Yang Mingzhi led the guards to rush to the crash site, and the downed German plane was emitting billowing black smoke, so everyone could easily find it.

"It's a shame that this plane has been completely scrapped and seems to be useless." Yang Mingzhi shook his head, he also wanted to get some information from the German pilots. Now, the pilot himself has been burned beyond recognition, and a black thing sticks out from the cockpit, Yang Mingzhi can see that this is the man's arm.

"It's too miserable, comrades, hurry up and put out the fire, I don't want to start any forest fires."

Yang Mingzhi, who was a little depressed, went back without any information from the German pilots, and saw a brand-new plane parked at the airport, which was a Soviet fighter plane.

Apparently the Soviet pilot had landed, and Yang Mingzhi ran over in a hurry, and he was told that the pilot had been called to the division headquarters.

So Yang Mingzhi met this person, he was very young and looked like he was just twenty years old. Judging by his self-introduction, this man's name is Ivan Hilgenovich Podovich, only nineteen years old, and even more exaggerated, his flight time is just over fifty hours, this is a recruit!

Podovich revealed his home, the aviation unit of the Southwestern Front, which was scattered by German planes during the air battle. He drank the water and looked extremely annoyed: "I could have shot that guy down, but my hand always shook when I was shooting, and I couldn't aim well at all." ”

Yang Mingzhi smiled regretfully, and sneered, if this guy is a veteran, he will not be chased and beaten by the enemy at all. Of course, in order to save face for this person, Yang Mingzhi and Yevlov need to derive important information from him.

Yevlov asked: "Comrade, you flew from the direction of Kyiv, how is the fighting situation over there." ”

Podovich looked very casual, and he said directly: "Oops, very bad. Our airfield has been captured by the Germans, and this will be my last mission. When we were moving to the airfield, we encountered a group of German fighters, and many of our comrades were shot down. As you can see, I'm doomed without your help. ”

"That's true, but we want to know the situation on the Kyiv side, we have been in contact with them for many days."

Yevlov's words surprised the man, he had no idea that there was still a Soviet army stationed in the swamp, and there were still many of them. "I only know that you are the 284th Guards Division, and you have already told me just now, Comrade Division Commander, that you are the Northwest Front Army, my friendly army. As for the situation in Kyiv, I'm just an ordinary soldier, I don't know at all. ”

Yevlov shook his head and looked at Yang Mingzhi: "Berekov, why don't you come and ask him." ”

"Okay, I'll ask." Yang Mingzhi scratched his head, this person obviously didn't know the inside story of Kyiv. Of course, Yang Mingzhi naturally knew the direction of the entire war, and the Soviet Union would be defeated in this battle.

He asked with a soothing emotion: "Comrade, which airfield did you fly from, and why did you fly over the swamp?" ”

Podovich looked at this man, he was clearly an officer, but he had a distinctly oriental face, which was very surprising, could it be a Tatar? He still answered Yang Mingzhi's question, and I took off from Nezhkalanska airport. ”

"Nezhkalanska Airport? Where is that? ”

"It's a small front-line airfield, sir. Near Corodnia, sorry, I was also transferred to this place a few months ago. ”

Yang Mingzhi shook his head, he didn't know where it was? Asking questions back and forth, as a division commander and deputy division commander who are not Ukrainians at all, it is also magical to be able to ask valuable intelligence.

After a while, the two political commissars who had finished inspecting the field hospital returned, Yelenkina and Fuming, and their arrival was simply Yang Mingzhi's savior, and they were in charge of obtaining information.

"This is the pilot we saved?" Yerentina asked softly.

"Yes! Comrade Political Commissar! Podovich jerked to his feet as if he had been electrocuted, and at once he saw the woman's epaulettes and hat clearly, and realized that the woman was a big man.

"Sit down with peace of mind, comrade." Yerentina waved her hand, turned her head to Yang Mingzhi and said, "Berekov, that German killed seven of us, and five others were injured, it's really miserable." ”

Yang Mingzhi nodded: "After all, we are not a safe rear here, and the sacrifice of soldiers is inevitable." The fallen comrades have been properly buried, and I would like to ask our new friend, the pilot Comrade Podovich. ”

Yang Mingzhi stood up, Yelenkina smiled at him, and he took his position.

In this way, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little delicate, after all, this Yelentina was a member of the NKVD, and questioning the pilot was like interrogating a person, and she almost had to ask about this person's family background.

But it's okay, Yang Mingzhi listened to himself, it turned out that this Podovich was a student. Before the start of the war, he was a student at the Zhytomyr Flight Academy, and after the start of the war he enlisted in the Air Force. Poor with little flying experience, he had to take to the skies to fight, and the new pilots had to make up for the heavy losses of the air force units at the moment of the start of the war.

Now Podovich again emphasized the airfield from which he took off, and stressed all of them, more than fifty planes were ordered to rush into the air, and soon the airfield was occupied by the Germans, the coordinates were precisely Gorodnia.

