Red Moscow

  Chapter 2105 Rescue Allied Airmen (Part 2)

   "Are there any difficulties?" Zakhalkin asked.

   "Comrade General." Petrie asked tentatively, "I want to ask, do these Allied pilots understand Russian or Polish?"

  Petrie's words reminded Denis that if the person he wants to rescue doesn't understand Russian or Polish, how can he communicate after meeting? The most worrying thing is, if the other party regards himself as an enemy, how can he explain the language barrier?

   "Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander." Denis echoed: "If the language is not available, how can we communicate with these Allied pilots?"

"You don't have to worry about this." Zaharkin had already considered the two people's concerns, and he smiled and said to the person: "I brought a few translators over, and you can go to search and rescue missions later. Take a translator with each of them, so that as long as the Allied pilots are found, they can communicate with them in time."

Zakhalkin was in charge of commanding the rescue of the Allied pilots this time. The reason why he brought a few translators with him was that he knew that according to the customary thinking of the Soviet Union, all foreigners who came to the Soviet Union should learn Russian instead of letting the Soviets learn Russian. To learn foreign languages ​​and communicate with foreigners. However, in the front army, there are quite a few people who understand German, and there are very few people who understand English. It took him a lot of effort to find four translators who understand English.

"Comrade Deputy Commander," knowing that Zakhalkin could only send an interpreter to accompany him, Denis felt that this was far from enough. You must know that after the search is launched, it will definitely not only be searched in one area. It means that the troops have to be broken up into pieces, and there are not enough translators, which is really not enough: "Can you send us two more translators? One translator is too little."

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Denis." Zaharkin shook his head and rejected Denis' request, "I only brought four translators who understand English, and after giving one to each of you, I only have two left. I'm going to keep them as backup, in case something happens to your interpreter in the city, you can only rely on the remaining two to communicate with the Allied pilots."

  Just as Denis was worrying, Petrie suddenly said: "Comrade General, if you want to find a few people who can understand English, I don't think it should be a big problem."

  Zakharkin said with some surprise: "Why, Lieutenant Colonel Petrie, do you have a way to find an English translation?"

"Yes, Comrade General, I can find it." Without waiting for Zakharkin to ask again, Petrie said: "You know, there are many people who understand English in Warsaw. Searching, we can always find a few and let them act as interpreters for us, so that we can search and rescue the missing pilots."

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Petrie." Seeing that the problem that bothered him was solved so easily, Zakhalkin couldn't help showing a smile on his face: "It's not too late, so act quickly. Please find A group of citizens who can speak English came to cooperate with our actions."

  Although there are many English-speaking people in Warsaw, it will take some time to find them. In order not to delay the search and rescue work, Petrie and Denis split into two groups, one was responsible for looking for the Warsaw people who could speak English, while the other was looking for the Allied pilots who parachuted.

   Unexpectedly, due to the lack of translation, a misunderstanding occurred during the search and rescue process. When a Soviet army searched in the ruins, they found two pilots retracting their parachutes in the distance. Guessing that they should be the person they were looking for, they rushed towards the other party's place.

  The highly nervous pilot saw a group of soldiers running towards him. They didn't know that there were Soviet troops in the city, and thought they were Germans. In order not to be prisoners, they quickly pulled out their weapons and fired.

   Fortunately, the distance between the two sides is relatively far, and the marksmanship of the two pilots is also relatively smelly. They fired all the bullets without injuring a Soviet soldier. As soon as they hid in the ruins of a two-story building, they were surrounded by Soviet soldiers. The platoon leader who led the team hid behind a broken wall and shouted desperately at the pilots inside: "Don't be afraid, we We are friends, we are friends..." Unfortunately, the Russian pilots hiding inside couldn't understand the Russian he yelled, and the platoon leader yelled outside for a long time, but it was just playing the piano to the cow.

Just when the platoon leader was about to ask someone to find Lieutenant Colonel Denis and ask him to send an interpreter to help, the Allied pilots trapped in the ruins couldn't hold back. They decided to surrender to the "German army" outside and asked for a proper treatment of prisoners of war. After the two discussed it, one of them picked up a wooden stick, tied it with a white handkerchief, stretched out the window and shook it desperately.

