The search force commanded by Koshkin searched in the forest area. While they were looking for the whereabouts of the pilot, they also had to beware of the Germans who appeared suddenly, so the search operation was very slow.

   "Comrade Captain," Major Okunev, the battalion commander of the 109th Infantry Brigade, came over and frowned and said to Koshkin: "According to our search speed, how long will it take to find the missing pilot?"

"No way, Comrade Major." Koshkin knew that Okunev was a classmate of Sokov at the Frunze Military Academy, so he spoke very politely to him: "In this vast forest, there are not only our troops, There are also German troops. If we are not vigilant during the search, if we encounter the enemy, I am afraid we will pay a high price."

  Okunev agrees very much with Koshkin's statement. But letting his troops stay in the forest for a long time is also something he doesn't want to see, "Comrade Captain, what you said is indeed reasonable, but I think we should speed up the search, and find what we need before the Germans." Looking for a pilot."

  As soon as he finished speaking, there were gunshots and explosions in the forest ahead. Okunev and Koshkin listened carefully and knew that it was their troops who had exchanged fire with the enemy. However, judging from the sound of gunfire and the explosion of grenades, there were not many Germans.

   "Come on!" Okunev shouted to the side.

   Soon a captain appeared in front of him and asked respectfully: "Comrade Major, what instructions do you have?"

   "Captain, did you hear the gunshots and explosions coming from the front?" Okunev told the other party: "You immediately take people to support, and you must not let the Germans escape."

   "Yes!" The captain agreed, turned around and shouted at the soldiers around him, "Follow me!" When he ran forward with a pistol in hand, hundreds of people followed immediately behind him.

  Many people are powerful. With the dispatch of reinforcements, the sound of gunfire and explosions in front soon stopped.

A soldier with a rifle ran over in a hurry, stopped in front of Okunev and reported to him: "Comrade battalion commander, there are 25 enemies in total, all of whom have been wiped out by our army. The captain is afraid that you will worry, so he specially sent me Come and report to you."

"Good job." Knowing that all the enemies found in the front have been eliminated, Okunev praised the other party, then turned to Koshkin and said: "Comrade Captain, since the enemy has been eliminated, let's go to the front Go and see."

   Soon, the two came to the place where the battle used to take place. It was a clearing in the forest, and the captain was leading people to clean up the battlefield.

  In addition to the corpses of the German soldiers, there were more than a dozen motorcycles parked beside them, including two-wheelers and three-wheelers, but most of them were damaged by bullets or grenades and could not be used at all.

  Seeing the arrival of Okunev and Koshkin, the captain hurried forward to report to them: "We have wiped out all the enemies, and there is no one alive."

   "Comrade Captain." Koshkin looked at the captain and asked, "Tell me, why did the enemy appear here?"

  Hearing Koshkin's question, the captain didn't know how to answer for a while, so he turned his attention to his battalion commander for help.

Seeing this, Okunev coughed heavily, and then said: "Comrade Captain, didn't you just say that there are not only our troops in this forest, but also German troops. These German guys appeared here and fought with We had an exchange of fire, so there's nothing strange about that."

"No." Koshkin looked at the German corpses on the ground and said, "A small force of more than 20 people sounds like a patrol, but they are equipped with heavy weapons such as general-purpose machine guns, which is too unreasonable." .”

  After Koshkin’s reminder, Okunev also realized the seriousness of the problem. He said cautiously: “Could it be that these Germans also came out to search for the pilot?”

   "Very likely." Koshkin nodded and said, "If I'm not mistaken, our missing pilot should be nearby."

  Okunev looked around, and then pointed to Koshkin in one direction: "Comrade Captain, there is black smoke rising over there, and the plane that was shot down may be there."

   "Come on, let's go and have a look!" Koshkin walked to those motorcycles, picked out a usable motorcycle from them, and headed towards the direction where the black smoke rose. Okunev wanted to follow, but he couldn't ride a motorcycle, so he asked the soldiers next to him, "Who can ride a motorcycle?"

