War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1292 Escape from the Encirclement

In the forest, the patter of freezing rain began to fall again at some point, and the singing of Alyosha and others, as well as the accompaniment of Wei Ran's harmonica, also stopped one after another.

"Have the Germans broken into the forest?"

Father Dofero, who was lying on the sledge, waited for the explosion in the distance to stop and then asked weakly.

"They can only die if they come in."

David, who was responsible for holding his horse, mocked, "In the forest, they can only be beaten, so they only dare to use cannons for a while outside the forest."

"That's good"

Dofero's old face relaxed somewhat, but the others secretly tensed up their nerves, and the singing and harmonica sounds never came out again.

Guided by the compass, they walked all the way to the northeast for who knows how long. There were more chirping birds in the forest, and the grass and fallen leaves under their feet were much thicker. From time to time, they would see some wild animals using their The marks left by urine and feces everywhere.

The life atmosphere of these small animals also implies that the war outside the forest has not affected here yet. Both the birds and animals and the people who escaped here can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Take a break"

At five o'clock in the evening, Fras, who was walking at the front, stopped and said hello, "None of us have been here before. Even with the help of a compass, it is still very dangerous to travel at night, so camp and rest. We will return early tomorrow morning." Walk."

Alyosha raised his hand and pointed to a small piece of high ground not far away, "Go there!"

"You two are responsible for setting up camp. I'll go look for firewood and see if there's anything to eat."

As he spoke, Flass had already ordered the army horse he was leading to walk to the high ground that Alyosha had just pointed to, and unloaded the things on the sledge one by one. Then he ordered the army horse again and dragged the empty sledge to the high ground. far away.

Wei Ran, like Father Doferro, couldn't help with the matter of setting up camp, so he simply took out his harmonica again, lay on the sledge and played a few tunes he could think of.

Amidst the music, Alyosha and David also used their cloaks to build a low hut that was barely big enough for them to lie down and rest. They also dug out a bonfire surrounded by stones. pit.

While the two young men were busy, Father Dofero also asked weakly in a low voice, "Victor, is Commissar Vinya still alive? And Yeremey, is he really still alive?"

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who was sitting side by side on another sledge, stopped playing the music and turned to look at his father on the sledge next door.

"Ugh"

Father Doferro sighed and whispered, "I already guessed that when I brought Vinia back, I already guessed that he might not survive. That German tank drove up to that position. At that time, I knew that Yeremey might also be dead."

Hearing this, Wei Ran was silent for a moment, then continued to bring the harmonica to his mouth and continued to play the song he had just interrupted.Father Dofero, who had already received the answer, sighed and stopped asking. He lay down again and took out a tin wine flask from his arms. He took a sip of the vodka he had hidden in his pocket and drew a picture on his chest while holding the flask. He made an Orthodox cross and stared blankly at the sky above his head, wondering what he was thinking.

Amidst the silence and soothing harmonica music, the sky above his head gradually darkened. Fras also used a horse-drawn sledge to transport back some dead branches collected from the surroundings, and also picked up many pine cones by the way.

However, before the three of them could light the bonfire in the dug bonfire pit, the unusually clear and low roar of an airplane came from overhead!

Almost subconsciously, Alyosha covered the bonfire that was about to be lit with his cloak and leaned down. Flas and David also immediately ran and hid under the pine trees.

However, the roar of the plane is getting closer and clearer!

Finally, a low-flying fighter jet roared past them from the north-northeast direction, dragging thick smoke behind them, almost grazing the treetops above their heads!

"boom!"

In less than 10 seconds, the five stunned people and the three animals all heard an extremely clear crash!
"Whoa!"

It wasn't until the explosion reached my ears that the pine branches and pine cones falling from above my head fell like rain.Everyone subconsciously protected their heads.

"Quick! Go and take a look! David stays to take care of dad! Get ready for battle!"

Wei Ran was the first to react, put away his harmonica, pulled the pine cone that had just hit the Tianling Gai, struggled to sit up and gave the order.

After being reminded, the others also reacted and dropped all the things in their hands. Alyosha and Vlas also drove the mules and horses that had not unloaded the sledges, and led Wei Ran, who had already picked up the bullets from his submachine gun, toward them. He ran towards the direction of the explosion.

