Field airfields during World War II, due to the relative simplicity of the aircraft, often did not require a strong enough hard concrete floor for take-off. Most of the planes are very light, they are piston machines one or two, and the performance is very poor. Therefore, Yang Mingzhi is very clear that even the materials that can be transported by airdrop are very few.

The terrain here in the marshes was a torture for the invading Germans, and it was not particularly ideal as a refuge for the Soviets.

A small plain on the outskirts of the village, where the humus of the swamp is predominantly peaty, and the humus of the swamp is hard to decay and simply piled up. Therefore, the entire catfish village, the area of farmland is the principle of swampy lake. These small flat plots of land were not of much use before, and now they are easy to do as an airfield.

Yang Mingzhi and some villagers pulled out the wooden fences used to graze their livestock, so that the turf did not have to be cleared, and planes came and went, and they continued to graze at intervals.

Those large domestic animals, such as the more than twenty military horses left behind by Kuznetsov, these guys pulled stone grinders and advanced at the urging of the soldiers.

How long should the airport run to, this Yang Mingzhi is not clear, the length of one kilometer should be okay. Is it true that the airport has such a long runway? Not really.

This was a lot of trouble, and Yevlov was the first to notice the problem, and he immediately ordered someone to bring back the "staff officer" who had helped.

Yang Mingzhi had already taken off his coat, and his back was covered with sweat.

"You should pay attention to the impact, you are a high-ranking officer." Yevlov criticized.

"Forget it, on the surface, I am the deputy division commander elected by everyone, but in fact I lead more than a thousand good people. I think it's still easy to get along with ordinary soldiers, which is necessary at critical moments. ”

Yevlov waved his hand and did not listen to his quibbles.

Yang Mingzhi gulped a jug of water, and he saw a piece of paper in front of Yevlov with sketches drawn in pencil. This is a simple plan for the airport, which is very rudimentary indeed, and is nothing more than a flat piece of land.

"Now I'm calling you, it's just that we just discovered a huge problem at the airport."

"Isn't the runway long enough? It's still potholes. I just thought what you called me to ask, if there is a problem at the airport, it must be a runway problem. ”

Yevlov sighed, "That's true, our current run to a length of only six hundred meters, to take off and land two transport planes, it seems impossible." ”

The Mile-2 transport aircraft, which was the main transport aircraft model of the Soviet Union in World War II, could be used as a bomber, as a transport aircraft, and even as a paratrooper aircraft. The performance of this aircraft is good enough, but the disadvantage is that it is slow, only 300 kilometers per hour.

"So what? At least how long do we need an airport? Yang Mingzhi asked

"It's better to have 1,500 meters, at least 1,000 meters. I don't want their plane to fly away because the nose won't pull up and crash headlong into the swamp. ”

Yevlov needed a practical solution, Yang Mingzhi looked at the simple map and thought about it. "The solution is very simple, and we can only solve the problem simply and crudely. On the one hand, I cut down the trees and uproot them, and on the other hand, I transported the dirt and trunks to fill in the mud pool in front of the runway. ”

Yevlov smiled bitterly: "I thought you could have something high this time, but I didn't expect it to be so simple." ”

"How much more can I do. It can't be said that there is no way, the catfish village has been bulldozed, such an open space is large enough to take off and land more transport planes, is this feasible? Yang Mingzhi made a slightly angry expression.

Yevlov did not argue, "Well, order a group of soldiers to start working now." ”

Filling in the swamps to create an airstrip required a great deal of labor and earthwork. Two wagons carrying timber from the forest were stopped, and they had a new job. The soldiers of both companies were armed with shovels for war, and they dug on a small dirt slope, shoveling the earth into the wagon.

There were no suitable trucks to deliver the earth, so they had to make do with horse-drawn wagons. The efficiency of the fighters is really not high. Yang Mingzhi estimated that to build a runway, a thousand people would have to work together, and with only simple tools, they would have to work for at least a week.

