War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1289 The desperate situation of the political commissar

As the people waiting patiently in ambush, the time passed by minute by second. On the road more than a hundred meters away, various military vehicles or mules and horses drove past from time to time. All kinds of artillery.

Far away from everyone's sight, the faint rumble of artillery fire and the freezing rain that began to drift before noon undoubtedly made the wait even more unbearable.

In the cold and damp machine gun position, Wei Ran took out the Soviet cloak under the cover of his backpack and asked Yeremei, who was shivering from the cold, to hide in with him.

"A few sneezes!"

Yeremei covered his mouth tightly and sneezed, sniffed and asked again, "What time is it?"

"04:30" Wei Ran took out his flyback watch from his pocket, glanced at it, and whispered the answer.

Standing up on his knees and looking out from the gap in the bushes, Yeremey sat down again and hid under his stretched cloak and said angrily, "Those Germans are still warming themselves by the fire. They really know how to enjoy it."

"Keep it patient, they will enjoy it later."

Wei Ran, who was also frozen and had goosebumps all over his body, muttered something in a low voice, but at the same time, he did not delay using his bayonet to cut open the canned meat allocated to him and Yeremey.

"Are you hungry?" Yeliemei couldn't help but swallowed when he looked at the condensation of grease in the can. This thing was so delicious when it was hot, but it looked so unappetizing after it was cooled and condensed.

“Warm and warm”

As Wei Ran spoke, he had used a bayonet to cut off a piece of cloth from the hem of his coat, soaked it in a can and filled it with grease, then lit it and placed it on the "fireplace" dug out of the wall, which was only the size of a steel helmet. inside.

"You really have a way!"

Yeremei sighed in admiration, turned around with Wei Ran in tacit agreement, and wrapped his cloak and body around the small fireplace from three sides, sucking in the weak warmth released by the small flame with difficulty.

At the same time, Vinia in the trench next door skillfully folded a written letter into a triangle, then sandwiched it in his notepad, and then put it all into the lunch box along with the notepad and pen. , and finally stuffed it into the backpack.

Less than a hundred meters away, in a small safe area on the side of the BT7 tank wreckage where no explosives had been buried by the guards, David and Fras also dug out a safe place in the freezing rain. For the position of the heavy machine gun, several sandbags were made from the clothes taken from the stinking corpses and piled in front of the machine gun shield.

In the positions of Sasha and Alyosha, the two young men were relatively more comfortable due to the cover of the tank wreckage above their heads and the surrounding soil. They even spent most of the day conducting deep inspections of the bunker. They dug and expanded, and lit a white candle as thick as a wrist. While keeping warm, they also heated the cans and cold water in the kettle that were distributed to them in the morning.

At five o'clock in the evening, Wei Ran and Yereme filled their bellies with the boiled potatoes distributed in the morning and the meat cans that were barely opened by simple candles. The latter also crawled to the trench where political commissar Viniya was in charge, and got out of his arms. He took out the 11 anti-tank bullets, wiped them one last time with a greasy rag, and filled one of them into the chamber of the anti-tank gun that Vinia was responsible for.

Similarly, after Wei Ran turned around and peed, he loaded the bullet chain on the machine gun he was in charge of and got ready to fire.

At [-]:[-], Vinia slowly poked the muzzle of the anti-tank gun out of the bushes and aimed at a No. [-] tank at the fork in the road with its side armor pointed at him.

However, he did not rush to shoot. Instead, he waited patiently, waiting for a truck full of soldiers to pass through the intersection and drive to the front line. He watched the vehicle finally completely disappear in the slightly dim vision. Disappeared without a trace.

"boom!"

When Commissar Vinia pulled the trigger, Wei Ran also subconsciously glanced at the flyback watch at hand - 21:[-] pm.

"Da da da da!"

Just as Yeremei skillfully helped Commissar Vinya put a second bullet into the gun chamber, Fras, who was in the middle position, also immediately controlled the heavy machine gun and opened fire, covering those who were still surrounding the bonfire. Chatting tank crew members!

Amidst the roar of the heavy machine gun, Sasha, who was also prepared, pulled the trigger on another No. 2 tank.

When he fired this bullet, Alyosha next to him helped him load the second bullet, and even did not forget to bring a lit cigarette to his mouth.

