The speaker was General Sukolovsky, one of the people in charge of the defense of Moscow. He was in his 50s and tall. He was filling his pipe with tobacco as he spoke.
When he said this, everyone in the room looked at General Gromagin, and many people had the same questions as Sukolovsky in their eyes.
Stalin looked at General Gromagin and said nothing, but his frowned brows furrowed again.
"Chinese pilots?" Lieutenant General Ma Lanjin, another member of the Zheng Zhi Committee, was also holding a huge pipe. He had a beard unique to the Soviets of this era. "As far as I know, before this, all Chinese pilots were us. He was taught by Soviet instructors. Isn’t it a little bit to ask his apprentice to carry out such a major task this time..." Lieutenant General Malankin paused as he spoke, but finally stopped talking and looked at General Gromagin with questioning eyes. Then he looked at Stalin.
Stalin still said nothing.
Stalin trusted General Gromagin, otherwise he would not have entrusted the defense of Moscow to him. However, Gromagin let a Chinese pilot serve as the commander of this top-secret mission, which is indeed a bit puzzling.
Although people always make mistakes, it is unforgivable to make mistakes at this moment when the survival of the Soviet Union is at stake.
Stalin looked at General Gromagin with bright eyes. Since everyone has doubts about this matter, let Gromagin explain.
Before the war, mutual distrust between officers was a taboo.
Sukolovsky lit his pipe and puffed loudly: "Chinese pilots are students of Soviet instructors, and most of their previous fighter jets were also aided by us.
Since we withdrew all air force instructors and volunteer pilots from China last year, the strength of the Chinese Air Force has plummeted. Under the strong attack of the Japanese, it has returned to the bottom period after the Songhu Battle in 1937.
I really can't imagine what kind of excellent pilots they can produce themselves. "After speaking, he kept shaking his head.
General Konev, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked: "General Gromagin, what is the name of the Chinese pilot you mentioned?"
General Gromagin knew what Konev meant by asking this question. This man had a little feud with him privately, so he had ulterior motives for asking this question now.
"His name is Zhou Zhihan. He is a colonel. He has superb air combat skills and strong tactical ability. He is a rare talent."
General Gromagin replied.
He has always believed in Zhou Zhihan, and he also believed that Zhou Zhihan would go all out, because Zhou Zhihan did not represent him personally at this time, but the Chinese Air Force.
General Konev nodded: "I heard that he is the ace pilot you specially requested from China?"
As soon as General Konev said this, everyone looked at Gromagin with strange eyes.
hehe!
Hahaha!
No wonder you support this person so much. It turns out to be your trump card, General Gromagin.
Lieutenant General Malankin said: "As far as I know, our Soviet ace pilots are also very famous, such as the Soviet hero Yumashev, who has superb skills and has repeatedly performed extraordinary feats.
For example, test pilot Mark Canai, who shot down a Stuka bomber for the first time he took to the sky, Major Pisanko, and Captain Naitenko, each of them can stand alone and take on big responsibilities! "
General Gromagin naturally knew what everyone was thinking. Faced with everyone's doubts, he felt no guilt: "Since our night combat fighter unit has just been established, the night combat capabilities of the team members still need more experience before they can take on important responsibilities. For the sake of safety, I This Chinese ace pilot was specially assigned to lead the fleet to take off before dawn to pick up Marshal Zhukov!"
General Konev's face was full of displeasure: "You mean, our Soviet night fighter pilots are not as capable as Chinese pilots? As far as I know, Chinese pilots don't know anything about night fighters."
What he said is too obvious. The Chinese pilots don’t even know what night combat aircraft are, so what qualifications do they have to be the commander of this operation?
"You are talking about the past." General Gromagin was not impatient in the face of everyone's doubts. "Now China has night battle hurricanes. Although the number is not large, under the command of Colonel Zhou Zhihan, they fought several beautiful big ones. They won the battle, especially when they bombed the Japanese Nanning Airport at night, destroying more than 200 Japanese fighter-bombers, and the Japanese asked their allies for advice on night fighter technology. During the Dunkirk evacuation, Colonel Zhou almost single-handedly The force opened up the nearest escape route for the British coalition forces."
General Gromakin changed the subject as he spoke: "In the recent breakout battle in Kiev, Zhou Zhihan led our Soviet fighter group to defeat more with less, assisting General Potalov's Fifth Army to break out of Germany at the critical moment. He made a great contribution to the encirclement of people. If it weren't for him, it would be difficult for the 5,000 men of the Fifth Army to break through."
As soon as General Gromagin finished speaking, everyone including Stalin showed a look of surprise.
"What?" Marshal Shaposhnikov, the Soviet chief of staff who had been silent, took off the pipe in his mouth. "You said that the commander of the fighter unit that assisted the 5,000-strong Fifth Army to escape the German encirclement was a Chinese pilot. ?”
General Gromagin: "Exactly this man! Major Pisanko, Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Yumashev and Mark Jialai all participated in that battle. In this top-secret flight early this morning, Pisanko and Yuma Scherff also participated.”
Stalin's frown relaxed a little after hearing this. He had been worried about Zhukov's safety and almost didn't sleep last night.
General Gromagin continued: "Due to the heavy losses of experienced pilots in our army in the early days of the war, many young pilots became fearful of war when they heard the famous German aces flying, so I specially invited them from China. Zhou Zhihan, who is extremely skilled, lets him suppress the arrogance and arrogance of Germany's ace pilots and let our young pilots know that the German Air Force is not invincible."
If General Gromagin's words had been heard in the past, he would have definitely attracted a lot of criticism. The marshals and generals would have asked him why he had the ambition of others and the prestige of his own people.
But at that time, the current Soviet Union collapsed again and again under the powerful German offensive. If Moscow fell, it would have a huge blow to the confidence of the people across the country in resisting Germany.
Not long ago, in order to slow down the powerful German offensive, Stalin, who never asked for help, specifically requested British Prime Minister Churchill to launch an offensive on the Western Front to contain the German army. After Churchill declined, Stalin turned to Britain and the United States for weapons support. These requests would never have happened in the past.
It can be seen that the Soviet Red Army suffered defeat after defeat. When Moscow fell into crisis, the Soviets were no longer proud.
Stalin took off the pipe from his mouth: "Comrade Gromagin's approach is very good. We must now unite all the just countries in the world to deal with the enemy together. Please invite Chinese pilots to come and participate in our just battle. This will help Solidarity among all the righteous nations of the world.”
After hearing the words of the Supreme Commander, all doubts about General Gromagin disappeared.
At this moment, an intelligence officer walked in quickly and said to General Gromagin: "General! I just received a message from Colonel Zhou Zhihan. The bombers they protect will soon enter the sky above the German JG52 Wing. Please ask for help." The troops immediately launched an attack and containment on the German airport."
