"Who's coming?" Shcherbakov did not understand.

"Chinese bombers! It's a massive air raid! I have ordered the Territorial Air Defense Forces to enter the first level of combat readiness! ”

"Why didn't you issue an air raid siren?" It was as if Shcherbakov had jumped into the clouds at this moment, looking at the whole of Moscow from a bird's-eye view, and he had a premonition that the dear city was about to be doomed, and a wave of panic came over him, and his heart was like a stone.

"Alexander? Sergeyevich, I'm calling you about this. According to the regulations, the air raid siren should be issued by the local air defense director, Comrade Pronin. And he's in a factory somewhere, I'll call him right away! ”

"You can raise the alarm without going through him!"

"Yes!"

Shcherbakov put down the receiver and immediately called Stalin to report that the air defense forces had entered a combat state, however, Stalin interrupted him in a flat tone: "But we already know, Comrade Shcherbakov. It was Comrade Pronin who called us and told us. Well, you go to the command and see how they fight back against the Chinese. We're going to talk here...... Our anti-aircraft shelters in the Kremlin are not safe, and the reinforcement is not done, is it? ……”

Alexander? Sergeyevich felt that Stalin's last words contained reproach, but before he could say anything, Stalin hung up the phone.

When Shcherbakov arrived at the headquarters, the air raid sirens had just sounded over the city, where lights were controlled.

Just this year, Alexander? Sergeyevich has taken an elevator down to a depth of 50 meters in the basement, and above it is the newly built high-rise office building of the headquarters of the 1st Air Defense Army. When the extremely complex command equipment was installed, he came with the then commander of the Moscow Military District, Marshal Budyonny, and later with Artemyev, who succeeded Budyonny. More than once he accompanied Stalin, members of the Politburo, senior chiefs of the army Timoshenko, Shaposhnikov, Zhukov and others......

People appreciate the office building and the underground headquarters. However, among these high-ranking "inspectors", perhaps one of them patronized the main hall, the command room of the commander of the 1st Army of Air Defense. They were stunned when they saw the fluffy couches, the huge carpets on the floor, and the silencing velvet plastered to the walls. Some kept raising their eyebrows, and some smiled disappreciatively, and they all inevitably slandered: should the basement still be so luxurious? There was also a soda with a siphon on the table...... But no one said it to their faces. Perhaps it was because the command equipment in the room immediately diverted their attention, there were consoles, coordinate nets, maps, phosphor screens, various instruments and ancillary equipment. The condescending table in the center of the hall was so awe-inspiring that some people were even more surprised when they heard that sitting here they could get in touch with the headquarters of the units and detachments in the air defense zone, with the branches of the armed forces, with their chiefs, with the political axes, and even with any telephone in the city...... From this basement, it seems that it is possible to observe and listen to any movement over and around Moscow within 350 kilometers, of course, relying on various anti-aircraft intelligence posts.

None of the people on duty here feel like they are outside the world, but. It is truly a unique place with its own atmosphere, facilities and everything you need for work and relaxation: bedrooms, canteens, showers, oxygen equipment, conference halls...... There is also a separate emergency power station in case the city's power station is damaged.

Shcherbakov took the elevator to the lowest floor, walked into the small passage of the command room, and was greeted by a captain on duty, wearing a red armband and a gas mask around his waist. He stepped forward to report that the command room had begun to direct the anti-air raid operation, but Shcherbakov interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and walked straight through the carpet in the corridor, which had countless doors on the left side, and each room was responsible for a kind of command and had a clear division of tasks.

He walked into the large war room and saw Zhuravlev at a table on a raised platform, surrounded by several staff officers. Zhuravlyov intuitively caught the moment when Shcherbakov came in, he took his eyes off the empty plotter, stretched out on the swivel chair, and wanted to stand up, but Shcherbakov hastened to say.

"When I'm not there, let's work."

The command room has indeed begun to work. That's warfare. Shcherbakov paced in the open space inside the hall, watching them.

Everything around you doesn't seem to be quite reality, like reading a science fiction book and then being immersed in a dream. Looking at Zhuravlyov from Zhuravlev's side, Shcherbakov felt that this picture was like an upside-down sky, with the marks of Chinese bombers and Soviet fighters on it, and from his own side, he could see the earth through the sky. It is covered with a large transparent glass plate with movable coordinates. Next to it is an instrument used to calculate the coordinates of the detected target.

Targets have been discovered, and there are a lot of them! On the map and on the fluorescent screen, it can be seen that anti-aircraft intelligence posts, fighter planes, and searchlights have entered the battle, and there are more and more Chinese bombers and Soviet night fighters.

Alexander? Sergeyevich sometimes felt that he was watching a wonderful play, and that the protagonists were his friends. In this hall, next door, and in the air intelligence outpost and searchlight command room on the upper floor, there is indeed a live drama going on. Colonel Grazel and a team of officers were the key to the general air intelligence outpost. Every target, its altitude and course from each sentinel was to be marked immediately on a map and recorded in a record book. The most dangerous targets were selected from many and transmitted through the internal communication line to the chief of operations, Colonel Kulyanov, who was sitting next to General Zhuravlev, who immediately marked it on the situation map.