At the same time, Yeremey also lit two cigarettes, even loading the third bullet, and gave one of them to Vinya.

The two anti-tank guns were the first to go quiet after each fired a bullet. Then, the heavy machine gun in the middle position also stopped after firing the remaining half of the ammunition chain at the machine gun tower of the No. 1 tank. .

In this sudden attack, no matter whether the bullets fired by the two anti-tank guns damaged the tanks or not, there was no need to worry about the other side's counterattack.

Because that astonishingly powerful heavy machine gun had torn the tank crew members who were no more than a hundred meters away, as well as the bonfire that had been burning for almost a whole day and was particularly envied by everyone, into messy pieces on the ground.

Even the weak machine gun tower of the No. 1 tank and the layer of sandbags attached outside were smoked by the heavy machine gun at such a close distance.

"Victor, keep an eye on the tank."

After finishing speaking, political commissar Vinia from the next position had already aimed his gun at the rest of the fork in the road - just like what his companions from the other two positions were doing.

"it is good"

Wei Ran, who also lit a cigarette, responded, letting the muzzle of the machine gun cover the three tanks in the puff of smoke.

Less than 10 minutes before and after, two trucks drove over from the direction of Bryansk. Although they were a little far away, Weiran could still tell them apart at a glance. Both trucks were dragging a PAK38 anti-tank at the rear. artillery.

Behind the two trucks, there was also a three-wheeled sidecar motorcycle, and there seemed to be a soldier sitting on the sidecar who was smoking.

Without any command at all, the heavy machine guns in charge of David and Fras opened fire again, covering the two trucks that had just passed the row of anti-tank cones with a dense and powerful machine gun barrage.

After at most ten rounds of heavy machine gun bullets were ejected, Weiran also fired a long burst of fire at the sidecar motorcycle at the end, watching the motorcycle drive down the road in a beautiful arc and drive into the anti-tank cone. in the wreckage and eventually rolled over.

After stingyly firing a burst at the three-wheeled motorcycle, Weiran aimed his gun at the rear of the two trucks he had just stopped, and the heavy machine guns operated by Flas and David stopped.

"Da da da!"

When two figures jumped out from the back of the first truck, Wei Ran fired a series of bursts of fire again, and watched as the two men fell onto the road without moving.

After looking at the half-stretched bullet chain, Wei Ran took a puff of the cigarette held in the corner of his mouth, and waited patiently with his companions in the swirling smoke for new prey to come.

At 37:[-], five trucks drove over from the direction of the front line.

Among these five trucks, except for the first one, which had a squad of soldiers standing in it, the following trucks were all covered with tarpaulins, so they had no idea what was inside.

Apparently, the bodies lying on the road alerted the first truck, causing it to stop far away.

However, almost as the soldiers in the cargo compartment huddled together uncontrollably due to the inertia caused by the emergency braking, the machine guns controlled by Fras and David also began to roar.

Even though the sky was dark, and even though he was hundreds of meters away, Wei Ran, who had also aimed his machine gun at the convoy, could still roughly see the German soldiers standing on the leading truck in a steaming mass of blood. It suddenly shrunk like wheat, and the cab of the car exploded all the windows under heavy machine gun fire.

Almost as soon as the shell of the first heavy machine gun bullet hit the soil, the two anti-tanks opened fire in sequence, hitting the cab and front of the last car one after another.

While they were reloading bullets, the heavy machine gun also began to move laterally backwards, sending a series of fatal short bursts to the other three vehicles sandwiched in the middle from the front to the rear.

But even with such close cooperation, Wei Ran still vaguely saw several figures jumping out of the car and hiding in the blind spot on the other side of the road.

After a moment of noise, the dead crossroads became calm again.

However, less than 5 minutes later, another half-track armored vehicle with dim lights on came from the direction of the battlefield. Behind this armored vehicle, there was a tank, a Panzer III tank!
"Da da da da!"

Without even waiting to get closer, the machine gun on the half-track armored vehicle began to fire suppressively towards the edge of the forest.The Panzer III tank also turned around on the road and pointed its hard frontal armor in the direction of the edge of the forest.

"boom!"

Sasha, who was relatively close, fired an anti-tank bullet at the tank first.Immediately afterwards, Political Commissar Vinia also pulled the trigger on the No. [-] tank.

