red moscow

Chapter 2799

Yegor brought Sokov and others to a field airport not far away. Along the way, they saw many ground crew members and sentries. They all looked curiously at these people who suddenly appeared, but because Yegor was leading the way, no one came over to question them.

The field airport was built on a clearing in the forest. Several Soviet fighter jets were parked near the forest, and ground crews were carrying out repairs or refueling.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but ask Yegor curiously: "Yegor, there are fighter planes here, but they can't take us to Mogilev."

"Don't worry, Comrade Major." Yegor said with a smile, "You will soon see the plane you are about to take."

Soon, everyone followed Yegor into the woods, where there was a plane covered with canvas and several ground crew members nearby.

Seeing Yegor bringing people over, a ground crew member immediately came over and asked, "Comrade Yegor, why did you bring them here?"

"The colonel asked me to bring them here." Yegor explained to the other party: "I will use this plane to carry them to perform a special mission."

When the ground crew heard that Yegor was going on a special mission, they stopped asking questions and called their companions to tear down the canvas covering the plane.

After seeing the transport plane in front of him clearly, Sokov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, because what he saw was not a Soviet plane, but a Junkers Ju52 transport plane painted with a white cross. This was the most famous transport plane of the German army in World War II. It participated in almost all operations of the German army during the war and was the transport plane that the German army relied on most. This transport plane was sturdy and durable, so it won the nickname "Junker Aunt" from the German soldiers, while the Allied soldiers called it "Iron Annie".

"Egor, what's going on?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Why is there a German transport plane here?"

"Comrade Major, I captured this transport plane." Yegor looked at Sokov and said with a smile, "You don't think I can escape from the German encirclement by my own two legs."

Sokov remembered that he had just heard from the Air Force Colonel that an excellent pilot escaped from the direction of Kiev, and he didn't mind it at the time. But now he heard Yegor say that, he realized that it was hundreds of kilometers from Kiev to here, and if he walked on his own two legs, he would probably still be halfway there.

Thinking of this, he asked cautiously: "Yegor, how did you seize this plane?"

"After I lost contact with you in the Yagotin area, I followed the scattered officers and soldiers to retreat to the rear." Yegor explained, "I was lucky. After walking on the road for two or three days, I actually found a German field airport, and this transport plane was parked near the edge of the forest. I saw that the guards on the airport were not far away, so I quietly moved to the side of the transport plane, and when no one was paying attention, I got into the plane and tried to take off.

As you know, I used to fly fighter planes and was not familiar with transport planes. Moreover, the instrument panel was all in German, which I could not understand at all. After a long time of trial and error, I was able to basically master some of the performance of this plane. Just as I was taking off, I was discovered by the guards at the airport. They signaled me to stop immediately and fired at my plane. When my plane was in the air, the German army sent a fighter to chase me and tried to shoot me down.

Yegor pointed to some bullet holes on the fuselage and said to Sokov, "Comrade Major, look, these are the craters left by the German planes."

When everyone was checking the bullet holes on the fuselage, Basco suddenly asked a strange question: "Yegor, I'm curious, in addition to the bullet holes on the fuselage, why are there so many bullet holes under the wings? How do you explain it?"

After hearing Basco's question, the ground crew helped Yegor explain: "Our anti-aircraft machine gunners saw a German transport plane flying towards our location and immediately opened fire on it. Unexpectedly, the transport plane saw the fierce anti-aircraft firepower on the ground and not only did it not turn around and flee, but it also pretended to be preparing for an emergency landing. Seeing this, our commander thought it was an enemy who came to surrender and quickly ordered the anti-aircraft machine gunners to stop shooting."

"After the plane landed, when you were about to go up to capture prisoners, you found that the people coming out were your own, right?" Sokov asked with a smile.

"That's right, Comrade Major, you are right." The ground crew also smiled and replied, "We were also surprised when we saw the hatch open and it was one of our own people who walked out. Then someone sent Comrade Yegor to his superiors, and after screening and examination, he was allowed to join our air force."

Sokov nodded, then turned to Yegor and said, "Yegor, I congratulate you on your return to the Air Force's combat sequence. To be fair, it would be a waste to keep you in the combat unit and use you as an ordinary soldier."

"Yegor." Since Yegor had no military rank at the moment, Alina called him by his name directly: "I want to ask, did you escape alone?"

"Yes, I escaped alone." Yegor may have guessed what questions Alina would ask, and before she could ask any more, he took the initiative to say, "When we were transferred from the Yagotin area, there were indeed many people who acted with me. But we encountered the German army many times along the way, and the more battles we experienced, the more our troops were dispersed. If someone had acted with me, I would definitely have taken them out of the encirclement after I seized the German plane."

Sokov thought of that important person in his mind and continued to ask, "Yegor, I remember that you have a good relationship with Romanov, right? Did you see any trace of him when you broke through this time?"

"No, Comrade Major," Yegor answered simply, "I didn't see any trace of him when I retreated. Otherwise, I would definitely ask him to go with me."

Seeing that Yegor had no news of Romanlov, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. If Romanlov was really dead, would it affect the future course of history?

Sokov was full of worries, but he tried not to show his uneasiness on his face. He continued to ask: "Yegor, you said you want to take off before dawn. Do you have any good plans? Why not tell us about it?"

"Comrade Major, you can see that there is a white cross on this plane," Yegor explained to Sokov. "When our people saw this plane flying in the sky, they thought it was a German plane. But when the Germans saw it, they thought it was their own plane."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Sokov nodded: "Go on."

