War Photographer's Notebook

The torrential rain perfectly covered up most of the sounds in the jungle, and at the same time made the line of sight more and more obstructed. By the way, it made walking on the already muddy ground even more difficult.

However, this heavy rain is also good, at least Wei Ran feels that his upper body is clean.And another advantage, of course, is to provide a layer of natural cover for this team with only 6 people left.

Under this uncomfortably rainy curtain, the three-person machine gun team headed by the deputy squad leader, Wei Ran, and Hugo and Valoro, the three-person submachine gun team, covered each other, and followed the incoming waves little by little. The disgusting smell of meat looks for signs of the enemy.

Soon, they saw piles of bonfires being lit under a few lush banyan trees in the rain. Around these bonfires, there were still many people sitting indistinctly. Floating from those campfires.

After some estimation, the hearts of the six people who were divided into two groups sank. Let alone a hundred or ten people here, this is almost the number of two full-staffed infantry squads.

Obviously, it is impossible for only six of them to fight against those demons who are eating human flesh.

"How can there be such a man-eating demon in this world." Hugo put down the binoculars and muttered to himself.

Wei Ran, who was also hiding under this palm tree, shook his head slightly, and reminded in a low voice, "Although these people don't look in good condition, they are well equipped. Especially the fourth bonfire on the right. , there seems to be a mountain cannon there."

“It's very close to the Kokoda Trail”

"We need to ask for help." Hugo looked at Wei Ran and said.

"Let Valoro and the vice-captain go"

Seeing that the other party seemed ready to let him go, Wei Ran immediately recommended a better candidate, "You know, I was also a machine gunner before, and I can replace the deputy squad leader in the machine gun team."

"Alright." Hugo nodded, braved the rain and carefully touched the side of the machine gun team not far away.

Soon, the deputy squad leader and Valoro left the hiding place without making a sound. Wei Ran also led the two machine gunners back a little over ten meters, and found a relatively high position, hiding between the two. Behind the plantains, in the rain, trenches were being dug with all kinds of things that could be found at hand.

Hugo, on the other hand, stayed in place alone, hid himself, and continued to observe the enemies.

Almost when the torrential rain began to subside, Wei Ran and the two machine gunners also dug out a trench that could barely accommodate the three of them. By the way, we learned from the whispered chat that one of the two soldiers was from Sydney. , one from Canberra.

Not daring to rest at all, the three of them hastily covered the trench with palm leaves and plantain leaves cut around them, and then began to use lunch boxes or steel helmets to scoop out the accumulated rainwater little by little. The mud was dug out and transported to the grass in the distance with a backpack.

Before the rain stopped, the deputy squad leader ran back with two riflemen who were supposed to carry the war reporter Brody away.

According to his explanation, he and Valoro caught up with the four riflemen who took Brody to hide from the rain halfway. After some discussion, he brought two riflemen back to support Hugo, Wei Ran and others , one of the other two riflemen guarded Brody and continued to hide from the rain, while the other followed Valoro back to ask for help.

After this explanation, the deputy squad leader took over Wei Ran's job and returned to the machine gun team he was in charge of, and the two infantrymen who followed him also carefully touched the shivering Hugo under the leadership of Wei Ran. He hid beside him.

As the rain gradually stopped, Wei Ran, who was hiding behind a big tree, could see more and more clearly that the devils around the campfire seemed to be in bad condition.

From time to time, some devils would leave the bonfire, clutch their stomachs and run to a distance and start running away.Obviously, they also suffer from dysentery and diarrhea.

Subconsciously looking at his crotch, Wei Ran secretly rejoiced that he had taken some medicine before the rainstorm, and his condition was better, at least not as uncontrollable as before.

It's just that although the intestines are a little more comfortable, the forehead is scorching hot, and the limbs and torso are extraordinarily cold because they have been drenched by the torrential rain.He knew that it might not be long before his body would collapse.

Retracting behind the big tree where he was hiding, Wei Ran took off the clothes on his body, wrung out the water and put them on again, and then wrapped them in two banana leaves, curling up his body as much as possible to avoid the rapid loss of body temperature.

In this growing torment, time passed by little by little, the sky above his head gradually cleared up and the sun appeared, and the rainforest where people were shivering from the cold just now became extremely stuffy as if thrown into a steamer in the blink of an eye.

