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Seeing the changing data on the instrument panel, Alice immediately identified the problem—the lubrication system under the belly of the Il-2 had been hit, causing an oil leak. She quickly swerved to the side to avoid further hits. Having shed four bombs, the Il-2's maneuverability had improved, and its response speed was rapid.
"Iris!"
She heard Beatrix's voice suddenly become anxious, but thankfully, thanks to the Il-2's self-sealing fuel tank design, the leak was quickly brought under control. Seeing the readings stabilize, Alice breathed a slight sigh of relief. "I'm mostly fine," she said, turning to check the effects of the four bombs, but the armor plates behind the Il-2's cockpit blocked her rearward visibility almost entirely. She sighed, "'Werewolf,' assess the impact."
"Half is left." After a long pause, Beatrice's voice came through, still filled with worry. "I see black smoke behind your mech. I suggest you go back to base first."
The wingman's words, along with the oil temperature jumping one degree, caused Alice's relaxed brows to furrow again. Combined with her already poor engine condition, Alice knew this was not the time to be reckless. She agreed to Beatrix's suggestion, reported the situation to command, and after receiving permission to retreat ahead of schedule, Alice gave new instructions: "Disband the formation. You are in charge here from now on."
“Received. Be careful on the road,” Beatrix instructed.
Trailing a plume of black smoke, the Il-2 climbed at a gentle angle. To prevent the engine oil temperature from rising too quickly, Alice adjusted the throttle valve. Although it was the first time she had encountered such an unexpected situation, the girl found herself not too panicked. Perhaps it was because the Belken people no longer had an air force, and given her current altitude and speed, flying back to base wouldn't be difficult.
However, after returning this time, the plane will probably need major repairs. Thinking about this, Alice's mood darkened. She wondered how long it would take "Scarp King" and his team to fix the attack aircraft.
Flying alone along the optimal route planned by command based on her aircraft's condition, the girl could only pass the time by thinking about these questions.
Until she saw what appeared to be a fairly large convoy speeding along on the ground in the distance.
"Command, this is Iris. Are there any friendly forces active here?" She instinctively contacted command.
"This is Belken-controlled territory; we haven't deployed any troops here. Wait, let's check with the Kingdom's army," the command center replied immediately.
"The Ergia from Alpha Base haven't sent anyone here either, but we can't rule out that they're from somewhere else." As the situation became clearer, the command continued, "Iris, your flight path remains unchanged. We will send someone else to confirm the identity of this convoy."
However, Alice had her own ideas: "There's no need to send anyone else. They're right near my flight path, and I can visually confirm their identities by lowering my altitude."
"My body is still in good condition, so this won't put too much extra burden on her..."
"No." The command center refused outright. "Your machine is damaged. If they are the enemy, you will be in great danger."
Alice initially wanted to say she trusted the Il-2's armor protection, but then she remembered why she was there in the first place, and the words stuck in her throat. Still unwilling to give up, she gathered her thoughts and continued, "There won't be much danger, just flying over their heads..."
“No, Lieutenant,” the voice in the headset was stern and brooked no argument. “We will not send a damaged aircraft on a high-risk mission. Now, maintain your altitude and flight path. Reconnaissance will be handled by a specialist.”
“…Understood.” Alice reluctantly gave up the idea of lowering the altitude, watching the convoy slowly approach on the ground.
'Just a gentle push...'
An uncontrollable thought arose in her mind, drawing her gaze to the control stick between her legs. This intensified her urge to push the stick, especially as she contemplated the prospect of being grounded. Her eyes darted back and forth between the control stick and the vehicles on the ground.
"Just a gentle push..."
The control stick was gently pushed forward, and the steel cable beneath it began to drive the control surfaces accordingly. The massive steel eagle began to swoop down towards the ground.
She quickly discerned the composition of the convoy—it consisted of eight vehicles, all trucks, none of which had the appropriate identification markings painted on their fronts according to the coalition's friend-or-foe identification standards. There were no other markings either, and the paint scheme was unlike anything she had ever seen in Belken's forces before.
The truck bed was completely covered by tarpaulin. Apart from the person in the cab, Alice couldn't see anyone else. In fact, at her current height and speed, seeing the person in the cab was virtually impossible—unless she got within tens of meters and moved at an absurdly slow speed. But if she did that, the danger would increase dramatically: if several machine guns were hidden in the back of the truck bed and suddenly opened fire while she was carefully observing, she would have absolutely no room to maneuver and could only pray that the bulletproof glass and armor of the cockpit were strong enough.
