Flight Regiment did not know that they were coming, he did not arrange for anyone to pick them up. The girls who had just gotten off the plane were frightened and shivered when they saw the shells that exploded around them, and they didn't know where to hide.
"Hey, what are you still standing there stupidly?" Just as the girls were at a loss, a loud voice suddenly came from a distance, "Why don't you hide quickly? Do you want to get shot from German shells?"
Lilia turned her head and saw that it was a young and handsome air force captain. After the captain finished shouting, he rushed towards them, opened his arms to wrap around Lilia and Kajia, and ran towards a bullet-proof trench not far away. He pushed the two into the bullet-proof trench, and the captain turned around and rushed over to bring Laisha and the others back.
The five of them squatted in the bulletproof trench. Listening to the explosions outside, the captain asked loudly: "Hey, I said, girls, where did you come out?"
"Comrade Captain," Laisha, who was squatting beside him, replied loudly: "We came to the 437th Flight Regiment to report, but when we landed, we were bombarded by the enemy."
When the captain heard Lai Sha say this, he was stunned at first, and then asked back: "Are you the women's flight squadron sent by your superiors?"
"If this is the 437th Flying Regiment, then we should be." Lai Sha said this, thinking that the captain had saved his life and the others, he took the initiative to extend his hand to him and said politely: "I am the squadron leader Lai Sha. I don't know what to call you?"
The captain held Laisha's hand and replied politely but somewhat alienatedly: "I am Alexei, the captain of the Second Squadron of the 427th Regiment. Welcome to Stalingrad."
"Captain Alexei, thank you for saving us." Lilia noticed Alexei's indifference to her and said bluntly: "You said we welcome us, but judging from your expression, you don't seem to welcome us?"
Seeing the young and beautiful blonde beauty in front of her, Alexey only grinned and did not answer her question, but turned her head and said to Laisha: "Comrade Lieutenant, after the enemy's shelling is over, I will take you to the regiment headquarters to meet the regiment commander and ask him to assign combat missions for you."
After the shelling stopped, the five people crawled out of the bullet-proof trench in vain. Alexey took Laisha to meet the regiment commander, while Lilia and two other female pilots went to check whether the plane was damaged.
Along the way, the two met many pilots and enemy personnel who had just come out of the hidden place. Seeing a female pilot following Alexey, they couldn't help but pointing behind and whispering about how the female pilot would appear here.
When he came to a half-underground hidden place, the sentry standing at the door saw the female pilot following Alexei and asked curiously: "Captain, who is she?"
"She is the squadron leader of the women's flight squadron. Before the shelling began, their plane had just landed at the airport." Alexey asked the sentinel: "I want to take her to see the regiment commander now. Are the regiment commanders there?"
"Here," the sentry nodded, reached out to make a call: "Captain, please."
Alexey took Laisha into the underground shelter, came to the door of a room and stopped, turned his head and said to Laisha, "Comrade Lieutenant, please wait a moment, I will go in and say to the regiment commander."
Seeing that Laisha nodded and allowed, Alexei smiled at her and walked into the room. Colonel Khostnikov, who was lying on the table and looking at the map, heard someone coming in, and looked up. After seeing clearly that it was Alexei, he asked casually: "Captain, are there any casualties in your squadron's shelling just now?"
"No, comrade commander." Alexei quickly replied: "Before the shelling began, our squadron did a concealed work. Although the enemy's shells caused some damage to the shells, we did not suffer any casualties."
Khostnikov stood up and looked at Alexei and asked, "Since you have no casualties, what are you doing here?"
"That's right, Comrade Commander." Alexei said with some embarrassment: "The new squadron leader wants to see you, and he is outside at this moment."
"Oh, the flight squadron that we have added to us has arrived?" After hearing Alexei's words, Khostnikov breathed a sigh of relief and said with a relaxed look: "Thank God, they have finally come, so I don't need to call the commander to request reinforcements."
When Alexey heard the regiment commander mentioning the new flight squadron, he immediately understood in his heart that the other party might not know that the superior sent a female flight squadron to the regiment. After Khostnikov finished speaking, he smiled bitterly: "Comrade Commander, the situation may be different from what you imagined."
"Is there any difference?" Khhorstnikov asked in surprise: "Captain, I don't understand what you mean."
"Comrade Commander, you will understand when you see someone." After Alexei finished speaking, before Khostnikov could react, he turned around and said to the door, "Please come in, Comrade Lieutenant."
Standing outside the door, Laisha heard Alexei's voice, quickly stepped into the room, raised her hand to salute Khostnikov, and reported dryly: "Comrade Colonel, Lieutenant Laisha, the captain of the female flight squadron, will report to you, I will wait for your order, please instruct!"
After seeing the female pilot in the pilot uniform in front of him clearly, Khostnikov couldn't help but be stunned. After staring at Laisha for a long time, he turned his head and asked Alexei: "Comrade Captain, is this the flight squadron that the superiors add to us?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel." Before Alexei could answer, Laisha answered first: "The superior assigned us to the 437th Flying Regiment to participate in the battle."
"Join the battle?!" After Khostnikov finished speaking, he snorted coldly and said, "What we need is a real pilot, not a group of yellow-haired girls who have no combat experience."
