War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1069 The details and tragedies hidden on the airdrop box

"Carello?"

Under the fluttering white sheets blown by the cold wind, Wei Ran tentatively called out the other party's name.

"What's wrong?" Keleiro, who had been staring at the top of his head, asked without looking back.

After thinking for a while, Wei Ran asked, "How far are we?"

Hearing this, Kaileluo finally looked around, and immediately responded, "It's not far away, about ten kilometers away to the place where Sister Kona works, the vehicle technical service point where you work shares a space with them." Big tent, so when you find them, you find where you work."

Looking at the set of skis on the sledge, Wei Ran asked after a moment of silence, "How is this job?"

“Can fill the stomach”

Carrero said very plainly, "As long as I can get to Cobona, I can have a full meal, and every time I come back, I can bring a piece of bread for Sister Kona."

"Sister Ke Na?" Wei Ran looked at the young man beside him strangely.

"She's a few months older than me"

Carrero scratched the back of his head and explained as a matter of course, "She asked me to call her sister, and she said she has 23 other younger brothers and sisters. I have never seen them, Brother Victor, is that so? "

"Indeed it is"

Wei Ran nodded absent-mindedly, "If you have a chance, you will meet those younger brothers and sisters, they are all living in the air-raid shelter now."

"Recently, the Germans are suffering from mad dog disease. This road is too dangerous."

Gloria Lorough paused and continued, "Although I really want to see them, I don't want to be at this time. I encountered a blizzard yesterday. If my Sasha is not smart enough, I'm afraid I will lose my way."

"It's Sasha again."

Wei Ran grinned secretly, quietly listening to the young coachman tell about his adventures on this ice road, and asking for some key information from time to time.

In the few words of Kaileluo, Wei Ran finally learned that the time of this night was March 1942, 3.

In addition, he was transferred to drive a bulldozer at a vehicle technical service point on the ice road, and that vehicle technical service point happened to be at the same location as Kona’s work place. The political commissar Ilyich specially arranged for it.

I don't know how long it took, the roar of the aircraft engine overhead gradually faded away, and the anti-aircraft fire ceased one after another.

After waiting for a while, the red lights came on one after another, first flickering, and then turning into steady light spots.

Until this time, Carrero lifted the canvas blanket covering the mule as quickly as possible, folded it twice and spread it on the sledge, and picked up a brush by the way, brushing it as fast as possible. The ice and snow stained on the mule fell off.

At the same time, Wei Ran also folded the white sheet covering the sledge and put it back in its original position. By the way, he also checked the condition of the two wounded, and removed the cover from the metal bucket.

Soon, the horse-drawn sledge returned to the original road, and continued to run to the other side of the road under the guidance of the traffic controllers on duty with red lights on.

Along the way, Wei Ran saw horse-drawn sledges running in the same direction, trucks, and militiamen standing on the side of the road directing traffic every 500 meters.

Those militiamen with frost on their clothes and eyebrows all had red oil lamps hanging from their waists, and they all stepped on skis.

Whenever there is congestion on this one-way ice road, these hardworking militiamen will immediately run to evacuate the traffic.

On the way, he also saw a major driving a GAZ car trying to jump in line, but was stopped by those young female militiamen, who mercilessly persuaded him to return to the line with the weapon in his hand and continued to line up.

Looking at the aurora that was still surging above his head, then at the dim surroundings, and the calcium carbide lamp hanging on his waist, Wei Ran wisely gave up his plan to take out the camera to take pictures.

Sitting on the sledge obediently, let the hard-working animal pull and run for more than half an hour, Kaileluo yelled at the mule to stop, raised his finger and said, "Sister Ke Na and their tent In that direction, you can see it by walking about 200 meters in that direction along the fork, and that is the only tent in the vicinity, so I won’t take you there.”

"I'll just go by myself"

Wei Ran jumped off the sledge while speaking, and walked to the side of the road with the set of skis in his arms, "Calero, be careful on the road."

"You too, Comrade Victor." Kailero saluted Wei Ran decently, and started running along the road again, yelling at the sledge.