Alice didn't intend to take the risk; she only planned to make a brief flyby of the convoy. If the convoy belonged to them, they should have identified themselves after she passed by and displayed their insignia. Even if they didn't have a flag, they could have expressed their stance by waving their arms.
So she increased the throttle, cutting in from the second car of the eighth car in the convoy, and began her pass.
“Command, this is Iris…” She didn’t forget to report the convoy’s size, course, and speed to command. Naturally, her disobedience infuriated those in command, but before they could utter a sound, Alice noticed the canvas covers on the front and rear trucks had been ripped off, revealing multiple machine guns underneath!
"Cyka!" She instantly pushed off the rudder and pulled back the stick to avoid the line of fire while facing the enemy with her belly. That way, even if she couldn't dodge it, she could use the armor plates on her belly to take some damage—she couldn't just be so unlucky as to get hit by the lubricator again, could she?
Volume 1: Chapter 226 (Second Hundred and Tenth Chapter) Emergency Landing
isn't it? !
An unnatural tremor came from the nose of the Il-2, which alerted Alice to something was wrong. She quickly checked the data on the instrument panel, and her face fell – not only was the lubrication system malfunctioning, but the engine was also having problems. The numbers on the oil and coolant temperature gauges were rapidly rising. In War Thunder jargon, "the lubrication oil was black, and both the coolant and oil temperatures were red."
"Command, this is Iris. I've been attacked by a convoy. There are two disguised anti-aircraft vehicles in the convoy, and the aircraft is severely damaged..."
Before Alice could finish speaking, she discovered that things weren't going to get any worse; the radio on the plane had also been destroyed.
The girl swore again, pulled the plane to an altitude where it was basically out of range of ground fire, adjusted the throttle to a suitable position, trying to prevent the temperature from rising too quickly, while maintaining a certain speed as it flew towards the airport.
Unbeknownst to Alice, as the Il-2, billowing thick black smoke, departed, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the two anti-aircraft vehicles. An officer emerged from the passenger seat of the second vehicle, observing the heavily damaged Il-2's trajectory through binoculars. He then went to the third vehicle and gave some instructions to those inside. Following this, a soldier carrying a large backpack jumped out, attached a wobbly antenna to the backpack, and began operating it.
At this moment, Alice was facing the greatest test of her military career, beads of sweat forming on her fair forehead. She had taken every effective measure she could to try to save the attack aircraft, which was nearing the end of its life. But the data didn't improve; at best, it just wasn't deteriorating as severely—in short, it was a matter of whether it could hold on for another minute or five.
The Il-2 attack aircraft uses a water-cooled engine. With the lubrication system damaged, the heat generated by the engine accumulated in the nose and could not dissipate for a long time. After struggling for five minutes, the coolant finally dried up. After a final shudder, the overheated engine calmed down, and the propeller speed quickly and visibly slowed down, relying solely on the airflow changes brought about by the aircraft's forward movement to keep it turning.
"Schei? Bae!" Alice Stina's current altitude is only a little over 700 meters. Both her speed and altitude are continuously decreasing, so she definitely won't be able to float back to the base.
Only two options remain—find a stable place to land or parachute out. This depends on the surrounding terrain.
Fortunately, there was a relatively flat area below where she could land. The distance might be a bit short, but if she controlled her speed and descent rate well, it should be fine.
Alice made up her mind and began to circle the area to descend. After losing power, the Il-2 became extremely stiff to operate; every movement of the joystick was a struggle against air resistance and mechanical friction. Fortunately, there was no wind; otherwise, she would have had to pay attention to wind speed and direction and make timely adjustments, which would have made her landing even more difficult.
After circling several times, the Il-2's altitude dropped below fifty meters. Most of its potential energy was consumed during the circling, but some was still converted into kinetic energy, which was reflected in its speed. The Il-2 did not have speed brakes—which made its speed higher than expected. But Alicetina had no room for adjustment, nor any chance to start over. She could only bite the bullet and manually lower the landing gear.
The sudden increase in air resistance did slow the Il-2 down a bit, but that wasn't enough, and due to the stall, the machine began to fall. The unorthodox posture caused the Il-2 to bounce upon impact. Once Alice controlled it to land safely again, half of the remaining "runway" could be used to slow it down and bring it to a stop.
