War Photographer's Notebook

After returning from the town, the anxious Professor Alexi revealed his plan. The number of people who decided to follow him to Kandalaksha also increased from two to three - Uncle Pasha also planned to follow. go together.

After such a back and forth, the only ones left behind were Wei Ran, his dog Beria, and Saveli's father, Uncle Nikita.

Although Professor Alexei, an old guy, did things out of tune, it was not easy for Wei Ran to say goodbye and leave at this time.Fortunately, although Uncle Nikita was also drunk, he was still hospitable enough.

He chatted with Nikita, who had retired from a fish cannery, and when the short noon came and the red glow appeared again on the skyline, he also excused himself to visit the place where the body was found and asked him to He stayed at home to help guard the radio station, then drove the snowmobile and left the small village alone with the dog lying in the tow truck, heading towards the town again.

After buying enough food and drink before the short and dim day disappeared, one person and one dog followed the ruts left before and easily returned to the gravel field.

Wei Ran removed the battery and radio with familiarity, and directly hung the tow bucket on the dog Beria's leash, letting him help pull it, and easily returned to the gravel field.

The inflatable tent belonging to the Savelli couple was re-erected and the assembled wood stove was lit.

Then he took Gouzi and climbed towards the top of the mountain again. He still felt that there should be something there - if there was really a sniper here.

This time, he climbed farther than before, even to the top of a mountain that was bare and only covered with snow.

It's a pity that the only discovery here is that the view is relatively good. In this night, you can easily see the village opposite the lake at the foot of the mountain, as well as the railway line to Moscow a little further away, and the Mercedes-Benz passenger trains are listed It's just the bright lights coming from the car windows.

Taking out the telescope and looking in the direction of Murmansk, Wei Ran couldn't help but shook his head. This was really not a good season. Forget about the cold weather, the triple shroud of polar night, aurora and snow made it difficult for him to see anything even through the telescope. It was hard to notice if there were any other clues in the sparse coniferous forest.

On the other hand, he never understood another important issue from beginning to end, which was what the Germans were thinking at the time and why they sent the rare Brandenburg troops to this ghost place.

Just look at this hilltop and you will know that the straight-line distance between here and the urban area of ​​Murmansk is only about ten kilometers. More importantly, the two previous field visits to the town also made him notice that that In addition to the not-too-distant distance between the railway line connecting Moscow and this mountain, there is also a river that is estimated to be a hundred meters wide.

In other words, if you want to launch an attack on the railway line from here, you may not only be discovered by the troops stationed in Murmansk city at any time, but also have to cross a river. And if they want to escape, they need to cross the railway line and patrol. Wire.
When he pushed his thoughts to this point, Wei Ran's face showed a look of sudden realization.

This doesn't seem like a great attacking position, but who would have thought they would attack from here?What's more, judging from the airdrop box, they probably airborne here, which perfectly avoided the linemen who guarded day and night on the other side of the railway line.

The Soviet woolen coats they wore were the best camouflage - especially in this "hinterland" area for the Soviet army, as long as no big flaws were revealed, no one would suspect them at all. identity, and this choice is exactly in line with the thinking logic of today's special operations operations behind enemy lines.

Thinking of this, while putting away the telescope, he couldn't help but look at the tattoo on the tiger's mouth of his left hand again.

He remembered that the Finnish battlefield was a geomantic treasure for him, and many of the useful things in the metal book were obtained from the Finnish battlefield.

And this place is really not that far away from Finland. It can even be said to be a different camp on the same battlefield.In addition, the box cannon that he had been thinking about since he survived the Tengxian battlefield appeared again this time, which made him even more itchy.

Of course, the most important reason is that he is not optimistic that Professor Alexei can find any valuable clues in Kandalaksha, but the old guy is so good-hearted this time, if he still can't find it, he will always I can't stay here all the time. In addition to wasting time, I'm afraid I'll still have to use the power of the metal book.

"I'm a little lazy and don't want to use my brain."

Wei Ran patted the top of his head, blew a loud whistle to call the dog Beria back, and followed the footsteps back to the inflatable tent that had been warmed by the wood stove.

Unhurriedly, he stewed a large pot of braised pork and cooked a pot of rice. While waiting for the meat to come out of the pot, Wei Ran checked all the metal books that might be used, and then put all the containers in them. After stuffing it with various purchased supplies, I finally filled my stomach with braised pork rice bowl.