  A soldier raised his hand: "Report to Comrade Major, I can ride a motorcycle."

  Okunev sat in the sidecar of a three-wheeled motorcycle and told the soldier: "Come up quickly and take me to chase Captain Koshkin."

  Several motorcycles were speeding through the forest. When they passed through the dense forest and came to a clearing again, they saw two Soviet planes ahead. One plane fell to pieces and was still burning violently; while the other plane stopped more than 30 meters away and was relatively intact. In the middle of the two planes lay two dead bodies in bomber jackets.

   Koshkin quickly drove the motorcycle to the front of the two corpses. He lifted his legs and got out of the car, crouched in front of the corpses and began to study them carefully.

   When the foot soldiers arrived panting, Koshkin had already completed the site survey and had a wild guess about the whole thing.

  Okunev stared at the dead body of the pilot on the ground, and found that there was something wrong with the posture of the two. It seemed that one person was carrying the other while running, and was shot from behind and died.

   Koshkin walked up to Okunev and asked, "Comrade Major, do you see anything?"

Okunev nodded and expressed his own judgment: "According to my observation, I think one of the pilots should be injured, and the other compatriot was carrying him and wanted to leave these places, but was shot by the enemy from behind." Shot dead."

   "Well, Comrade Major, what you said is roughly the same as my judgment."

   "Approximately the same?" Okunev asked back: "Captain Koshkin, I wonder what kind of conclusion you have drawn from the on-site inspection just now?"

Pointing to the remains of the two pilots, Koshkin said to Okunev: "Comrade Major, based on the analysis of the shape of the corpses at the scene, one pilot should be injured, and when his companions were about to transfer him, he was killed by the Germans." He was shot from behind."

"Comrade Captain, I want to ask." Okunev raised his own doubts to Koshkin: "I also think that it is a pilot with a wounded companion, ready to transfer. But the problem came, after being attacked Where does he plan to transfer his companions if the enemy pursues them?"

   "Comrade Major, if you want to know the answer, I think I may be able to answer your question."

   "Tell me, Captain Koshkin." Okunev asked, "What is going on?"

Koshkin pointed to the burning plane, then pointed to another plane parked nearby, and began to tell Okunev his speculation: "If my analysis is correct, this burning plane should be He was shot down by the Germans. Fortunately, the pilot was lucky, and he survived when the plane crashed on the ground. The pilot of the fighter plane next to him, seeing his companion’s plane was shot down by the Germans, boldly landed in the forest on the ground."

"Maybe as soon as he got off the plane, he saw the Germans coming from all around. In order to save his companion from danger, he pulled his companion out of the burning plane, and then ran towards his plane with his shoulders on his shoulders. But unfortunately, The Germans were coming so fast that before he could get to his plane, he was shot and killed by the Germans chasing after him."

After listening to Koshkin's analysis, Okunev thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Comrade Captain, I think your analysis is very reasonable. This pilot should be killed by the Germans to save his companion. Killed." He remembered the German corpses he had just seen in the last glade, and added, "Maybe it was the enemies we eliminated."

   "Contain the pilot's body, let's go back and report to the commander."

  Since the missing pilots were found, even though they were all sacrificed, Koshkin still wanted to go back and report.

  An hour later, Koshkin appeared in the army headquarters and reported the search experience and final results to Sokov and others. When he told the news that both pilots had died, he said in an annoyed tone, "I'm all to blame for this incident. If I could act faster, I might be able to rescue these two pilots."

"It's useless, Captain Koshkin." Sokov waited for Koshkin to finish speaking, then shook his head and said, "If things are really as you have analyzed, I guess the pilot should have landed shortly after landing. Sacrifice at the hands of the Germans. In other words, the moment we received the mission from our superiors, the pilot had already died."