  Seeing the surrender of the Allied pilots, the Soviet platoon leader quickly ordered several soldiers to go up and help them out of the ruins. Although the two sides did not understand each other's language, in order to ease the tension of the other party, the platoon leader handed his own jug of vodka to the pilot and asked them to drink to relieve their emotions.

   Facing the friendly performance of the Soviet army, the two Allied pilots were surprised, because these "German soldiers" did not beat or scold them, and even gave them alcohol. What surprised them even more was that after the officer who gave them drinks took back the flagon, he even gave each of them a cigarette and lit it for them with his own hands.

While smoking, the two pilots wondered, "It's strange, how are these Germans different from the ones they heard in the previous propaganda?" The so-called "Germans" who "captured" them were actually Soviet commanders and fighters.

  The Soviet platoon leader saw that the two sides could not communicate in words, so he gestured to the other party, signaling them to follow him. Seeing that these "Germans" were very friendly to them, the two pilots nodded and set off behind the platoon leader.

The Soviet platoon leader took the American pilots to the headquarters of the Lazienki Palace, handed them over to Zakharkin, and reported: "Report to Comrade Deputy Commander, we have found two Allied pilots, but they do not speak Russian at all. I don’t understand, I can’t communicate with them.”

   "Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant." Zakhalkin smiled at the platoon leader and said to him: "Go down and rest first, and I will send someone to find you when necessary."

After the platoon leader left, Zakhalkin looked at the two Allied pilots in front of him and said a word of welcome with a smile. The Soviet translator behind him immediately translated this sentence into English: "Two friends of the Allied forces Everyone, please sit down!"

  The two Allied pilots couldn't help but look at each other when they heard this. After a while, the tall and thin man on the left asked tentatively, "May I ask, are you German or Polish?"

  Zakharkin and others couldn't help laughing after listening to the translation, which confused the two Allied pilots. After the laughter stopped, Zakhalkin looked at the two of them and said, "Gentlemen, you should have been in the army for a long time. Why can't you tell the difference between the German army and the Soviet army?"

   After the translator finished speaking, the tall and thin man asked in surprise, "What, are you Russians?"

  Zakharkin nodded with a smile, and replied: "Yes, we are a unit of the Soviet Belarusian First Front Army. I am General Zakhalkin, Deputy Commander of the Front Army."

   After finding out the identity of the other party, the tall and thin man finally understood why those so-called "German soldiers" were so polite to him after he and his companions were captured. It turned out that they were not Germans at all, but Russians, their allies. He hurriedly stood at attention, raised his hand and saluted Zaharkin: "Hello, Mr. General. I am Captain Bethel of the Royal Air Force, the pilot of the aircraft." Then he shook his head at his companion, "This pilot Lieutenant Lowe."

   "Captain Besil, Lieutenant Lowe, on behalf of the First Belarusian Front Army, I welcome you!" Zakhalkin stepped forward to shake hands with the two British pilots one by one to welcome them.

   After the simple greetings, Zaharkin greeted the two to sit down, and someone brought them some food and coffee. While the two were eating, Zaharkin did not ask them the purpose of the airdrop in Warsaw this time, but said to the two of them: "Captain Besil and Lieutenant Lowe, please eat something first and rest for a while. I'll ask you to do me a favor later."

  Hearing what Zaharkin said, Besil immediately put down the bread in his hand, and asked vigilantly in a polite and distant tone: "Mr. General, I wonder if there is anything we can do for you?"

  The Soviet translator hadn't had time to translate this passage to Zaharkin, but he had already guessed from James' tone that the other party had misunderstood him. Then he laughed and said: "Captain Besil, please don't be so nervous. What I mean by helping is to find other Allied pilots who landed in Warsaw. You know, the language barrier may cause misunderstandings, don't The pilots who met our fighters may not be as lucky as the two of you."

After figuring out what Zakhalkin was going to ask him to help, Besil couldn't help but blushed, remembering the misunderstanding that had just happened, he quickly said to Zakhalkin: "General, please rest assured, later Luo Wei and I will follow your squad and go to the city to find our comrades in arms."