Colonel Grazel's memories are like a moving film on a camera, and everything that falls into the auditory lens is firmly recorded. When it is necessary to intercept the main material recorded, it only takes a moment of twisting back and forth to select the target accurately...... What a superhuman memory!

Selected targets are marked on the map with small aluminium aircraft models. The small planes, which seemed to be glued to the map, represented the swarm, began to approach Moscow along the roads and railways. On the commander's chart, the number of these aircraft is constantly increasing......

Colonel Kulyanov unhurriedly and competently marked the combat course of each Chinese group, accurately guessing their tasks. And General Zhuravlyov, as usual, sat upright in a swivel chair, calmly judging the situation, pressing the buttons on the console from time to time, and the red light of the console of the various service officers flashed. This means that all calls on the line are temporarily suspended, and the familiar voice of the general giving orders can be heard......

The two powerful air defense forces, fighters and anti-aircraft guns, immediately launched their activities in the near and far air, in accordance with the orders of the commander of the 1st Air Defense Army, General Zhuravlyov.

To the right of the hall of the general command room is the command room of the commander of the 6th Army of the Aviation Corps, Colonel Klimov, and on the left is the command room of the anti-aircraft artillery of Colonel Lavrinovich. Zhuravlev's order was also conveyed here. On the second level, adjacent to the general anti-aircraft intelligence post, is an operational group headed by Colonel Sarbunov, the chief of searchlight service, who commands a large number of searchlights here.

Shcherbakov noted that as the number of Chinese planes increased and approached Moscow, the pace of work of the command increased, and people became more nervous. From the occasional shouting or whispering, from the violent movements and impatient gazes, it is inevitable that the people here are too nervous. However, their work is impeccable.

As can be seen from the fluorescent screens and maps, some of the bombers have already flown to their targets and begun to return home, and it is conceivable that the Soviet night fighters failed to force them to drop their bombs in advance. However, it can be clearly seen that the formation of the squadron of the [***] squadron was disorganized under the blow of Soviet anti-aircraft artillery fire.

Alexander? No matter how much Sergeyevich wanted to listen to the sounds of the hall – the sound of reports, passwords, instructions, the rustle of floor drawings and the flicking of communications instruments and equipment – one thought became more and more uneasy for him: "Why didn't Stalin and the other members of the Politburo come?" …… It is clear that before the Kremlin's anti-aircraft shelter is fully repaired, the air defense command will be the location of the Politburo's concealment and office during the air raids. Where are they? ……”

At first, some circumstances could have relieved him a little, and judging from the air map, the planes of the squadron had only flown close to Moscow's airspace...... Later, however, it was seen that a large number of enemy planes had broken through the barred fire of anti-aircraft artillery fire and flew over the edge of Moscow. It was already anti-aircraft artillery positions in the center of Moscow that fired at these aircraft.

The initial news of the downing of an enemy plane also temporarily put him at ease. Later, this kind of news came frequently. More and more red circles with a black cross in the middle appear on the map......

"But where is Stalin?" Shcherbakov couldn't bear it anymore and walked down the hallway......

This large-scale night air battle over the suburbs of Moscow and the city has been going on for 1 hour. Nearly 800 of China's newest bombers took part in intensive air raids on the Soviet capital. One can imagine how many tons of steel fell from the sky! What a powerful engine created by human ingenuity! How fierce the whirlwind of propellers rolled! Each Chinese plane carried a two- to four-ton bomb containing high-powered explosives and an extremely terrible incendiary agent. With a single drop, the destructive power of these bombs is enough to turn a huge city home to millions of lives into a graveyard as far as the eye can see.

It has already been known that since the beginning of World War II, not a single capital on the Asian continent has been attacked by the Chinese Air Force and has the ability to rise up to defend itself. Even the most powerful country in Asia was said to be the same in the past. The Chinese therefore firmly believe that Moscow will not be spared under the indiscriminate bombardment of the Chinese Air Force. Moreover, according to Yang Shuoming's order, Moscow has been condemned to complete destruction, because it is not only the capital of the Soviet Union, but also the capital of the Bolsheviks in the world.

It can be said that this is a decisive battle between two worlds and two social systems.

Far from Moscow, Soviet fighters were the first to take off to intercept the enemy from the air. But alas, of all the pilots who participated in air battles here, only five or six were trained for night flights!

Vassili? As soon as Dzhugashvili stepped into the cockpit of the fighter plane, he immediately felt a smell of suffocation and gasoline, mixed with the bitter smell of withered birch branches and leaves. The camouflaged birch branches rested diagonally on the fuselage and wings of the aircraft, gently swaying the dehydrated green leaves, peeking into the face of Colonel Zhugashvili in amazement. The planes of the friendly fighter regiments on the left and right sides were also hidden in the green leaves. At first glance, it looks like a small jungle from the pine forest near the airport, unwilling to be lonely, escaped, gathered together, and danced in groups.