To avoid a rollover accident, she couldn't keep the brakes slammed on; she had to apply them intermittently. Looking at the expanding forest ahead, Alice felt for the first time that the Il-2 attack aircraft's brakes were as unreliable as if they were coated with oil.
The girl felt like she was playing a real-life version of Raiden Fighter, only able to avoid obstacles by moving left and right. However, if Alice were actually in a game, the level designers definitely hadn't intended for a no-damage run—the trees were too narrow for the Il-2 to pass through!
In this battle between human industry and Earth's nature, industry once again lost. The alloy wings, unsurprisingly, failed to cut through the thick tree trunk. On the contrary, the Il-2's wings were torn off by the tree trunk, and the enormous impact caused the girl's head to make intimate contact with the instrument panel in the cockpit—luckily, she was wearing a helmet, otherwise she would have suffered a severe head injury and unconsciousness, and if she was unlucky, she might have been left with a disfigured scar.
Like a fallen dragon, the Il-2, seemingly having lost its wings, left a deep mark on the forest floor. The impact left Alice dizzy and disoriented, and it took her a while to regain her senses.
We need to get out of here immediately, or those people might come after us...
This was enemy territory, and Alice knew her situation wasn't dire. Despite the massive impact, the cockpit door hadn't warped or jammed, allowing her to exit smoothly. Of course, she hadn't forgotten to grab the AKS-74U tucked next to her seat—a testament to her foresight. In this situation, a proper rifle offered far more reassurance than a toy like the GSh-18; an automatic weapon could effectively suppress pursuing enemies and create more opportunities for escape.
However, this plane couldn't be left to the Belken devils, even though it was already wrecked; it still contained a lot of classified information. Fortunately, there was still a considerable amount of fuel left in the fuel tanks. After manually draining the fuel, the aviation fuel quickly formed a puddle of water beneath the wreckage. After stuffing everything that didn't need to be taken, or couldn't be taken, into the cockpit, Alice finally pulled a thermite incendiary bomb from her vest, disarmed it, and tossed it into the cockpit.
With a soft hiss, a burst of intense white light emanated from the bomb, quickly igniting everything around it. This incendiary bomb, powered by the thermite inside, could unleash flames of up to 3000 degrees Celsius. This intense combustion was enough to completely melt the wreckage into useless scrap metal.
However, the flames and smoke from the fire would reveal her location, so Alice had to leave.
……
Let's get some votes!
Volume 1: Chapter 227 (Task Allocation)
Inside the Alpha base, Princess Rosa was in her room, reviewing the various reports submitted by the propaganda department over the past period.
After the awarding ceremony, she had a long talk with her father. The details of their conversation were unknown to outsiders, but after that talk, Rosa became the unofficial liaison officer for the 7th Brigade of the Kingdom of Elgia. She followed the 7th Brigade wherever it went.
Before Princess Rosa could finish reading the stack of documents on the table, a short, sharp alarm sounded in the base, accompanied by an order for certain personnel to immediately proceed to the command center.
Princess Rosa listened carefully to the names being read. Besides herself, there was Captain Valerio of the brigade's reconnaissance company, Major Miller of the airborne battalion, Major Sergeyev of Spetznaz, Captain Davis of the intelligence company, Captain Sergei Vorobyov, who was in charge of commanding Mi-8 helicopters in the army aviation unit, Captain Vasha, who was in charge of commanding Mi-24 helicopters, as well as people from the 588th Aviation Regiment and the maintenance unit.
Almost all of them were personnel from units capable of rapid response and deployment. She quickly found commonalities in the list and came to the conclusion that something serious had happened.
She gave a shout and headed straight for the command center.
"Commander, everyone's here." Rosa saw Yelena lean close to Lu Wu's ear and whispered a reminder.
"Comrades, five minutes ago, we lost contact with an Il-2 attack aircraft that was returning to base." Lu Wu nodded, cutting straight to the point without any preamble, and simultaneously marked a dot on the large map in the operations center. "According to our last communication with the pilot, she had close contact with an unidentified convoy here. Our initial assessment is that our attack aircraft may have been attacked by the convoy, and may even have crashed."
