War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1142: 9-Man Squad

On the evening when Xia Shushi proved to Mr. Simpson that the descendants of the executioners were basically all dead, the extraordinarily sumptuous dinner was once again raised to a higher level under the arrangement of Tang Translator who got the news.

At the very least, there are a lot of large green-lipped abalones and black-lipped abalones on the table, and even the oysters I ate before are bigger.Correspondingly, those local specialties of kangaroo meat were never provided again, and as for the king crab that girls love to eat, Translator Tang even expressed that they could eat whatever they wanted.

It's a joke to eat casually. If one person can eat a whole crab, it's considered a good appetite, not to mention that there are so many other delicacies.

Under the wholehearted hospitality of the other party, this dinner made everyone very satisfied, but during the dinner, whether it was Wei Ran, Ji Ma or Kajianka sisters, they still maintained the most basic of being a little K. The vigilance of each of them was just a small glass of beer brewed by the farm.

After dinner, a bonfire was lit in the open space outside. The cowboys who were about to go home for Christmas seemed to have received good news. Taking advantage of the cool weather and the absence of the boss at night, they simply started a bonfire carnival.

Unsurprisingly, this event attracted everyone's attention. Not long after, Jima pulled Maya to join in first. Then, before Xia Shushi could speak, Lola ran over with Lu Xinda to watch the excitement .

"You guys go play too." Wei Ran supported Sui Sui, and said to Sister Kajianka, "I'll take her back to her room."

Hearing this, the Katenka sisters looked at each other and followed Lola and Luxinda with a bottle of beer each.

"I'm the only one left alone?" Xia Shushi looked around at the empty friends, and couldn't help muttering.

"Mr. Xia, let's play together too." Translator Tang, who had been drinking a lot just now, took the initiative to send out the invitation, and said winkingly, "I can introduce you to some beautiful cowgirls."

As soon as these words were spoken, Xia Shushi suddenly became interested, and followed the other party to the lively crowd.

On the second floor of the room, Wei Ran sent Sui Sui, who was not drinking well, back to the room, and after she fell asleep, he returned to the first floor, looked at the two trench guns lined up side by side, and the two trench guns. An old fashioned leather case containing an Owen submachine gun.

Now Mr. Simpson's troubles have been solved, but if the second photo album that has been handed over to Xia Shushi before the meal is to have real value, he still needs to find those negatives.

Although those negatives are of little significance to Mr. Simpson, they are a deadly and must-have weapon for the Hela organization.

Obviously, it is undoubtedly the most efficient way to ask Nagatsuka Joji himself, who took the photos of those evil deeds, where the negatives are hidden.

After some thought, Wei Ran first took out the disassembled Owen submachine gun from the suitcase with "Hugo Spencer" stamped on it and assembled it, then took the Ithaca 37 shotgun, He went upstairs quietly, got into an unoccupied room, drew the curtains, and placed the two weapons on the table.

It wasn't over yet, he then opened his briefcase again, took out the broken devil samurai sword from it and put it together.

After checking the room, Wei Ran, who locked the door, checked the props that could be taken out of the metal book one after another, and then sat down in front of the three things again.

"Will it be sent to the Sandakan Death March or the Battle of the Kokoda Trail? It would be great if it goes directly to the Nagatsuka Maru whaling ship"

Wei Ran took out the metal book while muttering to himself, gritted his teeth a little nervously and watched the pages of the book flip, and finally stopped on a blank page, and then watched the metal quill slowly float up, A picture was drawn on the light yellow paper.

In this picture, there are two and a half figures, the two figures with their backs facing each other, the one on the left is carrying an Ithaca 37 trench shotgun on his shoulder, and the one on the right is carrying an Owen submachine gun in his hand.

As for the half of the figure behind the two of them, it was a headless corpse lying on the ground with only the torso left, and a broken knife stuck in its chest—like the one found in the Japanese-style garden in Kobe. Same as in those photos.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately breathed a sigh of relief, as expected, these three things put together, he was really sent to that whaling ship!
Under his increasingly bright smile, the metal quill brushed down lines of words that made him stop smiling and break out in a cold sweat.

Character identity: Machine Gunner Victor

Return mission: kill at least 20 enemies, kill all crew members and blow up the engine, take at least 10 photos.

Machine gunner? 20 enemies?
Just as Wei Ran was stunned, everything in front of him was replaced by intense white light, and then he saw that not only the Mauser bayonet and the titanium alloy pistol were available this time, but also the guns that were barely used before. The great anti-Japanese sword!

