War Photographer's Notebook

In the middle of the A River, which was freezing cold but not too fast, a pile of reeds floating from the upper reaches were fluttering downstream driven by the current, without attracting the attention of the patrolling soldiers on the river bank.

The patrols who looked up at the night sky from time to time did not know that Wei Ran, Heidi and Vanessa were hiding under the pile of reeds.

Under the reeds, Wei Ran handed a wax-impregnated pilot oxygen mask to Vanessa, who was holding her belt next to her. After the latter patted her shoulder, she immediately unscrewed the one hanging around her neck. The valve of the small oxygen cylinder allowed her to take a breath of oxygen, and then she tightened the valve miserably and handed the mask to Heidi, who was also holding her belt on the other side.

This time, before he could open the valve, a beam of light hit the reeds from the shore.

Upon seeing this, the three of them immediately dived into the water, using only the nylon thread used to sew their shoes to pull on the reeds above their heads to prevent it from floating too fast.

Five seconds, ten seconds, twenty seconds, finally, when Wei Ran silently counted to 37, the flashlight beam finally stopped pointing at the reeds on the water because the distance was getting farther and farther, and Wei Ran immediately Unscrewing the valve made Heidi, who could barely hold on, take a deep breath.

Seeing that the air bubbles she exhaled were blocked by the reeds above her head, Wei Ran waited for the other party to pat the top of her head, then immediately tightened the valve, placed the mask on her mouth and nose, bit her breathing nozzle and unscrewed it. valve.

This camouflage and stealth method was made by him when he swam through a patch of reeds in the river. He was guarding against the soldiers who patrolled the river bank from time to time. Even those soldiers who were midway through the patrol either lit cigarettes to be lazy, or simply stood on the bank. A wicked man who urinates while peeing.

After taking a breath for himself, Wei Ran handed the mask to Vanessa on the other side. The three of them cooperated like this and endured the last few hundred meters little by little.

Finally, the three of them saw a bright light that could still be seen clearly through the reeds above their heads and the river water. After taking the last breath of oxygen, Heidi loosened the "kite string" of the pile of reeds above her head and took Wei with her. Ran and Vanessa swam to the right bank of the river, and almost hugged the log pillars of a small dock trestle.

If it were in a swimming pool, it would take an ordinary person about half an hour to swim one kilometer back and forth, but in the A River, due to the push of the water flow, the distance of this kilometer only took the three of them less than ten minutes. .

However, how can the temperature of the river water be as warm as the water in the swimming pool? At this time, not to mention the delicate Heidi and Vanessa, even Wei Ran was so cold that his whole body was trembling.

Even so, they still emerged cautiously, and after listening for a while, they took the risk to go up and observe the trestle on both sides and above their heads. It was not until they were sure that there was no one around the trestle that they relaxed slightly and hid on the trestle again. He was breathing heavily in the shadow.

“That’s it”

Heidi pointed to the lighthouse only a hundred meters away from the shore, and said tremblingly, "If. If Spear is still working there, he must be here at this time, hoo! Busy copying work on the second floor of the lighthouse."

“We can’t go together this time”

Wei Ran suppressed the chill in his body and whispered, "You two stay here and hold on. I'll go take a look first. If there's any danger, I'll shoot to warn you. When the time comes. When the time comes, your only way out may be Follow the river into the English Channel.”

"Be careful," Heidi whispered, as if she didn't hear Wei Ran's almost desperate alternative.

Carrying the oxygen bottle, Wei Ran walked step by step towards the shore. When he climbed onto the relatively dry river embankment, he stopped and took off his clothes. After carefully wringing them out one by one, he didn't even forget to use wet clothes. Wiped the water stains from my hair.

After looking around, Wei Ran took out the gas mask bag, stuffed the gas bottle into it, then put on his shirt and underwear as quickly as possible, and climbed up the river embankment barefoot.

Seeing that the moisture on the soles of his feet had been sucked away and leaving no footprints, he quickly ran towards the lighthouse a hundred meters away, using the shadow of the building.

As the distance got closer, he suddenly lay down and crawled on all fours like a gecko under a truck that was burned down on the side of the road for unknown reasons.

Almost as soon as he put his last leg under the chassis of the truck, a flashlight beam also swept past, followed closely by a patrol team of more than ten people, lining up, with the leader holding a The soldier with the flashlight led him unhurriedly towards the upstream direction.

Watching the group go away, Wei Ran immediately climbed out and quickly ran to the lighthouse.

