War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1067 What I saw in the air-raid shelter

On the evening of March 3st, 1 children, big and small, all filled their stomachs with thick porridge made from Wei Ran’s last remaining honey and rice.

Under the inspections of Wei Ran and Ke Na, these children all put on gray and white blankets and Budyonny hats of different colors, and walked out of the still warm basement and classroom with their few personal belongings. The cold concrete house sat on three sledges under the command of Alexander and other older children.

In the basement, Wei Ran used mud mixed with plant ash, coal ash, and pine needles to carefully block the ventilation window, and worked with Ke Na to close the surrounding baffles, and used the brought in shelves as supports.

After Wei Ran lit the calcium carbide lamp, Kona touched the locked wooden box on the shelf, touched the snare drum left by her father and the bayanqin that belonged to Shostakovich, and finally took Picking up her own bayanqin and handing it to Wei Ran behind her, "You can take this bayanqin with you. When the children sing, you can accompany them."

He took the bayanqin and hung it around his neck, but Wei Ran took out the guqin from his pocket and handed it to the other party. "In this case, this harmonica is given to you as a souvenir."

"It's too bad for me." Ke Na took the harmonica and shook it. "When the war is over, I will exchange the harmonica for my bayan."

"No problem, but you have to live."

"Of course!" Kona promised confidently, and at the same time put the harmonica in her pocket.

"And this one too," Wei Ran said, bent down and pulled out a sack from the bottom of the shelf and handed it to the other party.

"what is this?"

Ke Na curiously opened the sack, only to find that it contained not only the gem brand oil stove looted from the German pilot, but also the German kettle that Wei Ran picked up from the wreckage of a bomber that crashed for a long time. , and a vodka bottle with a wooden stopper.In addition, this bag also contains Wei Ran's portable flagon and a tin can without a trademark.

"It's very cold where you work"

Wei Ran leaned close to Ke Na's ear and whispered, "The kettle and wine bottle are filled with kerosene I saved, although it's not much, it's enough for that bosom stove to burn for a long time, and the German's oil stove , I also topped up.

And lastly my flagon with the last bit of honey in the flagon, and the can with condensed milk.The kids won't need these after they're in the bomb shelter, and I have a can of condensed milk for emergencies.

So take these, Cora, you're definitely going to need them.Ke Na, survive, must survive. "

"Thank you"

Ke Na stood on tiptoe and hugged Wei Ran, buried her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath, "Thank you, Victor, thank you."

"Let's go"

Wei Ran patted the girl's back lightly. Although several layers of clothes and gloves were separated, he could still clearly feel the girl's spine tightly wrapped by skin.

"Take care of your brothers and sisters"

As she spoke, Ke Na let go of Wei Ran, carried the sack prepared for her on her shoulders, and walked out of the basement first.

"Four more days."

Wei Ran muttered to himself, glanced at the still burning stove, reached out his hand to extinguish the calcium carbide lamp, put away the American-style oil stove that was extinguished before in the dark, turned around and followed him out of the basement.

With the help of Kona, Alexander, and Alyosha, the entrance and exit covers of the basement were closed again, and the two metal cabinets were pushed up to cover them tightly.

Finally, lock the covers of the surrounding windows one by one and block them with shelves. Ke Na took the backpack that Wei Ran just gave her, together with a kerosene lamp and the two sets of "War" that Wei Ran found half a month ago. "And Peace" were all put into the airdrop box, and dragged away from the cold and dark concrete house by hand.

Behind her, Alexander glanced at the national flag that he had fixed on the wall with his own hands, tiptoed to take it off, carefully folded it, and stuffed it into his arms.

After Wei Ran also walked out of the room, Alexander locked the door himself, turned around and joined hands with Alyosha to pick up a rope tied to the sledge.And that girl named Laishia also helped Kona drag the airdrop box.

In the dim night, three sledges full of children and an airdrop box with a sled, led by Ke Na, groped in the dark and headed towards the north of the city against the wind.

After walking around for more than an hour, Kona finally stopped at the door of an air-raid shelter. Beside the entrance and exit of the air-raid shelter, the political commissar named Ilyuqi had been waiting for a long time.

"I'll take you here"

In the end, Ke Na hugged Wei Ran lightly, and whispered into his ear, "I must survive", before Wei Ran could respond, she let go of her hand and hugged Alexander instead. He said something in his ear, and then helped him straighten the hat on his head.

Saying a final goodbye to each child with a big hug, Ke Na followed the political commissar and walked towards the direction they came from, and was completely swallowed by the darkness in a very short time.

Looking away, Wei Ran and a Soviet female soldier waiting at the door of the air-raid shelter nodded, and then waved to the children standing by the sledge, "Okay, let's go in too."

"When will we see Ke Na again?" A little girl named Kalyuzina raised her head and asked Wei Ran eagerly—even though they had just separated from Ke Na.

"Soon, we'll see her again soon."

Wei Ran helped the little guy straighten his hat, "Okay, let's go in!"

Led by the thin female soldier, Wei Ran and the children walked into the warm and dark air-raid shelter with their small luggage.

Contrary to Wei Ran's expectations, there is still electricity supply here, and there are far more people living here, especially children, wounded, women and the elderly, than he imagined.

According to the introduction of the female soldier, this is not only a rear hospital, but also a school, and it is also a transfer station for transfer to the rear. In other words, the residents in this air-raid shelter may be arranged to evacuate to a safer rear at any time Life.

Under the introduction of the female soldier, the children were assigned to different classes according to their age and school age and handed over to different teachers.

In addition to attending classes, these relatively older children were also assigned some jobs within their ability.