Leaving this busy icy road along the fork in the middle of the one-meter-high windshield made of snow, Wei Ran groped to put on his skis, held a snowball fight with all his strength, and pulled away from the man behind him. road distance.

Soon after, a large tent in the style of a yurt built with white oilcloth appeared in front of it.In the middle of the tent, there is also a chimney emitting light blue smoke.

Next to it, there is not only a pile of snow-covered boards and logs and a tight pile of coal covered by canvas, but also a crawler car that is also covered with snow and painted white is parked a little farther away. bulldozer.And a little further away, it seems that there are still many 200-liter oil drums buried.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran took off his skis, first tapped the canvas curtain of the tent with a snowball and waited for a while before gently opening it.

What he didn't expect was that after entering the tent, there was a square wooden sign hanging in front of it, with two conspicuous white arrows painted on it.Right below the sign is a tin bucket without a lid, inside which are several sets of skis of different lengths and two manual oil pumps.

Looking around, there is another cotton curtain on both sides of the arrow, and they seem to lead to two spaces.

He took out the flashlight from the metal book and turned it on with his hand covering the lamp head. He looked at the wooden sign with the little light leaking from between his fingers.

The sign points to the arrow on the left hand side, with the words "Vehicle Technical Service Point" written in white Russian, and under the arrow on the right, it says no entry.

Seeing this, he wisely walked to the left, opened the cotton curtain, and at the same time made the gap between his fingers covering the lamp head wider.

With the help of the light, he could see that in the space that occupied less than half of the tent, the floor was covered with a layer of pine needles and wooden planks, and there were several boxes containing maintenance tools and some carpentry tools on the side. What was there, and an anvil, and a box of horseshoes of various sizes, and a box of hooves most likely.

The place closest to the curtain is a small table, on which there is not only an oil lamp, but also a Volga brand radio, and an enamel lunch box containing Mohe cigarettes and several newspapers. Under the table, It's a small pedal generator.

Behind this table, next to the thin canvas that separated it from the next door, there was a narrow camp bed. Walking to this bed, he could still feel the warmth coming from the next door, and Can see a faint red light.

After thinking for a while, he lit the kerosene lamp, then walked out of the tent to look around, and he was slightly relieved when he saw that there was no light coming out.

When he opened the curtain again, the cotton curtain on the right hand side was also lifted just in time, and a thin female soldier who had wrapped herself tightly came out of it.

After a brief silence, the female soldier asked, "Are you the bulldozer driver Comrade Victor?"

"it's me"

Wei Ran, who lifted the curtain, took a step back, and waited for the thin female soldier to come out, before saying, "I am Victor."

"Kona and I mentioned you"

The female soldier took the initiative to reach out her hand to Wei Ran, "I am Ekaterina, and like Ke Na, I am also a traffic controller."

"Hello, Comrade Ekaterina." Wei Ran took off his gloves and shook hands with the other party.

"Go and wait in our dormitory, it's warmer there."

Ekaterina let go of her finger and pointed behind her, "I'm going to change shifts with Ke Na now, and she will be back in about half an hour."

"Are there any other ladies inside?" Wei Ran asked politely.

"If you come half an hour earlier you can meet two other girls"

Ekaterina put on the skis on her feet and said, "But they have already gone to wait for their boyfriends on the road, so you may not see them until later. Well, the rest will wait for Kona to come back Afterwards, let her introduce you, goodbye, Comrade Victor."

After finishing speaking, the thin girl put on her goggles, supported the snowball fight vigorously, and slid out heroically along another fork in the road.

Watching the other party go away, Wei Ran first went to the compartment on the left to pick up the kerosene lamp that had just been lit, and then got into the relatively spacious tent compartment on the right.

In this compartment, the feet are also covered with thick pine needles and pieces of wood. On the side of the entrance, there is also a table with a row of six enamel cups, three kettles and a small one. A small mirror, and a glass bottle of what appeared to be grease.

Although these supplies looked like they were used by six people, in fact, there were only two beds in total.

In the middle of the two beds, near the canvas partition, there is the German airdrop box that Wei Ran is very familiar with.