After mixing the remaining meals together and bringing them to Gouzi Beria's mouth, Wei Ran burped and closed the door of the big tent, then sat on the folding bed and took out the quilt from his pocket. He seized the square box flashlight, and then took out the box cannon he had stuffed into it before setting off from his backpack, and placed them all on the folding bed.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran took out the metal book under the gaze of Gouzi Beria's little eyes.

Under his gaze, the metal book flipped open to the latest page. The metal quill was also suspended above the page. Under the control of an invisible big hand, it drew on the light yellow paper. A picture emerged.

In this picture, a helmet is fixed on the branch of a big tree. Just below the helmet, there are several bullet casings that seem to be floating in the wind. And directly above these bullet casings that look like wind chimes, Directly under the helmet, there was a particularly conspicuous beam of light that seemed to be floating along with the bullet casings.

After drawing the entire picture, the metal quill pen also wrote lines of text directly below the pattern:
Character identity: Lumberjack Victor

Return mission: snipe and kill at least 5 German soldiers, seize a unique trophy for each sniper kill, assist your companions in killing all members of the German team, and take at least 15 photos.

Language task: Complete the task of supplying two trucks of firewood

Lumberjack?Are there any language tasks again?

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, a strong white light swept over him. In this white light, Wei Ran also saw the props that could be used this time.

However, when one thing jumped out one after another, he was inevitably a little frightened. There were really a lot of things given to him this time!

Mauser bayonet, SVT40 semi-automatic rifle, and the telescope obtained with this rifle on the Finnish battlefield.In addition, there were Soviet cloaks and German marching boots. What popped out next were the bearskin mittens that were still obtained on the Finnish battlefield.

This was not over yet, and then flashlights, Nagant revolvers, paratrooper gravity knives and flying leather hats emerged from the white light.

As if thinking that this was not enough, Weiran also saw the P44 British kettle obtained from Savage Mountain, the three-piece lighter, cigarette case, and body stove obtained in Leningrad, and even the cast iron stove packed in the airdrop box. .Even before the white light faded, he saw the sleigh!
Are you afraid of freezing to death?

When Wei Ran finished saying these words, he couldn't help but shiver. He already felt the biting chill!

Blinking hard to get his vision back to normal, he couldn't help but shudder again when he saw the outfit he was wearing.

At this time, his upper body was wearing a tattered pullover, and a hard belt was tied around his waist, with an ax pinned to the belt.

He pulled open the collar and looked inside. There was only a tattered cotton coat inside the blouse. Looking at his lower body, he was wearing a pair of tattered breeches. On the outside of the breeches, there was an extra piece sewn on above the knees. The piece of suede leather looks like rabbit skin.

But even so, it still couldn't stop the cold wind coming in from everywhere. He could even feel that he might only be wearing a pair of large pants under these breeches.

Also not keeping warm was the pair of traditional Soviet-style felt boots on my feet. The felt boots were damp for some reason, and the soles of my feet were even bitingly cold.

Look above and around you at the surging aurora, the endless coniferous forest, and the looming frozen lake outside the coniferous forest.

In addition, there is a fallen dead tree at the foot. This tree is no more than the thickness of a thigh. The remaining branches on it have been cut in half. There is still a handful stuck on one of the branches. saw, and on another branch not far away, there was a dim oil lamp hanging.

Opposite this dead tree, there are two reindeer pulling a sledge, with their heads lowered, leisurely digging through the snow with their thick hooves in search of hungry litmus.

Looking around again, Wei Ran didn't care about anything else. He took out the Soviet cloak and the pair of marching boots as quickly as possible, sat down on the snow-covered tree trunk, and took off the loose pair of boots on his feet. Felt boots, and then he tore off the tattered foot wraps and threw them away.

After moving his feet for a while to dissipate the moisture, he took out the foot-wrapping cloth from the boot of his marching boots, wrapped it up, and then put on the boots.

Picking up a felt boot again and looking at it, Wei Ran tried the size, pulled out all the reindeer down and rags stuffed inside, and put it directly on the outside of the marching boots.

He stood up and jumped, but he did not rush to put on the neatly folded cloak. Instead, he took off the ax and untied his belt, then took out the sleigh and opened the box on it. He turned out the deerskin robe "Mariza" and put it on.

