Red Moscow

"Lilia." Seeing that Lilia didn't know anything about this matter, Raisa explained to her: "The infantry brigade commander who stood firm in the factory area reported the results we achieved today to the front army headquarters by telegram."

"Infantry Brigadier?!" Lilia raised her eyebrows when she heard this, and asked Raisa tentatively, "Comrade Lieutenant, are you talking about Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"

"I don't know the name of the brigade commander, but if he led the troops to defend the factory, he should be the one who reported the results to his superiors." Raisa continued: "Commander General Khryukin learned that you shot down After seeing the number of enemy planes, I was very happy, and said that according to the standard of shooting down five enemy planes, you can become an ace pilot, and you are now the ace pilot in the regiment."

"Second Lieutenant Lilia," Alexey squeezed in front of Lilia, stretched out his hand to her, and said with a smile on his face, "Please accept my congratulations, congratulations on becoming the first Queen's pilot."

"Thank you!" When Lilia held Alexey's hand, her heart beat inexplicably quickened, and she hastily said a polite word: "Thank you, Captain Alexey, thank you for letting the ground crew support our plane. Filled with fuel and loaded with ammunition."

"Comrades, Second Lieutenant Lilia is the glory of our 437th Fighter Flight Regiment." Khostnikov waited for the conversation between Alexei and Lilia to end, then turned to his subordinates and said loudly : "You say, how should we welcome our heroine?"

After Khostnikov finished speaking, everyone was stunned for a moment, but then they rushed towards Lilia, lifted her up in a hurry, threw her into the air, caught her, and threw her again...

Alexey and Khostnikov walked aside, listened to Lilia's exclamation and the excited laughter of the soldiers, and said to their regiment commander with emotion: "Comrade commander, our luck is really great!" Not bad, to be able to get such a good pilot."

"Yes, Alexey." Khostnikov nodded and said, "I never thought that the four female pilots sent to us by our superiors would be able to obtain the first time on the battlefield alone. Such a huge victory."

While the two were talking, a soldier ran over panting and reported to Khostnikov: "Comrade commander, phone, your phone, the division commander wants to talk to you."

"The teacher's phone number?" After listening to the soldier's report, Khostnikov raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, and said angrily, "Damn, why did I forget to call the teacher for such an important matter?" Comrade reported."

Khostnikov ran back to the regiment command post, picked up the microphone on the table, and said to his ear: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Colonel Khostnikov. What instructions?"

"Colonel," came the dissatisfied voice of the division commander, Major General Boris Elson, "A female pilot who just arrived in our division became an ace pilot because of her first battle. Why don't you Report to me?"

"Comrade Commander!" Facing Boris' accusation, Khostnikov replied with some embarrassment: "I just got the news from the commander that the plane flown by Second Lieutenant Lilia has just returned. I went to welcome her, and forgot to report such an important matter to you."

Fortunately, his unit had just produced an ace pilot. Although Boris was criticizing Khostnikov, he was still happy in his heart. He deliberately said with a straight face: "Comrade Colonel, if I don't If I remember correctly, you were quite reluctant to assign them to your regiment a few days ago. I think they must have had enough of your cynicism these days, right?"

"Comrade commander, who made a small report to you, no, absolutely not." Although the teacher's guess was correct, Khostnikov still cheekily denied: "They just arrived two days ago. , In order to let them familiarize themselves with the environment, I have not arranged combat missions for them for the time being. As soon as there is a suitable combat mission today, I ordered them to attack, and I did not expect to achieve such a result."

"Okay, Comrade Colonel, stop talking nonsense." Boris interrupted Khostnikov's bragging behind, and said bluntly: "A fighter plane of the women's squadron was shot down today. The commander negotiated with his superiors. , will replenish them with a Yak-1 fighter jet as soon as possible. The new plane may arrive tomorrow morning, and you will arrange for someone to receive it."

"Comrade Commander," Khostnikov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise when he heard Boris say this: "In the past, didn't the superiors have to wait for half a month at the fastest to replenish our planes? Why is it so so this time?" Quick, the replenishment plane will be here."

"Colonel Khostnikov," Boris said in a stern tone, "if every squadron of your regiment can achieve the same results as the women's squadron, then the speed at which the superiors can replenish you with aircraft will also be faster. It will surprise you." He paused for a moment, then continued, "The next time you attack, don't let the women's squadron attack alone, they have too few planes, no matter how brave the girls are, they will face more enemies than them. With ten or twenty times the number of enemy planes, they are still unable to do what they want. If possible, they can draw forces from the other two squadrons to cooperate with them. I think the captain of the second squadron, Captain Alexei, would be very good."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Khostnikov turned his head and glanced at Alexei who followed him into the command post, and replied, "Next time when the women's squadron is ordered to attack, I will definitely ask the male pilots to cooperate." They act."

Khostnikov put down the phone and said to Aleksey: "Comrade Captain, the division commander just said on the phone that the superior has added a Yak-1 fighter jet to the women's squadron, and it will be delivered tomorrow morning. Please send someone to receive it. I will leave this matter to you."

When Alexey heard this, the same thoughts as Khostnikov came to mind: "Comrade commander, why did you replenish the plane so quickly last time?"

Hearing this question from Aleksey, Khostnikov snorted and imitated the teacher's tone and said: "If your squadron can achieve the same results as the women's squadron every time it attacks, then the superior will give you the same results as the women's squadron." You'll be surprised at how quickly you replenish planes."

Alexey smiled embarrassedly, and then said: "Comrade commander, I estimate that the record set by Second Lieutenant Lilia can be broken by five people in a short period of time."