This information was undoubtedly a bombshell, both for the personnel of the 7th Brigade and for the people of the Kingdom of Elgia. This was the first time since the start of the war between the Kingdom of Amelia and the Belken Empire that a vehicle had actually been destroyed in combat. Yes, although Lu Wu described them as "unidentified," everyone knew that the enemy personnel likely to appear in this place and at this time were most likely Belken people. Such an event at this critical juncture was a huge morale booster for the Belken people and would undoubtedly be widely reported. Thinking of this, Princess Rosa felt a chill run down her spine.
"Commander, based on our experience over this period, the Belken should not have any weapons that can threaten our aircraft," someone asked, a question that was agreed upon by many.
“The armor protection of the Il-2 is not as indestructible as you imagine.” Mead knew this very well and explained, “The armor on the belly of the Il-2 is only 5 millimeters thick. The Belken’s machine guns can penetrate it at a distance of 500 meters. Moreover, there is no armor protection in front of the oil tank on its belly. If the Belkens aim at this part and fire during a dive, they may destroy the oil system or hit the oil tank, thereby damaging the engine.”
“The missing pilot was Captain Alice, known for her aggressive flying style, and her flight codename was 'Iris.' Recent maintenance reports indicated her aircraft should have been returned to the factory for repairs after two to three more missions. Two hours ago, Captain Alice and Captain Beatrix, codenamed 'Werewolf,' were ordered to carry out a ground attack mission. Upon reaching the mission location and launching the attack, 'Iris's' aircraft was hit and deemed unfit to continue the mission, leading to an early retreat. While returning to this location, they discovered a convoy of eight trucks heading south. They then violated command's order to 'maintain the established flight path and altitude and return to base,' arbitrarily descending to conduct reconnaissance, and subsequently lost contact.” Yelena continued, briefly outlining the situation after taking over from Mead.
Rosa keenly noticed that almost everyone's face darkened when she mentioned "disobeying orders."
“Our first priority now is to ascertain 'Iris's' status,” Lu Wu said, his tone firm despite the question. “The closest to the location where she lost contact is the 'Werewolf,' right? Complete the mission quickly, then immediately head to 'Iris's' location to conduct an aerial search, while maintaining radio contact with 'Iris' until you can make contact.”
"The reconnaissance company and Spetznaz will travel here in Mi-8 helicopters to conduct a ground search, escorted by Hind helicopters, while the airborne battalion will provide a second wave of reinforcements. Be aware that the enemy may be a company-sized force and may be equipped with rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns like the 72-K." As the saying goes, "once bitten, twice shy," having already failed before, it's natural to be more cautious in predicting the enemy's moves. 2
"Once enemy anti-aircraft fire is detected, the Hind helicopters will attempt to destroy it. If the firepower is too intense, then hand it over to the Witch Squadron," Lu Wu continued assigning tasks. The speed of jet attack aircraft is difficult for traditional manually adjusted anti-aircraft guns with azimuth and elevation controls to keep up with, making the Witch Squadron, equipped with Su-7 attack aircraft, the best choice to suppress enemy anti-aircraft fire. After removing the anti-aircraft guns, the Baba Yajia Squadron can then step in and reap the rewards.
"Desmond, send a medical team to accompany the reconnaissance company and the airborne battalion. The base should also be prepared."
"clear."
“If Captain Alicetina falls into the hands of the Belken, bring her back at all costs. We cannot allow our soldiers to become the enemy’s playground,” Lu Wu added, looking at Mead and the commander of the Baba Yaga squadron. “Also, if Captain Alicetina’s plane didn’t crash on the spot, but escaped after being attacked, how might she fly? How far could she possibly go? I need you to make a prediction.”
"learn."
Lu Wu finally looked at Princess Rosa. Although that place was occupied territory, it wasn't entirely devoid of Elgins. There were also a small number of unofficial resistance groups and militias there. In this situation, it would be more efficient for the Kingdom of Elgins to negotiate officially than for them to do it themselves. But before he could speak, Rosa interrupted him: "The Kingdom of Elgins will not stand idly by while its friends are in distress. We will do everything in our power to provide you with everything you need, at any cost."
"Thank you very much." Lu Wu bowed slightly in thanks, then straightened up and said, "Comrades, if there are no problems, go and take our pilot home!"
...Q
Captain Sergei Vorobyov was the captain of the only Mi-8MT helicopter to crash during rescue operations after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He belonged to the 112th Helicopter Regiment and was the sole survivor of a helicopter shot down in Afghanistan. The helicopter crashed because a crane operator operated the boom above the reactor without orders, causing the unannounced pilot to strike the sling. All four crew members perished. Respect to them.
