War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1048 The Tail Behind Wei Ran

Wei Ran got up quietly and left the warm room alone in the dark before four o'clock in the morning when he and the breeder Matvey agreed to go to the front line to collect horse meat.

Outside a door and two cotton curtains, the bitter cold wind let out horrifying howls as it passed through the ruins of the building. From time to time, some small snowflakes were carried by the cold wind and blown into the open space outside the basement room. .

He looked up at the crack in the ceiling on the first floor. It was only one night, and the gap where he could see the sky had been completely covered by snow. Correspondingly, there was a comet tail-like accumulation Snow.

Tightening the flying leather cap on his head, Wei Ran took out the B8 goggles and put it on his face, then put on a woolen scarf borrowed from Mrs. Via, and finally put on the flying gloves and Wearing two layers of bearskin mittens inside and out, he picked up an ax and a saw and left the basement, dragging the sledge alone out of the ruins of the building.

During this night, a thick layer of snow had already accumulated on the street outside, as if to cover up all tragedies.Looking up at the night sky, although the night sky is dark through the American B8 goggles from the Hurtgen Forest, at least it is certain that the snow has finally stopped.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran stuck to the shadow of the edge of the building, dragged the sledge cart and walked straight towards the zoo.

However, he didn't know that less than 5 minutes after he set off, a petite and thin figure, dragging a plow truck alone, chased up along the sled footprints left by him.

Compared to Wei Ran, who was fully equipped, followed by Ke Na, her only "equipment" was just the three pieces of chocolate that Lydia secretly gave her last night.

Hurrying all the way, when Wei Ran crossed the Neva River again, he couldn't help stopping at the side of the crashed Stuka bomber again.

Sitting down on the empty sledge, he took off his gloves, took out the British army kettle from the metal book, and luxuriously sipped two mouthfuls of thick honey.

Putting away the kettle and putting on his gloves again, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he took out a bundle of ropes about the thickness of a little finger from the sledge cart.

He looked up at the crashed Stuka, and carefully recalled the route when he approached. Finally, he stood up with the rope and walked over step by step.

The blizzard yesterday was completely beyond his expectation. Without this snow, the next thing to do would be much easier, but because of this snowfall, the butterfly thunder scattered around has been completely buried, the only thing he can do is All I had to do was to gamble on my own luck and the minefield memory ability trained by Hongqi Forest Farm.

Carefully took the first step, followed by the second step, after a short pause, he cautiously took the third and fourth steps.

Gradually, a series of footprints were left on the ground with an interval of less than half a meter. Wei Ran and the pilot body in the wreckage of the Stuka bomber also shortened by half a meter and a half meter, and finally became face to face again. .

He took out the lighter that Matvey gave him as a gift the day before yesterday, and lit it. Wei Ran checked carefully with the faint light, and then extinguished the lighter, took off the rope hanging from his shoulder, and passed one end through the pilot. The armpit of the corpse, and then threw the other end over the slanted wooden beam above the head.

The rope was slowly tightened, and as the two ends of the rope were tightened, the frozen corpse slowly left the cockpit, and the wreckage of the Stuka bomber inevitably made a creaking sound. Scary noise.

Pausing for a while until the noise disappeared, Wei Ran continued to exert force, almost relying on his own weight, to lift the broken and stiff corpse out little by little.

Holding the rope tightly with one hand, the other hand wrapped the rope around the corpse's leg a few times before tying a knot. Then he carefully let go, allowing the corpse to hang directly above the wreckage of the plane. With the cold wind blowing, it floated back and forth like a human pendulum.

Without daring to waste time, Wei Ran rummaged through the corpse at the fastest speed and found a paratrooper gravity knife that was originally attached to the leg and a P38 pistol stuffed in the boot.

Finally, when he took out a canvas bag from the snow-covered cabin, he finally found what he wanted most—a jewel brand 33 gasoline stove, plus two boxes of pilot chocolates and a A generous iron ration and two packs of coffee powder and two packs of saccharin.

This so-called iron ration is actually not much different from the K ration of the US military. It is definitely not delicious. The content is nothing more than carbohydrates, meat, vegetables and refreshing drinks.

It's not surprising that these things appear in the pilot's emergency rations. After all, if only the chocolates with a taste that are not bad are provided, the pilots may chew them as snacks after flying a few times, but those iron rations, Junker flies, the majority of Junker nobles, will not take the initiative to eat that thing until the last moment.

Before he had time to carefully check what was in the iron ration, Wei Ran straddled the small bag on his shoulders, and then pulled off the black leather gloves on the pilot's hands that looked warm.

Regardless of the remaining parachute bag in the cockpit, after some hesitation, he finally gave up the fuel that might be left in the wings again, stepped on his own footprints, and carefully retreated to the street.

"ah!"

Just when he was about to put the confiscated things on the sledge truck, there was an exclamation from the direction he came from, followed by the muffled sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran threw away the debris in his hand, raised the P38 pistol he had just found and aimed it in the direction he came from, "Who?!"

