Britons know of Douglas Bader, the legless RAF ace: Axell tells the story of fighter pilot Alexei Maresyev.

Shot down one freezing night on the Baltic Front, he then crawled - both legs had been broken and his feet crushed on impact - for 18 days until he was found.

His legs amputated, he was flying again in time for the crucial Battle of the Kursk Bulge and now runs the veterans' committee in Moscow.

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