red moscow

Chapter 2729 Air Combat Hero
Early the next morning, the captain of the garrison headquarters came to see Sokov.

"Comrade Sokov." The captain already knew Sokov's name and asked politely, "I wonder if you can send someone to patrol the streets today?"

"No problem." Sokov agreed readily, called Dennis and Andrei and gave them orders.

Sokov pointed to the map of Moscow on the table and said to Denis and Andrei, "Each of you will lead a patrol today, with the garrison headquarters as the center. Deal with things that can be handled in a timely manner; if you can't handle it, come back and report to me, and I will go and handle it myself. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" they both answered in unison.

After the two men left, the captain said with emotion: "Comrade Sokov, although you don't have any military rank now, I saw that when you gave orders, you were very capable, just like a commander who has been in the army for many years."

"Comrade Captain," Sokov laughed dryly and said in a dissembling way, "I am just a new soldier who has just joined the army for a few days. I don't know anything. I learned the orders I gave just now from the movies."

Sokov's words successfully confused the captain, making him really think that Sokov's performance just now was all learned from movies. After a pause, he said, "By the way, Comrade Sokov, a very important pilot will be here today. You are responsible for protecting his safety."

"A very important pilot?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Who is it?"

"I don't know." The captain shook his head and said, "My superiors only told me that it was a very important pilot, but I don't know exactly who it was."

Sokov didn't care. Since the pilot didn't even know about it, he must not be an important character, so he didn't take it to heart.

After breakfast, Sokov was strolling in the yard when a sentry standing guard at the gate ran over and asked Sokov, "Comrade soldier, is your last name Sokov?"

"Yes, I am Sokov." Sokov looked at the sentry and asked curiously, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"There's a police officer outside looking for you." The sentry said this and added, "It's a female police officer, and she's pretty."

When Sokov heard that the police were looking for him, he was quite nervous, fearing that his identity had been exposed. But when he heard that it was a female police officer, he immediately realized that the person coming was Victoria. He couldn't help but feel ecstatic. After thanking the sentry, he quickly ran to the gate.

"Misha," Victoria, who was standing outside the door, saw Sokov running towards her and waved her hands and shouted, "I'm here!"

Sokov came to Victoria and asked nervously, "Why are you here?"

"There are some things I want to clarify, so I came to see you during my morning break."

Sokov grabbed Victoria's hand and pulled her aside so she wasn't blocking the door.

After arriving at a relatively secluded place, Sokov asked, "Vika, what do you want to ask?"

"Misha, tell me truthfully, is this really not your first time traveling to this era?"

“Yes, this is my second time traveling through time.”

"So where did you travel to for the first time?"

"The town of Khimki," Sokov said bluntly. "I became Corporal Sokov, the squad leader of the town's garrison squad. That's how I got my name."

"What time is it?"

"December 1941," Sokov continued, "that was the day when the German reconnaissance troops broke into the town. I commanded the garrison squad to fight them. Later, with the help of the instrument factory militia, we wiped out the German army. Because of this incident, I was appreciated by the commander of the Moscow garrison and was promoted in both position and rank. Many other things happened afterwards. If I were to talk about them, I would not be able to finish even if I talked for three days and three nights."

"So when did you meet my great-grandmother?" Victoria asked.

"I can't remember clearly." Sokov said casually, "She was the commander of an anti-aircraft machine gun company under my command."

"When you came to my house, my great-grandmother said you were her old superior. I thought she was old and confused. How could she mistake a foreigner for her old superior?" Victoria said with emotion: "I didn't expect that what she said was true. You are indeed her old superior."

"Vika, I was actually more shocked than you when she recognized me." Sokov said with a wry smile, "You've seen my true face, and there is no resemblance between me and the Sokov that Lida saw back then. But she could recognize me easily. This is simply too strange."

Victoria said thoughtfully: "My great-grandmother is old, maybe she has some special abilities, such as seeing people's true faces."

Sokov was confused and said, "Vika, I don't quite understand what you mean."

"We ordinary people see a person as he or she looks." Seeing Sokov's bewildered look, Victoria explained to him, "Maybe I saw your true face in my house that day, but in my great-grandmother's eyes, I saw the old superior who once fought side by side with her."

Victoria's words scared Sokov into a cold sweat: "Vika, that's not the case."

"This is just my guess." Victoria said here, her expression became melancholy: "I came to the period of the Great Patriotic War and left my great-grandmother alone at home. I don't know how she is doing. I don't know when I can return to the future. I am worried that if time goes too long, my great-grandmother will have no one to take care of her and something unexpected will happen."

"Vika, let me tell you something." Sokov thought about it for a long time and decided to tell Victoria about his experience: "The last time I traveled through time was on Victory Day. I was exploring the underground fortifications with a group of friends. Because the light inside was too dim, I got separated from them. Later, I found a light ahead, so I walked towards it. Who knew that when I walked out, I found myself in the town of Khimki in December 1941. I turned back to return to the present, but found that the passage had been closed."

Victoria frowned slightly: "Misha, which year's Victory Day are you talking about?"

"Of course it's this year's Victory Day." Sokov continued, "I stayed in the 1940s for more than four years, but when I returned to the modern world, I found that only a few hours had passed. In other words, the time in the two worlds is not synchronized. One year here may only be equivalent to one hour in the modern world."

After hearing what Sokov said, Victoria showed a relaxed expression on her face: "If that's true, then I'm relieved. I'm away from home for a few hours, so it shouldn't be a problem." After a pause, Victoria asked again: "By the way, how did you return to the modern world?"