However, not only did these two bullets have no impact on the Panzer III tank, they actually caused the machine gun suppression of the half-track armored vehicle!

At this critical moment, the Deshka heavy machine gun opened fire, and the 12.7 mm caliber bullets hit the half-track armored vehicle directly, easily disabling its machine gun.

But this ferocious firepower immediately attracted the attention of the No. [-] tank, and its turret began to rotate without hesitation, aiming the artillery in the direction of the heavy machine gun.

At this critical moment, Wei Ran no longer cared about how to explain the secrets on his body. He pushed the machine gun aside and took out the anti-tank gun from the metal book and aimed it at the tank.

Different from the high-explosive bombs used in the last ambush, this time the magazine and chamber of this anti-tank gun were filled with amazingly powerful PzGr.40 high-speed armor-piercing bullets!

"boom!"

The first bullet fired hit a group of particularly conspicuous sparks on the still-rotating turret of the Panzer III tank!

Seeing that the tank's turret was still rotating, Wei Yan put one foot on the wall of the position, resisted the powerful recoil, and pulled the trigger again and again!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

After three consecutive high-speed armor-piercing rounds were fired, the turret of the Panzer III tank finally stopped rotating, and the tank began to retreat.

It was a rare opportunity. Wei Ran lowered the muzzle of his gun slightly and continued to pull the trigger. Finally, he succeeded in keeping the tank behind when it was about to retreat to the other side of the road.

Before he could put away the inexplicable anti-tank gun, Yeremey from another position ventured to look over and shouted in surprise, "Victor! Where did you get it?"

"boom!"

In the chaotic firefight, before Yeremei could finish his words, a cloud of blood mist burst out from his left shoulder, and he screamed and fell into the trench shared with Vinia.

"Yeremei! How is your situation?!" Wei Ran shouted and asked.

"it's okay no problem!"

Yeremei responded painfully, and Wei Ran picked up the machine gun again at the same time, looking for the person who had just fired a cold shot.

Almost at the same time, Sasha in the distant position also aimed at a survivor hiding under the truck chassis and pulled the trigger! "boom!"

Amidst the dull gunfire and the dim and cold sky, the German soldier who had just reloaded the Mauser rifle in his hand and was about to pull the trigger on the sanitary ignition did not even react. His waist was hit by the bullet. The 14.5mm bullet hit, blowing away half of the ribs and most of the water. The rifle in his hand also fell to the side.

The enemy had just been eliminated here, but a dim headlight and a vague outline of a tank appeared again in the direction of the battlefield!
"boom!"

This time, the tank stopped when it was 700 meters away and fired a shell, which hit the wreckage of the BT7 tank that was blocking the side of the heavy machine gun!
Immediately afterwards, the tank's two machine guns also started shooting, suppressing the heavy machine guns in charge of David and Fras so that they could not fight back!

"Victor!" shouted Vinia from another position, "cover me!"

"Okay!" Wei Ran responded subconsciously, and then he saw Political Commissar Weniya jumping out of the trench!

"Where are you going!" Wei Ran shouted and asked. He originally thought that the other party was going to attack the tank in the distance, but he didn't expect him to act like this!

"cover me!"

But Vinia just shouted indistinctly again, and at the same time, she used the momentum of running down the slope to speed up!

"Are all Soviet political commissars so desperate?"

Wei Ran cursed and pointed the muzzle of his machine gun at the trucks he had just stopped. He didn't care about saving bullets, so he pulled the trigger and started shooting under the cars, suppressing the remaining small fish from the ambush of the trucks. .

Perhaps they also noticed the political commissar Vinya who ran out. David and Fras quickly controlled the heavy machine guns and once again enveloped the half-track armored vehicle. Although they were hiding behind the tank wreckage, they were unable to fire on the vehicle heading towards them. The tanks fired back, but there was still enough fire coverage to cover Commissar Vinya!
Under the cover of these two machine guns, Commissar Vinia used the remaining reeds in the depression and the dim sky to escape and ran to the three tanks previously guarding the intersection, and then actually got into a two-carriage tank. In the turret of the tank!
Before he jumped out of the trench, Sasha, who was relatively closer, had already turned his gun and pulled the trigger at the tank that was firing!
However, what made him despair was that after three consecutive bullets were fired, the tank seemed not to be affected at all, and even fired a shell at the wreckage of the tank where he and Alyosha were hiding!
Amidst the huge crashes and explosions, a large hole was cut out of the side of the wreckage of the No. [-] tank. Sasha and Alyosha hidden under the car were also shocked, with blood flowing from their nostrils and ears.

