War Photographer's Notebook

At the intersection of the surging water of the A River and the salty sea water, Wei Ran almost instinctively grasped Vanessa's outer belt, and before the swirling turbulence sucked them both in, he firmly held one end of the broken rope in his hand. He tied it to her belt, then put the other end through his own belt and tied it in a tight knot.

This wasn't over yet, he fumbled to find Vanessa's hand, gently pulled it over and placed it on his belt, telling her to hold on.

Obviously, Wei Ran became Vanessa's only support at this time. But Wei Ran, who was being relied upon, knew very well at this time that since Spier cut the rope, it must not only be to leave behind a "burden", but what he wanted to leave behind was probably a target to attract firepower!

In other words, cutting the rope is probably just the first step, and he may have other preparations next.

Because of this, Wei Ran waited for Vanessa to grasp his belt tightly, and immediately pulled her to swim to the left side of the river.

"boom!"

At this moment, a dull explosion came from the bottom of the estuary not far away from them. Wei Ran also subconsciously held the panicked Vanessa in his arms, gritted his teeth and pointed his back at the sound. coming direction.

Fortunately, he didn't feel any pain anywhere in his body after the explosion. Unfortunately, several beams of light had already come from the water and converged on the place where the explosion occurred.

That's a grenade explosion

Wei Ran was almost certain of the type of source of the explosion, and he was even more certain that the grenade was probably dropped by Spear.

But in this pitch-black water, there was no way for the two to communicate. The only thing Wei Ran could do at this time was to continue diving deeper into the river with Vanessa, while trying his best to get closer to the left side of the river.

After an unknown amount of time, Vanessa gradually calmed down and began to swim to the left in coordination with Wei Ran's movements.

Finally, in the endless darkness and coldness, the two of them finally touched the hard embankment and clumps of water plants on the left bank of the river. After Wei Ran ventured into the water plants, he grabbed Vanessa's belt and pulled it to signal to stop, and then He groped for the flippers hanging from the other party's waist and put one of her hands on them.

After getting Wei Ran's hint and clearly feeling that the other party was still holding on to her belt, Vanessa finally let go of Wei Ran's belt and hurriedly put on flippers for herself underwater.

After the girl grasped her belt again, Wei Ran took off the flippers hanging from her waist and put them on her deck shoes.

This pair of flippers undoubtedly provided them with a huge boost, but at this time, the beam of light coming from outside the water above their heads could not make every detail underwater, but it made swimming over a very high-risk action.

It was okay for the two of them not to move, but as long as the people on the shore noticed anything was wrong, they would probably be bombarded with bullets or even grenades.

After greeting Spier and all the Jewish mothers again, Wei Ran signaled Vanessa to hold on to her belt, then took out the gas mask bag, groped inside and found the telescope wrapped around her belt, and then looked for it. Desai's whistle was tucked into his cuffs.

Finally, he took off the life preserver that served as a shoulder pad, unfolded it, and pinned it to his belt.

At this point, only the small gas cylinder filled with oxygen, the bottle of aged brandy found in the lighthouse, and the PPK pistol set in a holster were left in the gas mask bag.

Looking at the moving beam of light above his head, Wei Ran forced himself to calm down. He first put the pistol on his waist, then unscrewed the rubber tube on the gas bottle, fumbled to place the inflatable mouth of the lifebuoy on it, and carefully unscrewed it. valve.

Without daring to fully inflate the lifebuoy, he closed the valve, then stuffed the gas bottle and the flashlight on his waist into the gas mask bag, wrapped it with a backpack strap, and tied it tightly to the lifebuoy.

Pushing the switch of the flashlight through the mask bag, and then carefully unscrewing the valve of the gas cylinder through the bag, Wei Ran pushed forward with both hands, and the suspended object slowly floated towards the river, driven by the water flow. The direction in which the center is illuminated by light.

Soon, people on the shore noticed the bubbles emerging underwater with the help of lights.