"The teacher also said that the women's squadron cannot be allowed to attack alone. Their number of aircraft is too small. If they encounter today's situation again, they will suffer a big loss." Khostnikov knew very well that the women's squadron rushed At that time, the German bomber formation that bombed the factory had almost run out of ammunition, otherwise it would not be easy to achieve today's results. If you encounter the German flight formation again next time, let alone get any results, it will be considered good if you can retreat unscathed, so he told Alexei: "From now on, every time the women's squadron goes out on a mission, your squadron will draw four A fighter plane, go with them. Got it?"

For Khostnikov's order, Alexey couldn't express his bitterness. He said that the regiment was all Lager 3 fighters, and their performance was not as good as that of Yak-1 fighters. If an air battle really happens, I'm afraid that my four fighter planes will drag the girls back. But now that the order has been issued, it is obviously impossible to object, so he can only bite the bullet and reply: "Understood, Comrade Commander. When the women's squadron attacks in the future, I will personally lead the team to cooperate with them in combat."

If Alexey asked the deputy squadron leader or someone else to lead the team to assist the women's squadron in combat, maybe Khostnikov would not be at ease. Seeing that Alexey offered to personally lead the team to cooperate with the women's squadron , then nodded, and said with satisfaction: "Comrade Captain, with your full cooperation, I think the women's squadron will achieve greater results."

Alexey left the regimental command post and went straight back to the pilot's dormitory. When passing the room where the women's squadron lives, seeing all four girls there, he stopped at the door, raised his hand and knocked on the open door, and waited for everyone in the room to focus on himself, Ah Lexi asked politely, "Can I come in?"

"Please come in, Comrade Captain." Because of Alexey's previous help to the women's squadron, he is now the most popular among the girls. Raisa stood up quickly and said to Alexey with a smile: "We I just made black tea with honey, please come in and have a cup."

Alexey entered the room, sat down on a chair near the door, and asked with a smile: "Lieutenant Raisa, we are all comrades-in-arms, if you need help, just tell me, I will find a way Help you solve it."

"Comrade Captain, you have helped us so much, so I am sorry to trouble you." Raisa said, took a cup of hot tea from Maria, and handed it to Alexei: "Please Have some tea, Comrade Captain."

"Comrade Captain," Katya, who had been silent all this time, asked timidly when Alexei picked up his teacup and was about to drink it, "I would like to ask you a favor, will you?"

Alexey quickly put the teacup on the table beside him, sat up straight and looked at Katya and said, "Katya, if you have anything to do, just ask. As long as I can do it, I will do my best to help." .”

"That's really great." Hearing what Alexei said, Katya's expression suddenly became relaxed: "I would like to ask you to ask me, when can we replenish the lost planes?  … ..."

"Katya!" Before Katya could finish her sentence, Raisa sternly stopped her, and then said to Alexei apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, Katya is here because her plane was shot down by the enemy. I can no longer fly into the air for a short period of time, and I am a little anxious, so I made such a presumptuous request to you. I hope you don't mind her recklessness."

"Lieutenant Raisa, you must not blame Katya. If any of us saw our comrades continue to fight the enemy plane in the air, but because of the loss of the plane, we had to If you stay on the ground and stare blankly, you will be very anxious." After speaking, Alexei said the purpose of his trip: "I am here today to inform you of something. thing."

When he said this, he deliberately paused for a moment to observe the expressions of everyone. Seeing that everyone was staring at him intently, he went on to say: "The superior notified us that there will be a Yak-1 fighter jet landing at the airport, and ordered me to be responsible for receiving this plane."

Raisa waited for Alexei to finish speaking, then asked cautiously: "Comrade Captain, I would like to ask, who will assign this new Yak-1 fighter jet to when it arrives?"

Alexey grinned and did not answer directly, but asked instead: "Lieutenant Raisa, you have been in the regiment for several days, and it should be very clear that the whole regiment except you, other squadrons are equipped with It's a LaGa 3 fighter. Do you think the higher-ups will not equip a squadron equipped with a LaGa 3 fighter with a Yak-1 fighter?"

Although Alexei didn't specify to whom the fighter jet was handed over, the girls all understood that when the fighter jet arrived at the airport, Katya was the only person who could fly it.

"Ula!" Knowing that she would get a new plane soon, Katya cheered happily. She turned around and hugged Lilia who was standing behind her, and said excitedly: "Lilia, did you hear? The new planes equipped will be delivered tomorrow morning, so I can still be your wingman tomorrow to compete with the Germans."

Lilia raised her hand and patted Katya's back lightly a few times, feeling happy for her wingman pilot: "Katya, when you get a new plane tomorrow, we can fight side by side again."

Katya broke free from Lilia's arms, stood up straight, and said with a serious expression: "Lilia, I assure you, from tomorrow onwards, I will never let the German planes shoot me down again. They If you shoot me down once, then I will shoot down ten of their planes to let them understand that the people in our women's squadron are not so easy to bully."

"Katya, you're right!" After listening to Katya's words, Raisa stepped forward and put her arms around her shoulders and said, "After you have a new plane, we will shoot down more German planes from the sky, so that They were terrified when they heard our name."

"Well said, Comrade Lieutenant." Alexey stood up from his seat, walked in front of several people, and said, "You have already left a deep impression on the Germans in today's battle. I think You only need to achieve similar results a few more times, and then you can make the enemy fearful. When they hear your name, they will tremble with fear."

After expressing his opinion, Alexey added: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is one more thing, the regiment leader asked me to tell you. Every time you take off into the air to fight, our squadron will send four fighters to cooperate with you. And These fighters will be commanded by me personally."