Continuing on, there were fountain pens and the British army kettle that he had just filled with cold beer.

And in the end, what appeared in the white light turned out to be the sailor bag from the USS Johnston destroyer and the gas mask bag filled with various small items.

During the somewhat long wait, he also gradually heard the sounds of insects coming from all over him, and felt the sultry, humid and sticky air with the smell of humus that is unique to tropical jungles.

At the same time, he also felt that there seemed to be something in his arms.Blinking his eyes hard to regain his sight, he first looked at his surroundings.

As far as I could see, there was nothing but a tree. At this moment, I was squeezed together with four dark-skinned, curly-haired strong men wearing only khaki canvas skirts, and four other Caucasians. In a trench less than 4 meters deep.

Directly in front of the trench was a steep slope, and the sound of gurgling water could be clearly heard through the trees that obscured the view.Although there is also a tropical jungle behind the trenches, the terrain is extremely flat, at least there is not much climbing within the line of sight.

"Victor, do you have a pen with you?"

While he was observing the surrounding environment, the white soldier next to him, who seemed to be about 23 or [-] years old, asked in a low voice. In his hand, he was holding an enamel kettle from the British army. Letter paper folded in half and a pen with a broken nib.

"Have"

Wei Ran responded in a low voice, reached into his pocket as a cover, took out a pen from the metal book and handed it to the other party.

"Thank you"

The soldier reached out to take the pen as he spoke, but hesitated for a moment as if he didn't know what to write.Seeing this, Wei Ran seized the time to check his outfit and weapons.

There were good and bad news. Although I was now a machine gunner, I didn't hold a machine gun in my arms. Instead, I had an Ithaca 37 shotgun.

In fact, not only does he not have a machine gun, a total of 9 people including him in this trench cannot make up a machine gun, and the only thing that looks related to a machine gun is the canvas bag on his shoulder that is used to equip the barrel. .

As expected, the bag contained no spare barrels at all, but instead contained boxes of 12-gauge shot and a bottle of Atipin for malaria, half a bunch of bananas, two pairs of underwear, and four sock-wrapped hand grenades.

In addition to these messy things, Wei Ran was wearing a pair of American canvas leggings, a pair of "Bombay bloomers" training trousers with rolled up trouser legs, and a khaki shirt with missing buttons and a strong smell of sweat .

Of course, there is also an iconic rolled-brimmed cowboy hat and a handkerchief tied around his neck, as well as an English water bottle around his waist and four No. 36 anti-personnel mines on his belt, but apart from these, he has nothing else. that's it.

There are no backpacks, no extra food, and no medicine to treat trauma or even prevent mosquitoes.

But looking at those black men in canvas skirts, Wei Ran immediately regained his balance. Apart from a skirt and a rucksack each, Wei Ran only had a machete in his hand. Or a sapper shovel, and a few disposable ammunition straps hanging across the chest.Not to mention decent weapons, not everyone even has a kettle.

The other four white men were not much better. These people were dressed similarly to themselves, each with a disposable ammunition strap on their chest, and two to five grenades on their waists.

All three of them used Lee Enfield rifles, but the one next to him, who was busy writing letters, used a Sten submachine gun.

In addition to the different weapons, there is also a Japanese-style telescope with a lot of mud on his neck, and there is a leather holster around his waist, with a Browning Hi-Power pistol pinned inside.

"Hugo, there is movement."

Just when the young man who asked Wei Ran to borrow a pen had just written the word "dear", a white man with an Enfield rifle in his hand also reminded him in a low voice.

Hearing this, the young man who was about to continue writing immediately returned the pen to Wei Ran, turned over and leaned his upper body out of the trench, and at the same time raised the binoculars in his hand. By the way, Wei Ran was able to confirm that this person is the protagonist One of Hugo.

After observing for 2 minutes, Hugo slowly retreated to the trench, made a silent gesture to the left and right, and then slowly pulled out a grenade from his waist and shook it.

Seeing this, not only Wei Ran and another white man who didn't know the name immediately pulled out a grenade from his belt, but one of the four big bosses also immediately opened his backpack, reached out and took out a few grenades from inside to the remaining three blacks.

While everyone was waiting quietly, the rustling sound gradually covered the gurgling water, and occasionally, Japanese orders could be faintly heard.