Gradually, the sun above his head began to turn westward. Just as Wei Ran took out the kettle and threw another sulfathiazole, which was used to treat dysentery, into his mouth. Just as he was about to send it down with water, there was nothing in the distance. Suddenly, I remembered the sound of the Bren machine gun firing!

Wei Ran, who was almost choked, dropped the water bottle in his hand and spit out the water he just drank into his mouth and the tablet that he hadn't swallowed yet, picked up the submachine gun in his hand, and poked his head out.

In such a short time, machine gun fire also came from the other direction, and those devils hiding under the banyan tree around the campfire also lay down like weeds cleaned by a weeding machine.Immediately afterwards, the machine gun team led by the deputy squad leader also began to suppress the fire.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately raised his submachine gun, aimed at the devils who were about to run towards the mountain cannon, and pulled the trigger.

Almost at the same time, Hugo and others who had been waiting for a long time in the distance also fired one after another, shooting at the panicked devils looking for cover with the submachine guns in their hands.

Before a magazine was finished, these devils also started to counterattack, and at the same time as their counterattack began, the machine gun team in charge of the deputy squad leader was the first to misfire!

Taking a quick look at the direction of the machine gun team, Wei Ran suppressed his uneasiness and continued to shoot and kill the enemies who appeared.

"Ding! Boom!"

Just as Wei Ran emptied a magazine, he also clearly heard the sound of the grenadier firing and the subsequent explosion.Immediately afterwards, on the trunk of the big tree where he was hiding, a bullet the size of a bowl was hit by a bullet from nowhere.

Just at this time, the machine gun group in charge of the deputy squad leader started to shoot again after a brief pause, and the devil who had just shot the grenade with the grenade was also beaten into a cloud of blood.

But immediately after, the machine gun team once again fired a dense barrage.

Knowing that the situation of the machine gun team might not be good, after changing the magazine for the submachine gun, Wei Ran immediately supported his weak body and rushed over under the cover of the surrounding vegetation.

He didn't have to take such a risk, but he knew that once the firepower of the machine gun was lost, there would be less suppression. Once the devils seized the opportunity to activate the mountain cannon, not only the surrounding people who launched the surprise attack would not survive , those of them who are relatively close to the enemy will definitely die, the first batch will die!

After being chased by several bullets fired at intervals, Wei Ran jumped into the trench of the machine gun team, but Wei Ran's heart sank. In such a short time, the deputy squad leader whose name he did not know and the two machine guns from Sydney and Canberra respectively The gunmen have all been shot.

Among the three, the deputy squad leader who was the least injured had his right eye socket torn open by a bullet, and most of his eyeballs that had been blown out were hanging out of the eye socket.But the two soldiers had already been hit on the bridge of the nose and the top of the head respectively, and they had already stopped breathing.

"do not move"

Wei Ran held down the deputy squad leader, injected him with morphine as quickly as possible, and then dragged the Bren machine gun into the trench, checked it and replaced it with a new magazine.

"Listen to me Victor"

The deputy squad leader grabbed Wei Ran and said, "Snipers, their snipers are hiding in the canopy of the banyan tree, right in the canopy of the banyan tree to the right of the cannon."

"I'll fix it"

Wei Ran quickly responded that at this moment, he didn't care about treating the deputy monitor's wounds at all. He picked up the canvas bag containing all the machine gun magazines of the team and threw it on his shoulder, then raised a eyebrow The corpses of his companions protruded upwards out of the trench.

In the gunshots covered by the sound of crossfire, the skull of the young corpse from Sydney was pierced by bullets. Wei Ran also immediately left the spot with the Bren machine gun, changed his route irregularly, and finally hid in the behind a big tree.

Holding the Bren machine gun in one hand and the ammunition bag in the other, Wei Ran crawled away from the spot under the cover of the bushes, then immediately found a stone covered by the bushes, set up the machine gun and aimed at the door where there were already people. Start to adjust the direction of the mountain cannon.

Slowly moving the muzzle of the gun, Wei Ran aimed at the crown of the banyan tree on the right side of the mountain cannon and pulled the trigger.

