The Tale of a Real Man

The plot of "The Tale of a Real Man" is based on real events that happened to pilot Alexei Maresyev during the war (the writer changed one letter in his hero's last name). His plane, having fired all its ammunition, was caught in the grip of a quartet of enemy fighters. The pilot tried to break free from the grip, but a burst of machine gun fire still hit the engine. He struggled to pull the descending plane toward his territory until it crashed into the treetops… The pilot sustained severe injuries; for eighteen days, hungry and frostbitten, he crawled to his own people until he was found by the children of partisans. Then – a hospital, amputation of both legs… But after a year and a half, Maresyev got back into the cockpit of a plane, specifically a fighter. Despite becoming a cripple, he still longed for the sky, for battle. And he won.
It is not easy to break a person who has a desire to live against all odds and whose love for the Motherland is boundless.