However, Hugo never issued an order, but instead waited patiently.

"boom!"

Without warning, there was an explosion from the foot of the mountain where the sound came from, followed by screams and the sound of firing.

He made a silent gesture to everyone again, Hugo rounded his arms, and threw the grenade with the safety pin removed.

Before his grenade exploded on the ground, the rest of the people, including Wei Ran, also threw out the grenades they had prepared in their hands!
"Boom boom boom!"

Amidst a series of explosions, screams and more intense gunshots reached everyone's ears one after another.

Almost at the same time as this series of explosions occurred, Hugo had already thrown a second grenade in the direction of the gunfire.Seeing this, everyone immediately took out a second grenade and threw it out.

"Boom boom boom!"

After another series of explosions, bullets from no direction finally hit the area where the trenches were built, splashing clouds of soil and breaking unknown bushes.Soon, with Japanese shouts, more and more bullets came.

"what!"

A soldier who was about to throw the third grenade uttered a scream, and the grenade in his hand fell into the trench in response.

Seeing this, a soldier immediately picked it up and threw it out, and at the same time as the explosion occurred, he used his body to protect the soldier who had just screamed.

"boom!"

With the explosion of the grenade close at hand, a large amount of soil and grass clippings were lifted into the air, and then fell down one after another, hitting everyone's heads.

"Da da da!" At this moment, Hugo also extended the submachine gun in his hand to the outside of the trench and started shooting.

Soon, the rest of the white soldiers stretched their weapons out of the trenches and started shooting. The four blacks also rounded their arms under Hugo's yelling in a dialect that only they could understand. Throw the grenade.

He ventured to take a look, but Wei Ran couldn't help grinning. Don't look at the sound of firefights and screams so intense, but he couldn't see the enemy outside the trench at all—the vegetation here is too dense. It is estimated that the effective field of view here is probably less than 30 meters!

At this moment, Hugo yelled something in the native language again, and two of the native soldiers immediately took off the extra supplies and equipment on their bodies and handed them over to their companions, each took a few grenades, and ducked into the dense forest behind the trench .

A moment later, the sound of grenades exploding and continuous firing could be heard from the two wings of the firefighting position.

Seeing this, Hugo decisively issued an order to retreat after emptying one of the magazines. The soldiers in the trench immediately retreated in an orderly manner with the only wounded. down supplies.

Soon, only Hugo, who was still firing with a submachine gun, and Wei Ran, who had only lost two grenades and never fired at all, remained in the trench.

"Walk"

When Hugo emptied the magazine again, Wei Ran immediately threw out a grenade and a stone that he had prepared for a long time.

"Boom!" Almost at the same time as the explosion sounded, the two immediately jumped out of the simple trench, and began to retreat along the footprints left by the people in front.

It didn't take long for them to encounter a white soldier who was setting up mines, and two indigenous soldiers who had been sent out before.

Carefully bypassing the accompanying thunder, a group of five people continued to move forward, speeding up to join the first evacuated people, and led by the two indigenous soldiers who led the way, they found a small stream in the forest, and stepped on the stones in the stream After walking downstream for more than half an hour, I went ashore again and got into the dense forest again.

"How's Neil doing?"

Hugo stopped by the side of a fallen tropical tree, raised his binoculars and asked the surrounding situation.

"My arm was scraped by a stray bullet. It's not a big problem."

The only wounded soldier said immediately, just by looking at his expression, even if the shot was not a big problem, it was enough to hurt him for a while.

"Let me see." Wei Ran walked to the soldier's side while speaking, and helped him check the wound.

Fortunately, this shot only tore a blood groove as thick as a finger on his arm.But unfortunately, after asking around, he found that nearly a class of people couldn't even find a roll of gauze.

"Hold on a little longer"

As Hugo said, he had already untied the handkerchief tied around his neck, and helped the wounded soldier wrap the wound on his arm.

"Hugo, when can we find the company?"

A soldier took a sip of freshly filled water from a stream and asked a question that revealed a lot of key information.

"I don't know." Hugo shook his head, "Now we can only pray that the exchange of fire just now can attract their attention."

After finishing speaking, Hugo sat down next to Wei Ran, took out the kettle and the letter paper on which he had just written his opening words, and borrowed a pen from Wei Ran again, and after the "dear" written before the exchange of fire, Another English name "Miranda" was added.

"Your wife?" Wei Ran asked casually.

