October 2, 1936, Kremlin. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Stalin looked at the telegram in his hand from Spain, which was the battle report telegram of the "restless" Andrei, which had just arrived in the morning:

"Honorable Comrade Stalin, other comrades of the Central Executive Committee, all members of the 1st Fighter Brigade of the Soviet Union in aid of Spain salute you in Madrid!

On the morning of 1 October, Madrid was attacked by a joint attack by the German and Italian fascist air forces and the Franco air force, and more than 80 enemy planes attacked the enemy. Our brigade faced the battle, and in the battle it lost 8 fighters, 5 comrades were killed, many were wounded, and one of them was disabled. The comrades made great sacrifices in the battle against the fascists, but we succeeded in preventing the enemy from bombing the city of Madrid and destroying the airport, shooting down a total of 76 enemy planes. All the comrades who bravely marched forward in battle, especially the sacrificed and wounded, did not disgrace the Soviets, nor did they disgrace Comrade Stalin and other comrades of the Central Executive Committee, and in the battle played the prestige of our Soviet Air Force!

The Soviet Union saluted the 1st Fighter Brigade of Spain!

Chief Andrei Nikolayevich Prenyakov in Madrid, Spain, October 2, 1936.

Attached to this message is a statistical table of the results of the battle.

Stalin, who saw the contents of the telegram, shouted three "yes" in a row! The results of this air battle greatly increased the prestige of the Soviet army in the world, which was very much in Stalin's mind. But Stalin also understood very well that this little Andrei had come to ask for credit, and he had come to ask for policy for the sake of those comrades who had died and were wounded.

"This Andrey!"

Stalin urgently convened a meeting of the Central Executive Committee, at which it was decided to award Ir-I. Kobets, Sergei Ivanovich Grytsev, Vasily Aleksandrovich Zaitsev, Andlupuv and Yakov the titles of "Heroes of the Soviet Union"; The Soviet Union awarded the Order of the Red Banner to all pilots of the 1st Fighter Group in Spain (including reserve pilots who were killed, wounded, and did not take a direct part in the battle). He also asked the captain Andrei to come up with a list of commendations for ground crews and commend them according to the situation.

"The 1st Fighter Brigade of the USSR Aid to Spain" as a collective, awarded the "Order of Lenin". And for the sacrificed and disabled pilots, the Soviets will also make reasonable compensation measures.

The above-mentioned commendation decision can be said to be extremely rare in the history of the Soviet Union, but in terms of achievements and impact, this commendation decision is still reasonable: the Soviet government just needs the world to know that the Soviet army is strong, and the 1st Fighter Group has done it. Although compared with the pilots who were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" in World War II, И-I-Kobets, Sergei Ivanovich Grytsev, Vasily Aleksandrovich Zaitsev, Andlupuv and Yakov still have a small record, this is the first outbreak of the Soviet Air Force after many years of silence, and all 4 pilots except Andlupuv have won the "trump card" in a battle, which is also a rare situation in World War I. And Andlupf shot down 4 enemy aircraft in each of the two air battles, and it is also said that he was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union".

The additional clauses on the bereavement of the sacrificed and wounded and disabled comrades in the commendation were also very generous, and they were in accordance with the highest standards of the Soviet army -- and this was the first purpose of Lin Jun's telegram to "invite merit."

In fact, on the day after Lin Jun's first air battle, Stalin already knew about the victory he and his wingman had won, but because Lin Jun was "unsealable" in terms of awards, and the government of the Spanish Republic had also awarded him the medal of "Defender of the Republic", Stalin did not reward this "beloved general" under his command. But this time this Andrei has made great feats, and it is impossible to say that he is not rewarded, and he is already the "trump card" who shot down a total of 9 enemy planes, what should I do?

Stalin and the members of the Central Executive Committee discussed this issue for a long time, but there was no good result, and the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" could not be awarded again.

In the end, it was Stalin who spoke: "Just grieve Comrade Andrei first, just like other pilots, they are all awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and the credit will be credited to him first, and then we will talk about it later." ”

"Later? So what the hell does that mean? The commissioners were thinking, "Forget it, since Stalin said so, what do we have to say?" ”

Since the Soviet Army's participation in the Spanish Civil War was in the form of volunteers, the comrades of the 1st Fighter Brigade could not receive their own medals for the time being, and they would not be officially awarded until they returned home.

The "invitation to merit" message was written by Lin Jun the afternoon before, when he had just left Largo Caballero to Yakov and ran to the dormitory by himself to draw it up.

After dinner that day, the meeting was held in the airport cafeteria as usual, and all the pilots at the airport participated, and even the three "sick numbers" in the airport hospital had to let their comrades-in-arms carry the hospital beds to participate after learning the general direction of the content to be discussed, which also gave the attendees an extra doctor and nurse.