Suddenly, beams of light were attracted amidst the shouts. For a moment, pistols, submachine guns, rifles and even machine guns began to fire wildly at the location where the bubbles emerged. Unknown to them, under the water on the left bank of the river, Wei Ran had already pulled Following Vanessa and the water plants at the bottom of the river, she quickly swung her flippers and swam toward the sea that led to freedom.

Finally, someone fired a bullet that hit the lifebuoy outside the gas mask bag, and someone else hit the gas bottle and brandy in the bag.

For a moment, the crazily rising bubbles made the people on the shore cheer. The flashlight beams also moved back and forth along with the backpack that was moving randomly driven by the airflow. At the same time, brown bubbles filled the air from the bag. The alcohol and the fleeting flashlight beam also gave them the illusion that they had hit someone underwater.

With the help of the people on the shore who gathered fire like crazy, Wei Ran finally dragged Vanessa and swam into the vast sea. But at the same time, a new problem stumped them - where were Heidi and Spear?

Under the water that is deeper and darker than the river, the difficulty for them to find Heidi and Spear is literally equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack!

Still not daring to surface in a hurry, Wei Ran dragged Vanessa and led her to continue to swim hard in the direction away from the light of the lighthouse on the beach, trying hard to widen the distance between them and the coastline, but at the same time, They also tried hard to search for traces of Heidi and the two, even though they could barely see anything more than one meter away.

After an unknown amount of time, Vanessa stopped, grabbed Wei Ran's belt, and stepped on the water hard to try to surface.

Feeling the other party's drag, Wei Ran sighed secretly and began to rise. Eventually, the two of them emerged from the water one after another.

Hurrying to close the air valve and take off the breathing mask, Vanessa asked with a cry and almost despair, "Have they abandoned us?"

"To be precise, Spear abandoned us."

Wei Ran, who also took off his exhalation mask, said helplessly, "The grenade that exploded first was probably to keep us here to attract firepower."

"Sister she"

"She'll be fine"

Wei Ran looked at the lighthouse that was still clearly visible on the coastline and snorted, "Before arriving in the UK, no, even after arriving in the UK, Spear will pretend to be an affectionate man and take good care of Heidi. Maybe they will get married. , until he is sure he can survive in England, or finds a new purpose."

"What did you say?" Vanessa looked at Wei Ran in shock.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran recounted the Hebrew conversation between Spear and the man named Vicente that he had heard before.

"Victor!"

Vanessa yelled angrily, "Why didn't you tell me earlier! There are so many things you are hiding from us!"

"Would it be useful to tell you earlier?"

Wei Ran asked, "I'll tell you when I hear it. Can you guarantee that Heidi will calm down and pretend not to know? Or can you guarantee that Spier will admit his mistake and won't report us to the Germans?"

Or do you think he is willing to obediently tell us where the inflatable raft is hidden, or Heidi can't bear to watch me use a more bloody method to ask everything I want to know from Spear's mouth?

Don't forget, a new lighthouse keeper was sent in this afternoon. We couldn't kill Spear at all at that time. Instead of being told what he saw in Heidi's emotions, it was better not to say it for the time being. "

After taking a few deep breaths, Vanessa forced herself to calm down and asked, "So my sister is not in danger for the time being?"

“There will be no danger”

Wei Ran said firmly, "Your sister is the guarantee of Spear's life after he escapes to the UK, and I guess that Spear will probably not survive to reach the UK."

"Why?" Vanessa's originally desperate tone was mixed with a trace of hope and strong hatred.

"he is injured"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already raised the telescope hanging around his neck and explained while searching the sea surface, "His arm was cut with a wound that could almost see the bone. Although the artery was not injured, the vein was definitely injured. .

I guess that was the main reason why he decided to leave us behind to draw fire. But even so, how long can he live? "

"This is probably the only good news."

Vanessa patted the cold water angrily, and then asked blankly, "What should we do next?"

Yes

Wei Ran looked around, and he knew clearly that in later generations, swimming across the Strait of Dover was an extreme sport that was often challenged, but that also depended on the weather.

