The senior petty officer looked at the kitten for a long time, and then took it, fed him with the rest of his lunch, named the cat Ryzhik and declared it the seventh soldier of the anti-aircraft battery. Ryzhik took to the soldiers and by winter had grown into a healthy ginger cat.
Soon a particularly valuable feature was noted of this cat. Half a minute before a raid, Ryzhik growled loudly in the direction from which the enemy planes would appear. Apparently his house had been bombed by German aircraft. And the sound, carrying death, he would remember forever.
His was a skill was appreciated by the entire battery of gunners.
The effectiveness of rebuffing enemy attacks increased by orders of magnitude, as well as the reputation of Ryzhik. The regiment's liaison officer, who tried to kick him with his boot as all he saw was an animal that was becoming entangled under his feet, was immediately hit in the face.
At the end of April 1945 the battery was resting. The war was coming to an end. Luftwaffe aircraft in the sky were rare, so the battery of anti-aircraft gunners were enjoying the spring sunshine and Ryzhik slept outside, in the fresh air.
But suddenly Ryzhik woke up and began aggressively growling only towards the east. It's an incredible situation: in the east are their fellow Soviets! But the servicemen trust Ryzhik's instinct. Silence, guns pointed to the east, just in case. They believe in their cat and wait. Our hawk (the common name for a Soviet fighter aircraft in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War) appears with a plume of smoke. Followed by an enemy plane!
The battery instantly reacted with a double burst and the German aircraft plunged into the ground 500-700 m from their positions. The hawk on the turn swung from wing to wing and went to land; fortunately, airbases are nearby.
The next day came a car full of guests and brought the pilot - a chest full of orders, a confused look and a suitcase full of presents. He had a look on his face - who should I thank? He asks, "How did you know I needed help? Yeah, like, exactly on target? I brought you this to thank you".
The fighters nod at Ryzhik — "Say thank you to him! " The pilot thinks he's being played. So the senior petty officer tells the whole story.
The pilot came back the next day with two kilos of fresh liver for Ryzhik. He even thought that the cat's name was Radar, but no - he was already called Ryzhik, they didn't rename him.
Incredibly, for the first time in history, a cat was given the military rank of petty officer for his attentiveness and bravery.
In June 1945 the unit was disbanded and everyone went home. The Belarusian petty officer took the cat with him to his village, rightfully judging that since the cat was found in Belarus, then he would live there after the war.
They say in the village where the petty office was from, the descendants of this cat - all fiery red-haired - still live there.
Source
Енот из Херсона TG