Volume 1: Chapter 228 (212) Deep Behind Enemy Lines (1):
Heinrich, the company commander of the 8th Company, 2nd Battalion, 524th Regiment, 23rd Infantry Division of the Belken Imperial Army, pushed aside the soldier in front of him and immediately felt a wave of heat wash over him.
Several tens of minutes earlier, he received direct orders from command to lead a team to search for an Amelia military aircraft that might have crashed nearby, and to capture its wreckage and the pilot. During the search, he spotted a column of black smoke rising from the edge of the jungle and eventually arrived at this location.
The raging flames and thick smoke filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. Heinrich saw one of their targets, glowing red-hot from the fire, with the outer flames even resembling molten droplets. The flames weren't just scorching the wreckage of the aircraft; they were spreading outwards, igniting the surrounding trees and fallen leaves. The soldiers of the 8th Company were currently cutting down trees around the massive fire, trying to create a firebreak.
This wasn't because the men of the 8th Company had Scandinavian ancestry, nor because Heinrich was an environmentalist. Their goal was to salvage the wreckage of the aircraft. Initially, they tried to extinguish the fire, but after some attempts, they quickly realized the fire was too intense for them to put out. They could only create firebreaks and wait for it to burn itself out.
"Do all the Amelia's planes use such high-powered fuel? If the pilot hadn't climbed out of there, we probably wouldn't even have been able to gather his ashes properly. It just saves us trouble," Heinrich's adjutant, Marshall, exclaimed. "But I have a feeling this fire could burn until tomorrow."
"Do you think a simple fuel leak or a collision could cause this?" Heinrich ignored Marshall and asked after a moment of silence.
“You mean…” Marshall’s expression also became serious.
Heinrich asserted, "This is arson, intended to completely destroy the aircraft and prevent us from obtaining anything useful. I saw a car accident before I joined the army; the truck was carrying potassium nitrate, and even then, the scene wasn't burned like this."
“What…what could he possibly use to create such a massive fire…” Marshall’s pupils dilated in shock. “What if he has something else on him capable of causing this horrific sight, and he uses it against us?”
What could be done? Just let it be. Heinrich remained silent.
"Should we still put out this fire? If it really was set on purpose, then I don't think there's any point in trying to put it out," Marshall asked again.
"Let's continue. I've already sent someone to notify the nearest troops to come and reinforce us. Perhaps, in the eyes of experts, even a pile of scrap metal is still useful scrap metal."
Marshall nodded. "This fire has only been burning for twenty or thirty minutes at most. The pilots certainly haven't gone far. Should we send some people out to search?"
“No need.” Heinrich shook his head. “The plane crashed, so he has to contact command for help. He can only use a portable radio and signal flares to indicate his location. But portable radios have limited transmission power. If he wants to extend his communication range, he’ll have to go to a higher elevation. Map.”
Marshall immediately unfolded the map he had collected, and the two of them quickly found the highest point in the vicinity—a small hill three kilometers away.
Just as Heinrich had guessed, Alice was now heading towards a small hill only 3 kilometers from the crash site. However, Heinrich's prediction had a slight flaw: Alice's move to the higher ground wasn't to increase the radio communication range—after setting the plane on fire, Alice discovered that the life-saving radio mounted on her bulletproof vest had failed—when the plane crashed into the forest, many parts inside the cockpit were blown off by the impact, and this life-saving radio had conveniently shielded her from a shrapnel bullet.
She was currently 22 kilometers away from Alpha Base, making it virtually impossible to bypass the Belken's multiple blockades and return to base on foot. Although she had received wilderness survival and combat training, she was, after all, just an ordinary attack aircraft pilot; this was outside her area of expertise, and asking the impossible was simply asking too much. Besides, her AKS-74U only had two magazines, which would be used up quickly after a few shots…
According to unit regulations, when a pilot crashes and loses contact with base, they should remain in place or proceed to a clearly visible location to await rescue. Clearly, in this situation, unless she wanted to conduct an on-site investigation of the Belken POW camp to write an "Investigation Report on How the Belken Empire Army Treated Prisoners," she couldn't remain in place and had to choose the second option. As for this clearly visible location… where could be more suitable than a high vantage point?