Gently pushing the wooden door at the entrance of the lighthouse, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and knocked lightly with his hand when he saw that the wooden door was locked from the inside.

After waiting for a moment, he saw that there was no movement at all, so he had to knock harder and harder.

Now, someone finally asked, "Who?"

"It's me, open the door."

Wei Ran whispered, while taking out a Mauser bayonet, holding it in his hand, and attached the slender blade to his arm. He has never met his "cousin" Spear, not only in real life, but he has never even seen a photo.

"Victor?"

Obviously, although Wei Ran didn't recognize the other party, the people at the door immediately recognized Wei Ran's voice.

Soon, as the heavy wooden door was opened from the inside, Wei Ran also saw a tall and thin man with blond hair, carrying a kerosene lamp in his hand, wearing overalls and a turtleneck sweater, which made people feel quite... What's awkward is that this man still has the same mustache as the head of state.

"Turn off the lights"

As Wei Ran spoke, he ducked into the lighthouse and closed the wooden door as quickly as possible.

The blond man who opened the door for him didn't react too slowly. He immediately turned off the oil lamp and asked nervously, "Victor, why are you here? Where is Heidi? Is she in danger?"

"It seems it is indeed Spear."

Wei Ran relaxed, but did not rush to answer the other person's question. Instead, he grabbed the other person's neck and pulled him in front of him, and whispered into his ear, "Is there anyone else in the lighthouse?"

"No, it's just me in the lighthouse." Spear replied in a low voice, "Tell me quickly, Heidi."

"Do you have any hiding place here?"

Wei Ran didn't wait for the other party to finish asking, then asked the second question, "A place where the Germans can't find it."

"Yes, yes!" Spear nodded immediately, "Although it's not big, but..."

"Hurry and get two warm clothes. We'll pick up Heidi and Vanessa. We'll talk about the rest later."

As soon as Wei Ran finished speaking, Spier immediately whispered, "Quickly let go!"

After catching the oil lamp and letting go of the opponent's collar, Spier opened the wooden door behind him, grabbed it from the side of the door, took out a woolen coat and stuffed it into Wei Ran, and whispered while taking another windbreaker. Asked, "Where are they?"

"Come with me"

Wei Ran led the other party away from the lighthouse and quickly ran to the dock more than a hundred meters away.

At his low call, Heidi and Vanessa, still soaking in the water, immediately climbed up the river embankment.

"If you have anything to say, we'll talk about it later. Wring the water off your body and let's go back quickly." Wei Ran urged Heidi and Spear before they hugged each other.

Hearing this, the Heidi sisters immediately took off their sweaters and pants to wring out the moisture, and at the same time allowed Wei Ran and Spear to help them put on their windbreakers.

"Clothes and shoes must also be taken away."

Spier said extremely cautiously. Almost at the same time, Wei Ran also took out his own clothes and shoes, wrapped them in his coat, and threw them on his shoulders along with the wet clothes taken off by the sisters.

There was no extra communication, and no time wasted. After bypassing another round of patrols, the four of them quickly ran into the lighthouse.

"Sneeze!" Vanessa sneezed before the wooden door behind her closed.

"Go upstairs first!"

As he spoke, Spear took out a lighter from his pocket and relit the oil lamp, leading them to climb up the winding stairs to the lighthouse, and finally came to the room directly below the constantly rotating oversized kerosene lamp.

"Put on my clothes first"

Spear casually placed the oil lamp beside the table, opened a wooden box, took out three pairs of trousers and three shirts and distributed them to Wei Ran and the other three. Then he rummaged through the box and found three pairs of thick wool socks.

"Victor, let me take you upstairs to change clothes."

Spear greeted Wei Ran, who had received the clothes, and left the warm and small room. He walked up the winding stairs to a location less than three meters away from the kerosene lamp.

"Victor, what happened?"

Spear asked while Wei Ran was changing clothes, "Take off all your wet clothes. I will dry them for you later."

"We killed people"

Wei Ran put the clothes he had taken off on the steps and briefly told what happened in Saint-Omer. By the way, he also put on the clothes and pants provided by the other party.

"You killed two chain dogs?"

Spear frowned, and there was a moment of panic on his handsome face. But soon, he said firmly and confidently, "Don't worry Victor, I will protect you, leave the rest to me!"

"What are you going to do?" Wei Ran asked inquiringly.