"Comrades, today we have experienced a life-and-death battle, and I am very happy, because we have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. I won't say more nonsense, but the agenda of today's meeting is: We must not let the comrades who sacrificed their lives be wronged! ”

Lin Jun said straight to the point.

"We have five good comrades who have left us forever, and one comrade who will be left with a cripple and will no longer be able to fight in a plane. We cannot leave them alone and just count the number of enemy planes we have shot. Of course, I know that none of the comrades present would think so. I have already asked two comrades who were recuperating from their wounds in the Army General Hospital, and I will not say their specific achievements here. I have already thought about it, and the remaining nine planes will be killed and disabled by each comrade, and even if these comrades shoot down the other three, I will report it as such. I'm going to ask the Kremlin for a pension, what do you think? ”

This is not an inquiry and discussion at all, it is simply an order! But all the pilots have no opinion, everyone knows that he has a good relationship with the top management, and his style of taking care of his subordinates and friends is "famous", he will never let his comrades be wronged, of course everyone has no opinion.

Seeing that the comrades all agreed, Lin Jun moved on to the next topic.

"Comrades, just now I discussed with Comrade Yakov and Comrade Andlupf, and we thought that we should allow the fallen comrades to return to the land of the motherland for burial, so we decided to cremate the remains of the martyrs, and you will discuss it."

In fact, one of the purposes of Largo Caballero's visit to the airport this afternoon was to hope that the bodies of the martyrs could be buried in Spain, and to hold a grand "state funeral" for the martyrs, but Yakov did not dare to make the decision on this proposal, so he discussed with Lin Jun.

As a result, Comrade Andrei refused: "The martyrs want to return to their homeland." ”

It's hard to say anything about Largo Caballero at this time: the complex for his homeland is the same in both the East and the West.

No one knows the real reason why Lin Jun rejected Largo Caballero's proposal, because he knew: this war would end in defeat for the Republic, and the remains of the martyrs must not be left to Franco.

The pilots also did not have much opinion on the issue of cremating the martyrs: the fallen leaves should also be returned to the roots.

What no one expected was that Lin Jun's decision led to the Soviet pilots who died in Spain later "returning" to their hometowns, and this became a "common practice" later.

"Since everyone has no opinions, it is decided that the day after tomorrow, Comrade Yakov and I, as representatives of the pilots, will go to the funeral parlor in Madrid to see off the fallen comrades, and I will trouble Comrade Grande to arrange the specific matters." Speaking of this, Lin Jun paused: "Comrade Grangqi, you go and talk to the government, don't let this matter be known all over the city, it's not good if there are too many people." ”

Lin Jun knew that if he didn't say hello first, the media in Madrid would definitely hype it up, and there would be a lot of people who would come to see off the martyrs, and it would not be good if there was an accident at this time.

Grande also knew what the captain meant, "Don't worry, Comrade Andrei, I will go and coordinate." ”

"The ashes of the martyrs will be taken by Comrade Yakov to Valencia, where they will return by sea. Comrade Yakov, please when the time comes. ”

Yakov was scheduled to go to Valencia in the next two days to receive new troops, but he didn't expect to wear the ashes of his fallen comrades this time.

"Don't worry, Comrade Andrei, I will definitely let the martyrs return to the motherland safely."

"Alright, adjourn."

In Moscow, when the decision of the Central Executive Committee came out, Stalin asked the staff to send the decision in a telegram to Madrid. Lin Jun, who received the callback, told the good news to his comrades as soon as possible.

The content of the incomparably lofty commendation was beyond everyone's expectations, and five pilots were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" at once; The brigade as a collective was awarded the "Order of Lenin", which honored all ground crews, and all pilots of the brigade were also awarded the "Red Banner" medal, which was not expected at all, and the compensation for the sacrificed and disabled comrades was so generous that everyone felt that the Kremlin attached great importance to this victory.

Of course, all pilots understand that winning so many honors and awards is inseparable from the efforts of their captains. Everyone remembers the first words of the captain when he first came to Madrid: You fought the battle here, the enemy is very ferocious, but each of you has the opportunity to become a Hero of the Soviet Union, are you ready?! ”

"There's nothing wrong with working under Captain Andre!" This is the idea of all pilots.

Everyone was a little unhappy that the captain who commanded and personally participated in the battle only received a "Red Banner Medal" that everyone had, because everyone knew that without the correct command of the captain, the victory would never have come so greatly.

Lin Jun knew the hearts of his comrades, but he didn't say anything, only the brother Andlupf understood: Andrei was unsealable.