However, this box was not only painted with white paint, but also the cast iron stove in the basement was fixed at the end of the main body near the handle!

Holding an oil lamp and getting closer, the cast-iron stove did have the words "Putilov Military Factory" cast in Russian, but after a closer look, Wei Ran patted his forehead. This stove that released warmth was just the same model. , not the one in the basement.

Of course he cared if it was the stove in the basement, because if it was the same one, it meant that Kera had probably been back there—even though it seemed unnecessary to transport a broken stove from that basement.

After recovering, Wei Ran also noticed that in order to fix the stove on the main frame of the airdrop box, even the box of the airdrop box gave up a third of the space, and look at the shrunk box As long as you have done your work, you will know that the people who do this DIY work are at least very skilled in woodworking.

This person not only changed the box to a thicker wooden board, but also wrapped a layer of thin iron sheet from nowhere.

It's just that, at first glance, there are no personal belongings in this shortened box. There are only a panel saw more than half a meter long and a Finnish ax of almost the same length fixed on the inside of the cover with a belt. The leather case under it, judging from its size, seems to be used to fix the fire-cleaning rod.

As for the main space of the box, it is full of coal briquettes, but there is a long strip-shaped compartment with a wooden cover surrounded by wooden boards on the side.

Open the wooden cover of this compartment, and the inside is divided into three small spaces. In the first space, there is a German Gemstone gasoline stove that Wei Ran is very familiar with. Familiar German kettles—these were all things he had prepared for Ke Na before parting.

In the other two small spaces, the big one on the side is empty, but the small one in the middle contains extra interesting things. On the top is a Budyonny hat wrapped in white cloth. It was the portable flagon and harmonica that Wei Ran gave to Ke Na. Under these two things was a pair of knitted gloves, and under the gloves was an unopened can of condensed milk.

After restoring these things to their original state, Wei Ran looked at the stove that was firmly fixed to the metal frame of the airdrop box with thick screws.

The coals in this stove are glowing dark red, on which there is a steaming enamel kettle, and on the chimney, there is a circle of hooks made of thick wire, on which are hung items such as socks, gloves, shoes, etc. Things that need to be heated or dried, even the end of the obviously reinforced handle hangs an unlit kerosene lamp.

This craftsmanship is really good, is there still a carpenter living here?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, then turned to look at the camp beds on both sides of the stove.

There were no personal belongings on the two beds, just three neatly stacked blankets, each with a different name written in white paint.

However, on the ammunition box next to the bed on the left hand side, there was a set of two copies of "War and Peace", while the ammunition box on the right side of the bed was Lev Thors Tai's other book "Resurrection", coincidentally, this book is also divided into two volumes.

Although it was easy to judge Ke Na's bed from the books, Wei Ran also easily judged from the blankets with different names. The only two beds are probably used by six girls in turn.

Of course, if you remove the thin canvas used as a partition in the middle of this tent, you will find that, together with the bed next door, the three beds arranged in a π shape actually share the stove on the airdrop box.

Hanging the kerosene lamp in his hand on the support pole in the center of the tent, Wei Ran also checked himself.

This outfit is the same as before, except that there is an unlit calcium carbide lamp at the waist.

Untiing the sack on his back and opening it, Wei Ran took out the contents one by one.In this bag, apart from a Soviet army lunch box containing several calcium carbides, there is also a worker's lunch box wrapped in a towel. When the lunch box is opened, there are a few egg-sized eggs inside. Boiled potatoes!

Putting the lid on again and heating it slowly on the stove, Wei Ran rummaged through the bag again, and successfully found a letter folded into a triangle in an enamel jar with a lid.

Before he could decide whether to take a peek at the children's letters to Cora, there was the sound of stomping and slapping clothes outside the tent.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately coughed, and immediately after, he heard Ke Na shouting in surprise from outside, "Is this Brother Victor? When did you arrive?!"

Before the words were finished, Kona, wearing a Shapka cotton cap on her head, ran in before she had time to take off her goggles and bearskin gloves.

