War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1146 Raid and Battle Damage

In the middle of the night, the rainstorm without warning once again enveloped the tropical rainforest around halfway along the Kokoda Trail.

Not surprisingly, the river swelled because of the rain, which suddenly increased the size of the originally drizzling waterfall.

At the entrance of the waterfall, there were five or six more tents on the gravel beaches on both sides. Around the tents on both sides, a bunker with a machine gun was even dug out.

Around the path under the waterfall, the tents that were originally built became more scattered than before the attack, and at the same time, there were more than twice as many soldiers patrolling the path as before.

At the bend of the river further upstream of this waterfall, in the dense forest on the bank, four pieces of tent fabrics stitched together with buttons have been propped up between several tropical trees.

Under the tent cloth, among several moss-covered stones, a bonfire has been lit, and on top of the bonfire, there are four ghost kettles filled with water.

Beside the bonfire, the white soldier Neil and the indigenous soldier Kai Kai were lying on the banana leaves, sleeping soundly covered with captured blankets.

Separated by a bonfire, Wei Ran and Hugo leaned on a rock each, one was busy baking shoes and socks, and the other was carefully maintaining all kinds of weapons for the four of them.

On the canopy of a big tree less than ten meters away from the four of them, the indigenous soldier Waloro was riding on a thick branch with a Sten submachine gun in his arms, watching the stream vigilantly with the binoculars he had seized. direction.

"Is it almost time?" Beside the bonfire, Hugo asked while handing the cleaned Ithaca 37 shotgun to Wei Ran.

"It's almost there." Wei Ran took the shotgun and responded while filling the magazine and the chamber with bullets.

At this time, more than two hours had passed since they celebrated Halloween in advance with the captured grenades.

For more than two hours, although the devils were careful not to catch up, they occupied the gravel beaches on both sides of the waterfall mouth. Coupled with the sudden heavy rain, they should be sleeping at this time. .

"Let's go now?" Hugo said as he put the boiled rainwater in the devil's kettle into his own kettle.

"I'll just go by myself"

Wei Ran also filled his kettle with boiling water, and said without refusal, "And it's just to wake them up, it's not worth going with us."

Hearing this, Hugo hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Let Valoro follow you."

"Need not"

Wei Ran waved his hand without refusal, put on the captured grenade carrying bag, but didn't even wear the water bottle, so he walked towards the stream alone with the shotgun in one hand and the canvas bag with the grenadier in the other.

Glancing at the big tree where Walloro was hiding, Wei Ran stretched out his carrying bag.

This carrying bag, which could hold 8 grenades, now has five grenades left, and the three empty pockets are filled with 12-gauge copper shells, and a big banana for supper .

Pulled out the banana, peeled it, ate it in two or three bites, and threw it into the grass behind him. Wei Ran untied his belt and urinated into the stream. In the dark, he walked towards the mouth of the waterfall with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

This rain not only provided protection for the ghosts at the mouth of the waterfall and under the waterfall, but also for Wei Ran. At least, he didn't have to worry about being targeted by the devil's snipers due to the high visibility.

Stopping and walking along the way, when a big tree lying on the stream appeared in front of him, Wei Ran also stopped.

He had deliberately measured his steps as he fled up the stream from the mouth of the waterfall.From the entrance of the waterfall to this tree, most of the roots have been washed out, but there are still luxuriant trees lying horizontally. The distance is about 300 to 350 meters.

Without continuing to move forward, Wei Ran first carried the shotgun on his shoulders, then took off the two grenades pinned to his belt, and placed them at the necessary place on the bank of the stream. The grenadier in the canvas bag was pressed against a stone covered with moss, and a grenade produced by the devil was stuffed into it.

Guessing to keep the grenade at an elevation angle of 45 degrees and pointing it in the direction of the path, he lightly tugged the leather rope on the firing rod, and with a crisp sound of "ding", he fired the grenade towards the 400mm. meters away.

Without waiting for the grenade to explode, he stuffed the second grenade into the muzzle and pulled the firing lever again.

"boom!"

When the sound of the first explosion came faintly into the ear in the majestic heavy rain, Wei Ran had already put away the grenadier, and yawned and ran quickly amidst the sound of gunfire and the second explosion also faintly sounding behind him To the direction when coming.

Almost front and rear, the direction of the waterfall behind him also heard successive explosions and machine gun fire.Obviously, those devils who were successfully awakened were also moving towards possible positions around them, using grenade launchers or even 37mm direct-fire artillery, and pouring out the ammunition that they had carried hard by manpower.

These tentative bombardments naturally failed to catch Wei Ran, and when the sporadic bombardment ended, he had already returned to the camp.

"You guys go to sleep." Neil yawned and said, "I'll watch over it in the second half of the night."

Seeing that the native soldier Warolo, who was replaced by Kaikai, was already lying on the side of the bonfire and covered with a blanket, Wei Ran also put the weapon in his hand aside in peace of mind, and lay on those banana leaves, no different from Hugo Closed eyes successively.

It's a pity that he didn't feel how long he had slept, and was awakened by two consecutive explosions.