In the midst of the camouflaged fighters, there was a man from the airfield maintenance team, dragging heavy boots, walking with a hoarse and smoke-filled throat, shouting that the pilots of the squadrons on duty of the two regiments stationed at this airfield immediately plugged into their helmets. Vasily quickly took a bundle of stranded wires hanging in the cockpit, there was a three-way plug at the end of the wire, and he connected the plug to the socket of his helmet, and suddenly it was as if he had entered a strange and mysterious world, with the bass of a man and the screech of a woman, the sound of giving a password, and the sound of a button switch. Some voices implied anger, others seemed calm, and some panicked. Here one can hear the pre-battle preparations of the Air Corps and the command post of the two fighter regiments stationed in Moscow: it seems that an order will soon be issued from above for the squadrons on duty to take off to intercept the enemy. At this moment, after connecting the intercom, the regimental commanders no longer have to waste time repeating the instructions given by the army commander to the crews. As soon as the signal flare is raised, they will start moving, and when the fighters take off, they will be clear to them by radio about the mission, who will go to which area to intercept the Chinese bombers. However, Colonel Dzhugashvili's plane, like the other "young eagles" that had been transferred here yesterday (although they still called the "I-16" fighters "donkeys"), was not equipped with radio equipment. Therefore, they received combat duty in advance. For example, Vasily was supposed to fly to the area of the Chinogorsk searchlight.

The voices in the headphones were noisy and noisy, like the gentle sound of the tide on the seaside, which made Vasily flutter and wander out of the world. His mind is like a herd of cattle on a vast pasture, galloping at will, dazzling and dizzying. For some reason, he was transferred from a place on the west bank of the Volga River with the brigade to this place yesterday, and he never forgot it. At a local arsenal, he and other "no-mount" pilots went to receive new planes, which were called "donkeys" in the air force and "eagles" in the army. Yes, this is the kind of "I-16" fighter, this is the kind of plane that he parachuted over western Siberia. At that time, he shot down two "Swiftlets" and one "Skylark" aircraft in the first few air battles, and later his own plane was also destroyed. After the parachute landed, it fell into the encirclement, but fortunately broke out of the encirclement with the army cluster of Major General Bamiyanov.

When he thinks of General Bamiyanov, his mind is like a spark in the wind, and he suddenly thinks of Katarina? Bamiyanova came, although he never knew she was Fernando? Daughter of Ktuvanovich. He often thought of her with tenderness, and silently recited the tender words dedicated to her. He wrote several letters of courtship to Stalingrad, telling about his infatuation with her and about his life at the front...... But, unfortunately, Vasily did not have a picture of Katarina, and he could only imagine her in his memory. Sometimes, however, it is like a glass with a layer of fog floating on it, and it is not clear to see. He tried to think of her lovely face, her smile, her squinted eyes. He remembered that his eyes were blue and gray, showing an indescribable sense of mystery. In short, this beautiful girl, who was looming and detached, remained in his memory and heart, and he was in love with her, but she was difficult to get close to, and always seemed so far away, and so surprisingly charming.

Vassili? Dzhugashvili's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden silence in the headphones. Unbeknownst to him, General Zhuravlyov, who was far away at the command of the Moscow Air Defense District, was flipping a button to issue an announcement, and the red signal lights flashed on the consoles of the various service chiefs, and all the calls on the communication lines were stopped. So, Zhuravlyov's firm and pretended calm voice was heard: "All units have entered the first level of combat readiness!" ”

Vasily shuddered. He imagined that in and around the vast space of Moscow, the air defense forces were already in combat mode: the hoods of the planes were removed, the camouflage branches were removed (as soon as he thought of this, he immediately shouted to the mechanic like a rooster: "Remove the camouflage!"). The barrels of the anti-aircraft guns were raised high, the searchlights took off their coats and turned in the direction of the increasing rumble of enemy aircraft, blocking the balloon from being lowered into the air......

Then, the order from the person just now came from the headset: "Comrade Klimov, Kinov will send two twin-plane formations to the airspace of No. 7. ”

Vasily guessed that this was an order to the commander of a certain aviation unit. A new order was heard: "Comrade Sarbunov, welcome the fighters to fight in the 7th irradiation zone." "This time it's an order to the searchlight officer.

For a minute, the headphones again sounded a loud and low cacophony of voices, but immediately there was a creepy silence, as if human life had suddenly stopped, no, it quickly regained its vitality, and the sonorous and powerful voice of General Zhuravlev gave an urgent order: "Comrade Klimov, order Stepanovsky to take off two brigades from Kobinka to the area of searchlights from Chinogorsk to Golykino to meet the enemy......"

(To be continued)