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"The only difference between us is that the public can talk freely about it, whereas we cannot, because we have two responsibilities - to organise it at the proper time and place, and secondly not to give the enemy any information of our intentions. Already the Germans are getting uneasy at the militant offensive spirit of the British and Americans in this matter."
"We listened to the radio chatter between our planes and convoy HQ. We could clearly hear Safonov reporting: "Got One!" and a bit later "Got another one!". All of the sudden, "Crippled the third, but I am damaged, heading towards the ships". Everyone could see how his plane fell into the sea. A.I. Gurin, the Brigade commander, requested permission of the convoy commanding officer to send one of the vessels to the plane's crash site. That it was Safonov's plane was known not only to the Soviet sailors but to the convoy CO as well, since his radio was always on. Nonetheless, permission never came. In the second request it was mentioned that it was Safanov's plane that had crashed but permission was still refused. As we arrived at the base, the Northern Fleet commander, Admiral Golovko, visited us. A.I. Gurin reported to him the details of Safonov's death and that the convoy CO refused his request to approach the crash site. Golovko couldn't hold his tears. "I wish you would have told that American to go as far as possible," he squeezed the words out of himself, "Even if you couldn't save him you could at least pass the place where he crashed. I would have felt much better."