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29 A Hooligan on the Road In May of 1942, the armies of the Southwestern Front launched a major offensive toward Kharkov. Our Southern Front joined the operation to liberate the city and destroy its occupiers1 Before flights, our liaison squadron was briefed about the latest combat operations at the front. We would then fly to one or another army, division, or corps to verify those reports. On the morning of May 20, I was to fly to the 9th Army with a top secret package. Although a navigator or liaison officer usually accompanied me, for some reason I flew alone on this mission. At the approaches to the town of Izyum/ I could see our troops' frantic movements along the fields and roads. In Svyatogorsk and Izyum-in fact, throughout the Northern Donets valley-scores of fires raged. Since childhood, I've always hated fires. In the village, we used to say, "A thief at least leaves the walls standing; a fire, nothing!" I still remember the night the wheat burned in our village. We used to dry the bundles of harvested wheat in the threshing barn by heating it from below with a big brick furnace. One night our threshing barn caught fire . A spinechilling scream rang out into the quiet night. "Fire! Fi-ref We're burning!" We 1 Now known as the Second Battle of Kharkov. On May 12, 1942, the Soviet Southwestern Front (supported by the Southern Front) launched simultaneous attacks from the northeast and southwest of Kharkov, in a planned pincer movement to surround the city. Most historians contend that the Soviet effort was ill-advised in conception and botched in execution -the Red Army had underestimated German strength in the area and was walking into a trap. Stalin would not listen to his commanders' warnings . (According to historian Alexander Werth, Khrushchev made this claim in his "Secret Report" of 1956 to the XXth Congress; of course, Khrushchev had his own motives for doing so.) German forces counterattacked, resulting in the encirclement of Group Bobkin and the 6th, 9th, and 57th Armies. By the end of May, more than 200,000 (and possibly many more) Red Army troops had been captured or killed, and the way was cleared for Paulus's victorious 6th Army to advance to Stalingrad. The extent of the catastrophe was kept from Soviet citizens and soldiers at the time-an announcement at the end of May put Soviet losses at "5,000 killed and 70,000 missing." 2 The Red Army had seized a bridgehead over the Northern Donets River at Izyum which formed a westward salient into German lines south of Kharkov and, in effect, laid a trap for the Soviets. As Soviet troops (including the 9th Army) pushed west via Barvenkovo, a German counteroffensive on May 18 pressed north toward Izyum, pinching off the bulge and encircling four armies and many senior officers by May 23. 102 RED SKY, BLACK DEATH jumped down from our beds and rushed madly around in the darkness of our izba. The boys ran out of the hut half-dressed, but Mama was so frightened that she couldn't find the door. She grabbed the samovar instead of the doorknob . She might still be standing there if my younger brother Kostya hadn't run back to the hut. "Mama, calm down! The fire's out, the wheat is safe," he cried. "Kolya sent me to tell you everything's all right!" Even in wartime, with whole cities burning, I still couldn't get used to the sight of those ravenous flames. My heart pounded with anxiety, just like when I was little, as I looked down upon the blazing Donets River valley. It seemed that all Russia was ablaze. Above, a dogfight raged between a pair of our I-16s3 and six Me-109s-an unequal battle. But our "Ishachki" masterfully evaded the Messerschmitts' fire and made a frontal attack, seizing the advantage. I must confess, I was so entranced by the dogfight that I failed to notice the German fighter swooping down on me from above like a hawk. A burst of machine gun fire flashed. If only there were some little ravine or hollow to drop down into! Instead, an unbroken field undulating with last summer's corn stretched out before me as far as the horizon. A solid wall of forest rose to my right, and to the left I could see a town. The plane caught fire. Suddenly, the...

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