"In March 1946, I was transferred to Vienna to serve as the commander of the Guards Army, preparing to participate in the large-scale military exercises held at the end of April." Sokov told Victoria: "Who knew that after inspecting the troops, on the way back to the headquarters, I was attacked by a group of bandits. Unfortunately, I was shot and wounded and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. It was during the emergency treatment that I returned to the modern era and was still in that underground fortification."

"During the time you were missing, didn't your friends look for you?"

"Of course they did." Sokov nodded and said, "But they searched the entire underground fortifications and found no trace of me."

"That is to say, during the time they were searching for you, you stayed in the Great Patriotic War, am I right?"

"Well, you are quite right."

"Misha, I remember your friend who disappeared in the basement of Hovlin Hospital." Victoria asked tentatively: "We haven't been able to find him yet. Could he have traveled back to the Great Patriotic War like us?"

"It's hard to say." Sokov scratched the back of his head and said, "I had the same idea at first, but then I found out that I only disappeared for a few hours in the underground fortifications, while he disappeared for a few days. According to the unequal time formula, he stayed in the past for decades, so he should have left some traces. But I searched carefully and found no clues related to him at all."

Victoria crossed her arms over her chest and continued to analyze according to her own thoughts: "You became a general with great achievements during the Great Patriotic War, but it seems that you did not leave any traces in later generations. How can you be sure that your friend Khabarov will leave a mark in history?"

"Vika, actually, after I returned to modern times, I found traces of me in many places." Sokov looked at Victoria and said, "For example, the photos of me with the three marshals Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovsky, the novels I published, and other people mentioned me in their diaries..."

"Wait a minute," Sokov just said this, but was interrupted by Victoria: "What novels have you published in the past?"

""Dawns Here Are Quiet"."

Victoria chuckled, then said, "Misha, don't be ridiculous. This book was written by Vasilyev. It is my favorite novel ever, so I will definitely not remember the author's name wrong."

"Vika, I really didn't lie to you." Sokov said helplessly, "After I returned to the present, I found that the author of the book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" that existed in the future was indeed Vasilyev. But among the books left by the elders of the family that sold the house to me, there is one book "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" written by me. If you don't believe it, I'll show it to you after we both return to the future."

"Okay, stop talking. I believe you." Victoria raised her hand to stop Sokov from continuing. "But I'm worried that when we return to the future, many things may change unexpectedly."

"What unexpected changes do you think will happen?"

"I don't know for now." Victoria shook her head and said, "But I have a feeling that when we go back, a lot of things will have changed."

The two were chatting when suddenly a jeep drove over from a distance and headed towards the gate.

The sentry reached out to stop the jeep and prepared to go forward to check.

This time the co-pilot door of the jeep opened, and a captain walked out. From the rank insignia on his collar, it can be seen that he is an air force officer.

When he saw that the other person was an Air Force officer, Sokov immediately remembered that the captain had told him that an important pilot would come today and asked him to arrange for someone to protect his safety. The Air Force captain who appeared here should be the pilot the captain mentioned.

"Vika, the captain of the garrison headquarters told me that an important pilot will come today." Sokov raised his chin towards the air force captain and said, "I think it should be this person."

Victoria looked in the direction Sokov pointed and saw the air force captain. But the next moment, she exclaimed: "Oh my God, it's him!"

Sokov asked with some doubt: "Do you know this Air Force captain?"

"Didn't you recognize him? He is Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin." Victoria grabbed Sokov's arm and said excitedly, "He is the future Air Force Marshal, the father of Soviet air combat tactics, a famous pilot in our country during the Great Patriotic War, and a proud eagle in our Air Force. In the four years from the beginning to the end of the war, he completed more than 4 combat takeoffs, participated in 650 air battles, shot down 156 German planes alone, and shot down another 59 enemy planes in a group.

He was awarded a third Gold Star for flying 650 combat missions and shooting down 59 enemy aircraft alone, becoming the first person to be awarded the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union' three times."

Sokov thought that the only people who had won four Gold Star Medals and were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" were Marshal Zhukov and Brezhlev; the three who had won the Gold Star Medal three times were Pokryshkin, Kozhedub and Budyonny; the three who had won the Gold Star Medal twice were Marshal Rokossovsky, Marshal Vasilevsky and Marshal Konev.

It seems that Captain Pokryshkin is an amazing air combat hero. No wonder the captain of the garrison specifically told him to arrange personnel to ensure his safety. Thinking of this, he turned to Victoria and said, "Vika, I still have work to do. I will come to you another day. You go back first."

"I'd better let me come find you. After all, I don't know when my superiors will assign me a job or where they will send me. If you come to find me, you may not be able to find me." After Victoria said this, she waved to Sokov: "I'm leaving first. See you another day!"

"See you later!"

Sokov glanced at Victoria's departing back, straightened his military appearance, then walked up to Pokryshkin and saluted him: "Hello, Captain Pokryshkin."

Hearing Sokov call out his name, Pokryshkin asked in surprise: "Comrade Soldier, do you know me?"

"I don't know him." Sokov replied calmly, "But I received an order from my superiors saying that a very important pilot, Captain Pokryshkin, will come to the garrison headquarters today and asked me to be responsible for his security. I saw that your rank is Captain of the Air Force, and I guessed that you should be Captain Pokryshkin. I didn't expect that I was right."

"You guessed right, comrade soldier." Pokryshkin shook Sokov's hand and said with a smile: "I am Captain Pokryshkin, deputy commander of the aviation brigade. What should I call you?"

"My last name is Sokov. You can just call me Sokov from now on."

(End of this chapter)