"Da-da-da! Da-da-da!"

Amid the rapid gunfire, Wei Ran fired short bursts again and again, and soon, he vaguely saw a figure jumping down from the tree.

"Da da da! Da da da! Da da da! Da da da!"

Wei Ran chased the opponent and shot four times in a row, until the figure running among the banyan trees fell to the ground and seemed to throw all the weapons in his hand, then he changed the field with the machine gun.

Before he could find a good position again, the mountain cannon finally fired with a "boom". Before firing, he turned around and aimed at the position he was in when he just fired.

"boom!"

Just as the mountain cannon fired a shell at the position where he just fired, Wei Ran, who had been waiting for a long time, pulled the trigger again, aiming at the two groups that were using the grenade and started strafing.

He emptied the magazine at the fastest speed. Wei Ran didn't even have time to take a look at the devil who was swept away, let alone replace the magazine with a new one, so he immediately left the place with the gun in his hand, and flew into a pool of water among.

"Whoa!"

Amidst the splashing water, a direct-sighted shell also slammed into the position where Wei Ran had just fired. With a "boom", it blew up the surrounding bushes and shattered the palm tree.

"Pooh!"

Wei Ran wiped his face, lay on his back in the puddle and changed the magazine first, then rolled and moved to the side, setting the Bren in his hand, which had been cooled by the puddle, in an unobstructed On the grass, aimed at the gun mantlet of the artillery and pulled the trigger!

"Da da da!"

After a short strafing, Wei Ran immediately rolled over and hid behind a tree when the artillery started to rotate the field of fire, and then ran to the side with the leaking ammunition bag and machine gun, and fired at the sound of the cannon. Before the sound, a swoop plunged into a puddle again.

Undoubtedly, he was luring the only cannon of the devils to fire at him, and only that cannon kept firing at him and turning the direction, so as to create opportunities for more people!
However, when he pointed the leaking Bren machine gun at the cannon again, he suddenly saw an explosion behind the cannon!
"boom!"

Just when the sound of the explosion reached his ears, he also saw that Hugo, Valoro, and the two riflemen had already reached a position less than 40 meters away from the mountain gate, and they were swinging round. Arm, you throw grenades one by one in the direction of the artillery!

Hey!
Wei Ran's heart sank, he no longer cared about cursing these reckless men, aimed at the devils rushing towards their hiding place and pulled the trigger!
Under his cover, grenades exploded one after another around the cannon, and no devil could get close to the hiding place of Hugo and others from the beginning to the end.

And the other two machine gun positions that fired again, after the artillery lost its effect, successively enveloped the only remaining grenadier team and the opponent's machine gun points.

Finally, the devils in this dense forest once again launched a thousand pieces of charge, and Australian soldiers with submachine guns or rifles also ran out of the surrounding jungle!
Throwing it to the Bren machine gun that had just emptied a magazine, Wei Ran picked up the Owen submachine gun that had been carried on his shoulder and rushed out.

Just as the content of the so-called ancient topic debate is the same, if it is said who is faster within seven steps, the [-]th cover with a bayonet will undoubtedly be behind the pistol and the submachine gun.

What's more, today's Wei Ran is no longer the first brother when he fought the devils for the first time in Tengxian County, so don't look at the devils who rushed head-on, but he has already shot two shots. The magazine successfully took away the lives of four or five devils.

Almost as soon as he switched to the third magazine on the run, the distance between the two sides also closed in the single digits.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Four shots in a row dealt with the two devils rushing towards him. Wei Ran put away the titanium alloy pistol and at the same time raised the submachine gun that had just changed the magazine, pulled the trigger and shook it left and right to fire intensive strafing shots.

It wasn't until the magazine was emptied that he yelled at Hugo who was still lying in the hiding place and asked, "Hugo! How's the situation?!"

"Taken a grenade"

Hugo, who was mostly soaked in the puddle, shouted loudly, "It seems that only me and Valoro survived! But he has wounds on his thigh and buttocks, and one of my feet is also injured!"

While Hugo yelled to respond, Wei Ran also smashed the bayonet with the empty submachine gun, and let go of the submachine gun with the spare magazine exhausted. , and with a puff, he leaned against the devil's neck and stabbed upwards obliquely, and at the moment the artery was cut open, he yanked it down hard, cutting half of the neck open.