It's wartime, and it's peaceful on the part of Catfish Village, and the soldiers seem to have forgotten that they have just crawled out of the pile of dead people and struggled to break through the encirclement.

What will be the battle situation in a week, Yang Mingzhi can't make a particularly accurate judgment, a week later it will be August, the climate is still hot, and it will be the autumn rainy season in September! In that plane, in late September, Kirponos would suffer a major setback, the entire Southwestern Front and the Southern Front would be surrounded by German troops, and a million Soviet Red Army would become prisoners.

So at least now the Soviet army still has the ability to supply the swamp in a grand manner, and after more than a month, everything will inevitably come to naught.

Yang Mingzhi had a busy day, and he was not like the group of soldiers who jumped into the small lake to take a bath as soon as they took off their clothes.

There are all kinds of parasites in the swamp, and the old hairy man may be fine with thick skin and flesh, as a Chinese, it is better to boil some hot water and hide in the residence to wipe it yourself.

In the afternoon, the soldiers were basically busy with the construction of the airport. Everyone was very excited, and Kyiv promised that the first batch of supplies would be airdropped the next morning. The materials for the thick black smoke were prepared, and there were some scrap tires in the fuel, but the rubber burned but it was a miasma.

Star fruit is as tired as Yang Mingzhi, and during the day, the girls are still sorting bullet casings. The amount of star fruit was overwhelming, and her hands were full of gunsmoke, and it took several washes to wash them off.

"Since there will be air supplies tomorrow, is it appropriate that we are still so desperately dealing with the shells? Husband, I'm really tired today. Star fruit deliberately said in a coquettish tone, in the outdoor work, she wants to behave like a strong woman, at home, involuntarily like being a sticky kitten.

"Well, I know you're having a hard time. Wipe your body at night and go to bed quickly, don't waste precious kerosene. ”

After that, Yang Mingzhi lay down, he slept very deeply, and fell asleep without thinking about anything.

Carambola looked back, thinking that this man was also strange and cute, big of himself, and said that he would sleep.

She checked that the door was closed and the suggested deadbolt was inserted. Now there is only her husband left in the house, and the star fruit has no scruples, so she turned out her husband's white shirt and washed it with water by the way. After that, wipe your body with hot water to solve your physiological hygiene.

Early in the morning, Yang Mingzhi got up and saw a villain beside him, curled up like a kitten. What's even more exaggerated, this girl only has a belly pocket. He saw a few washed clothes hanging in the house, hanging on twine, waiting to dry in the shade.

"It's really hard for you, dear, I'll give you a vacation, and you can continue to talk about it later." Yang Mingzhi muttered to himself, stroked his wife's loose hair, and gently covered her with a blanket.

In Ukraine and Belarus, summer highs rarely exceed 35 degrees, and mornings are quite cool. Yang Mingzhi changed his clothes, he admired his wisdom very much, and the clothes he bought in Yekaterinburg were not lost at all in the war because they were quite properly protected.

Early in the morning, a lot of soldiers continued to be involved in the construction of the airfield. In the runway, flames have been lit, cow dung and waste tires, which can create large black smoke, which is the exact location of Catfish Village to announce to the plane.

Many soldiers were throwing pieces of wood into the campfire, even some gasoline, anything that would make a thick smoke.

Yang Mingzhi was in a very good mood today, he gave the female soldiers of the youth battalion a holiday, and the girls slept lazily to commend them for their hard work yesterday. As for the boys, they continue to follow Ivanov and old Ivan, the teenagers learn things quickly, these young people should not be consumed as cheap cannon fodder, they should be technical troops.

Now, the thick black smoke has come to life, and to maintain the black smoke must remain like more debris. Yang Mingzhi was with most of the soldiers, and everyone was waiting for a roar in the sky, and finally, at half past nine in the morning, the long-lost noise suddenly came. The transport plane has arrived!