War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1116 The reason for staying and the reason for having to escape
When Wei Ran was woken up by the faint whistle sound from outside the room, Andre, the second devil prisoner of war on the other upper bunk, had already packed his luggage, without even saying hello, leaving only a back view. Leaving this warm and stale little room.

"Why hasn't he been deported?" Mesut asked abruptly, "Does anyone of you know?"

"He once killed more than a dozen Soviet Red Army soldiers with a machine gun"

Ihor, who was lying on the bed, said, "At that time, he was our servant and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. And now that the Zhaoxian Peninsula is at war, his home is on the Hanbang side, so it is naturally impossible for him to be sent back. gone."

"What about you?" Wei Ran, who was still lying on the upper bunk, looked at the wooden roof less than one meter high, and asked while playing with the Finnish knife in his hand, "How many years have you been sentenced? And why haven't you been deported?" .”

"The landmines I arranged killed many Soviet Red Army and Chinese people"

Ihor said in a flat tone, "But I was kept mainly because the Soviets felt that I could be useful in mining, otherwise I would have been deported two years ago. I guess the Soviets would not let me go." Left alive. How about you, Mesut?"

"Killed some Soviets." Mesut paused, and added, "Together with the Finn above me."

"I heard that your repatriation has also stopped?" Ihor asked in a low voice.

"The last time was two years ago, and it is said that it was the last batch. They were all guys with short sentences, but they were all sent to the GDR." Mesut sighed, "I guess there will be no more New opportunity for repatriation."

"So we have to create opportunities ourselves," Ihor said firmly.

"Get up, it's time for us to work." Mesut changed the subject noncommittally, and got up from the bed at the same time.

Seeing this, Wei Ran and Ihor got up in equal order. The only difference was that Wei Ran not only put on the thick-soled felt boots he bought yesterday and the milky-white buckskin robe that Uncle Sergey gave him, He also hid the antler-handled Finnish knife found by the bed in the boot shaft.

By the way, he also unscrewed the can of bear oil, dug a little out of it and applied it on his face and hands, then put on the newly bought gloves, and was the last one to leave the room.

At this time, the sky outside was still dark, but there was already a long queue in the cafeteria not far away.

Watching Ihor carefully brushing his teeth with his own booger with great interest, Wei Ran then took the lunch box of the three of them and went to the cafeteria not far away to get a meal, and vomited into Ihor's lunch box by the way. I spit.

Although this little action didn't do any real harm, it really brought Wei Ran a good mood for the whole day.

After eating a breakfast that was not considered rich but at least enough to fill him up, Ihor went to work in the stable alone, and Wei Ran was also under the command of Mesut, swinging the hammer up and down, knocking on the red-hot horses. iron block, and forged it into the desired shape little by little.

The work did not take long at all, and he took off his new clothes and shoes—it was too hot for blacksmithing.

After knocking like this for more than two hours, watching the sky outside finally brighten up belatedly, the guard Panin pushed open the door and walked in.

"Comrades, I have good news for you." Before Panin finished speaking, Ihor, who smelled like horse dung, also walked in.

After Mesut and Wei Ran, who was dripping with sweat, stopped their blacksmithing work, the young Panin said with a smile on his face, "Just now I heard from the political commissar in the store that the application of the three of you for joining the party has been approved."

Hearing this, the three of Wei Ran looked at each other, and he was not surprised, he saw a trace of worry in the eyes of Mesut and Ihor.

"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?" Panin asked suspiciously.

"Of course I'm happy." Wei Ran was the first to react, "Panning, this is a memorable day, and I plan to take a photo together."

"This is indeed a memorable day," Mesut continued, "We should really take a photo to commemorate it."

"In that case, I'll go buy film." Wei Ran patted his pocket, "I specially set aside enough money to buy two films."

"Buy one more!" Ihor said, took out a token from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran. "Let's take another picture."

"It's really time to take another picture," Mesut said, and he also took out a token from his boot and handed it to Wei Ran.

Putting away the banknotes handed by the two, Wei Ran put on the new clothes that he took off before work, turned around and walked out of the stone house, and got into the small poor shop.

When he explained why he came, the girl whose name he didn't know immediately nodded happily, picked up the camera and locked the wooden door of the store, and followed Wei Ran to meet Mesut and Ihor who were standing at the door of the stone house, and Panin three people.

"I bought four negatives in total," Wei Ran said, "Where do you plan to shoot the first one?"

"Right here," said Mesut, who had also put on new clothes, standing at the door of the stone house.

"I'll take pictures for you, please stand together." The simple girl said eagerly.

Hearing this, the three of Wei Ran stood side by side at the door of the stone house, and Mesut even called Panin, and the four of them took a group photo together.

"How about taking the second photo at the stables?" Ihor suggested.

After all, the devil took out the money, so everyone naturally had no objections, so they went to the stables again, and took a second group photo with those draft horses.

"How about I take you to take the third picture under the sentry tower?" Panin offered to take the initiative.

Seeing that both Mesut and Ihor were looking at him, Wei Ran nodded indifferently, "Then go under the sentry tower."

Hearing this, a group of five walked towards the pier outside the camp, but before Wei Ran could see the pier, the girl was also stopped by a "Marina".