"Boom!"

Two shots in a row shot each of the other two devils who were fighting with the Australian soldiers. Wei Ran randomly selected one, and before its screams stopped, he chopped off its front paws.

"Thank you!"

The young white soldier whose shoulder had been stabbed bloody by the bayonet yelled, and the stab from the Enfield rifle in his hand pierced the devil's chest while screaming.

"Boom!"

Wei Ran hit another devil who was rushing towards him with two shots, and cooperated with the soldier behind him to start a frenzied hand-to-hand combat.

Gradually, the young soldier who cooperated with Wei Ran was stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet and lost his combat effectiveness. Gradually, Wei Ran also emptied all the bullets in the magazine of the titanium alloy pistol. Gradually, his His physical strength also began to weaken, and he was stabbed through his right arm and left thigh by two bayonets that he couldn't dodge.

"Bang! Bang!"

Seeing that the two devils with crazy faces were about to stab the bayonet into Wei Ran's chest, two gunshots sounded from behind, and after the very clear and solid gunshots, the faces of the two devils burst out one after another. The big cloud of blood mist, and even their entire bodies, under the huge kinetic energy, changed from a posture of slightly leaning forward to exert force, and turned into a buttock and fell face up in the muddy ground.

"then"

Before the words were finished, an Owen submachine gun and two magazines were handed to Wei Ran, and he grabbed the submachine gun and fired a strafing fan. Only then did Wei Ran have time to look, but found that the person who saved him was actually lame. Hugo with one leg!
At this time, he was holding a Winchester 12 trench gun, and at the same time he shouted loudly, "Get up quickly, this gun doesn't have many bullets in it!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who was out of breath, immediately struggled to get up from the mud mixed with blood, stood beside Hugo, and fired a series of bursts at him again.

And Hugo, who has only one leg to support his body, also tacitly leaned his body against Wei Ran, took out a magazine and held it in his hand to prepare for Wei Ran, and at the same time fired from time to time, guarding the body lying in hiding. Walloro, who is alive or dead at the edge of the puddle.

"Give me your shotgun!" Wei Ran said, and handed the submachine gun with the magazine replaced.

Hearing this, Hugo didn't hesitate at all, so he exchanged the shotgun in Wei Ran's hand for the submachine gun in Wei Ran's hand, and while shooting, he handed the canvas ammunition belt slung across his shoulder to Wei Ran.

After taking over the shotgun and firing two bullets in a row, Wei Ran took the ammunition belt and hung it around his neck, then took out two copper-cased shotguns and stuffed them into the magazine.

Next, the two cooperated with each other, covering each other and pushing the battle line towards the banyan trees that were still burning with the bonfires together with the people around them.

Gradually, the mountain cannon ran behind Wei Ran, Hugo and the young soldiers around because of the advancement of the battle line. Gradually, Wei Ran also saw the sniper whose legs were broken by his own machine gun, and took advantage of the situation. A round of precious 12-gauge shot was stuck in its face.

Gradually, the last few devils who resisted stubbornly, with oily spots remaining on the corners of their mouths, were also surrounded by the Australian soldiers in ragged clothes, generally wearing crotch pants and pale faces, under a banyan tree.

Among the few devils left, the highest rank was a second lieutenant holding a bastard box and constantly pulling the trigger, but it was obvious that his pistol was out of bullets.

But the other devils all used [-] caps.Undoubtedly, they have already emptied their bullets and are timid enough, otherwise how could they appear in this final encirclement.

"They eat people"

Outside the encirclement, Hugo was limping on one leg, holding an Owen submachine gun in one hand, and an Enfield rifle he picked up from no one knew where in the other. He walked into the encirclement and said with hatred, "The battle field of the Sydney Morning News Reporter Brody was almost eaten by them, as well as the tailor of the scouting team and his companions. Among them, we know that there is a soldier named Jock. They have been eaten, and their bodies are not far away. hanging."

"I can testify"

As Wei Ran said, he carried the empty shotgun on his shoulder, then took off the backpack, opened it, took out the camera and said, "This is the camera of Brody, a war correspondent. I have used it before. It captures what Captain Hugo just said."