"I suggested taking off before daybreak. Even if the Germans spotted the transport plane I was driving, they would think it was a transport plane dropping paratroopers to our rear and would not use anti-aircraft artillery to intercept it." Yegor continued, "In this way, I can find a suitable place to land, and let you get off the plane after it stops."

Sokov felt that Yegor was very thoughtful, so he turned to Alina and asked: "Lieutenant Alina, Mogilev is such a big place, where is the place we are looking for? Please explain the situation to Yegor so that he can land the plane closer to the target location." After hearing Sokov's suggestion, Alina pondered for a long time, then slowly nodded and said, "Okay, I'll tell you."

Although she agreed to tell Yegor the approximate location, she did not say it in front of everyone. Instead, she pulled Yegor onto the transport plane and explained to him the approximate landing location in the cabin.

It was more than ten minutes later when Alina and Yegor came out of the cabin.

Alina turned her head and asked Yegor: "How about it, is there a way to land there?"

Yegor nodded and said in a positive tone: "Don't worry, Lieutenant, I will definitely take you to the designated location safely."

Because it was still early to set off, Yegor took the few people to a tent not far away to rest.

"Comrade Major," everyone started chatting when they had nothing to do, and what Yegor was most interested in was how Sokov was promoted to major in such a short time: "Can you tell me how you were promoted from captain to major?"

If someone else had asked about this, Sokov would not have been interested in telling the story. But since Yegor had asked, Sokov did not hide it and told Yegor in detail how he had been recruited by the commander of the 5th Army, Potapov, and how he had made great contributions in Mtsensk.

After listening to Sokov's story, not only Yegor was shocked, but also Alina and others were equally surprised. Especially when they heard Sokov say that it was Stalin himself who promoted their military rank, they were even more respectful to him.

…………

With one hour left before dawn, everyone boarded the transport plane and prepared to head to the Mogilev area.

When the plane's engine began to roar, Sokov walked into the cockpit, leaned close to Yegor's ear, and asked loudly: "Yegor, this plane won't have any problems in the middle of the flight, right?" He asked this question not on a whim, but because he thought of the time when this plane escaped from the enemy's field airport, it was chased by fighter planes and many holes were punched in the fuselage; and after entering the Soviet defense zone, it was mistaken for an invading German plane and was hit by ground anti-aircraft fire, leaving many bullet holes on the wings.

Hearing Sokov's question, Yegor also answered loudly: "Don't worry, Comrade Major. The ground crew has inspected the aircraft and most of the craters on the fuselage have been repaired. It will not pose any danger to our aircraft."

After getting Yegor's reply, Sokov felt more at ease. He left the cockpit, returned to his seat and waited for the plane to take off.

At this moment, Alina also leaned close to Sokov's ear and asked loudly: "Comrade Major, what did you just say to the pilot?"

Seeing Alina so curious, Sokov did not hide anything, but repeated the conversation between the two to her, and finally said: "Don't worry, Lieutenant Alina, Yegor is the pilot I trust most, I believe he can successfully send us to Mogilev."

"I hope so." Alina sighed softly and said, "As long as we can get to Mogilev as soon as possible, our chances of completing the mission will be greatly improved."

After the plane took off, Sokov closed his eyes and leaned his head against the fuselage to rest. He began to think: Even if we find the prisoner-of-war camp where Yakov is imprisoned, how can we rescue him? You know, in the last life, although he successfully rescued Yakov, he was commanding a unit at that time. He took advantage of the lax guards in the prisoner-of-war camp and launched a sneak attack, eliminated the guards, and rescued his comrades who were imprisoned in the prisoner-of-war camp. But now, there are only four people in the action team, including himself. With just these few people, it is no less than pulling teeth out of a tiger's mouth to rescue Yakov from the prisoner-of-war camp.

After flying for an unknown amount of time, Sokov suddenly felt Alina beside him shaking his arm and calling him, "Major, Comrade Major!"

Hearing Alina calling him, Sokov opened his eyes, looked at her and asked, "What's the matter, Comrade Lieutenant?"

"Comrade Major," Alina asked with a serious expression, "I now think of a key question. Even if we find the prisoner-of-war camp where Yakov is, how can we rescue him? Anyway, there is no way for us to rescue them with just a few people."

Seeing that Alina also clearly understood this problem, Sokov felt more at ease. At least it showed that Alina was quite clear-headed when looking at things. In the next action, even if she could not be his right-hand man, at least she would not hold him back.

Sokov had no idea about Alina's question, so he could only say to her, "Don't worry, Lieutenant Alina. We don't know what the situation is like in the prisoner-of-war camp yet. I think it won't be too late to study a rescue plan after we get there and confirm Yakov's exact location."

Although she had only known Sokov for a short time, Alina had already developed trust in him. When she heard him say this, she naturally did not object. Instead, she nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Major, we will work out a specific rescue plan after we get there."

"After we land, what should we do with the plane?" Sokov continued to ask, "Should we let it return or stay where it is and wait for us?"

Alina may have never thought about how to arrange the transport plane to transport her. When she heard Sokov's question, she was stunned for a moment, and then threw the question to Sokov again: "What do you think, Comrade Major?"

"After we complete the rescue mission, we should evacuate the area in time to avoid being caught by the Germans." Sokov decisively stated his attitude: "So I think it may be the best choice to let the transport plane stay where it is and wait for us. I wonder if you have a different opinion on my decision?"

Alina knew clearly that what Sokov said made a lot of sense. Once Yakov was successfully rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp, they had to leave the area as soon as possible. Otherwise, when the German pursuit troops caught up, no one would be able to escape.

(End of this chapter)