In the normal air force system of the Soviet army, a flight regiment had three flight squadrons and a squadron consisting of three crews, each with three aircraft. The eight female pilots selected to rush to Stalingrad were split into two new flight squadrons before leaving the Saratov Air Force Base and were organized into the 434th and 437th Flight Regiments respectively.

The squadron assigned to the 437th Flight Regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Laisha, including Lieutenant Lillia, Sergeant Maria and Sergeant Katya. Lillia, who served as deputy squadron leader, soon after, was frightened by the brilliant record of the German pilot. The enemy mistakenly thought the lily on her fuselage as a white rose, and called it "the white rose of Stalingrad."

Two days ago, when they were flying the plane to the airport where they were scheduled to land, they found that it had just been air strikes from the German army. The runway was covered with dense bomb craters, and the plane could not land at all. They had to change to a new backup airport.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they landed at the backup airport, the German long-range artillery fire began to attack the airport. Since the commander of the 437th Flight Regiment did not know that they were coming, he did not arrange for anyone to pick them up. The girls who had just gotten off the plane were frightened and shivered when they saw the shells that exploded around them, and they didn't know where to hide.

"Hey, what are you still standing there stupidly?" Just as the girls were at a loss, a loud voice suddenly came from a distance, "Why don't you hide quickly? Do you want to get shot from German shells?"

Lilia turned her head and saw that it was a young and handsome air force captain. After the captain finished shouting, he rushed towards them, opened his arms to wrap around Lilia and Kajia, and ran towards a bullet-proof trench not far away. He pushed the two into the bullet-proof trench, and the captain turned around and rushed over to bring Laisha and the others back.

The five of them squatted in the bulletproof trench. Listening to the explosions outside, the captain asked loudly: "Hey, I said, girls, where did you come out?"

"Comrade Captain," Laisha, who was squatting beside him, replied loudly: "We came to the 437th Flight Regiment to report, but who knew that we were bombarded by the enemy as soon as we landed."

When the captain heard Lai Sha say this, he was stunned at first, and then asked back: "Are you the women's flight squadron sent by your superiors?"

"If this is the 437th Flying Regiment, then we should be." Lai Sha said this, thinking that the captain had saved his life and the others, he took the initiative to extend his hand to him and said politely: "I am the squadron leader Lai Sha. I don't know what to call you?"

The captain held Laisha's hand and replied politely but somewhat alienatedly: "I am Alexei, the captain of the Second Squadron of the 427th Regiment. Welcome to Stalingrad."

"Captain Alexei, thank you for saving us." Lilia noticed Alexei's indifference to her and said bluntly: "You said we welcome us, but judging from your expression, you don't seem to welcome us?"

Seeing the young and beautiful blonde beauty in front of her, Alexey only grinned and did not answer her question, but turned her head and said to Laisha: "Comrade Lieutenant, after the enemy's shelling is over, I will take you to the regiment headquarters to meet the regiment commander and ask him to assign combat missions for you."

After seeing the female pilot in the pilot uniform in front of him, Khostnikov couldn't help but be stunned. After staring at Laisha for a long time, he turned his head and asked Alexei: "Captain, is this the flight squadron that the superiors add to us?"

"Yes, comrade Colonel." Before Alexei could answer, Laisha answered first: "The superior assigned us to the 437th Flying Regiment to participate in the battle."

"Join the battle?!" After Khostnikov finished speaking, he snorted coldly and said, "What we need is a real pilot, not a group of yellow-haired girls who have no combat experience."

Khostnikov's words angered Laisha. She said to the other side without being humble and arrogant: "Comrade Colonel, there is only the difference between soldiers and civilians on the battlefield, and there is no difference between men and women."

Khostnikov sneered again and said, "It's pretty. I guess you've only conducted a simple flight training and performed a dangerous aerial training mission. If you really put you on the battlefield, your first reaction is to turn around and run away when you see the enemy."

Faced with Khostnikov's contempt and sarcasm, Laisha tried hard to control her emotions. "Comrade Colonel, before we were sent here, we were affiliated with the 586th Fighter Flight Regiment. We have participated in combat against the enemy many times and achieved some results."

"No, you can't stay in my 437th Flight Regiment." Khostnikov said stubbornly: "I can't let the honor of the Flight Regiment be destroyed by a group of women. You will fly back to wherever you come from now. What we need is a real pilot, not a group of young women. I want to call the commander and ask him to give you orders in person."