Amid the violent jolts of the sledge truck, Wei Ran, who was lying on the sledge truck, also saw the fire rising in the forest a few hundred meters away, and even saw flocks of birds and beasts frightened by the roar and explosion flying into the air.

As the distance got closer, the first thing Wei Yan saw were two broken wings, and fallen leaves ignited by the fuel spilled from the wings.

Just looking at the cross painting with white borders and black hearts on the wings, he and Alyosha recognized it at a glance. This was a German bomber!Or to be more precise, this is a He111 medium bomber produced in Germany!
Without stopping at all, Alyosha and Vlas continued running forward with their horse-drawn sledges, and at the same time loaded bullets into their respective submachine guns.

Soon, they saw the main body of the bomber with its wings broken off.Perhaps it was because of the broken wings that although the main body of the aircraft was also emitting thick smoke, it did not catch fire.

When the sledge truck stopped, Wei Ran struggled to get up, holding a submachine gun in one hand, and covered each other with Alyosha and Vlas and moved over.

When he got closer and saw the condition of the main body of the aircraft clearly, Wei Ran couldn't help but frowned.

The wingless plane was stopped by two pine trees as thick as truck tires. The nose of the plane had been disconnected and flipped upside down like a flip phone, and the glass observation windows were all shattered.

Even the other half of the fuselage has become as pitted as a metal toothpaste that has been accumulated countless times due to the shocking impact.

But compared to the miserable state of the fuselage, he also noticed that there were only three torn corpses of the crew members in the cockpit and cabin of the plane. And judging from their positions, these three unlucky guys should be separated. It is the pilot and two gunners in the nose position.

But he knew clearly that there were five crew members in total on this aircraft!
But both the gunner's position and the navigator's position on the back of the aircraft were extremely clean. There were no corpses, parachute bags, or much blood.There were no bullet holes in the surrounding aircraft skin.It was obvious that the pilot and gunner of this plane had most likely parachuted out and escaped.

"Which direction did this plane come from just now?"

Wei Ran asked while tiptoeing into the cabin. Unfortunately, perhaps because of the small load capacity of this broken plane, he did not find valuable items such as three-barreled survival guns in the cabin. .Fortunately, in the position of the navigator, half of the navigation chart remained, adsorbed by magnets on the table.

"Northeast" Fras, who had been leading the way before, immediately replied, "A little north by northeast."

"We need to get out of here quickly"

Wei Ran stood on tiptoe and pulled away the aeronautical chart. He took one last look at the belly of the plane, turned around and walked towards the sledge not far away. At the same time, he explained, "The belly of this plane was probably shot down by our fighter jets." Yes, its tail horizontal rudder and aircraft rudder were shattered, and the bullet holes in the skin seemed to be punched from top to bottom.

In addition, it was a bomber, but there were no aerial bombs on either the belly or the wings. This shows that it was bitten by our fighter jets and shot down when it was returning from the front line to complete the bombing. "

"Victor, you should be a detective."

Alyosha sighed in praise, casually threw the bloody trophies he had just collected onto the sledge, and then asked, "But what's the use of knowing these?"

"The aircraft had a crew of five"

Wei Ran was already lying on the sledge as he spoke, and kept explaining, "But we only found three, and the other two machine gunners probably parachuted."

"Then what?" Fras asked curiously, but at the same time, he shouted to go back with the sledge without delay.

"There is good news and bad news"

Wei Ran looked at the half of the aeronautical chart in his hand and said, "The good news is that we can know exactly the direction of this plane's flight back. As long as we keep going northeast, maybe we can find the big mountain after leaving the forest. The only pity for the rear is that this chart is useless, the most important part of it is burned, and I don’t know German.”

"What's the bad news?" asked Alyosha.

Raising his finger to point to the flames and thick smoke that were still burning in the distance, Wei Ran continued, "The bad news is that if the two parachuting pilots want to survive, they will most likely go in the direction of the plane. They did not bring any Looking at the aeronautical map, this smoking plane is the best landmark for survival.

And a living pilot is far more valuable than an airplane, especially the navigator, who can be contacted via radio.So if nothing else happens, Germans may soon enter the forest to look for the surviving pilot of this plane. "

"This is really bad news"

Alyosha and Fras immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. They also accelerated their pace, drove the animals back to the location where they had just decided to camp, and recounted their findings and Wei Ran's speculations.

