War Photographer's Notebook

Outside the city of Saint-Omer, at a crossroads that was necessary to leave the city, a truck full of German soldiers screeched to a stop. Before the car stalled, the soldiers jumped out and quickly set up two machine guns. , and the truck also pointed its dazzling headlights in the direction of the city.

It was only 400 meters away from this intersection, still located by the river in the city. Sammy, the chain dog, also led his companions, led by a military dog ​​sniffing and chasing forward.

"Hans"

Sami, who was responsible for the arrest task independently for the first time, had little patience. "Let them lead Lily and continue to search slowly. The two of us drove motorcycles along the river and chased him first. After leaving the city, the road along the river leads to Canada." Damn it, we can’t let those tailors go.”

"Call two more people."

The slightly older Hans suggested cautiously, "There are three of them. If Lucas and his friends have their weapons and motorcycles in their hands, even women will easily suppress us."

"that's right!"

Sammy immediately issued a new order, "Brian, Rudolph, you two drive another motorcycle and chase with us."

"Yes!" The two young chain dogs following behind immediately responded.

Under Sammy's arrangement, the two motorcycles with sidecars immediately chased them along the road along the river. Sammy and the chain dog named Rudolf, who were sitting on the sidecars, each turned on the lights on the sidecars. Turned to the direction of the river.

At almost the same time, on the river bank almost a kilometer away from them, on the edge of a reed bush less than a hundred meters upstream from the broken bridge where Wei Ran and Vanessa had dumped their bodies, the three of them each took off their German uniforms. and the clothes worn underneath, as well as the shoes and socks on the feet.

"I don't want to be in soaked underwear later."

Before Vanessa finished speaking, she had already taken off her underwear, and then took off her underwear, showing off her slender body without any concealment.

Heidi, who was also taking off her clothes next to her, seemed to think that this reason was justified, and she actually took off the last two pieces of clothing on her body and stuffed them into her bag.

Ha. The unrestrained French
Wei Ran muttered something in Chinese in a moderate voice, and took off his underwear without any trouble - he also didn't want to rush around in wet underwear, especially in this damn weather.

"Whoa!"

Wei Ran first used a stick he picked up on the road, picked up clothes wrapped in German uniforms, walked step by step into the cold A River, and swam across the water to the other bank 50 meters away.

Almost naked, the two sisters Heidi and Vanessa followed suit. Each carried a leather bag containing clothes and shoes with a stick. In the gradually rising fog, they gritted their teeth and endured the cold and biting river water and swam to the other side.

Crossing the river, this was undoubtedly Wei Ran's suggestion. Of course, his original intention in making this suggestion was not to see the girl's body, but just to clear away the smell left by the three of them along the way, so as not to be chased by the four-legged chain dog. .

During the two days he was working as a tailor, he had seen those German soldiers walking around with German shepherds more than once. What's more, going to the other side can also confuse the enemy who may have already chased him - there is a three-way intersection on the other side of the river.

Before the two sisters could swim up, he wiped the water stains on his body with the German uniform. When he started to get dressed, Heidi and the sisters just swam ashore.

"Hurry up and remember not to leave things here."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he quickly ran to the fork in the road by the river. He took out the two sausages he had stuffed into his pocket before going out. He broke them into several pieces and threw them at the fork in the road. of three directions.

That's not all. He also used a nylon thread used to sew shoes and a PP pistol in a gas mask bag to arrange a tripping device.

When he came back, Heidi and Vanessa had just put on their clothes. Still not daring to delay, the three of them immediately continued running along the river bank. From time to time, Wei Ran would look back and pay attention to the direction behind him.

"Hide!"

After running like this for less than 5 minutes, when he saw the car lights behind him, Wei Ran immediately took a man with one hand and lay down in the drainage ditch on the side of the road.

After waiting for less than a minute, two motorcycles drove over one after another along the road on the other side of the river. At the same time, the lights on the sidecars also slowly swept across both sides of the river, and finally drove to where the three of them were preparing to go. direction to go.

"Walk"

Wei Ran stood up again and continued to trot along the roadside with the two girls carrying bags.

"Vanessa, how far is it?"

After running for more than ten minutes, Wei Ran saw that the sisters were out of breath and walking heavily, so he simply slowed down and asked in a low voice.

“Not too far away”

Vanessa put one hand on her waist, took a deep breath, and replied out of breath, "At our current speed, at most, 10 minutes, yes, in another 10 minutes, we can, just I can see the cemetery.”