Before he even had time to put on the windproof hard cowhide belt around the waist of the robe, he felt a steady stream of warmth.

He breathed a comfortable sigh, and then he had time to put away the cloak, and then took out the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle from the metal book.

Fortunately, the scope on the rifle was still there this time, and two magazines full of bullets were still fixed in the canvas bag on the butt.

Reaching out from the box of the sleigh, he took out the white sheet that he and the prisoner of war Mesut had exchanged for animal skins. Wei Yan used an ax to cut holes in it, and then tore it into pieces no more than two fingers apart. A wide strip of cloth.

He carefully wrapped these cloth strips around the body of the gun, and also tied some pine branches and dead grass to it. He raised the gun and tried to aim it to make sure it would not affect his vision, and then tried to put it back into the metal book.

Fortunately, the metal book didn't seem to care about the disguise of the gun, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Finally, he took out a pair of bearskin mittens from the metal book and put them on. Wei Ran, whose body had completely warmed up, put away the sleigh, put the ax on his waist again, and walked out of the area step by step. In the sparse coniferous forest, hiding behind a big tree, I raised my binoculars to observe the frozen lake in the distance.With just one glance, he recognized that it was exactly the lake next to Saveli's village.

But now, there are no villages or towns on the edge of this lake, and all he can see are stretches of coniferous forest.

Subconsciously looking in the direction of the low hill where the body was found later, Wei Ran finally turned around and walked back to the dead tree, picked up the saw again, and continued to clean the obstructing tree trunk. .

Under his busy work, the crown of the dead tree was turned into bundles of firewood, and the trunk itself was sawed into half-meter-long wooden pillars and loaded onto the sleigh.

After kicking his somewhat tight felt boots, Wei Ran held the oil lamp in one hand and the reins in the other, leading the two does along the sled tracks on the ground, step by step toward the railway.

After walking along the sled tracks for only two or three kilometers, a frozen river with a width of [-] meters finally appeared directly in front of them.

It was at the same time that he saw this river that a freight train came clanging from the direction of Murmansk in the night.

At the front of the train were three flatbed cars filled with sandbags.In addition to sandbags, there was a Soviet soldier wearing a winter coat and holding a telescope on the front carriage.

On the two flatbed carriages behind him, there were either three Maxim machine guns or simply anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns.

Pulled behind the locomotive, there were both iron cars and flatbed cars. Some of the flatbed cars were equipped with artillery, some were equipped with trucks, and some simply had American-style trains parked on them. tank.

Even in order to carry these heavy weapons, at the end of the freight train, there is a locomotive pushing the train forward.

As the train clanked past, several reindeer sleighs also loaded with firewood emerged from the woods not far away.

Without any need to say hello, the handlebars of these sleighs blew out their respective kerosene lamps, shouted and stepped onto the frozen river, and accelerated towards the opposite side.

Seeing this, Wei Ran quickly extinguished the kerosene lamp and shook the reins vigorously. When the two reindeer started running, he also ran two steps and stood behind the sleigh, crossing the seemingly hidden road as quickly as possible. Dangerous river course.

When he got ashore from the other side, he immediately noticed that in the coniferous forest next to the river almost next to the railway line, there were many triangular roofs covered with thick snow.

Around these cellars, there are either piles of wooden cubes, several steel rails, or simply several anti-aircraft artillery pieces, or even camouflaged tanks parked one after another.

Before he could tell that he was responsible for those underground tunnels, the surrounding sleds that were less than a hundred meters apart also shifted their directions and ran further away.

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't bother to pick, and simply went straight to the nearest cellar.

When he called the reindeer to stop, several women and even children wearing railway cuffs and kerosene lamps hung around their waists immediately gathered around and unloaded the firewood he had brought back and sent it to the surrounding farmyards. .

"Victor"

An old guy with a gray beard and wrinkles on his face that were almost filled with wind and frost came over with a pipe in his hand and said, "Don't get firewood for the next trip. Go chop down some arm-thick pine trees and remember to cut off the crown." , try to get as many as possible back.”

As he said that, the old guy waved to the side again, asking the people following him to move closer and said, "You will take care of the two siblings."

"They are." Wei Ran looked at the two young men and women wearing animal skin clothes.

The taller one is a girl, wearing a furry white Cossack hat on her head, and a leather robe similar to the Mariza robe she wears, except that the outside of this robe has extra stitching. Even the fur gloves on her hands and the pants on her lower body were made of white animal skin, and the feet she wore were also white suede high boots.