"We need to inform Platoon Commander Taras of this bad news immediately."

Dofeiluo immediately thought of other hidden dangers after Alyosha finished speaking, "How far is this place from Platoon Commander Taras's camp?"

"Half a day's journey" David replied immediately.

"Children, you continue to move forward and complete your mission."

As Father Doferro spoke, he was already struggling to stand up, "Give me a horse, and I will rush back now to inform Commander Taras, and then I will come after you."

"no!"

Alyosha and the three of them unanimously rejected the proposal. David even pushed Father Doferro back onto the sledge. With the help of Fras, he tied him to the sledge with a leather rope without any explanation. .

"What are you going to do! Untie me quickly!" Dofero shouted anxiously.

"Dad, just follow everyone and continue walking out."

David had already untied the reins as he spoke, "I'll go back and inform Platoon Commander Taras and the others."

"You guys don't know how to ride a horse."

"I can," Wei Ran said before he could finish the sentence, "I'll go, I can ride a horse, I'll be back soon."

"Let me do it"

Alyosha said, but he took out a P38 pistol still stained with the blood of the pilot's corpse and put it against his temple, "Let me go, I have wanted to go to the front line for a long time. I have no idea about this kind of death behavior through the forest." I don’t have any interest, and dad, have you forgotten what I did before? This job is most suitable for me. "

Before the others could speak, Alyosha had already put his finger on the trigger, "David, give me the reins, or I will shoot myself."

"Alyosha, what are you doing, you idiot!" Flass was about to walk over as he spoke.

"boom!"

Alyosha didn't wait for Fras' foot to come down, and pulled the trigger above his head, "I'm not joking, give me the reins quickly, and then you two bastards will take Victor and Dad immediately." Go through the forest and come to us with supplies and support as soon as possible!”

As he spoke, Alyosha put the still smoking gun barrel against his temple again, and said rather impatiently, "If an accident happens, go to the diatomaceous earth shack to find me. Hurry now. Give me the reins! Hurry!"

After a moment of silence, David sighed heavily, handed the reins to Alyosha and said, "Alyosha, you must survive, no matter what, you must survive."

"Of course! I will survive."

Alyosha said confidently as he took the reins, "It's you, you must survive."

After saying that, Alyosha led the horse back a few steps, raised his hand and gave a non-standard military salute, and gave a big smile with a big mouth. Then he quickly got on the horse and shouted at the military horse to run. In the direction they came from.

"Let's set off too." Fras took a deep breath, "lift Dad onto my sledge." "Let's ride on horseback."

Dad gave his advice, "We have two animals, one for Victor and I. We don't have to drag the sledge, so the speed can be much faster."

"your injury"

"What big deal can my injury do?"

Father Dofero didn't wait for Wei Ran to finish speaking and urged nonchalantly, "Anyway, hurry up and untie the rope for me, and then help me get on the horse."

Wei Ran saw Fras and the two looking at him, hesitated for a moment and then sighed, "Just do as dad said."

Once Wei Ran made the decision, the two Frass immediately untied the rope that had just tied their father, helped him onto the docile mule, and then helped Wei Ran onto the back of the stolen military horse. .

While the two of them were hanging the things they needed to take away on their horses, Wei Ran curiously asked Dofero, "Dad, what did Alyosha do before?"

"Farrier"

Father Dofero sighed and explained, "His father used to be responsible for breeding mules and horses for the collective farms. He had already learned how to shoe horses and nail hoofs when he was 15 years old. I used to ask him to do it. My two animals are trimmed and shoed, and to be honest, his skills are much better than that of his alcoholic father."

"What about you?" Wei Ran asked abruptly, "Dad, you are more than just a watchmaker, right?"

"Why not?" Father Doferro retorted weakly, "You have been learning watch repair skills from me for a whole year, how could you ask such a stupid question?"

"I've never seen a watchmaker charge a tank like a cavalryman and throw a Molotov cocktail so accurately."

Glancing at Fras and David who were hiding the sledge truck, Weiran lowered his voice and continued, "And the gun truck is not something that can be used for repairing watches."

"Humph"

Father Dofero shook his beard and said, "When I was as young as you, I served in Comrade Budyonny's First Cavalry Corps. At that time, I was the blacksmith responsible for repairing cavalry swords."