Khostnikov never dragged his mind when doing things. He said he called the commander, but he really walked to the table, picked up the phone, and asked the operator to connect to the group army headquarters. After hearing the voice of commander Major General Heliujin, he said aggrievedly: "Comrade Commander, have you promised to send us a real pilot? But why are there a group of women?"

"What's wrong with women?" Heliujin heard Khostnikov say, and immediately guessed what happened, and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Colonel, I tell you that these female pilots have rich combat experience. Therefore, the superiors decided to pull them out of the 586th Fighter Flight Regiment to strengthen your regiment. I warn you not to discriminate against them, otherwise I will remove your post. Do you understand?"

"I understand, comrade Commander." Khostnikov hit a nail in Heliujin and replied with a bitter face: "I will follow your instructions and leave them behind."

After putting down the phone, Khostnikov stood up straight and said to Laisha in an official voice: "Lieutenant, follow Captain Alexei out, he will arrange a residence for you."

Looking at the backs of Laisha and Alexei leaving, Khostnikov made up his mind: Even if the manpower is tight, he cannot assign combat missions to the women's flight squadron, so as not to drag the entire regiment down.

Laisha couldn't guess what Khostnikov was thinking. As soon as she left the regiment command post, she asked Alexei curiously: "Comrade Captain, where are you going to arrange us?"

Alexa pointed to a forest not far away and said, "Our barracks are there, and the rooms of the Third Squadron are vacant. You can live with them first."

"Captain, I don't understand why the rooms of the Third Squadron are empty?" Laisha asked in confusion after hearing Alexei's arrangement: "Where have they all gone?"

"They were all sacrificed." The expression on Alexei's face immediately became serious. He said to Laisha: "Lt. Laisha, I will help you clean up the room first, and you can call them all over." After that, he walked towards the woods without looking back. Laisha looked at Alexei's departure back and was stunned for a while before he stepped towards the grounded position.

Still far away, Lai Sha saw several planes belonging to her squadron surrounded by a group of male pilots and ground crew members. She didn't know what happened, so she quickly trotted over. When she came to the crowd watching, she said loudly: "Please give me a favor, comrades, please give me a favor."

When Lai Sha squeezed into the crowd, she saw Lilia and the other three standing in front of a plane with a frown. She walked over and asked curiously: "Lilia, what happened?"

Lilia pointed to the plane beside her and said to Laisha with a bitter face: "Comrade Lieutenant, one of the oil pipes of this plane was blown off by the German shrapnel. I want to ask the airport mechanics to help us repair it, but they are not willing to help except stand by and watch the fun."

After turning his head and looking at the male pilots and ground crews around him, Lai Sha immediately waved at them, and said with some disgust: "Since you don't want to help, just go away and don't surround here." The onlookers and ground crews were embarrassed to stay after hearing Lai Sha say this, so they disperse.

After everyone around was almost gone, Laisha raised her hand and patted Lilia's shoulder twice, comforting her and said, "Lilia, don't be discouraged. Since these men are unwilling to help us repair the plane, then we will do it ourselves!"

"Repair the plane by yourself?" Lilia was stunned when she heard Lai Sha say this, and asked back, "Comrade Lieutenant, can you repair the plane?"

"Why, don't you believe I can repair it?" Lai Sha replied with a smile: "Before the war, I worked as a mechanic in the car factory. Since cars can be repaired, I don't have much problem with repairing the plane." In order not to let the male soldiers look down on him, Lai Sha asked Lilia and the others to find tools and start repairing the broken oil pipes by themselves.

After half an hour of busyness, Laisha finally repaired the broken oil pipe. Just as she was packing her tools, she saw Alexei coming over with a man in a worker's uniform. Along a distance, she heard Alexei say loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I heard something wrong with your plane. I specially found a mechanic for you."

"Thank you, comrade Captain." Laisha replied proudly while wiping her hands with a towel dipped in kerosene: "We have repaired the broken oil pipe."

"What, what did you say?" After hearing Laisha's answer, Alexei was so surprised that his chin almost fell to the ground. He asked half-believingly: "Comrade Lieutenant, you can't just joke about this kind of thing."
Chapter completed!