An older child like Alexander would go to the hospital to help the wounded write letters, read newspapers, or do work such as cleaning.

And like the former child Wang Andre, it is mainly a companion. These little guys only need to chat with the wounded after class.

Instead, the baby Galina, Anastasia and Bogdan, who were not yet at school age, the three youngest, were assigned to the nursery in this air-raid shelter together with Wei Ran.

The three of them naturally need to be taken care of, but Wei Ran has a job - he is responsible for taking care of the injured children in the nursery, and by the way, plays the bayan or harmonica to the injured children every day.

But what a group of children that is, even the least injured, their small arms are wrapped in thick gauze.Some were even seriously injured, with extensive burns on their bodies, or their eyes were covered with gauze, or their limbs were mutilated.

According to his too-young nursery school colleagues, these children survived the bombing and shelling of the Germans by chance. Those poor little guys have never seen any Germans with their own eyes, but Those who were hurt by them can be described as utterly crippled.

This time, Wei Ran, who bears the name of a veterinarian, performed the operation with rare care and even carefulness—even though he was only responsible for the most basic and daily dressing changes.

After determining that he was competent enough for the job, he was also assigned a cot of his own in a room in the bomb shelter, and was also given a day off and a dinner of black bread, plus a few Film contained in a sealed cartridge.

Taking advantage of this time before going to bed to remember the whereabouts of those children, Wei Ran finally lay down on his little bed, and slightly relaxed the nerves that had been tense for a month.

In the blink of an eye the next day at six o'clock in the morning, when "Holy War" came out from the loudspeakers of the All-Soviet Radio to wake up everyone in the air-raid shelter, Wei Ran immediately got up, held his camera and lit calcium carbide lamp, and gave the air-raid shelter The adults, children, and guardians of the city took pictures one after another.

Few of the people who were fixed on the silver salt negatives were really healthy. Most of them were wrapped in bandages, or they were so thin that skeletons could be seen everywhere.

But these people are determined and optimistic. In this slightly crowded air-raid shelter, they are not just huddled in one place, suffering from time and hunger.

Those adults are working as much as they can, and those children are also studying seriously in the classrooms assigned to them. Even those wounded who can't do anything will gather together and listen carefully to the frontline news from the radio.

This crowded air-raid shelter is like a scarred machine. Every part inside the machine has defects of one kind or another, but it is working hard.

Under the supplementary light provided by the bright calcium carbide lamp, Wei Ran pressed the shutter again and again while on vacation, and took pictures of the wounded, doctors, soldiers, children and even disabled families time and time again. The group photo, also recorded again and again, the seeds called "hope" in this besieged city.

As the evening approached, in the sick room of the nursery, Wei Ran held the bayanqin that belonged to Kona in his arms, and played the accompaniment of the "Warrior Song" that the children used to sing in the basement.

When the music came out of the ward, the young girls who also worked in the nursery couldn't help humming the war song along with them, and even their steps became a little lighter.

When the music spread to the wards of the wounded soldiers next door, those soldiers who were trying to steal medical alcohol also raised the bullet casings that served as wine glasses, and sang the song written for them sonorously.

The song spread along with the music, more and more people hummed softly, and more and more people involuntarily showed confident smiles on their faces.

Just after the song was sung, a soldier with a cane, one leg missing, one hand wrapped in gauze, and his head still wrapped in gauze limped over and knocked lightly on the half-open door. .

The soldier "comrade" laboriously raised his bandaged hand to salute Wei Ran.

"What's the matter?" Wei Ran stood up and asked after subconsciously responding to a military salute.

"I'm Vitaly Yarmolenko from the military band." The thin soldier on crutches tried to straighten his chest, "You play the bayan very well."

"Thank you for your compliment." Wei Ran responded modestly, and at the same time looked at the other party with a questioning look, "I am the childcare worker Victor who just came yesterday."

The soldier simply said, "Comrade Victor, all the military bands I belong to have gone to the front line. I have four of them who came back alive. We are all in the next ward. Can you use bayan Will the violin accompany us? We intend to give everyone some encouragement."

"What song?" Wei Ran had already walked to the door while speaking, "Let's go to your ward."

"How about trying Holy War first?" Vitaly asked as he walked back on crutches. "The song that wakes us up in the morning."

"Holy war."

Looking down at the bayanqin in his arms, he inexplicably remembered the soldier Tonya who had the title of artist on the battlefield in Rzhev. With that guy's voice, it was enough to enter the orchestra or choir.

"Let me try!" Wei Ran muttered, and followed him into the ward.

In this room, there are three No. 40 people lying on the beds next to each other, and not far from the door, there are already three people with varying degrees of injury waiting.

Among these three people, one of his legs disappeared from the knee down, so he could only sit on the hospital bed. The gauze wrapped around the wound was already stained by bright red blood.Another man had extensive burns on his chest and back covered in thick ointment.And the last one is missing an arm.

There was no introduction at all, the man who lost his legs struggled to move to a chair, and let the companion with burnt upper body, the one with only one arm, and Wei Ran, who had healthy limbs, carry him to the corridor outside the room inside.

"Let's get started," the four of Vitaly said in unison against the wall of the corridor.

"Then let's get started"

Wei Ran nodded, driven by the inexplicable muscle memory, he played the bayan, and the four soldiers from the military band also sang "Holy War" which can be heard on the All-Soviet radio every morning. ".

This is much more real than the radio. The singing and music were transmitted along the corridor and spread again. At some point, Alexander and other children who were in class also heard the loud singing, and couldn't help following along. joined the chorus.

(End of this chapter)