Having said this, Father Dofero touched the mule's mane and said with a nostalgic sigh, "To tell you the truth, my skills in forging cavalry swords are much better than my skills in repairing clocks. Unfortunately, cavalry is now obsolete." No matter how sharp the cavalry sword is, it is far less useful than a submachine gun."

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed secretly and did not continue this sad topic. He only secretly hoped in his heart that the young and strong young man would survive.

The two of them did not wait long, and everything they needed to take away was hung on the backs of the mules and horses. Flas and David each led an animal, quickened their pace, and continued to the northeast with the help of the compass. Moving forward.

"David, don't light the kerosene lamp." Wei Ran, who was riding on horseback, warned in a low voice, "We might encounter those two pilots."

Hearing this, David, who had just taken out his lighter and was about to light the kerosene lamp, nodded immediately.

In this primeval forest, even if you ride a horse in broad daylight, you can't get up quickly, let alone move forward in the dark without even lighting a light.

However, they only walked forward for less than an hour when they spotted a flickering light diagonally ahead. Even their mules and horses were tapping their hooves restlessly and refused to move forward.

"be careful"

Wei Ran whispered an instruction, and he and his father each raised their submachine guns, watching as Fras and the two cautiously surrounded them in the direction of the light.

"Da da da!"

Soon, a series of gunshots rang out in the forest, and then David shouted, "Come here!"

After looking at each other with their father, the two shouted at the animal and walked over. As they got closer, they saw that there was a torn and fragmented body of a German pilot under a pine tree.

Surrounding this corpse were two wolves that had been shot and fell to the ground, their bellies still heaving. Further around, there were the corpses of several other wolves.

"He was bitten to death by a wolf"

As he spoke, Fras bent down and pulled off the still-lit flashlight from the body. Then he used the flashlight to find a blood-stained paratrooper gravity knife and an empty bullet nearby. P38 pistol.

"Let's be careful too"

Father Doferro reminded, "It seems that few people come here usually. To the wolves, we are also damn invaders."

"Go, go."

Fras put the gravity knife into his pocket, and handed the pistol without bullets to David.

Not daring to waste time, the group continued walking northwest in the forest, but this time, everyone was on alert.

"Look there!"

The crowd only continued walking for less than half an hour before David pointed in a direction and gave a reminder.

Looking in the direction of the opponent's finger, the crown of a pine tree not far away was mostly covered by a parachute, and the white umbrella cloth was particularly conspicuous in the dark forest.

Opening the safety of the submachine gun, the four of them touched it carefully, only to find that hanging from the end of the parachute was a body that had lost two legs and was nearly two meters high from the ground.

"It was shot by an aircraft cannon. I guess he was shot to death by our aviation troops after parachuting."

Wei Ran, who was riding on the horse, used a flashlight to shine on the wound to make a judgment, and then pulled out a flare gun and six flares of different flavors from the leather holster on the waist of the corpse.

"So all the German pilots are dead?" David couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.

"Indeed, all the pilots on that bomber were dead."

Wei Ran looked at the captured flare gun, then pinned it to his waist and continued, "But the Germans don't know that, and we can't run over to tell them the good news, so I guess they will still go into the forest to look for the pilot. Yes, okay, let’s go.”

After listening to Wei Ran's analysis, David sighed in disappointment, pulled the reins and started walking again.

This is destined to be a hard night, not only for the people but also for the horses. The people riding the horses also suffer.

Although Wei Ran and Father Dofero didn't have to walk by themselves, because it was dark and they didn't dare to turn on the lights, branches would hit their bodies and faces from time to time, even if they ended up lying on the horse. Still have to be careful not to hurt your eyes with dead branches.

After walking like this all night, by about four o'clock in the morning, we were already exhausted and needed to rest.

They randomly found a thick pine tree, and everyone lit a small bonfire. They placed the lunch boxes that the political commissar Zinovi had given them when they set out on it and simply heated them. Finally, they had a warm meal.

"You guys rest"

Father Dofero wiped the soup stained on his beard carelessly, "Victor and I have been sitting on the horse all day, so let us keep vigil for you. When it gets completely light, we will When we continue to set off, we can sleep on the horse again."

