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25 Devil's Fellow The squadron's chief of staff, Senior Lieutenant Listarevich, opened the door of the pickup and said regretfully, "I'm sorry we didn't give you time to rest, Annushka. You've been urgently summoned to staff headquarters to report on the location of the cavalry corps." Lieutenant Konstantin Semyonovich Listarevich was a good-natured man-lively, cheerful, and quick with a joke and a laugh, but he hadn't been himself lately. He had recently learned of the atrocities the Fascists had committed in his native Belorussia1 Worry about his childhood horne near Gomel and about his elderly mother, a teacher, and father, a telegraph operator, weighed heavily on his heart. He concealed his emotions and only seemed to become more energetic, working ten times as hard. He had been a fighter pilot in the 1-16 until his eyesight failed him at the dawn of the war. Now he took on the responsibilities of chief of staff and squadron commander simultaneously , managing the engineering service, aircraft repair shop, and food service. He'd much rather have been flying missions with us, if he could. But even as busy as he was, he always found time for a chat or an encouraging word to share with pilots before missions. Although our squadron was intended for liaison purposes, we flew other kinds of missions as well: reconnoitering enemy positions near the front lines, searching for lost units, and establishing communications with them. That night Listarevich and I flew to Kamensk-Shakhtinsky2, where the Southern Front Staff was headquartered. We arrived just before midnight and were immediately led to a brightly-lit room. Gathered around a huge table, a 1 Belorussia (the present-day territory of Belarus) suffered mightily during Germany's three-year occupation. The Nazis adopted a savage scorched-earth policy there as they swept through in 1941, partially in retaliation for widespread Belorussian partisan resistance, but also in an effort to exterminate the Jewish and Slavic population, whom the Nazis viewed as Untermenschcl1-"sub-humans" of inferior races. Germany executed hundreds of thousands of civilians, deported hundreds of thousands for forced labor, razed thousands of villages, and murdered an estimated ninety percent of the Jewish population that had not already fled. True figures are difficult to gauge, but Belorussia lost approximately a quarter of its pre-war population - by proportion the highest death rate in Europe. 2 A town just east of Lugansk in southern Russia, on the Northern Donets River. 88 RED SKY, BLACK DEATH group of generals stood studying a map. 1 froze in bewilderment, unsure to whom 1should report. "You're the pilot who found the cavalry corps, aren't you?" someone finally asked. "Yes," I said. "Show me on the map where Parkhomenko and Grechko corps are located." Two generals politely made way for me as 1 approached the table. To my chagrin, 1 could not recall the names of the settlements where 1 had found the cavalrymen. 1 grew increasingly distressed, running my finger for a long while along the colorfully marked operations map, but to no avail. "May 1 show you on my map?" 1 asked timidly, knowing the areas were clearly marked there. From my fur boots 1 produced my worn, large-scale aviation map, marked up with course lines, and far easier for me to read than the operations map. The generals burst into friendly laughter, and my tense nervousness drained away. "Here," 1began, pointing to the map. The generals bombarded me with questions. 1 gave clear and precise answers , directing them not to the questioner but to one particular general whose kind, round face and sumptuous fluffy moustache put me at ease. He smiled and pointed furtively to another general who was the senior officer there, signaling me to report to him. But 1 still felt drawn to the mustached officer witl1 the gentle eyes and continued to address him. When 1 finished, they thanked me and dismissed me. On the way out, 1 ran into the commander of the Front Liaison Service. "How was it in there?" Korolev asked. "I told them everything in detail, Comrade GeneraL" "Good," he said, pausing for a moment. 1 took advantage of the lull. "Comrade General, the man with the whiskers, is he the Army Commanderin Chief?" "No, that's General Korniyets, a member of the Military Soviet. You liked him, didn't you?" "Yes, very much." Listarevich and 1 flew back from Kamensk at dawn. 1 had...

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