Compared to the girl dressed in white, the young man next to her who was slightly shorter each made Wei Ran stunned. The style of the animal skin coat he wore was similar to that of his sister, but the mottled fur color and the piece of fur draped over his shoulders were used as a cloak. But the canvas made him recognize it at a glance. This was the second body he found in the rocky field before entering this historical segment!

"They are the daughter and son of the old hunter Timofey"

The old guy with a gray beard took a puff from his pipe and introduced, "It's normal if you haven't seen them before. Their family used to live near the forest farm very close to the current front line, and rarely came to the town.

Timofey was selected into the guerrillas two days ago, so he sent his siblings to me. "

With that said, the old guy beckoned the siblings to come closer, pointed at Wei Ran and said, "He is Victor, the lumberjack who is responsible for providing firewood and logs to the patrol. He is quite familiar with the surrounding terrain. You guys My brothers and sisters will work with him as lumberjacks for a few days. Once you are familiar with the surrounding environment, I will allow you to hunt in the surrounding forests to improve food for everyone."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Wei Ran and said, "This young man is Yuri, and the girl next to him is his sister Regina. Victor, don't underestimate these two little guys, especially Regina, she Also an excellent hunter.

These days, you have taken the two of them to get more familiar with the surrounding environment. In the future, if they want to join the hunting team, they will inevitably have to move around in the surrounding forest.Of course, it's your responsibility to keep them safe before they join the hunting party. "

"Don't worry, leave it to me," Wei Ran promised, patting his chest.

"Don't waste time, go and take them to cut down the trees." After the old guy finished speaking, he was already smoking his pipe and walking towards another sleigh that had just arrived.

"Come with me," Wei Ran waved, gesturing for the siblings to follow him and leave here.

Contrary to his expectation, the siblings didn't seem to like talking and just nodded towards him in response.

What made him even more unexpected was that the young man named Yuri actually led a sleigh pulled by two reindeer from a distance, and the girl named Regina turned around and led it from a distance. It turned out to be a small sled pulled by ten sled dogs.

There is no doubt that although the load of this dog sled may not be as heavy as the reindeer, it is faster than it.

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't ask any more questions and ordered the two reindeer he was leading to turn around and run back. The siblings immediately controlled their car to follow from behind.

A group of three vehicles ran across the frozen river under the surging aurora, and then followed the sled tracks into the forest.

Lit the kerosene lamp hanging on the handle of the sleigh again, Wei Ran slowed down and looked around to find the wood that met the requirements. At the same time, he also distractedly paid attention to the taciturn brother and sister.

Walking and stopping along the way, when Wei Ran finally found a few small pine trees that met the requirements and stopped, they had already arrived at the location of the village where the Saveli family would later live.

"Yuri, how old are you?"

Wei Ran took out the saw from the dilapidated sleigh, randomly selected a pine tree that seemed to meet the requirements and kicked it hard, and then asked indifferently while cutting down the tree.

"15 years old, but it's my 16th birthday soon."

While Yuri answered Wei Ran, he also chose a tree, and expertly judged the wind direction. Then he quickly cut a triangular gap with an ax at the downwind position, and then moved around to the upwind side, changing The saw was pulled quickly.

At the same time, his sister Regina started sawing a small pine tree as if she were a disciple of the same family.

"Where's Regina? How old are you?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"My sister is already 18 years old." It was still Yuri who answered Wei Ran's question, while his sister Regina kept pulling the saw in her hand.

"Do you usually cut down trees?"

Wei Ran continued to ask. He could tell that the siblings were definitely more experienced in logging than him.

"Our dad was a logging ranger and hunter"

Yuri said, "Every winter, in addition to helping my father prevent illegal logging and poaching, we are also responsible for selectively felling diseased trees in the forest farm. We have long been very skilled in doing this kind of work."

Could it be that these two siblings were the ones who caused those elite Germans to capsize?
A bold guess popped up in Wei Ran's mind. However, thinking that the young man in front of him would be shot to death at some point, he inevitably felt a deep sense of powerlessness in his heart.

In the ensuing chat, Wei Ran also learned from Yuri's insinuation that it was now mid-January 1942, less than a week after their secret Christmas, and Yuri's 1th birthday. There are only two days left for my birthday.