"Kill them!"

Among the soldiers forming the encirclement circle, a white boy who looked to be no more than 20 years old shouted excitedly.

"Kill them!"

"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"

Gradually, the shouts of the soldiers forming the encirclement tended to be consistent, and the bloody spear stabs were getting closer and closer to the terrified and desperate devils.

"puff!"

Among the angry young soldiers, someone who was excited stabbed the Enfield rifle in the stomach of a devil in the middle of the moment.

At this moment, as if the soldiers around had received the signal, they almost subconsciously stabbed out the spears in their hands, piercing through the layer of khaki cloth, and then piercing through the layer of sinful skin and stench. organs.

Amid the piercing sounds one after another, Wei Ran took a few steps back, handed the trench gun in his hand to Hugo, and motioned for him to sit on the back of a devil's corpse, squatting down with difficulty, while examining The other party's wound said, "Your foot is injured."

"Blown up by a grenade"

Hugo let Wei Ran use a slender Mauser bayonet to cut the shoelaces and take off his muddy and blood-stained boots. Then, Wei Ran saw a wound about two centimeters long in the middle of the sole of his foot.

The wound was not only on the socks and the soles of the feet, but also on the soles and tongues of his boots.

"Shouldn't die," Wei Ran said while giving the other party a shot of morphine for pain relief, "but it will definitely take a while."

"I know I know."

Hugo clubbed the trench gun that Wei Ran just threw over and the Enfield rifle he picked up from who knows where, and put the empty Owen submachine gun across his knees, raised his finger and said, "Hurry up!" Go see how Valoro is doing, he's got a lot more injuries than me."

"I'm going right now"

Wei Ran stood up while speaking, carrying the medical bag borrowed from the war correspondent, and limped towards Valoro.

Along the way, he also saw corpses all over the place, including devils, Australian soldiers who were too young, and a large number of indigenous soldiers.

In addition to the corpses, he also saw those lunch boxes scattered everywhere. Some of these lunch boxes had some grass leaves and roots, some had a piece of translucent meat skin, and some were human flesh. bone.

Enduring the rising nausea, Wei Ran walked with a limp, aiming at the surrounding soldiers and those scattered lunch boxes and human bones, and even those retching Australian soldiers pressed down again and again. shutter.

Until he reached the small puddle, his camera was also aimed at the native soldier Waloro who had crawled out of the puddle and was panting thick and thin.

"Valoro!"

Wei Ran called out the other party's name, and this indigenous soldier with a scar on half of his face also raised one hand with difficulty as a greeting, and at the same time let Wei Ran use the last negative to take a picture of him. a photograph.

Putting away the camera hastily, Wei Ran inspected it for Valoro.

Fortunately, except for a few grenade fragments on his buttocks and thighs, his injuries were not serious.

But compared to him, the two riflemen who were still lying in the puddle had stopped breathing, and even their bloody faces slid into the puddle stained red with blood.

Without daring to pull out the shrapnel in the wound, Wei Ran temporarily stopped the bleeding for Valoro at the fastest speed, and then limped and stumbled towards the machine gun position in charge of the deputy squad leader in the distance.

However, when he arrived here, the deputy squad leader whose name he didn't even know had stopped breathing just like his other two machine gun team members.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran struggled to lie on the edge of the trench, and helped the deputy squad leader forcefully stuff the ruptured eyeballs back into their sockets, and then helped them each close their eyes, and then limped and staggered back. To the center of the battlefield.

Soon after, he, Hugo, and Valoro also lay on a pair of unit prices carried by native soldiers and began to evacuate.

"Our next step is to retake Kokoda Airport"

Hugo leaned on his backpack, holding a trench gun and a submachine gun in his arms, "Victor, we may have the opportunity to go to the tribe of Waroro to recuperate, when the time comes, do you want to go together?"

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Wei Ran to speak, Hugo switched to the native language again, and said a few words to Valoro loudly, and the latter responded immediately with a smile.

"Valoro agrees"

Hugo smiled and said, "How is it? Victor, do you want to go to their tribe to recuperate together? I can guarantee that it is much more comfortable than a field hospital."

"Then let's go together." Before Wei Ran finished his sentence, everything in front of him was once again filled with intense white light.