76 years have passed since signing of Japan's surrender in 1945, and 76 years have passed since end of World War II.

Over past 76 years, question Which country contributed most to World War II" has been debated by many. Someone thinks it's United States, and someone thinks it's Soviet Union. Union.

The United States provided Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and China with major material assistance under Lend-Lease Act. This assistance has indeed played a key role on battlefield in Europe and on battlefield in Asia-Pacific region.

However, we should not forget that the country with highest number of military and civilian deaths in World War II was Soviet Union. As a home battlefield, Soviet Union contained vast majority of German troops and also used Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad to determine direction of World War II.

And among more than 28 million Soviet soldiers and civilians who died in World War II, in addition to local casualties against enemy, Soviet Union also sent a large number of soldiers to foreign battlefields , helping other countries in in face of military advisers and helping volunteers State fights against aggression.

A flying eagle in distance with his bomber brigade has arrived to support China's anti-Japanese war.

July 7, 1937, after incident on Marco Polo Bridge, Japanese army launched a full-scale aggressive war against China.

In order to lengthen direction of Japanese invasion from north to south from east to west, in order to benefit our army in a long-term battle,August 13, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek launched an active counter-offensive into Shanghai, known as "Battle of Songgu" .

The war lasted three months. The Japanese side invested over 200,000 people and killed over 40,000 people.The Chinese side invested over 800,000 people and killed over 300,000 people.

In addition to stubborn resistance and inflexible nature of Kuomintang army, the absolute superiority of Japanese army in aerial combat is inevitable root cause of such a tragic battle.

According to post-war statistics, before August, Chinese Air Force had more than 300 fighters, and after November there were less than 80 fighters;

The pilots have sacrificed countless lives. At a later stage, all fighters were air force cadets, because all their officers and teachers were dead, so these students, who had never touched a real joystick, were sent to battlefield.

Yi Chiang Kai-shek foresaw this situation on eve of Battle of Songhu, so shortly after incident on Marco Polo Bridge and before signing of "Soviet-Chinese non-aggression pact" with Soviet Union, he told then Soviet Ambassador to China, Bogomoro Fu, stated that < strong>hopes to get fighters and flight instructors from Soviet Union in good time.

The actions of Soviet Union were also very fast. After signing Non-Aggression Pact, he immediately approved loan and sent ultra-cheap planes, guns and other equipment. At same time, he also sent military advisers and volunteer teams to China.

Among them is Kurishchenko.

Soviet pilots take Chinese students to take to skies

Thanks to cooperation of Soviet group of volunteers and our Air Force Japanese Air Force base was forced to retreat 50 kilometers from front line until it was more than 500 kilometers away from front line. line.

It was a phased victory, and it was also a nuisance to ongoing Air Force operations. At that time most Chinese were light bombers and fuel they carried was not enough to fly long distances.

At this time, it was turn of Kurishchenko and his "Dasha", a brigade of heavy bombers.

Prior to this, Kurishchenko was mainly responsible for training Chinese student pilots and conducting test flights around Chinese Air Force base. Having received assignment, he immediately told students: "This time there will be a quiz".

The "little challenge" in his mouth was actually to fly from Chengdu to Hankou and bomb Japanese Air Force base there. The total length of route is more than 1000 km, and trip takes about 1 hour one way.

The students prepared and, under leadership of Kurishchenko, dealt a strong blow to Japanese Air Force.

During this bombardment, Kurishchenko's Bomber Brigadedestroyed over 60 Japanese heavy bombers.

In face of ensuing counterattack by Japanese army, Kurishchenko led counterattack without fear. More than 130 Japanese fighters were destroyed in next ten days. The Chinese military and civilians call it "the tiger in sky".

The combined Sino-Soviet air force took advantage of this victory to pursue October 14, 1939 and again launched vicious attacks on Japanese Air Force base.

And this battle caused "biggest defeat" of the Japanese Air Force in China.

The Japanese Air Force, which suffered heavy losses, also reacted quickly: almost immediately they borrowed three flight crews from Germany to surround and counterattack Kurishchenko's bomber brigade in May fighters.

Faced with three planes attacking him alone from three sides, Kurishchenko calmly accepted battle. When left engine blew up and he was wounded in chest and left shoulder, he and students With tacit cooperation, they successfully isolated environment.

"Captain Gu" died in China, and overseas students brought his exploits to his hometown

I thought it was safe to retreat, but Kurishchenko ran out of gas as he flew over Wanxian. In order to save plane for as long as possible, he doesn't want to jump out of plane to survive, but decides to crash-land on the Yangtze River.

The forced landing was successful, but Kurishchenko, as a mentor, insisted that others go ashore first, and told them:After landing, write down exact location of aircraft and ask base to send someone to rescue it.

Perhaps on way back, he realized that he had lost too much blood and could not escape, so Kurishchenko decided to leave plane last, fearing that students would miss opportunity to escape to save him.

At this time, people of Wang County on shore saw Chinese logo painted on plane and wanted to jump into water to save themselves. But Japanese bombers appeared not far away, and when Japanese planes left, there was no sign of a forced landing on river.

Eventually, Kurishenko's body was exhumed and buried in Van County. Since Soviet government required them to carry out "top secret missions" at time, their original names were not inscribed on tombstone, but rather "Ancient Captain's Tomb". headstone.

After their liberation, Kurishchenko's wife and daughter in Soviet Union accidentally heard Kurishchenko's name from Chinese students studying abroad.Only then did they learn that their husband and father had fought for China in Great Japanese Resistance War. hero who died.

After contacting New China, Ms. Kurishchenko approached government with a request of her own, hoping that "Captain Gu" would be reburied in Wanzhou District's Xishan Park, where the Yangtze River he once defended.

And this time, his name can finally be written on his tombstone - Grigory Kurishchenko.

His wife and daughter also came to China many times to pay their respects to their relatives.

Conclusion

Kurishchenko fought for China and eventually died in China. Our common people will never forget.

In 1951, during War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, "Kurishchenko", which took part in battle for North Korea, was donated by people of Van County.

There are several more families, Kurishchenko's grave is guarded by Kurishchenko from father to son, from father to son, from son to grandson, and stories of heroes and friendship between two countries should be passed down from generation to generation.

The forerunners went ahead and succeeded only so that we enjoy beauty of world now; we must always remember that this beauty is not easily achieved, and we must do our best to peace last longer.