"2 minute break"

Having said that, Wei Ran once again walked forward holding each other hand in hand, trying not to let himself think about the fact that Heidi was pregnant and was not suitable for such strenuous exercise.

"boom!"

Just at this time, in the silent night behind him, there was a faint sound of gunshots, followed closely by a series of intensive gunshots from submachine guns.

"Cross the river!" Wei Ran gritted his teeth and made a new decision.

Heidi and Vanessa looked at each other in the night. Without saying a word, they took off their clothes and stuffed them into their bags. They and Wei Ran, who also took off their clothes, walked into the cold river again, holding up their bags and bags. The clothes swam to the other side.

They climbed up the river embankment again and hurriedly put on their clothes, and the three of them continued running along the river.

This triathlon-like escape was easy to say but really tiring, but even so, none of them dared to stop.

This time they ran less than 200 meters, but dazzling car lights appeared directly in front of them again.

Upon seeing this, the three of them immediately got into the reeds by the river and squatted down, holding their breath and waiting anxiously.

A moment later, a motorcycle roared past on the road less than three meters away from them, heading in the direction from which it came.

"Let's go" Wei Ran greeted the two sisters in a low voice, and the three of them continued running forward in the mist.

Finally, the outline of tombstones and an abandoned church gradually appeared in front of him. As he walked further in, Wei Ran even saw the stack of wheat straw that he had overturned.

Instructing Heidi and Vanessa to hide in the shadow of a thick tree, Wei Ranmao walked forward a few steps, hid behind a tombstone, took out the gas mask bag and took out the rest from it. That PPK pistol and a Mauser bayonet.

After loading the bomb and putting away the mask bag, Wei Ran walked around the ruins of the church as he had done when he first came here. Until he was sure that there was no ambush around, he quickly ran to the edge of the straw pile and picked up the bag again. Hold the pitchfork and prepare to dig out the sidecar motorcycle hidden here.

However, before he could take action, a chain dog walked out of the church ruins not far away, holding a gun and a square box flashlight in both hands!

"Raise your hand!"

The chained dog raised the gun in his hand and gave the order in French. At the same time, he walked towards Wei Ran step by step, pointed a flashlight at his head, and said angrily, "Sure enough, it was you who killed Lucas and Julian. !”

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed secretly, raised his hands and turned around slowly, squinting at Sammy, the chain dog who had just "rescued" him during the day, and asked helplessly, "How did you find this place? "

"This looks like a good place to hide."

As Sami spoke, he had already walked in front of Wei Ran, pulled his collar with the hand holding the flashlight and walked a few steps further, stopping in front of a remaining wall.

"Press your hands to the wall and put your forehead against the wall." Sammy gave the order in a strict manner, "Otherwise, I don't mind taking a corpse back."

Hearing this, Wei Ran pressed his hand on the wall obediently, and at the same time stretched his wrist slightly to prevent the bayonet hidden in the cuff from sliding down the cuff.

Holding a pistol in one hand, Sami held the square box flashlight in his mouth, touched Wei Ran's clothes with his free hand, and tried to take away the loaded PPK pistol in his pocket, and then put it on his waist. He touched his chest and ribs on both sides.

Pressing the muzzle of the pistol against Wei Ran's lower back, he squatted down little by little and touched both sides of Wei Ran's calves.

Only after he was sure that there were no weapons on Wei Ran's body, Sami breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stood up.

"Put your hands behind your back"

Sammy issued a new order and at the same time reached behind his back to take out the handcuffs. At the same time, Wei Ran immediately lowered his arm and used the movement of his hanging arm to throw the Mauser bayonet hidden in his cuff against the wall. There was a "clang" sound.

Almost subconsciously, Sami followed the sound and looked over, shining the flashlight still in his mouth.

However, before he could see what was making the noise, Wei Ran had already grabbed the sleeve of the pistol that was pressed against his waist with his hand, and stuffed his finger behind the trigger.

"Oh!"

Wei Ranyi accurately kicked Sami in the crotch, forcing him to draw in his abdomen and bend over. Then he turned around sharply, raised his other hand, and used his hardest elbow. Part, hit Sami hard behind the ear, knocking him out easily.

However, before Sami could fall to the ground, a "bang" gunshot was heard outside the cemetery, followed closely by the second and third gunshots!

broken!

Wei Ran's heart sank, and he quickly opened the joints of his hands and took out the T-shaped handcuffs from the wallet on his waist, cuffing his feet together.

Bending down to pick up the bayonet, he took away the pistol that had just been taken away by Sami, and even Sami's own pistol and the submachine gun on his shoulder.