After waiting for a short moment, Wei Ran slowly put away the pistol, and while picking up the canvas bag, gloves and gravity knife that had just been spilled, he asked loudly, "Kona! Come out, I saw you."

After waiting for a while, Wei Ran saw that the girl hadn't come out, so he simply pulled the sledge and walked back, "Since you won't come out, I'll go back by myself."

"No, I'll come out!"

This time, Ke Na, who was hiding in the shadow of the ruins, finally stumbled out, pulled the sledge and approached Wei Ran.

"Why did you follow?" Wei Ran looked at the girl whose face was still stained with snow by the reflection of the snow.

"I ran out secretly, and I want to go get horse meat with you." Ke Na looked up at Wei Ran stubbornly, "Bring back more, and my brothers and sisters can live longer."

"What if you can't pull it?"

"I can move!"

Ke Na clenched her little hand in knitted gloves, "I'm sure I can pull it! Even if you go back now, I will go. I will go to the zoo to find Matvey, and I will tell you that you asked me to go for you, a coward! "

you sir!
Wei Ran cursed secretly, resisting the urge to knock the girl unconscious and find a place to hide, took off her gloves and pretended to reach into the blanket she was wearing to take out the British army kettle filled with honey, unscrewed the lid and handed it to her. The other party said, "It's okay to go with me, drink it, and you can only stop if I tell you to stop."

"Just drink it!" Ke Na obviously misunderstood what was in the kettle, took the kettle and brought it to her mouth.

But when the sticky honey touched the tip of her tongue, the thin and out-of-shape girl immediately widened her eyes.

"You can only stop if I tell you to stop." Wei Ran hurriedly reminded the other party before he dropped his arm, "Drink it, or I will tie you back."

Hearing this, Ke Na took a small sip first, then took two sips, seeing that Wei Ran didn't stop, she simply took another mouthful of viscous honey from the boss.

Until this time, Wei Ran, who was afraid that she would be too sweet to vomit if she drank too much, nodded, reached out to take the kettle, tightened the lid, and took back the metal book with the blanket wrapped around her body.

"Put this on."

As Wei Ran said, he had already handed the bearskin mittens that still had his body temperature on to the other party, while he himself put on the dirty gloves that had just been ripped off from the corpse.

When the girl with puffy cheeks honestly put on the gloves, Wei Ran pointed to his sledge again, "Sit on it, I'll pull you, take advantage of this journey, recover your strength first, and when you come back, You're going to pull the horse meat yourself, don't expect me to help you then."

"Yeah!" Ke Na nodded hurriedly with puffy cheeks, and gave a vague response at the same time.

"Swallow it, and then sing me a Katyusha."

While Wei Ran was speaking, he was not in a hurry to set off, but first opened the canvas bag he had just looted, and carefully checked the contents inside.

In addition to the paratrooper gravity knife that I stuffed in, this canvas bag also has a juwel 33 gasoline stove that is standard for pilots in winter. This thing is one size smaller than the tea bucket. Full fuel can burn for a full hour.

This time is enough for cooking or boiling water. Even if it is used for heating, it will not waste fuel. After all, it is allocated to pilots. Its volume is much smaller than the Coleman oil furnace in the United States at the same time. too much.

In addition to this oil stove, the iron rations in this bag are also extraordinarily rich thanks to the relatively ample carrying space of the Stuka bomber.

There are not only 700 grams of fresh bread in brown bakelite boxes and 250 grams of biscuit tins, but also 400 grams of canned meat, two orange-red bakelite boxes filled with butter, and a pack of 500 grams of dehydrated vegetables, and two bars of instant German-style creamy soya bean soup.Of course, there are two boxes of pilot chocolates and two packets of coffee powder and two packets of saccharine.

Obviously, this is an emergency ration for two people, and even the emergency ration is much richer than what the soldiers and civilians in Leningrad can eat.

At this moment, Ke Na, who was standing in front of Wei Ran, also swallowed the big mouthful of honey in her mouth. The girl cleared her throat that was covered with sweet and greasy honey, and she felt silly in the bitter cold wind. In the middle, Wei Ran sang Katyusha "On Demand".

"Just Pear"

"Let's go back and sing the rest!"

Wei Ran rudely interrupted Ke Na who had just sung the beginning, hung the canvas bag he found on the opponent's head, and then even handed the P38 pistol to the opponent, "Will it work? "

"Know how to use it." Because of Wei Ran's interruption, Ke Na, who was almost holding her breath in her stomach, responded and rolled her eyes at the same time.

"Keep it for self-defense, take these things in the bag, we're leaving." After speaking, Wei Ran got up and walked to the front of the sledge, and picked up the rope tied to the sledge.

Seeing this, Ke Na quickly sat on Wei Ran's sledge cart, and at the same time tied her sledge to the wooden pole at the rear of the cart with a rope.

Dragging such a burden, Wei Ran quickened his pace a little, and under the command of the other party, he walked towards the zoo along some shortcuts that only the locals knew.

(End of this chapter)