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Sidolin agreed with Sokov: "The nearby Germans rushed over immediately when they saw our planes being shot down and voluntarily landing. Our pilot was killed. But the enemy ended up shooting at our pilot, killing both of them.”

   "I see." Sokov nodded and said, "Let me think about how to report this to the Front Army Command." After finishing speaking, he closed his eyes and began to think.

When Sokov opened his eyes again, he had already figured out how to report the matter to Rokossovsky, and he said to everyone: "I think Comrade Marshal must be waiting impatiently, I will call him to report now The situation here."

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin reminded Sokov, "I'm just speculating on the sacrifice of the two pilots. I'm afraid only those Germans who were eliminated by us know the specific situation. You just reported the situation so hastily, Does it fit?"

   "Since the superior has assigned us the task of searching for the pilot, no matter what the final outcome is, we should report to Comrade Marshal in time."

Seeing that Sokov insisted on reporting to Rokossovsky, Sidolin knew that it would be useless to persuade him, so he could only say with a wry smile: "Okay, Comrade Commander, since you insist, then report to the Marshal immediately." Comrade reported this matter. But I can't guess how he will react after hearing this report."

  Sokov nodded: "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am mentally prepared. No matter what Comrade Marshal says, I will listen quietly instead of singing against him."

After finishing speaking, he picked up the high-frequency telephone on the table, dialed a number, and politely said to the operator: "Operator, I am Sokov. Please help me connect with the Front Army Command and find Comrade Marshal. I have important work. to report."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." The operator replied bluntly: "I will help you take over the Front Army Command immediately."

  The phone was connected quickly, and Rokossovsky's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, what do you want from me?"

   "I'm reporting to you about the two pilots."

   "Oh, about the pilots?" Rokossovsky couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard what Sokov said, and then asked, "So, your people have found them?"

   "Yes, we did find them." Sokov said with a heavy heart, "But they all died."

   "What, all sacrificed?" After hearing this, Rokossovsky was shocked: "What is going on, why did they sacrifice?"

"Comrade Marshal, please allow me to report to you." Before making the call, Sokov had already considered how to reply to Rokossovsky: "At that time, two planes were attacking the enemy on the ground in the air, but unfortunately One of our planes was shot down by the enemy and crashed into a glade. The pilot was lucky to survive.

   And his companion, seeing that he was shot down, immediately lowered his altitude and landed in a forest glade, preparing to use his own plane to carry the wounded comrades back to the airport. But unfortunately, the German army appeared at this time. They saw a pilot of our army carrying a wounded pilot and ran towards the plane parked not far away, so they shot and killed the pilot of our army without hesitation. "

"Damn Germans." Hearing what Sokov said, Rokossovsky cursed through gritted teeth, and then asked, "Where are those Germans? We must pay them the blood debt they owed." Ask for it back."

   "Comrade Marshal, you don't have to worry about this." Sokov continued: "The Germans who killed our pilots have all been wiped out by the search team performing the search mission."

   "Oh, it has been eliminated by you?" Rokossovsky said in admiration: "I really didn't expect that your speed is so fast, and you have wiped out all the enemies who killed our pilots."

"It should be a coincidence." Sokov said modestly: "Those enemies did not leave after killing our pilots, but wandered around, probably thinking about dealing with our search troops. When they ordered Unexpectedly, the search team we sent was not a small unit, but a large number of regular troops. With such a disparity in strength and equipment, they were eliminated, which means it is logical."

Now that the pilots had died, their affairs were temporarily put aside. Rokossovsky asked with concern: "How is the situation in the south of Pultusk town? Can you withstand the German attack on you?" .”

"Comrade Marshal, please rest assured." Sokov said to Rokossovsky: "My troops have long been prepared for defense. When the enemy attacks, they will rely on the existing fortifications to defend. Now They have repelled the Germans twice. It is impossible for the enemy to take the ground from them."

   "Since you have confidence, then I am relieved." Rokossovsky said: "Good luck to you!"

  . "