What's more, at this time, in addition to the bombers flying overhead from time to time, thick fog gradually gathered around them.

The most important thing, and what he didn't tell Vanessa just now, was that only Spear, who was guarding the lighthouse every day, knew what kind of defense the Germans had deployed in this offshore area. And this was why he decided not to expose the other party at that time. root cause.

Now, without Spear's leadership, they had to rely on their strength to swim to the other side. If they encountered a warship anchored in the strait, a submarine hidden underwater, or even a mine, they would not be able to escape.

"Victor, let's go back." Vanessa suddenly gave her suggestion.

"Go back? Where?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Go to Paris!"

Vanessa wiped away her tears hard and said decisively, "We will go to Paris, and then find a way to get to Spain. As long as we get to Spain, we can take a boat to England."

"Can"

"My father used to be a fabric merchant"

Vanessa said firmly, "Although his fabric business is not doing particularly well, he has a few very good friends, one of whom is Spanish. Victor, let's go to Paris, and then to Spain!"

"Okay! Then let's go to Paris!"

Wei Ran pretended to be confident and responded, but in fact he sighed secretly. Going to Paris sounded so easy, but for this girl, it was destined to be a road of escape with a narrow escape.

"Let's swim back!"

Vanessa picked up the respirator in the rising northeasterly wind and asked before snapping it on her face, "Victor, you can't cut the rope, can you?"

"Unless you also think I'm a Jew," Wei Ran said deliberately in a joking tone.

"are you French"

Vanessa responded to Wei Ran with a bright smile, and then put on the respirator without hesitation.

Taking one last look at the direction of the other side of the strait, the two tightened the rope tied to their belts in tacit agreement, and dived underwater in unison to avoid the waves that were about to start flowing backwards. Using the lighthouse as the coordinate, they headed towards their hard-fought escape. The coastline is swimming. This time, Weiran deliberately lagged behind Vanessa, completely handing over the decision-making power to the other party.

It can be seen that Vanessa is as reliable as all French women after French men started to become incompetent. This smart and strong girl chose the direction of travel along the coastline south of Chateau Philippe.

This direction not only allowed them to widen the distance from Castle Philippe driven by the sea breeze and inverted waves, but also shortened the distance from Calais, which is nearly 20 kilometers away to the south.

But even so, as the sea wind became stronger and stronger, although the fog was blown away a lot, their efforts to return to the coast became much more difficult, especially when there seemed to be several boats chasing them out from the lighthouse.

Patting Vanessa on the shoulder, Wei Ran grabbed the other person's arm and pointed in the direction of her feet with her finger.

After receiving the prompt, Vanessa immediately started to dive, while Wei Ran, who also started to dive, was always staring at the radioactive luminous dial of the depth gauge on his wrist.

When the diving depth of the two reached 15 meters, Wei Ran immediately patted Vanessa on the shoulder. After receiving the signal, the latter immediately stopped diving, glanced at the light of the lighthouse that was still clearly visible across the water, and swam towards the coast again without hesitation.

Compared with escaping from the shore into the sea, escaping back seems much easier. However, for the sake of safety, the two of them did not rush out of the water. Instead, they continued to swim south along the coastline with the help of the still abundant oxygen, and continued to widen the distance between them and Fort Philip.

Gradually, the light of the lighthouse behind them became smaller and smaller, and finally turned into a hazy light group. Even when the two of them surfaced, in addition to the crashing waves, the only thing they heard in their ears was the rumbling noise of the bombers overhead.

He cautiously raised the telescope hanging around his neck for observation, and then looked at the time displayed on the diving watch. Wei Ran trembled and said, "Let's go ashore, we are far enough away."

"it is good"

Vanessa responded shakily, and with the help of Wei Ran, she walked onto the soft beach. Since they decided to return to land, the two of them had been soaking in the sea for more than two hours.