"boom!"

Another artillery shell hit the wreckage of the No. [-] tank. Sasha also let out a scream, and a fragment of the tank chassis collapsed and hit his lower back!
Reaching out to touch the wound, there was a trace of panic on Sasha's young face, but soon he hugged the anti-tank gun that Weiran had repaired again, aimed at the tank again and fired a round.

In this short interval, Commissar Vigna had already gotten into the tank, and Wei Ran had also used up the only ammunition for the machine gun in his hand.

In the trench next door, Yeremei grabbed a handful of cold, wet mud and applied it to the wound on his shoulder to stop the bleeding. Then he gritted his teeth and picked up the anti-tank gun, pressing it against his uninjured right side. He tried it on his shoulder, then simply pulled off his leggings, tangled his injured left hand with the anti-tank grip, and loaded a bullet with his right hand.

"boom!"

Yeremei fired a bullet with difficulty at the tank that was firing at Sasha, and at the same time shouted, "Victor! Victor!"

"I'm here!" Wei Ran, who had just dropped the machine gun, shouted in response, "I'll take you right now."

"I'll cover you!"

Yeremei shouted while loading bullets alone, "Hurry up and use the anti-tank gun you just had to fire from a closer place! Hurry!"

"Let's go together!"

Wei Ran was about to crawl over as he spoke, but one step ahead of him, the tank's machine gun had already swept over, not only easily cutting through the grass and shrubs, but even the birch tree was trembling from the impact of the bullet!

"Go!" Yeremey shouted, "hurry up and destroy that tank!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and rushed out during the interval of strafing. Along the previously dug traffic trench, he crawled like a gecko and quickly left the position. He passed through the safe passage in the middle of the minefield and played. Those who were killed ran towards Sasha's position.

That is to say, with the effort of the front and rear feet, with a "boom", the high ground was hit by a cannonball, and the birch tree also collapsed amid the flying earth and rocks!

"boom!"

There was another gunshot, and this shell hit the wreckage of the BT7 tank that was blocking the heavy machine gun. It also exploded the explosives that the Weifang had deployed before.

At the same time, the parallel machine gun on the front of the tank was suppressing the wreckage of the tank where the two Sashas were hiding directly opposite the front of the tank.

This was just a tank, but it easily suppressed their two positions!

He only had time to glance at David and Flas who were huddled in the trench when he was lying down. Wei Ran got up again and continued to run forward desperately. He wanted to get close as soon as possible and use his anti-tank gun. Fight back, only in this way can the others survive!

Perhaps it was overconfidence, or perhaps the dim sky affected the combat effect, or perhaps it was the headlights of the convoy coming vaguely from the direction of Bryansk that gave the tank courage.

Just when Wei Ran ran to the protruding part of the forest, the tank rumbled down the roadbed and continued to use its front-mounted machine gun to suppress the hiding spot of the two Sashas as it drove over.

"Sasha! Alyosha! How are you doing?" Wei Ran climbed over the barbed wire and shouted.

"Sasha can't survive!"

Alyosha shouted in panic, "He had one arm broken by a machine gun, and the anti-tank gun was also damaged! His feet were also pinned down!"

Taking advantage of the pause in firing of the machine gun, Wei Ran immediately climbed into the bunker, and then saw that the anti-tank gun had been disconnected from the buffer slide connecting the handle and the barrel. Not far away, there was another Nearly broken arm.

Or maybe it was the shelling just now that caused the tank wreckage above the head to move, and then pressed one of Sasha's feet underneath. At this time, Alyosha was digging in panic with an engineer shovel with bullet holes. There was dirt under Sasha's foot, but he didn't notice that Sasha was weakly slapping his lower back.

"Alyosha"

Sasha took advantage of the quiet moment when the tank's machine gun stopped firing and said, "Leave me alone and get out of here."

"Shut up!" Alyosha responded with a cry while digging.

"Victor, can you still repair that anti-tank gun?" Sasha asked, looking at Wei Ran who was using a belt to stop the bleeding of his broken arm.