After a moment of silence, Spear heard Heidi's call from downstairs, and whispered as he walked downstairs, "Let's explain it together later, let's go down first."

Following each other downstairs, when they returned to the room below, Heidi and Vanessa had already changed into Spear's overalls, shirts and wool socks, and were wiping their wet hair with towels. .

Seeing Heidi and Spear hugging each other without any scruples and starting to kiss passionately, Wei Ran and Vanessa looked at each other, spread their hands, took the wet clothes that the sisters had changed, left the room temporarily, and spread the clothes It was left hanging on the handrail of the stairs.

When the two of them came back, Spear had poured everyone a cup of hot tea and was busy heating the food.

"I haven't dared to contact you recently because I was worried that it would cause trouble for you." Spier sat next to Heidi while he was talking, lowered his voice and said especially apologetically, "I got the news from my teacher, next time A new law will be issued in the next month. Not only will the freedom of orthodox Jews like me be restricted, but also those who have more than three Jewish grandfathers, or whose spouses are Jewish, will be considered Jews.

For example, Victor, according to the law that will be introduced next month, you are also a Jew, even if you are not circumcised, even if you, like me, do not believe in Judaism, do you know what this means? "

"This is nonsense!" Vanessa, who studied law, said angrily, "What kind of bullshit law is this!"

“This is a decree against the Jews”

Spear said calmly, "Starting next month, I'm afraid my tower guarding job will also be banned. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that this job is too dangerous, I might die from a British bombing at any time. I’m afraid my job has long since been replaced.”

"Spiel, what are you going to do?" Heidi squeezed Spear's hand and asked in panic.

After a moment of silence, Spear whispered, "Originally, I planned to find a way to run to the UK, and then find a way to contact you and ask you to go to the UK. You know, now we can only communicate through postcards. These plans are impossible for me. Written on a postcard.

And I was worried that I would implicate you if I failed, so I never contacted you. "

"What now?" Wei Ran asked, "How ready are you?"

"Now."

Spier looked at Heidi beside him, then at Wei Ran and Vanessa, and said eagerly, "Escape with me. I have thought about running away with you more than once, but you are not Jewish. , there is no need to take the same risk as me.

Now shall we go to England together? I've made all the preparations, all I have left is bad weather. "

Hearing this, Wei Ran's heart trembled. There were only a few hours left before September 9th.

By this time tomorrow, the weather will start to get bad.

By the 16th, not only will the weather deteriorate, but the British counterattack will also arrive. By then, the German warships and sea-crossing ships anchored in this port will face the elegant wrath of the Black Tea Initiation.

"How do you plan to go to England?" Vanessa asked her sister Heidi before she hesitated.

Spear smiled, pulled Heidi up and said, "Come with me, I will take you to see my preparations."

Seeing that the two girls had followed suit and left the warm little room, Wei Ran simply followed him downstairs and returned to the first floor of the lighthouse.

Under Spear's greeting, Weiran helped move the two 200-liter oil drums in the corner, and then lifted up a wooden board, revealing a spiral staircase that spiraled downwards. There were no steps at all, it was just a slope. .

"This is the basement of the lighthouse, where the kerosene and debris were stored a long time ago."

As he spoke, Spear had already replaced a David lamp with better safety. As he walked down, he did not forget to say, "Now this lighthouse is in danger of being bombed at any time, so the kerosene is stored in the oil depot outside the lighthouse. There are only all kinds of debris left here, so be careful when you come down."

Before he finished speaking, Spear had already knelt down and crawled through the small triangular space under an overturned cabinet.

After Heidi and Vanessa crawled over, Wei Ran, who was walking at the end, also crawled through the small gap, and then crawled around several 200-liter oil drums and various messy debris.

In the end, when the four of them could finally stand up, Spear had easily pulled out an oil drum that was buried under the debris.

"It's all in here," said Spear, who was the first to get in.

After the Heidi sisters got in, Wei Ran found that the space inside was far narrower than he thought.

Looking at the slope above the head, this secret space hidden in the pile of debris seems to be located directly under the spiral staircase, and thick cotton cloth is used to block all the gaps that may allow light to penetrate.

But there are a lot of things placed in this narrow space that can only accommodate a single bed and a small table.

Suspended above the head on a wooden board that is almost as long as the bed board, there are several sets of 49/bis type diving suits produced by Pirelli.

Although the company Pirelli was mentioned in later generations, most of the time it was related to tires.

But in this era, in addition to making bicycle wheels, this Italian brand is also an expert in making diving suits - anyway, they are all related to inflatable and rubber products.