Even though the wetsuits they wore had excellent performance and did not let the cold seawater flow in, even though they were wearing woolen thermal shirts under the wetsuits, and even though the oxygen bottles could last for at least an hour, their wrists and ankles were directly soaked in the water. In the sea water, it was already cold, numb and almost unconscious.

Stumbling onto the soft beach, the northeast wind blowing in the face and the remaining water stains on the surface of the diving suit instantly took away more heat, and the two of them couldn't help but shiver.

"keep going"

While Wei Ran was talking, he had already stepped off the flippers that were in the way, and after Vanessa also stepped off the flippers, he picked them up and carried them in his hand.

But in just a moment, Vanessa, who had already lost all her strength, was already kneeling on the beach.

“Wait and rest later”

As he spoke, Wei Ran pressed the other party's breathing mask on her face, unscrewed the valve of the cylinder and said, "Hold the breathing bag and take a few breaths of oxygen to relieve fatigue. We need to take off the diving suit and put on ours as soon as possible." clothes."

Hearing this, Vanessa nodded weakly, crossed her arms with her chest and squeezed the breathing bag hard, while taking a few deep breaths.

At the same time, Wei Ran also helped the other party unbutton his belt and opened the zipper on the back of the diving suit.

When he used a knife to help the other party cut off the waterproof straps on his hands and feet, Vanessa also closed the air valve herself. From the waterproof hip bag, I took out boots and overalls wrapped in condoms and a turtleneck sweater.

Seeing that the girl seemed to have the strength to take off the diving suit by herself, Wei Ran immediately used a diving knife to remove the straps on her hands and feet, and with the help of the diving knife, he took off the diving suit very roughly. At a speed far exceeding that of Vanessa, she put on the clothes and shoes in her hip pocket and put the PPK pistol into her pocket.

Finally, he hung the sailor's whistle and binoculars around his neck. He did not forget to dig a hole on the beach and bury the diving suits that the two of them took off. Then he pulled Vanessa and stumbled into the tight area. In the bushes next to the shoreline.

While Wei Ran was holding a telescope to observe the surrounding environment, Vanessa raised her red and wrinkled hand, pointed in the direction opposite to Castle Philippe, and whispered decisively, "Let's go to Calais."

"What happens when we get there?" Wei Yan asked, putting down the telescope.

"We could buy two bicycles in Calais or even a carriage."

Vanessa wrapped her sweater tightly around her body and told her improvised plan, "Then we rushed from Calais to Abbeville, and then took the train from Abbeville to Paris."

Having said this, Vanier's tone became much more confident, "It will be easy when we arrive in Paris. I can ask my mentor to write me a letter of introduction for an internship in Bordeaux. As long as we can get to Bordeaux, I can Ask my father’s friend for help and ask him to find a way to send us to Spain.”

"Let's get to Calais first."

Wei Ran really couldn't bear to hit this girl. In this situation, the only thing he could do was to do his best and send her wherever he could.

On the contrary, Vanessa was particularly encouraged when she saw that Wei Ran did not refute her plan, and she even walked a lot faster.

The straight-line distance between Chateau Philippe and Calais is less than 20 kilometers, and the two of them had been pushed by the current in the sea and swam a long distance in the direction of Calais.

Therefore, by the time it got dark, both of them could already vaguely see the outline of the edge of Calais in the morning mist.

However, after spending nearly three hours in the sea last night, the two of them wore thin clothes and were pushed by the sea breeze all night long without any water or rice. At this time, not only were they hungry, but both of them had hot foreheads and shivering bodies. Trembling.

When passing a house that seemed to have been burned in the middle of farmland on the roadside, Wei Yan pulled Vanessa and said, "We can't leave anymore, let's go there first."

Seeing Vanessa turn her head in the direction of her finger, Wei Ran shivered and continued, "Let's go there to have a rest and see if there is anything we can eat and wear."

"it is good"

Vanessa nodded feebly and let Wei Ran pull her, stepping on the field ridge to the ruins with only three walls left.