Fuming, who was at the division headquarters, was very surprised, and he immediately stopped Yelenkina's inquiry. He leaned on the table and said coldly, "I know about Gorodnia, it's very close to Gomel. This distance is like the distance of the last time we went back and forth in a military operation. ”

"So the Germans have already taken that small city, Corodnia?" Yang Mingzhi asked.

"Definitely, yes, it is very obvious that the Germans are going south from Gomel, they will soon attack Chernihiv, and if so, the Germans can go all the way south to the Black Sea coast!"

Yang Mingzhi and Yevlov immediately ran to the map hanging on the wall, which marked the geographical location in general terms. Gomel and Chernihiv are both larger cities, and the two were quickly found. Fomin, who is Ukrainian, gave a rough indication of the geographical location of Gorodnia.

"It's really bad, since the Germans are attacking like this, it must indicate that the large-scale southward movement of Army Group Center has begun." Yang Mingzhi said worriedly.

"What will be the result?" Yevlov asked.

"What will be the result?" Yang Mingzhi turned his head and looked at Yelian Jingna, "Alas, I'm afraid that I'm talking too much, this is another failed remark." ”

"Nope! Just keep talking. ”

Seeing Yerentina's attitude, Yang Mingzhi boldly "estimated" the movements of the German army, which was actually a historical fact of the German army. He waved his hand on the map, "It is difficult for a German army group to break through our northern line of defense and reach the capital, they have already occupied most of Smolensk, and Mogilev and Gomel are completely occupied. So the Germans can cut off Ukraine and Russia as long as they continue to move south, and if I were Hitler I would do the same. The all-Ukrainian encirclement war has definitely begun in full swing. ”

Everyone didn't want to believe this, and Yevlov was even more shy. "The Germans are so arrogant, the elite of the Red Army is in Ukraine, are they going to replicate the battle of Minsk?"

"Yes, it is precisely because the elite is in Ukraine that these forces must be eliminated, otherwise the strategy of the Germans simply cannot be realized." Yang Mingzhi once again stressed that the ultimate goal of the enemy is Moscow, but before that, all the elite of the Soviet Union must be wiped out.

"Guderian's troops are definitely going south, and they are already going south, and we have got definite information, haven't we. You and I already knew the purpose of the German army before we lost contact with Kyiv, we have been on the front line, and we know the military situation even more clearly than the top brass in Moscow. ”

Yevlov nodded, but he noted that the Soviet troops in Bryansk would stop Guderian's troops.

"Block? Can't stop it. If our friends had stopped Guderian, the Germans in Gomel would not have marched south. It is very clear that the Germans are attacking on all fronts in the northeast of Ukraine. What they must have received was the Demon King's death order, and they had to succeed. ”

"So that's how we failed." Yevlov asked.

"Probably...... Maybe not...... Who knows. Yang Mingzhi looked at everyone with a bright eye: "If the Germans win this battle, the whole of Ukraine will be occupied by the Germans, which will be a disaster for us, and the swamp will become an island." Although I don't want this to be true, everyone can vaguely understand the situation, the German army wants to swallow all of Ukraine.

It's the worst, but like I said two months ago, back into the forest, back to the swamp, we'll keep fighting. None of us are deserters, and neither are the warriors who retreated from the south into the swamps. We responded to the leader's call for guerrilla warfare, launching a series of sabotage operations behind enemy lines, just as we did in our last military operation. In the end, we will inevitably win the war, and Hitler can only end worse than Napoleon. ”

After Yang Mingzhi was indignant for a while, everyone calmed down. Either way, the tide of battle is really going badly, and that's beyond the control of everyone in the swamp.

Yevlov beckoned the soldiers to take the pilot away and settle him in place.

This order, Podovich was very resistant. "I'm a pilot, I should continue to fly into the air to fight! Even if you die in battle, it's worth it. ”

Yevlov's answer was very realistic: "You don't have much fuel left for your plane, and we don't have any more fuel." You will obey the orders of the commander of the Front, Kirponos, and all the soldiers who withdraw into the marshes will join the local anti-German forces, that is, us. ”

Therefore, Podovich could only accept his fate, he checked his plane, this "comrade-in-arms" had some scars, and he could only lie down on his stomach due to insufficient fuel. He looked at the two transport planes at the airport, they had been beaten to the ground, the same tragedy.

Yang Mingzhi had to accept the worst reality, he and the 284th Guards Division would soon be in full encirclement by the Germans. All directions of the Pripet marsh were occupied by the enemy, and he did not expect that the Germans would go crazy into the marsh, which had no strategic value, and was just a bunch of partisans.

But against the partisans, the Germans were very brutal. They will also carry out sweeps again and again, and that is the real danger that everyone has to face. Obviously, in 1941, the German army was crazy and wanted to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Soviet army, and there was really no more leisure to fight the partisans.