   "Captain Besil," Zaharkin reminded, "In order to speed up the search, I suggest that the two of you separate and each follow a search team. I don't know what you like?"

Besil was very moved when he saw the Soviet general discussing with himself the matter of searching for his comrades-in-arms in a deliberative tone. He quickly stood up and said to Zakharkin: "General, in order to rescue my comrades as soon as possible, I suggest that we start now." Bar."

   "But, Captain Besil." Zaharkin saw the food on the table, and Besil and the others hadn't eaten much, so he couldn't help but said in a bit of embarrassment: "You haven't finished your meal yet."

Besil grabbed two pieces of bread, and said: "It's not too late, we have to act immediately, you must know that every minute we delay here, those pilots who landed in the city will be in more danger, we need to They rescued them as soon as possible." It was later proved that it was because of Besil's decisive decision that he successfully saved the lives of many Soviet soldiers and Allied pilots, preventing them from having unnecessary conflicts due to language barriers. .

Zaharkin took out a map of Warsaw, handed it to Besil and told him: "Captain Besil, according to our observations, several pilots landed in the area of ​​Lake Cherniyakow in the north, although there It is no man's land, but it is often shot by German machine guns, you should pay attention to your own safety."

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. General." Besil took the map in Zaharkin's hand, folded it and put it in the pocket of his flight jacket, and said with a smile: "I know very well that this is a battlefield. Can I survive?" , then it depends on God’s will.”

   It was the Soviet platoon that brought him back to search for the pilot with Besil. In order to avoid further language barriers, Zakhalkin arranged the translator just now into this small force.

  The soldiers took James and the interpreter and hiked to Lake Chernikov, hoping to find the Allied pilots who parachuted there. They had just left Povsinska Street when they heard dense gunfire from the woods ahead. The platoon leader who led the team hurriedly ordered to stop, and after listening for a while, he turned his head and said to Beisier: "Captain Beisier, judging from the gunshots, it was the shooting sounds of Mosin Lagan rifles, Bobosha submachine guns and pistols. Probably There was a misunderstanding between your pilots and our fighters."

  Hearing that there might be a misunderstanding between his compatriots and the Soviet army, Besil couldn't hold his breath, and hurriedly urged the platoon leader: "Mr. Second Lieutenant, we must rush over there as soon as possible, otherwise something serious will happen."

  The Soviet platoon leader quickly ordered the soldiers: "Scatter into formation and run forward!" Then he said to Besil: "Captain, please follow me, and don't fall behind."

When they came to the lake and merged with a Soviet detachment that was fighting here, a sergeant ran over to salute the platoon leader: "Comrade second lieutenant, we have encountered an Allied pilot. But he saw When they saw us, they shot without explanation, and after killing one of my soldiers, they fled to a ridge by the lake and hid."

  After figuring out what was going on, the platoon leader said to Besil: "Captain, please tell your people to say hello, so as not to cause any more bloodshed."

  Besil nodded, lying on the back of a mound, shouting towards the lake: "I am Captain Besil of the Royal Air Force, who are you?"

   But after shouting the first time, there was no movement by the lake. Beisier didn't know whether the other party didn't hear clearly or left, so he turned his head and asked the sergeant beside him: "Did he leave?"

   "No!" After listening to the translation, the sergeant shook his head and said, "He must still be hiding by the lake, and he was shooting at us a few minutes ago."

  After confirming that there were pilots hiding by the lake, Besil raised his voice again, revealing his identity to the other party. This time there was finally a response, and a hoarse voice sounded from the opposite side: "I am Lieutenant Martin of the Royal Air Force. Captain Besil, have you been captured by the Germans?"

"I am not a prisoner, Lieutenant Martin." Besil briefly explained his situation to the other party, and then continued: "The ones with me now are Russians, not Germans. They are our allies, not our enemies ,Understand?"

  The other party was silent for a while, and asked cautiously: "Captain Besil, is everything you said true?"

"Of course it's true, Lieutenant Martin, what I said is true." In order to show his sincerity, Besil stood up from his hiding place and shouted at the other party: "Don't shoot at your friends again, from the lake Come over here. I assure you, you will never be harmed in any way."

  (end of this chapter)