"Yes, I can fix it even if it turns into a piece of scrap metal!" Wei Ran responded while tightening the belt.

This was the only help he provided based on common sense. After being deprived of medical skills by the metal book, he now had no idea what to do next.But the hideous wound on Sasha's lower back where his broken spine could be seen told him that even if he still had medical ability, he might not be able to save him.

"Take it away"

Sasha glanced at the gun barrel next to him and said, "Take Alyosha away too and ask him to mark four more stars for me."

After saying this, Sasha tremblingly took out a bloody cigarette from the cigarette case at hand and held it in his mouth. Then, after lighting the cigarette with a lighter, he lit a Molotov cocktail.

"Go!" Sasha shouted with all his strength, holding the Molotov cocktail, "Otherwise I will burn myself to death! Hurry!"

Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran picked up the barrel of the gun, grabbed the sluggish Alyosha, and forced him out of the bunker.

"Sasha! Sasha!" Alyosha roared with tears streaming down his face.

"Don't let his wish come true! Climb over quickly!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pushed the barrel of the gun through the hole in the barbed wire fence, pushing Alyosha through the barbed wire fence amid the renewed sound of machine gun fire and the flames spreading under the wreckage of the tank.

Almost as he dragged Alyosha through the minefield and ran into the forest, the tank rushed over and slammed into the wreckage of the No. [-] tank.

It was only at this time that Wei Ran finally saw clearly that it was an E-type No. 4 tank with thickened frontal armor!
"Get out!"

Wei Ran roared and shouted towards Father Dofero in the distance, "Retreat quickly! Let David and the others retreat quickly!"

Seeing that the other party couldn't hear him, Wei Ran hurriedly hid the gun barrel and Alyosha behind a thick pine tree.Then while running, he pulled off the square box flashlight hanging on the side of the Soviet cloak, turned on the power and waved it towards Father Doferro.

This light signal immediately let the other party understand his intention, but at the same time, it also exposed the position of Weiran, attracting the No. 4 tank to turn its turret!

Upon seeing this, Wei Ran, realizing that something was wrong, immediately turned off the flashlight and ran away, using the thick pine trees everywhere around him to avoid the fire from the parallel machine guns on the turret!
Precisely because he temporarily attracted firepower, Father Dofero finally shouted at the two mules, and with the assistance of David and Flas, dragged the precious heavy machine gun back.

After a while, the No. 4 tank also gave up the unnecessary target of the defense combustion, and crashed into the wreckage of the BT7 tank like a wild boar amidst the roar of the engine, and retreated. At the same time, he turned the turret again, trying to find the heavy machine gun.

With its thick armor, this tank galloped across the depression as if it were bullying a child.

"boom!"

Just at this moment, a deafening gunshot was heard from the high ground, and the tank's lights also went out!
Yeremei is still alive!

When Wei Ran heard the gunshot, he had already run back to the minefield outside the positions of Sasha and Alyosha.

Quickly walking through the safe passage opened by himself, Wei Ran hurriedly glanced at the body under the tank wreckage, took out the anti-tank gun as quickly as possible and mounted it on it.

But even so, he was still a step too late, and still watched the tank drive onto the high ground!

"Boom boom boom!"

Almost when he pulled the trigger towards the rear of the No. 4 tank, a No. 2 tank at the fork in the road fired a round with the same caliber and power as his anti-tank gun at a faster rate of fire. high-velocity armor-piercing projectile.

Under the attack from these two directions, the No. 4 tank was first hit by the rear armor, damaging the engine, and then stalled on the high ground. Immediately afterwards, its sides were torn apart by high-speed armor-piercing bullets hitting it one after another. Turn on the armor!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The No. 2 tank at the intersection, controlled by political commissar Vigna alone, was still bombarding the No. 4 tank, which also belonged to the German army, but the Weifang had already pointed its gun at the convoy coming from the direction of Bryansk.

"boom!"

When he fired a high-speed armor-piercing round and hit the cab of the first truck, David and Fras also pushed the heavy machine gun through the barbed wire fence again.

"Da da da da!"

In the increasingly dark sky, the Deshka heavy machine gun began to roar, hoping in vain that Commissar Vinya, who was still controlling the German tanks to fire, would come back alive.

(End of this chapter)