Alice hadn't forgotten that she had launched a two-plane formation this time. Beatrix wouldn't be too far away. After losing contact, Beatrix would likely search along her flight path and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, be drawn to this area by the smoke. Once she reached a high vantage point, she could spot Beatrix's plane in time, fire a flare to indicate her position, and then wait patiently for the helicopter to arrive and pick her up.
Yes, she hadn't forgotten she still had the standard-issue locator on her person. It wasn't broken, the battery was full, and everything was normal, but Alice didn't choose to activate it to send a location signal. The reason was simple: there were no satellites here, and the 7th Brigade hadn't established a corresponding coordinate system. Even if the base received the signal, they wouldn't be able to locate themselves using it; the device was completely useless.
Fearing that walking on open ground would make her easily spotted by the Belken and leave her nowhere to run, Alicetina had to proceed under the cover of the jungle. Her energy and strength had already been depleted during the previous crash landing and impact, and the rugged terrain, requiring her to constantly watch out for branches to avoid tripping, made her even more exhausted. Even now, she still experiences mild tinnitus and dizziness.
Eating a cloyingly sweet chocolate bar finally replenished some of her energy, making her feel a little better. She casually stuffed the wrapper into her pocket to avoid inadvertently revealing her location. Alice realized she had reached the edge of the jungle, meaning she had covered a third of the distance, but from there, the jungle would no longer provide cover.
Taking a small sip of water, her AKS-74U was already loaded and ready to fire, the fire selector adjusted to burst mode. Her GSh-18 at her thigh was also cocked. Concealing herself in the shadows of the jungle, she carefully surveyed her surroundings, and once she was sure no one was around, she quickly left the jungle.
……
It's a bit tough; I don't know if it's hepatitis B or just a cold.
Volume 1: Chapter 229 (Chapter 213) Deep Behind Enemy Lines (2)
"Commander, 'Werewolf' has completed its ground attack mission and is now searching along 'Iris's' return route."
Inside the combat center, air traffic control was reporting the latest developments to ground forces.
"Hmm, is there any activity on the radio?"
"There has been no response, and we haven't received any signal from the locator either. If Lieutenant Alicetina has activated the locator, we can pinpoint her location..."
"What kind of positioning are you going to do without hardware support!" Lu Wu rolled his eyes, feeling a bit worried.
The impact of losing a positioning system is undoubtedly enormous, with battlefield rescue being just one negligible aspect. However, building such a system in the Ens world is simply too far-fetched for the current 7th Brigade.
The process of building rockets and launching satellites alone can take decades. The design and construction of the system also need to be started from scratch. In addition, they need to conduct a series of tasks such as surveying and mapping the terrain. Each step requires a large number of researchers to invest continuously over a long period of time, and it also raises a series of political issues that need to be coordinated and resolved.
Time ticked by, but even after Princess Rosa's adjutant, sent to contact the royal family, returned, the intelligence in the operations center remained unchanged, creating a tense atmosphere. The lack of communication could only mean three things: the radio was broken, someone was dead, or someone had been captured. The location device not being activated would likely be for the same reason. However, if there was neither communication nor a location signal, the latter two possibilities were more probable, as the probability of two devices stored in different locations failing simultaneously was relatively low.
Finally, Beatrix brought new information—she had arrived at the location of the convoy mentioned in Alice's report, but she hadn't found any trace of it. There was a jungle nearby, and she deduced that the enemy might have hidden there to avoid aerial reconnaissance.
It was obvious that the Belken were adapting to Amelia's fighting style. After all, even a pig would learn to be wary after being attacked by the same person so many times. Although the Allied forces were not happy to see this change, they knew it was inevitable; the more victories they achieved, the more obvious the changes in the Belken would become. In a sense, it was the 7th Brigade that taught the Belken how to deal with mechanized attacks.
Fortunately, Beatrix soon made new progress—she spotted a column of black smoke rising from the edge of the jungle about five minutes away.
The attack aircraft, its fuselage painted with the word "werewolf," descended to 100 meters, but thick smoke already obscured the edge of the jungle. Beatrix couldn't see anything clearly, but the relatively flat terrain allowed her to recreate the scene in her mind. The Il-2's low-altitude reconnaissance mission encountered no anti-aircraft fire and detected no Belkens.
This news lifted the spirits of everyone in the operations center. Almost an hour had passed since they received the news that Alicetina had gone missing, and finally, some good news had arrived.