Looking around, Wei Ran first arranged for Vanessa to sit down in a sheltered place in the corner, and then walked to the remaining fireplace. After some observation, he picked up some garbage such as table legs, chair boards, etc. and threw them away. After entering the fireplace with only half of the chimney left, he groped around again, pulled out a lighter, and lit the firewood.

When the fire started, he immediately helped Vanessa over, then rummaged through the ruins, found a broken enamel stew pot and a wooden spoon, carried it to the edge of the distant pond, and first put the pot I washed it with the spoon, then scooped out most of the pot of water and brought it back.

As Vanessa watched, Wei Ran hung half a pot of water on the fire, and then took out a knotted condom from his pants pocket. After carefully untying it, he took out a few pieces of condom from inside. He threw a sugar cube into the pot, and then stuffed one into Vanessa's mouth and one into his own.

This sugar cube was originally found in the grocery store and was originally placed in the gas mask bag. However, later he was worried that he would be too weak to take out the gas mask bag when he dived and swam to the open sea, or even had to swim across the strait, so he simply put it in the bag. Put it together with a suit and put it with your clothes.

And this bag of sugar cubes is also the source of energy for the two of them to go all the way here since they landed last night.

"Let's rest here for the whole day," Wei Ran said while putting away the sugar cubes. "After dark, we will go around Calais."

“Bypassing Calais?”

Vanessa, who was a little confused at first, opened her eyes, "Why bypass... Oh! I understand! We really need to bypass Calais. I almost forgot what we did in Saint-Omer."

Wei Ran smiled and said while stirring the sugar water in the pot with a wooden spoon, "When we get around Calais, we will find a town to buy a carriage. By the way, do you have the money with you?"

"here I am!"

Vanessa had already lifted up the hem of her sweater as she spoke and said proudly, "Sister was worried that something might happen to our money, so she sewed them here for me. That's right!"

Having said this, Vanessa opened the collar of her sweater again, took out the gold case pocket watch and said, "I'll give you this watch back."

"Hold it for me"

Wei Ran waved his hand, and then took out a wad of banknotes also wrapped in condoms from his pants pocket and handed it to the other party, "You can also help me keep this money. If we encounter any Germans, they might not To embarrass the lady.”

“Those Germans are not gentlemen.”

Vanessa said as she happily stuffed the pocket watch back into her collar, then took the banknotes from Wei Ran, then took off her boots, hid the bag of money under the insoles and put them on again. On the feet.

"Victor, do you think they have swam across the channel now?" Vanessa asked without raising her head while tying her shoelaces.

"I don't know." Wei Ran shook his head.

"Have they been caught?" When Vanessa asked the second question, there were two tears on her cheeks that were flushed by the sea breeze.

"I I don't know"

Wei Ran paused and then added comfortingly, "But I guess at least they haven't been caught yet."

"Really?"

"Um"

Wei Ran nodded, but did not explain. He just scooped up half a spoon of boiling sugar water from the pot, blew it carefully and handed it to the other party, "Drink some, it will warm your body, and then have a sleep. It will be dark." We still have to hurry after that.”

Vanessa opened her mouth, but after all she didn't continue to ask the unanswered question. She took the wooden spoon and drank the slightly hot sugar water into her stomach in one gulp.

On this morning filled with morning mist, the two of them were guarding the broken fireplace. You and I drank up the sugar water in the pot by the spoonful, barely filling our stomachs. Vanessa also sat down next to Wei Ran, and then simply Lying in his arms.

After only ten seconds, Wei Ran saw that the girl in his arms was already snoring slightly, so he simply did not move. He just slowly took out the PPK pistol from his pocket and stuck the slide with the heel of his shoe. The bullet, then the gun, were all retracted into the cuffs of the sweater.

I don't know how long it took, but Wei Ran also fell asleep in the warmth of the fire. But before the dream could even begin, he suddenly felt something cold and hard pressing against the back of his head.

"Hands up!" A cold yet familiar voice commanded in French from behind him.