Khostnikov's words angered Laisha. She said to the other party without being humble and arrogant: "Comrade Colonel, there is only the difference between soldiers and civilians on the battlefield, and there is no difference between men and women."
Khostnikov sneered again and said, "It's pretty. I guess you've only conducted a simple flight training and performed a dangerous aerial training mission. If you really put you on the battlefield, your first reaction will be to turn around and run away when you see the enemy."
Faced with Khostnikov's contempt and sarcasm, Laisha tried hard to control her emotions. "Comrade Colonel, before we were sent here, we were affiliated with the 586th Fighter Flight Regiment. We have participated in combat against the enemy many times and achieved some results."
"No, you can't stay in my 437th Flight Regiment." Khostnikov said stubbornly: "I can't let the honor of the Flight Regiment be destroyed by a group of women. You will fly back to wherever you come from now. What we need is a real pilot, not a group of young women. I want to call the commander and ask him to give you orders in person."
Khostnikov never dragged his mind when doing things. He said he called the commander, but he really walked to the table, picked up the phone, and asked the operator to connect to the group army headquarters. After hearing the voice of commander Major General Heliujin, he said aggrievedly: "Comrade Commander, have you promised to send us a real pilot? But why are there a group of women?"
"What's wrong with women?" Heliujin heard Khostnikov say, and immediately guessed what happened, and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Colonel, I tell you that these female pilots have rich combat experience. Therefore, the superiors decided to pull them out of the 586th Fighter Flight Regiment to strengthen your regiment. I warn you not to discriminate against them, otherwise I will remove your post. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade Commander." Khostnikov hit a nail in Heliujin and replied with a bitter face: "I will follow your instructions and leave them behind."
After putting down the phone, Khostnikov stood up straight and said to Laisha in an official voice: "Lieutenant, go out with Captain Alexei, he will arrange a residence for you."
Looking at the backs of Laisha and Alexei leaving, Khostnikov made up his mind: Even if the manpower is tight, he cannot assign combat missions to the women's flight squadron, so as not to drag the entire regiment down.
赖莎猜不到克霍斯特尼科夫的心里想的是什么,一离开团指挥所之后,她就好奇地问阿列克赛:“上尉同志,您打算把我们安排在什么地方?”
阿列克赛朝不远处的一片树林一指,说道:“我们的营房就在那里,正好三中队的房间都空出来了,你们就先住在他们那里吧.”
“上尉同志,我不明白,为什么三中队的房间都空着啊?”赖莎听完阿列克赛的安排,不解地问:“他们都去什么地方了?”
"They were all sacrificed." The expression on Alexei's face immediately became serious. He said to Laisha: "Lt. Laisha, I will help you clean up the room first, and you can call them all over." After that, he walked towards the woods without looking back. Laisha looked at Alexei's departure back and was stunned for a while before he stepped towards the grounded position.
Still far away, Lai Sha saw several planes belonging to her squadron surrounded by a group of male pilots and ground crew members. She didn't know what happened, so she quickly trotted over. When she came to the crowd watching, she said loudly: "Please give me a favor, comrades, please give me a favor."
等赖莎挤进人群,才看到莉莉娅她们三人正愁眉苦脸地站在一架飞机前面.她走过去,好奇地问:“莉莉娅,出什么事情了?”
Lilia pointed to the plane beside her and said to Laisha with a bitter face: "Comrade Lieutenant, one of the oil pipes of this plane was blown off by the German shrapnel. I want to ask the airport mechanics to help us repair it, but they are not willing to help except stand by and watch the fun."
After Lai Sha turned her head and glanced at the male pilots and ground crews around her, she immediately waved to them and said with some disgust: "Since you don't want to help, just go away and don't surround them." The onlookers and ground crews were embarrassed to stay after hearing Lai Sha say this, so they dispersed.
After everyone around was almost gone, Laisha raised her hand and patted Lilia's shoulder twice, comforting her and said, "Lilia, don't be discouraged. Since these men are unwilling to help us repair the plane, then we will do it ourselves!"
“自己修飞机?!”莉莉娅听到赖莎这么说,不禁楞了一下,反问道:“中尉同志,您会修飞机?”
"Why, don't you believe I can repair it?" Lai Sha replied with a smile: "Before the war, I worked as a mechanic in the car factory. Since cars can be repaired, I don't have much problem with repairing the plane." In order not to let the male soldiers look down on him, Lai Sha asked Lilia and the others to find tools and start repairing the broken oil pipes by themselves.
After half an hour of busyness, Laisha finally repaired the broken oil pipe. Just as she was packing her tools, she saw Alexei coming over with a man in a worker's uniform. Along a distance, she heard Alexei say loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I heard something wrong with your plane. I specially found a mechanic for you."
“谢谢您,上尉同志.”赖莎一边用蘸了煤油的毛巾擦手,一边自豪地回答说:“我们已经把被炸断的输油管修好了.”
"What, what did you say?" After hearing Laisha's answer, Alexei was so surprised that his chin almost fell to the ground. He asked half-believingly: "Comrade Lieutenant, you can't just joke about this kind of thing."
Chapter completed!