If nothing else, the diving suits in front of me are probably the equipment of German underwater explosive ordnance disposal personnel.

Just how could these German military equipment appear here?

Suppressing the doubts in his mind, Wei Ran continued to poke around in the small space, and then found two medical oxygen bottles under the single bed, which were about 1.5 meters long.

Continuing to observe, he also discovered many interesting things. The most conspicuous thing among them was some hair dye placed in the corner. Looking at Spear's blond hair, Wei Ran had already roughly guessed how the other party hid his most easily visible Jewish features.

"Is this your plan?"

Heidi also looked at the diving suits hanging above her head and asked curiously, "Where did you get these things?"

“These wetsuits were an accident”

Spear couldn't hide the smile in his voice when he said this, "About ten days ago, a bomb dropped by a British bomber sank a ship not far from the coastline.

After the bombing ended, the Germans sent many divers to check the situation. For some reason, the cargo ship exploded underwater. I happened to be on duty at the lighthouse at the time and could see it clearly with my binoculars. "

"What happened next?" Vanessa asked.

"When the tide came in that night, many corpses of divers wearing diving suits and fish corpses were pushed onto the beach by the waves."

Spear picked up one at random and said, "I sent all the corpses back to the sea, and brought back these diving suits. Of course, I have carefully brushed these diving suits. There are also some in the box under the bed. There are matching thermal underwear, and I have washed those underwear. If you feel cold, you can put them on, the thermal effect is very good."

"Are you going to use these diving suits to escape?" Heidi asked with wide eyes.

"Yes!" Spear nodded and whispered with great pride, "I even went to the black market and bought two large bottles of oxygen at a huge price."

"To be more specific, what are you going to do?" Wei Ran asked.

"You know, I used to be a rescue diver."

Spier put down the diving suit in his hand and explained in a low voice, "When the British escaped from Dunkirk this summer, I was there to help. Originally, the British promised to take me with them to retreat to England, but they In the end, I changed my mind.”

"I remember this"

Heidi continued, "I said at the time that those British people were not worthy of trust."

“Really not trustworthy”

Spear said with a smile, "Although I didn't escape with them to England, I did find an inflatable life raft from a British plane that crashed nearby. The life raft is now hidden in the mud under the pier. .

My plan was to use a wetsuit to go out to sea, once in the open sea, blow up a life raft and cross the Pas de Calais. "

"Is this what you mean by bad weather?" Wei Ran asked.

"right"

Spear nodded, "We need a northeasterly wind that is strong enough and lasting enough to reverse the direction of the current in the strait. It will not only push our life raft away from the coast, but also push us across the strait."

"The Germans must have set up defenses along the coast, right?"

As soon as Wei Ran asked the new question, Spear pointed to the top of his head, "Victor, I am the lighthouse keeper. Is there anything that cannot be seen from the lighthouse?"

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help but feel dumb. Indeed, as long as he stood on the lighthouse, even if he couldn't get a full view of the layout of the coastline, it would still be no problem to plan an escape route to the open sea.

So they wouldn't have encountered the rescue buoy when they escaped, right? Wei Ran reluctantly put the two things together.

At this moment, there was a noise in Spear's pocket. The latter took out a pocket watch, looked at it and said, "You guys should rest here, I'm going to refuel and wind up the tower light. In addition, I won't do it at night." Someone will come to the lighthouse, and I will leave the entrance and exit for you.

But an inspector may come at any time during the day, especially the current inspector is a German, so you must be careful during the day.

Also, I will bring you some food and drink later, and when your clothes are dry, I will also bring them to you. "

"Spier, let me go up with you." Heidi also stood up as she spoke, "I have something to say to you."

"Come with me," Spear said. He had already taken out a flashlight, turned it on, and bent down to get out of this narrow and hidden space.

Watching Heidi leave, Vanessa waited for a moment, until there was no movement above her head, and then asked in a low voice, "Victor, do you think Spear's plan can succeed?"

Without waiting for Wei Ran's answer, Vanessa said worriedly, "My sister is pregnant. How could she dive with Spear and then cross the Pas de Calais?"

"But if you don't run, you will die." Wei Ran sighed and had to remind him, "We killed two chain dogs."

"Yeah" Vanessa gritted her teeth, "I want to go up and listen to what they talked about."

Before she finished speaking, the girl had already picked up a small flashlight placed on the bed, bent over and got out.