At this time, the dense canopy above the head has leaked the sunlight, and the bonfire beside him has been extinguished at some point, but beside the bonfire, there are still a few skewers of grilled slightly red snake meat.

Looking around again, the white soldier Neil had already stood up, and Hugo and the native soldier Warolo also sat up vigilantly.A little further away, another native soldier, Waloro, was also running towards them.

"There have just been two explosions"

Seeing that both Wei Ran and Hugo had woken up, Neil said immediately. Before he could finish speaking, the native soldier Kai Kai also ran to the campfire, chattering about his discovery in the local language.

"There are enemies coming along the waterfall." Kaikai only said a few words, and Hugo stood up immediately, "It seems that there are many people."

"You clear up the camp"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already picked up the grenadier at hand, stepped on his dry boots and ran towards the stream.

Taking a quick look at the downstream of the stream, Wei Ran immediately took out a grenade and stuffed it into the grenadier, and turned the knurled knob to adjust the range to 200 meters—this is the distance between his place and the downstream of the stream. Approximate distance to a corner.

It was less than a hundred meters away from that corner to the lying tree that was harassed for the second time last night.

While he waited patiently, when a few figures loomed at the corner, Wei Ran, who had already been prepared, immediately pulled the firing lever and fired a grenade that he had been preparing for a long time.

However, before the grenade exploded, Wei Ran felt a sudden gust of air flow from his side, and at the same time, a piece the size of a palm exploded on the trunk of the tree behind him!
Without waiting for his brain to react, Wei Ran pounced sideways and hid in the jungle by the roadside with the grenadier in his hand.

"boom!"

Almost at the same time as his body touched the ground, the grenade he fired exploded three to forty meters away from the figures, causing a lot of water splashes and killing several fat swimming fish.

There was no time to fight back, let alone check the results of the battle, Wei Ran ran towards the camp immediately after getting up.

But in just a dozen seconds, a round of grenades were hit by the grenade, hitting the location where Wei Ran just attacked and the jungle where he was hiding.

"Quick retreat!" Wei Ran greeted Hugo and the others from a distance.

In fact, there was no need for him to remind them. Hugo and others who had already dismantled the tent immediately picked up everyone's things, and ran into the depths of the jungle under the leadership of the two native warriors.

Taking the shotgun and the long canvas bag in Neil's hand, Wei Ran said while running, "The other side has a very powerful sniper, and there are several grenadier teams. Hugo, let's Where are you going?"

"Find the Enemy's Tail"

Hugo said while running, "We still have to go around the Kokoda Airport to see if there are more troops stationed there, and then we will go around to the other side of the path and send the information back as quickly as possible."

Looking at the direction behind him worriedly, Wei Ran didn't say anything more, but stopped abruptly, and planted an accompanying thunderbolt in the bushes they just walked through.

After running wildly for a while, the group of five people slowed down a little and stopped temporarily.

I checked the wounds of the three wounded including myself and re-bandaged them. They helped each other clean up the leeches hanging from all over their bodies and each took a tablet of antimalarial anti-malarial. Then he continued to set off, went around in a circle to hide his tracks in a stream, and finally went around to the dense forest near the Kokoda Trail.

Even without the help of binoculars, they can clearly see that at the end of the team of nuclear devils, there are a few donkeys struggling to pull a few 37mm direct-firing artillery and a few Type 92 guns while whipping. infantry artillery.

In that team, there were dozens of indigenous people wearing skirts, their hands were tied, each carrying two or three shells, and they were escorted towards the head of the team.

Not only that, but they also saw some wounded who were going retrograde in the opposite direction here.These wounded were either carried on stretchers, or moved slowly by themselves with wooden sticks.

"How far is it from the airport?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"It's not far away"

Hugo changed to English after communicating with Valoro for a while and replied, "We only need to walk in the jungle for another day, and we can get to the airport before dark."

As he spoke, he took out the palm-sized notepad from his bag, and used the pencil in it to record the enemy's weapons and equipment he observed.

"How many enemies do you think you can have?" Hugo asked without raising his head.

"2000 people?" Neil asked uncertainly.

"At least three to 4000 people"

Wei Ran whispered in a very positive tone, "I guess this is a full formation, and they are supported by mountain artillery."

Hearing this, Hugo scribbled a few strokes on the notepad, tore it off, folded it in half, and handed it to Kaikai who was holding a submachine gun in his hand.

Just like last time, he stuffed this information into the glass medicine bottle hanging around his neck and tightened the cap. Kaikai said something in his native language.

"Hugo, remind him."

Before Hugo could speak, Wei Ran said, "There may be pursuers behind us, let him go as far as possible."

"I see." Hugo nodded and changed to the native language, and began to ask Waloro one by one.

Soon, Kaikai disappeared into the jungle.

"Let's go too"

Hugo took a big sip of water and said in a low voice, "We have to rush to the vicinity of Kokoda Airport before dark to see if there are more enemies stationed there."

After finishing speaking, he switched to the native language and said a few more words. The indigenous soldier named Waloro immediately waved his hands and led them along the mountainside, which was almost parallel to the path, and proceeded cautiously towards the Kokoda Airport. .