Reluctantly handing over the camera in her hand to Panin, the girl could only regretfully run to the shop behind her.

"Can you take pictures?" Wei Ran asked intentionally.

"Of course," Panin said, hanging the camera around his neck, "Marina taught me."

Looks like it won't
Wei Ran muttered to himself, followed Panin out of the camp, crossed a busy logging road, and finally came to a busier pier.

At this time, there were draft horses covered in frost, with white mist blowing from their mouths and noses, dragging thick logs away from the pier, and driven by the groom, along the frozen river. Going north, on the white ice surface, it formed a winding black line with no end in sight.

On the island in the middle of the river, which is separated from the pier by a frozen river, the broadcast of the All-Soviet Radio Station is still broadcasting from the loudspeaker at the top of the watchtower.

At the same time, the two searchlights that had not been extinguished even in the dim daylight were moving from time to time, either aiming at the pier, or at the river, or at the vast and endless expanse of the south bank. Coniferous forest.

Letting Paning take a group photo for the three of them, Wei Ran took the lead and said, "Let me take a group photo for you."

"You know how to use a camera?" Panin asked subconsciously.

"certainly"

Wei Ran nodded, "Mesut and Ihor have always said that you are their best friend, so let me take a photo for you."

Hearing this, Paning happily took off the camera hanging around his neck, let Wei Ran give the three of them, and took a shoulder-to-shoulder group photo under the sentry tower.

"Just stealing supplies and surviving until Christmas."

Wei Ran muttered something in his heart, if the calendar he saw in the store yesterday was correct, today is only November 11th, even according to the Christian Christmas, there are still nearly two months left.

Just as he was in a daze, Panin had already taken the camera from his hand, and at the same time said apologetically, "Marina watches this camera very closely, I can't let her see it."

"I understand." Wei Ran nodded without waiting for the other party to finish speaking.

"Okay, it's time for us to get back to work."

Mesut took the initiative to change the subject, and asked as he walked back, "Panin, do you know when we will be officially notified of the results of our party membership application?"

"I don't know that"

Panin hung the camera around his neck and said as he walked back, "You better not expect this. According to the news I got, all party members must be transferred first. Even Uncle Sergey seems to be on the list. Here, he will soon go to the mine with Marina to build a new canteen, and it is said that half of the reindeer will be taken away.

Everything there is just beginning to be built, and there are more people than us here, so the food must be better, and it is winter now, and we don't have enough grass to feed the reindeer. "

"I don't know if our living conditions will be better if we go to mine." Ihor said casually.

"Certainly not"

Panin lowered his voice slightly and said, "Although they work in the mine much warmer than us, the amount of labor is much greater than ours here."

In the chat with ulterior motives, the four returned to the camp in the deepest part of the lumber field. The unscheming Panin also revealed a lot of useful information along the way, but as these information got into the ears of the three of Wei Ran, Mei Su Te and Ihor's complexion is getting worse and worse.

Until Panin was sent away, Mesut, who had already stopped at the door of the stone house, sighed and said, "We have to speed up."

After speaking, he lifted the curtain and was the first to get in.Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately followed into the stone house and continued to work on blacksmithing.

After this day's work, Wei Ran also saw some clues and patterns.

First of all, Mesut was busy working as a blacksmith or carpenter all morning, or before lunch.But the iron or wooden parts he made were all thrown into the wooden box at one end of the planks.

After lunch, Wei Ran was not only responsible for adding fodder to the reindeer, but also went to the warehouse to find Panin to get items such as coking coal for blacksmithing, kerosene for lighting, and medicine for animals.

Mesut, on the other hand, is busy shoeing horseshoes or repairing broken horse-drawn sledges.As for Ihor, besides cleaning the stables and feeding the horses, his job is to brush the horses, and at most it is to help shoe the horses.

In contrast, the job of killing reindeer does not happen every day. According to Wei Ran's indirect statement, only on Wednesdays will a reindeer be killed to help everyone survive the difficult working days.

As for other times, if you want to eat meat, you can only look forward to what the hunting team can gain, or if a horse is exhausted to death.

Of course, while queuing up for dinner, Wei Ran also heard undisguised mockery of Mesut in German from several other German prisoners of war who seemed to be loggers.

The content of this sarcasm is nothing more than "the veterinarian who can no longer understand German", or "the veterinarian who sold his soul and ass to the Soviets", etc. A series of scarce and difficult to impress people.

Wei Ran can understand German, and Mesut naturally understands it, but this busy veterinarian just nodded politely to those former colleagues, and at the same time greeted loudly in Russian, "Good evening, comrades. "

I don't know whether it was due to the regulations here or because of the curious eyes of the Soviets around, these Germans, who were also prisoners of war or war criminals, could only respond loudly in Russian, "Good evening, Comrade Mesut."

In such a small farce, another day passed in the blink of an eye. After witnessing the devil prisoner of war Ihor brushing his teeth with his own booger, Wei Ran also began to wonder if he should add some more to this guy's toothpaste. Exciting condiments.

However, before he could decide whether to use horse dung, reindeer dung, or human dung, after the dinner that day, Uncle Sergey beamed with joy and personally sent a piece of bad news to the warm stone house.

(End of this chapter)