Only Old Men Are Going to Battle Page #4

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Ninth, go to a landing.

Oh, it's not cold at all.

The soloist is coming.

In a frontal attack a hypothetical

enemy's been hypothetically shot down.

May I have your remarks?

All right, we'll get along.

But you have to work on your turns.

Rookies, come here.

- Darkie!

- Here.

Well, kids, tomorrow we go to battle.

In your first battle, most important

is not to fall back from the leader.

You may not shoot down enemy planes,

you may not even shoot.

But if you hold on to the leader's

tail, you can fly.

But once you gape, they'll eat you

alive, and you can blame only yourself.

For now remember

the three "no's".

In battle you can't be blind.

Turn your head 360.

Second...

- Grasshopper.

- Here.

Go to the commander.

He's in great spirits!

Third, never leave your

comrade when he's in trouble.

Better die yourself,

but help your friend out.

And fourth, never keep a fighter

on a permanent duty.

Please let me fly.

And fifth, you can't

interrupt your seniors in rank.

- You may go.

- Yes!

You too.

Grasshopper was the best at school.

Comrade Commander,

he's not 18 yet.

To get enrolled at school,

he added himself a year.

- He's a great guy!

- For how long has he to be on duty?

Until he comes of age.

You're called to the command post.

I was watching.

Good work! But you have

to make way for your elders.

In a streetcar - no problems,

but not in battle.

We'll get along.

You mean I flew to my mother-in-law's

and gave you some baloney?

But they couldn't

vanish into thin air,

those damned tanks,

and they couldn't draw

them off so quickly.

I'll inform you within an hour.

May I fly again?

Come on, wait...

- Where are they, then?

- Allow me to fly.

And order to put a photo camera

onboard, if my word is not enough.

You're stubborn, aren't you?

- Here, take this.

- What for?

Too bad we don't have enough hay.

It eats a lot of it. What about yours?

Leave the hay!

Maestro, what was that roundabout

you had up there?

A training battle,

for the reinforcement.

- And how was it?

- All right.

Who was it that pressed you so?

I told them about frontal attack.

And he went head-on and didn't turn.

I couldn't turn either, after all

I'm a Hero of the Soviet Union.

And girls stare at you at the mess.

It's not my character to turn,

but he went on and on.

- So you had to swerve?

- Not to mess things up.

- They're good boys, we'll get along.

- Hurry up, men.

The Germans are transferring our old

acquaintances to the Kiev area.

I mean Goring's best carrion crows.

Thanks for good news.

Why should they come here before

the start?

Enough of your superstitions.

It's not good. Well...

It doesn't count.

Don't swap it for a tank!

Starlet, I'm Maestro!

The irons are in place, camouflaged

as haycocks. Quadrant 19.

- Roger, Maestro!

- Quadrant 19, copy.

- Roger.

- Say hello to the neighbors.

How are you?

- How are you, Maestro?

- All right, I'm falling.

Guys, I'm one of you, a Soviet.

You say Soviet? There you go!

Check out my uniform.

He's even donned our uniform!

- Oh, holy sh*t!

- He even swears in our tongue!

Go to hell, the queen of fields!

He seems to be ours.

And let my regiment know

that I'm alive and well.

Very warm hospitality.

- I'll get there.

- We'll provide you with transportation.

We'll fix you up,

and you'll be great.

This is the pure stuff.

We keep it for our guests.

Fomin, drop your accordion.

Water for our guest.

Yes!

Let's have one for the road and to

friendship between our corps.

- Some friendship.

- Don't be pissed off.

One Messer has been bombing

our first-aid post for a week.

Chose the red cross

as his target, bastard.

The boys took you for him

and got a bit overexcited.

You're lucky you're alive.

Well, aviation...

To our victory.

We'll live on, infantry.

You're a hell of a drinker!

A fighter drinker!

All right!

TO KIEV!

Halt! Who's coming?

Not coming, but riding. Dnieper.

Volga. Go on.

Greetings, Comrade Commander.

Hi!

Makarych, accept the machine.

I swapped it without bargaining.

Sorry, they didn't offer me a tank.

Who?

Darkie.

How did it happen?

They worked on flying in pairs.

Suddenly 4 Fokkers out of the blue.

I've never seen them like that.

All painted up with diamond aces.

Pop on the wireless: "Go away. "

But where to? They were in the clutches.

Suddenly there comes Darkie:

Cover me. I'll attack. Well...

He was just a kid. Got carried away.

He should have gone on a turn,

but he persisted, and...

A daring devil.

What a guy!

When we got up, no more Fokkers.

And he was burning down in the weeds.

Those are his things.

Yesenin's poems.

His tunic... over there.

And Aunt Dusya.

His mother.

How are they going to tell Aunt Dusya

that he's... gone.

Missing in action is better.

Already our instalment.

You know, Vitya and I

lived in the same house.

When they were seeing us off at the

station, all the boys played the fool.

And Vitya turned around...

and said:

"Look how old our

mothers turned in a moment.

Just in a moment... "

Stop crying.

How do you say "sky"

in your language?

And "earth"?

And "cherry tree"?

Only it's not cherry, but an apple tree.

Makes no difference.

It smells of home.

A poplar is my home country's tree.

Only ours are tall,

Lombardy poplars.

And how do you say "home"?

Such a long word?

In Uzbek, it means

"I love you, Masha. "

Girls, Romeo and Masha are coming.

Masha.

- I got to go.

- Romeo!

Yes.

I'll be in trouble if...

- Sure.

- Romeo!

Only you go first.

I can't look back.

All right.

- Don't look back either.

- Right.

- Well, I'm going.

- Goodbye.

Goodbye.

- Good luck.

- Goodbye.

We never look back!

Novokov.

- Congratulations!

- I won't let down.

Kozhanov.

Kozhanov!

No more flying for Kozhanov.

Titarenko.

Congratulations!

Want to say something?

No, I'm not good at talking.

I'll say my word in battle.

Good point.

Our party is

- 6 men.

- 8 men, Komsomol leader.

Eight.

Congratulations, communists.

And you, Titarenko, will get

a mission from the Party right away.

Sit down, comrades.

Sit down.

You've already met

those Goring's diamond aces.

They can burn very well.

Come on, you shouldn't

underestimate the enemy.

The German man is a serious man.

But they do burn very well, and you

should explain it to the young boys.

All this hype with

painted aces, dragons

and other voodoo stuff

is aimed at them.

This is a psychological attack.

You scare the enemy before battle,

you get an advantage.

They won't scare him!

- Your regiment has too many rookies.

- That's true.

So your task of the first

order, Captain,

is to explain all that to them

intelligently, setting your own example.

I understand, Major.

I have my own account

to settle with the diamonds.

Just write like this? "This'll be

the day for you and us, so kiss my...

Shall I put an ellipsis?

- A diplomatic note.

- Cossacks writing to the sultan.

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