"Listen to dad's arrangements," Wei Ran said before the two of them spoke.

Hearing this, Fras and David, who had not rested much all day and all night, looked at each other. They each covered themselves with cloaks and lay down on the edge of the bonfire and closed their eyes. Not long after, they started snoring one after another.

In the two hours before dawn, Fras and David hurriedly slept, but Wei Ran and Dofero, the two sick patients, did not feel sleepy at all - they were all worried about Ah, who was going back to report the news. Liao Sha.

At six o'clock in the morning, just as Wei Ran was preparing to add some firewood to the bonfire, the roar of the engine and the squeak of the tracks were heard in the thick morning fog!
"laugh--!"

Wei Ran immediately doused the bonfire with the water he had prepared in his lunch box, and then kicked up Fras and David who were not far away. He was too familiar with the noise. It was the unique noise of German half-track motorcycles. !
"Shh-"

Doferro, who had also noticed the movement, made a silent gesture, and then pointed to the mules and horses tied next to him.

After rubbing their eyes, the two Frass who woke up immediately heard the vague roar of the engine.

The unexpected movement deep in the forest was obviously more useful than any explanation. The two immediately got up and packed up their few things as quickly as possible. They then helped Wei Ran and Father Doferro onto their horses and dragged them He took the reins and walked deeper into the forest.

However, just when they thought they could escape the increasingly clear movement under the cover of the morning mist, the mule ridden by Father Dofeluo let out a series of loud neighs!

not good!

Weiran's heart sank, and the roar of the engine on the opposite side soon stopped. Then, they heard someone shouting in Russian and asking, "Who is there?"

"Shh-" Wei Ran also gestured, and then pointed in a direction to signal everyone to leave quickly.

But just for such a moment of delay, the unique intensive roar of the MG34 machine gun suddenly sounded from the opposite side of the thick fog!
The almost continuous barrage also hit them more than ten meters away, but right in front of the direction they were preparing to escape.

Although the violent gunfire did not scare the military horse Wei Ran rode, the mule ridden by Father Dofero became increasingly restless.

"Fras, hold it for me."

As Father Doferro said, he threw a pocket watch to Fras who was struggling to hold the reins. When he subconsciously tried to use the pocket watch, he knocked the mule's ribs with his leg and pulled the mule. Fras loosened his reins and ran in the direction they came from!
"Da-da-da! Da-da-da!"

Just when Wei Ran and others were about to call out to the old man, he pulled the trigger of the submachine gun while his back was blocked by the thick fog, and fired a series of long bursts in the direction of the machine gun fire!
Immediately, the direction of the machine gun fire was chasing him, and the occasional response fire was getting further and further away.

"go!"

Wei Ran gritted his teeth and whispered the order, pulling on the reins and steering the horse to run towards the northeast.

After wiping his tears, Flass tightened his grip on the pocket watch and dragged David, who was also in tears, to follow Wei Ran.

In the thick fog deep in the forest that has not yet dispersed, the three people and one horse ran farther and farther amidst the receding sound of submachine gun fire. However, the sorrow in the hearts of the three people became more and more. They wanted to go back to save their father. But they knew clearly that with just the three of them, even if the horse knew how to shoot, there was no way it could be done.

They also knew that running as far away as possible before their father was caught or hit was the wisest choice.But the more this happened, the more painful they became.

I don’t know how long they ran, but there was no sound of fighting behind them. Fras and David were already running out of breath and in tears. Even Wei Ran’s face had a few small wounds caused by pine branches. .

"can't stop"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he jumped off his horse, and after observing, he couldn't refuse and said, "David, get on your horse, let's continue walking."

After hearing this, David was silent for a moment, gritted his teeth and climbed onto the horse, letting Wei Ran use his uninjured left hand to hold the reins and continue walking forward.

After resting briefly on the horse for about 15 minutes, David jumped down without any explanation, and let Flass, who seemed to be distracted, also go up and rest for a while, and he snatched the reins from Wei Ran's hand. .

While they were walking non-stop, the three of them fell into silence.Everyone seemed to have made a certain decision secretly in their hearts.

"Does the return mission to escape from the encirclement only start now?"

Wei Ran murmured to himself, and then looked down at the captured flare gun on his waist.

(End of this chapter)