"right"

As Hugo said, he also took out a metal cigarette case from his pocket and opened it, gave Wei Ran a cigarette from it, and showed a photo by the way.In that photo, there was a beautiful woman in Hugo's arms.

Lighting a cigarette with the lighter in the opponent's hand, Wei Ran was about to say something, but Hugo pointed to the shotgun in his arms and asked, "Where did you get this gun from? Are you left-handed?"

"Why did you ask so?"

Wei Ran deliberately ignored the first question, and focused on the second question to divert attention.

"I have a good friend"

Hugo took a drag on his cigarette and explained, "He has a younger brother named Karan. That little guy is 14 years old this year, and he is left-handed."

"So?" Wei Ran asked without knowing why.

"My friend bought such a trench gun at a high price from an American ground crew, which is exactly the same as yours, and asked me to give it to his brother."

Hugo said while gesturing, "Left-handed people don't have to worry about being hit by the ejected shells when using this kind of gun."

"What a good brother, what's the name of your friend?" Wei Ran asked intentionally.

"Hannibal, Hannibal Simpson"

Hugo replied with a smile, "He is a rich bastard, and my wife is working on his family's farm now."

"Did he not serve?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"I and his unit surrendered after the Battle of Singapore last year"

Hugo sighed at this point, "At that time, I just happened to take a break to go home and marry Miranda, so I escaped the disaster, but Hannibal lost the news."

"He'll be fine." Wei Ran comforted the other party as sincerely as possible, and then changed the topic to other directions.

In the ensuing chats and indirect remarks, Wei Ran also roughly learned that this was the most difficult mid-August in the battle of the Kokoda Trail.

According to Hugo, after the shameful surrender of the 27th Infantry Brigade he served in, he came to the territory of Papua New Guinea. With some native language, he became a command interpreter of the Papua New Guinea Infantry Battalion.

However, in the battle a few days ago, when he led the indigenous soldiers to transport ammunition for the 53rd Militia Battalion and act as a guide, this militia battalion, which was fighting the nuclear recruiting army that launched a night attack, was unexpectedly killed by a After the platoon leader was killed in battle, they scattered and fled for their lives!

Not surprisingly, he and the transport squad of indigenous soldiers he led were completely dispersed by these headless deserters and lost contact with the large army.

And the white soldiers, including Wei Ran, turned out to be deserters picked up by Hugo and the four native soldiers who were in charge of ammunition transportation in the jungle these two days.

It was also through this short chat that Wei Ran also learned that Hugo, as the highest relative military rank among the group, and with his 23-year-old "senior age" and his experience of serving and fighting in Singapore, has become Well deserved leadership.

And the highest combat mission he gave was to gather the deserters he encountered as much as possible, assemble the large troops as soon as possible, and participate in the frontline battle again!

Just looking at the overabundant ammunition they now have, the meager food supplies, and almost no medical supplies, Wei Ran feels that their top priority now may be to survive.

After this exchange, Wei Ran has already understood the general situation, and the talkative Hugo seems to have found inspiration, and wrote lines of beautiful English words and sentences on the letter paper.Wei Ran, who was peeking at the overly comfortable battlefield environment described in those few words, couldn't help laughing.

Before Hugo could finish writing this letter, there was another intense firefight and vaguely audible shouts of killing from a place that didn't feel too far away!
Almost at the same time as these voices came into his ears, Hugo returned the pen to Wei Ran again and put away the unfinished letters and the water bottle used as a backing board, picked up the submachine gun at hand and said in a low voice, "Finally found it, hurry up!"

After speaking, he immediately changed into the native language to greet the four native soldiers, and walked in the front.

After secretly looking at the other three white soldiers, Wei Ran felt a little relieved. Fortunately, even the young soldier with the injured arm didn't have much fear on his face at this time.

A group of 9 people ran hard all the way in the mountains and forests under the leadership of the indigenous soldiers. When they climbed a stone mountain no more than 50 meters high out of breath, they saw at the foot of the mountain on the other side that there was a fully armed army The devil troops waded through the stream that was barely submerged to their knees and advanced quickly, as if preparing to outflank the enemies who were still fighting in the distance.

"It's this trick again." Hugo mocked in a low voice contemptuously, and took a grenade from his waist again.

This time, the rest of the people didn't need to command, so they each pulled out a grenade, and threw it at the nuclear recruiting soldiers at the foot of the mountain in no particular order.

(End of this chapter)