Deliberately ignoring the still-lit flashlight next to Sammy, Wei Ran ran in a circle towards the direction where the gunshots had just sounded, and the direction where Heidi and the sisters were hiding.

Soon, he saw a sidecar motorcycle with its lights on right in front of him. Vanessa was riding on a corpse, raising the bayonet in her hand again and again under the dazzling lights. Again and again, he stabbed into the chest of the chained dog corpse whose pants had gone down to his knees. And next to the sidecar not far from her, Heidi was still kneeling, her clothes had been torn apart and thrown all over the floor.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran walked over, bent down to pick up the windbreaker that was stained with grass stubble, and handed it to the nearly naked Heidi. Then he walked gently to Vanessa's side and took it away. She threw the bayonet in her hand aside, and then gently took away the Sauer 1913 pistol in her other hand and threw it aside.

"Okay, Vanessa, he's dead, he's dead."

As Wei Ran spoke, he gently pulled Vanessa up, who was covered in blood, and at the same time used his body to block the corpse behind him whose chest was pierced into a sieve.

Although the face of the corpse had been cut with deep wounds visible to the bone by bayonets, he could still recognize it as Hans, the chain dog who had brought them food yesterday evening.

It wasn't until they were far away that Vanessa finally burst into tears.

"It's not the time to cry yet"

Wei Ran gently held the thin girl in his arms and comforted her, "We must leave as soon as possible, and Heidi also needs your comfort."

"It's fine, I'm fine."

After hearing this, Vanessa immediately broke away from Wei Ran, wiped the raging tears with her bloody hands, stumbled to Heidi, who had just stood up and put on her windbreaker, and held her in her arms. .

"Vanessa, who between you and Heidi knows how to drive a motorcycle?" Wei Ran asked while searching for weapons from the body of the chained dog.

"We all do, we all do."

Heidi used the collar of her windbreaker to cover the pinch mark on her neck, and answered calmly, "We used to have a Norton motorcycle at home. My mother brought it from England. We all rode it."

"You go to the cemetery"

Wei Ran pointed in the direction of the church, "The motorcycle from before is hidden in the wheat straw. You go dig it out. Then you change into your own clothes. Don't wear the chain dog uniform in the car yet.

In addition, the chain dog named Sammy is also there. If you have time, help me take off his clothes. "

Hearing this, Heidi nodded, and after looking at each other with Vanessa, the two sisters quickly ran into the cemetery.

After the two sisters were obscured by the thick fog, Wei Ran carried the chained dog's body onto the motorcycle, letting his upper body lie on the fuel tank with the lid unscrewed, and at the same time, he also lifted the chain dog's body hanging on his chest. The egg-shaped grenade was stuck in the gas tank mouth, and the hair pulling wire was tied to a button on his chest.

Immediately afterwards, he took out the shoe thread and tied one end to the machine gun trigger, then locked the machine gun and got ready.

Finally, as if to provoke him, he deliberately took off the German uniform and threw it on the motorcycle's dazzling headlights.

He had just finished his work, and Heidi and Vanessa, who had changed into civilian clothes, also drove out the hidden BMW sidecar motorcycle.

"I killed that chain dog"

Heidi said first as Vanessa stopped the car, "Of course, we have taken off his clothes and the body was covered with wheat straw."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't say anything except that he was a little regretful that he hadn't had time to extract a confession. He just signaled Vanessa to drive the motorcycle forward, and then used the spool tied to the machine gun trigger to make a trip. Send a trap.

Then, he carried the spare oil drum hanging on the trap motorcycle to the side of the motorcycle driven by Vanessa, filled the tank with fuel, and poured the remaining gasoline into the sidecar of the trap motorcycle. .

Finally, after taking the seized weapons, Wei Ran did not dare to waste time and drove the motorcycle himself. Under the guidance of Vanessa, he did not even dare to turn on the lights. He just relied on the moonlight and drove to Phillip as fast as possible. The direction of the castle.

After running slowly and hurriedly for almost half an hour, Wei Ran stopped the car again and asked Heidi and Vanessa to change into chain dog uniforms. By the way, he also taught them how to use the seized dogs. Pistols, submachine guns and even machine guns on sidecars.

After getting the car running again, Wei Ran asked proactively, "Vanessa, where did you get the pistol?"

"grocery store"

Vanessa said happily, "I stole a gun when I went there for the first time, and I took it with me when I was packing my luggage today."

Hearing this, Wei Ran did not continue to ask what happened to the sisters when he was held at gunpoint by Sami. He just turned the accelerator to the bottom, left the road to Calais at a fork in the road, and drove towards In the direction of Castle Philippe.