However, less than 5 minutes before and after, they heard clearly audible gunshots behind them and the unique sound of Sten submachine guns firing.

Almost when the four of them stopped and turned around to look in the direction of the gunshots, the sound of the submachine gun firing stopped without warning, followed closely by the other sounds of the three or eight big guns firing. down.

"Something happened to Kai Kai"

Hugo immediately frowned. The young native soldier named Valoro also showed panic and worry on his brown-black face.

With little hesitation, Hugo said while loading the submachine gun in his hand, "Let's save him, at least we need to know how he is doing."

After finishing speaking, he changed into the native language and said something.Upon hearing this, Valoro immediately showed a trace of joy on his face, and immediately quickened his pace, leading the three of them in the direction where Kaikai disappeared.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran didn't give any suggestion, but silently put the safety on the shotgun in his hand.

Soon, they gradually heard the cries of the devils, and the footsteps of the three became more cautious.

As the distance got closer, they also vaguely saw that beside a tall tree not far from the path in front, the indigenous soldier Kai Kai had been hung from a branch with his arms tied.

At this time, a soldier was slashing his thigh with a bayonet. Every time the knife was cut, a piece of flesh and blood would be stripped from Kaikai's leg, and this young native soldier would let out a miserable scream.

At the same time, Wei Ran also noticed that on the path, a soldier unscrewed the medicine bottle that was originally hanging around Kaikai's neck, took out the note inside, and handed it to a soldier on horseback.

Just looking at the contents of the note, the soldier whispered something, and soon, a group of more than 50 soldiers separated from the trail and walked into the jungle with rifles among!
Seeing this, Neil couldn't help leaning over to Hugo and Wei Ran and asked, "What should we do?"

"Bang!" As soon as he said this, a bullet was fired from an unknown direction in the distance, and it hit one of Neil's shoulders accurately!

"what!"

The white soldier Neil couldn't help letting out a scream, and at the same time, not surprisingly, he attracted the attention of the nuclear recruiting soldiers who were torturing Kai Kai in the distance.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wei Ran and Hugo immediately pulled Neil who was shot back.But soon, another shot hit the rock where the three of them were hiding.

After such a short time, no matter the devils who were tormenting Kai Kai or the 50-odd devils who had just walked into the jungle, they all followed the sound and surrounded him.On the trail, several soldiers quickly yelled at the donkey dragging the artillery, and turned the two Type 92 infantry artillery across to the jungle.

On both sides of the two infantry guns, seven or eight devils were also lined up at this time, and three grenade launchers were set up at a very fast speed, ready to throw grenades.

"I'll lure them away!"

While speaking, Neil broke free from the support of Wei Ran and Hugo, took his submachine gun and ran deeper into the jungle, and while his figure was covered by trees and weeds, he pointed the submachine gun in his hand at those who were still in the forest. The devils who fired at the three of Wei Ran shot intensively.

"Ni"

Just as Hugo was about to shout out and chase after him, Wei Ran covered his mouth and dragged him back behind the tree trunk where he was hiding.

"I'm going to find Neil." Wei Ran said faster, "Let Valoro take you first."

"Can"

"You still want to send the information back, don't you?"

Wei Ran had already signaled Valoro to take off the grenadier ammunition carrying bag and give it to himself during his speech, "If you want to send out the information, it is not much easier than saving Neil or Kaikai, in short, don't waste time and life .”

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran threw out the four grenades pinned to his belt one by one, and when the first grenade exploded, he rushed out with the ammunition carrying bag that Valoro had just given him!

"boom!"

Almost at the same time as he ran out of the hiding place, a bullet also flew past the back of his neck, taking away a few of his fine hairs along the way.

Seeing that Wei Ran also ran away without a trace, Hugo clenched his fists, and finally took a look at Kaikai who was still hanging on the tree, and turned around with regret and his last companion, Warolo, under the cover of dense vegetation. Run in the direction of Kokoda Airport.

At the same time, Wei Ran also led a group of chasing soldiers to the depths of the dense forest, and deliberately distanced himself from Neil so as not to be flanked by him.

Running all the way in the dense forest, Wei Ran stopped immediately after jumping over a lying dead tree, set up the grenade launcher and pointed the muzzle at the small and pitiful sky above his head. In the direction of the Kokoda trail, he made two "tom tom" sounds, and fired the last two grenades in his own carrying bag.

Stuffing the grenade into the canvas bag, Wei Ran stuffed all the eight grenades in the carrying bag he just got from Valoro into the empty carrying bag and the original carrying bag as quickly as possible. The canvas bag of the gun barrel, and then took out a grenade and pulled out the safety pin, wrapped the pressure rod with the empty carrying bag, and just put it on the stone next to it so casually.

Not daring to delay any longer, Wei Ran raised his head and took a look cautiously. Seeing that there was no enemy, he ran away, but at the same time, he did not forget to pull the trigger towards the top of his head indiscriminately, and fired a 12-gauge shotgun to lure the enemy.

(End of this chapter)