Chapter 1642

When I took off from Moscow's military airport, the sky was covered with leaden clouds, and the snowflakes were falling down endlessly from the depths of the sky.

I heard the co pilot say to the pilot in a loud voice, "Comrade captain, I hope there will be a good weather when we get over Poland."

Who knows that things backfired. When our plane approached Lublin, we found that it was raining cats and dogs. Seeing this, I couldn't help laughing bitterly. I said that when I set out from Moscow, I caught up with the snow. Unexpectedly, I caught up with the rainstorm here in Lublin. Within a few hours, we went through the process from winter to summer.

The co pilot came out of the cab and asked me, "Comrade General, it's raining heavily in the Lublin area. Our plane can't land. Do you want to fly to another airport?"

"To which airport?" As there was too much noise in the cabin, I repeated what I said before he could hear it clearly. He pointed to the map and said to me, "here, in shedertzee, east of Warsaw, it only takes us a few minutes to get to our destination."

I know that there is a field airport in shedertzee, and the headquarters of the 70th army is nearby. If I land here, I can get in touch with rokosovsky immediately, so I decisively ordered the co pilot: "OK, we will land here in shedertzee!"

When the plane arrived at shedertzee, there was still a torrential rain. After contacting the ground control tower, the pilot regretfully told me, "Comrade General, the runway here has been damaged by the rain. If we want to land, there may be danger. Shall we alternate to other airports?"

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. I found that I had been flying in the air for nearly five hours since taking off from Moscow. Then I frowned and asked the pilot, "Comrade pilot, how long can we fly with our fuel?"

The pilot hesitated for a moment, and replied, "about ten more minutes."

I quickly picked up the flight map and looked at it. I found that any nearest alternate airport had to fly for more than 10 minutes, and I didn't know what the weather was like that day. If we rashly chose a direction to fly there, we still couldn't land safely, and the fuel was exhausted. Then we would have to wait for the plane to crash and people to die.

In view of the current grim situation, I decisively gave the order to the pilot: "land here!"

"But, Comrade General." The pilot tried to persuade me to change my mind. "The shells in the airport below are all damaged by the rain. If we want to land by force, our lives will be in danger."

"The existing fuel of the plane can't support us to fly further." I looked at the pilot and said firmly, "so we have to risk landing here."

"Well, I'll let you know, general." Seeing that my attitude was so firm, the pilot had no choice but to say, "I will obey your order. Now please sit down. I'm ready to make a forced landing

When the plane began to lower its altitude, I began to pray in my heart that the plane would land safely. If anything happens, I will set a regrettable record in the history of the Soviet Army: on the first day when I was promoted to general, I died because of the air crash. It is quite comparable to the German general Hans Valentine Hube, who won the title the day before and died the next day.

Soon, I felt a sudden shock from the fuselage, and then the wheels fell onto the track full of water and continued to bump forward. Just when I thought the landing had been successful, the fuselage tilted sharply in one direction, and then plunged into a puddle beside the runway. The huge inertia made the plane slide forward for tens of meters before it stopped. This violent shock made me feel as if all my internal organs had moved.

I lay in my seat and couldn't move. The pilot with blood on his face came out of the cab, untied the seat belt tied to my waist, dragged me out of the plane and helped me limp to the direction of the command tower. After a few steps, I suddenly remembered that the co pilot was still in the cab. I quickly stopped and said to the pilot, "Comrade captain, your co pilot is still in the plane. Go and rescue him quickly."

"Comrade General," the pilot said anxiously to me, "the plane may explode. I'll take you to a safe place first, and then come back to save him."

I turned around and looked back. I saw the plane with one wing broken. It was soaking in a puddle. I couldn't see a spark in the pouring rain. It didn't look like it would explode. I pointed to the plane and said loudly to the pilot, "Comrade captain, we can't leave our Comrade behind at any time. No matter he is injured or killed, we must take him with us. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" With a loud promise, the pilot turned and ran back to the plane, and got in through the hatch we just came out of. When I was thinking about whether I should step forward to help, I suddenly heard a noise coming from the distance. Turning around, I saw a long motorcade of jeeps, ambulances, fire engines and tractors coming towards the crash site.

Ten minutes later, the three of us came to the temporary medical station of the airport, where we received simple bandage and treatment. The pilot hurt his forehead and leg when the plane overturned; The co pilot was unlucky. He was still in a coma, and his right leg was fractured. The military doctor was casting him.

The military doctor examined me, and then said to me with relief, "Comrade General, you have only a slight concussion. Just take a short rest." Group army commander Popov came in a hurry when he heard the news. As soon as he saw me, he held my hand and asked questions. After he got that I was ok, he was relieved. Because I was eager to get in touch with rokosovsky, after a brief conversation with Popov, I urged him: "Comrade General, take me to your headquarters. I have something urgent to get in touch with marshal rokosovsky immediately."“ However, comrade deputy commander. " Popov listened to me and looked at the military doctor who was casting plaster for the co pilot. He said in embarrassment, "you just had an air crash. What you need now is rest."“ It's OK, "I waved my hand and said confidently," my injury doesn't matter. Take me to your headquarters immediately. "“ Comrade commander, "the military doctor stopped his work and said to Popov," the general has only a slight concussion. He only needs to have a good rest for two days Seeing that the military doctor said that I had nothing to do, Popov didn't insist on his opinion and drove me to his headquarters. As a member of the headquarters of the 70th group army, I once said hello some time ago. I still have a little impression of who is in charge of that stall. As soon as I entered the door, I told the communication director who came by: "Comrade Colonel, connect me with the headquarters of the front army and find chief of staff malining. I have something important to do." The phone was soon connected. Hearing malining's voice coming from the earphone, I quickly asked, "chief of staff, I'm oshanina. Can you tell me where the marshal is?"“ He's in viskov. " Malining replied briefly: "due to unexpected situation in the defense zone of the 65th army, he went to the headquarters of the 65th army in viskov with military commissar jerekin, artillery commander kazakov, tank commander Orel and engineer commander proshlyakov." After finding out what rokosovsky was going to do, I then asked malining, "Comrade chief of staff, before I left Moscow, Marshal Zhukov once told me that a batch of radio equipment imported from the United States has been transported to our army. I don't know if I have received it now?"“ Yes, just this afternoon. " Malining asked curiously on the phone, "what are you going to use these radio equipment for?"“ Yes, chief of staff. " I said to him with a smile: "these equipment will be of great use in our counterattack against the German forces on the West Bank of the narev river. Now please send someone to send these equipment to the air force station As soon as I put down the phone, I said to Popov who came in: "Comrade General, please help me prepare a car. I want to get to viskov as soon as possible to join marshal rokosovsky."