Fortunately, even though they took some detours to confuse the pursuers, the two places were not considered tundra after all. It was less than ten o'clock in the evening. The three of them in a car drove in the dark to a place called Bullburg.

“Continuing from here is Graveline, and through it is Castel Philippe.”

Vanessa, who was sitting behind Wei Ran, pointed to the front and said, "Did you see that bright spot? That's the black and white lighthouse, where Mr. Spear works."

After looking at the light spots in the distance, Wei Ran slowly slowed down the speed of the car, finally stopped, pointed to the river not far away and asked, "What river is that?"

"Ahe, it's still Ahe."

Heidi, who was sitting in the sidecar, said, "It entered the sea at Castle Philip."

After roughly estimating the distance, Wei Ran thought for a moment and said, "Get off the car and let's walk over. It's time to get rid of this motorcycle. Also, take off this uniform. It will cause us trouble next time." of."

Hearing this, Heidi and Vanessa immediately got out of the car and asked in unison while taking off their clothes, "Where are the weapons? Are these weapons also thrown away?"

"throw away"

While Wei Ran was talking, he had already taken the submachine gun from the two girls, emptied the cartridge box and threw it directly into the river, "Just keep the pistol for self-defense. Even if you include Cousin Spear, we will only have a total of With four people, it doesn’t make sense to give us more weapons, so our focus is absolutely not to be discovered.”

After saying that, he opened a saddle bag on the sidecar and stuffed it with the uniform and boots he had taken off, and even the heavy metal sign hanging around his neck that could cause cervical spondylosis within three days. Go in.

After Heidi and Vanessa each took off their uniforms and put on the clothes in their bags, Wei Ran motioned them to stand back, started the car again, turned the accelerator, and jumped before the speed picked up. Come down.

"Whoa!"

The motorcycle ran on the road for dozens of meters, then plunged into the river along the stone embankment, and completely stopped after a series of bubbles emerged.

"Go, go."

Wei Ran patted the dirt off his body and walked toward the lighthouse.

"Are we going to cause trouble for Spear?"

After walking less than ten meters, Heidi worriedly asked a question that was already too late.

Vanessa was extraordinarily sober and optimistic, "Sister, if he thinks we are trouble, then he is not worth it at all. At worst, we can find a way to find a boat and leave France."

Hearing this, Heidi sighed quietly and did not continue this unrealistic topic.

In a silence mixed with anxiety and confusion, the three of them walked along the river almost jogging. From time to time, Wei Ran would run backwards and look behind him.

Fortunately, no fatal headlights appeared in the direction they came from until they were circling Gravelines, which had been destroyed by the war, in fields full of barley.

Around 10:30 that night, the straight-line distance between the three of them and the lighthouse was less than one kilometer.

But in this last kilometer, there is not only a small town with lights out, but also German troops stationed here, as well as soldiers patrolling at night!

Obviously, it was simply unrealistic to enter the lighthouse through this small town, and the three people's attention was inevitably focused on the A River that flowed into the sea.

"The lighthouse is on the right side of the river"

As Heidi spoke, she took off her windbreaker and stuffed it into her bag. She walked to the river and stretched out her hand to test the cold water. She kept saying, "Between us and the lighthouse." The length of the river is about one kilometer, and it flows downstream, so we can swim across it and dive underwater whenever we encounter danger.

But I don't know if there is anyone else in the lighthouse, let alone whether Spear is still working in the lighthouse. "

After a pause, Heidi added, "The last time he wrote to me was about ten days ago. In case he was captured by the Germans, I'm afraid."

“We always have to try”

Vanessa said, "At worst, you just wait here, I'll go first."

"No, me first."

"Don't waste time on this kind of thing"

Wei Ran interrupted the dispute between the two sisters, "Our current location is not very safe. The risk of staying is about the same as the risk of swimming to the lighthouse.

So let's swim together, so that even if one of us can't hold on, we can at least take care of each other. Also, leave the unnecessary stuff behind. "

Hearing this, Heidi and Vanessa gritted their teeth and agreed to Wei Ran's suggestion. They first stuffed the money and other items in their bags into their pockets, then took off their boots and stuffed them into their bags, and then stuffed them inside again. Some silt and stones sank into the cold river.

"crash"

Amidst the faint sound of splashing water, the three of them walked into the cold Ah River one after another, letting the river water flow in along their trouser legs, cuffs and collars, and letting the river water push them around. In the night, under the "cover" of the busy bombers overhead, "He quickly closed the distance to the lighthouse.