Pulling off the goggles, the girl with frostbite on her face warmly hugged Wei Ran, and kept asking, "How are your brothers and sisters? How are you doing in the air-raid shelter? Can they eat Are you full?"

Feeling the bone-chilling chill on this girl, Wei Ran waited for her to let go, and helped her wipe off the snow on her shoulders and hat, while explaining with a smile, "They are all fine, not only do they have to go to class every day , and also assigned some work to them, of course, they can eat enough."

While talking, Wei Ran handed the triangle letter still in his hand to the other party, "This is a letter written by the children. They probably introduced the life in the air-raid shelter in the letter."

Ke Na took off the bearskin gloves that belonged to Wei Ran, took the triangle letter and asked with a smile, "You didn't peek, did you?"

"Not yet"

Wei Ran spread his hands, pointed to the lunch box on the stove and said, "The children asked me to bring you that lunch box."

"What is it?"

Ke Na, who was about to open the letter, immediately walked over to pick up the lunch box and opened it, and then saw the boiled potatoes inside.

"It was saved by the children." Wei Ran said with a smile, "They are worried that you will be hungry."

“I have no shortage of food here”

Ke Na muttered, but still picked up a boiled potato with icy bits and carefully took a small bite, then put it back and closed the lid of the lunch box, and put it on the table by the door, "These potatoes Let's eat when my mates come back, we often share food."

"up to you"

Wei Ran took out the enamel jar from his bag, picked up the kettle on the stove, and poured himself a cup of hot water, "I thought you secretly brought the stove from the basement here."

"I was shocked when I saw this stove"

Ke Na sat on her bed, and at the same time motioned Wei Ran to sit opposite and explained, "This vehicle technical service point was built by my partners and I a few days ago. I just fell in love with this stove."

"Who put it on this little sled for you?" Wei Ran pointed to the airdrop box and praised, "This is really good workmanship."

He didn't expect that as soon as he said these words, Ke Na, who was still smiling with joy, fell silent, and immediately after, unstoppable tears welled up in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran immediately realized that he asked a stupid question.

"fine"

Kona wiped the corners of her eyes and explained with difficulty hiding her sadness, "Uncle Yakov helped us. He is the driver of the bulldozer, the car maintenance engineer of this service point, and a carpenter. He can also give mules and Matthew Hoof, and Krocikova's father."

"he"

"Two days ago, when he was helping a truck change a tire, he fell into the ice hole with the truck because of the bomb dropped by the Germans."

Kera buried her hands in her arms and explained with suppressed tears, "Krozikova, who was in charge of lighting on one side, also fell, and neither their father nor daughter survived, and we couldn't even catch them. Come up."

"Look at the letters written by the children"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he sighed, took off the oil lamp and placed it on the lid of the airdrop box, and brightened the light a little.

"Yep"

Ke Na wiped her face full of frostbite and tears in a panic, and tremblingly opened the triangle letter in her hand.

No longer wondering what was written in the letter that might bring some comfort to Ke Na, Wei Ran temporarily left this small compartment with his own things, went into the smaller compartment next door, and groped Finding the enamel lunch box containing Mo He Cigarettes, he rolled himself a Mo He Cigarette clumsily with a small cut newspaper strip, lit it tremblingly with a match in the lunch box and took a deep puff .

After a while, choking smoke filled the small cubicle, as well as Wei Ran's uncontrollable cough—of course, there was also the faint choking from the next door.

After a long time, the choking sound turned into a moving melody played by the harmonica.

The melody played once, twice, and three times before it finally stopped. Cora next door also asked through the thin canvas, "Victor, can you play this tune?"

"Let me try." Wei Ran, who had already extinguished Mo Heyan, replied hoarsely.

After a while, Ke Na lifted the canvas as a partition and handed the harmonica to Wei Ran.

Fortunately, when he brought the harmonica to his mouth, the muscle memory given by the metal book also allowed him to blow out the song just now.

And Ke Na, who was next door, also sang the song she wrote herself in a raving manner:
On the white Neva, red fire

That cold ruin, there are a group of happy little guys

(End of this chapter)