War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1442 Beastly Behavior

On the night he came to the Hambang camp to have fun, Zach was busy with the female guerrillas he had chosen all night long.

As for Wei Ran and Li Youfu, one used the excuse of losing interest and the other of being injured to decline the offer of an English-speaking soldier with a stick who tried to lead them to choose another girl.

As for the soldier named Tom, Wei Ran didn't ask, and the other party didn't mention it either. However, at the location where a room full of children had been imprisoned before being blown up by mortars, there were two more bulldozers busy all night long.

That night, guerrillas also engaged in sparrow battles outside the camp from time to time. They either fired a few mortar shells, or fired one or two shots that accurately knocked out the searchlights, or there were sudden attacks at various places around the camp. There was a burst of machine gun fire.

All in all, this night was extremely lively, so lively that almost no one could get a good night's sleep.

It took a long time until daylight came out and the fighting stopped completely. Wei Ran, who was standing at the door, also saw from a distance when Zac came back. The house that he used a flashlight to guide the mortar outside last night destroyed the house. Not only had it been filled with soil, but it was also still inside. Several containers were placed in place to make them look more obvious.

"You haven't slept all night?" Wei Ran, who was leaning against the door frame, gave Zach, who had two dark circles under his eyes, a cigarette.

"Went to participate in the 'group activities' organized by Brad and the others." Zach pointed to the half-frame camera hanging on his chest, "I helped them take a lot of photos."

"They won't let us take away these photo negatives," Wei Ran said firmly.

"This is not the only camera I have," Zach said, lighting the cigarette, and then handed his own cigarette case to Wei Ran.

"There is a miniature camera and microfilm that I secretly took photos of"

Zach whispered as Wei Ran took the cigarette box, "Develop them into negatives as soon as possible and hide them."

As he spoke, Zach shook the half-frame camera hanging around his neck again, "I'm here to develop the photos taken with this camera. I guess Brad and the others will come and ask me for the negatives later. By the way, How is Troyer doing?"

“Didn’t sleep all night”

Li Youfu's voice came from behind, "It's not because of the firefight outside."

"Prepare the secret bag," Zach said, having already entered the room with a cigarette in his mouth, "wait and go to the door to let the wind blow."

Hearing this, Li Youfu silently opened his backpack, took out two sets of hidden bags containing developing tanks, and then took out various potions and thermometers. He quickly helped prepare them, and then brought them A large basin of water.

While the other party was preparing, Wei Ran also opened the cigarette box that Zac had just handed over. In addition to a Mamiya 16 micro camera the size of a cigarette box, there were also two 16mm microfilm.

With the help of the secret bag, Wei Ran fumbled and took out the third microfilm from the miniature camera.

Although the graininess of these 16mm microfilms is higher, it is certainly not as detailed as the 35mm rolls.

But at this time, who would pay attention to the crimes recorded in the three rolls of film in the secret bag ready to be loaded into the developing tank?

Compared with the existence of these things, how to preserve them without being discovered is obviously a more important thing.

It would be nice if there was a food box, Wei Ran thought to himself while he was busy.

Under the busy work of the two, the films in their hands were turned into negatives that could be safely exposed to light.

Before these negatives were completely dry, Li Youfu, who was smoking at the door, also threw in the kettle in his hand.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately called on Zach to help each of them pick up a pair of folding scissors and cut the negatives open.

"Give it to me quickly"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the British army water bottle filled with iced Coke from the metal book under the cover of his backpack, opened the canvas cover and took out the water bottle and cup.

After Zach threw all the negatives cut into strips into the pot holder handed over by the former, Wei Ran immediately stuffed the kettle in, and then stuffed the remaining film tube directly into the unscrewed mouth of the pot, and then Without waiting for the Coke foam to pop out, I tightened the lid and stuffed it into my butt bag. At the same time, I prayed in my heart that the metal book that looked like a living ancestor would be a little thinner.

Fortunately, as his left hand holding the kettle loosened, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey! Zach, have the negatives of last night's photos been developed?"

Before entering, Brad's voice came from far outside. Immediately afterwards, he and Robert, the black communications soldier, also walked in from outside.

"It's just been washed and it hasn't been completely dried yet."

Zach pointed at the negatives hanging in the window and yawned, "Are you sure you don't want my help to develop them into color photos?"

“We can do it ourselves”

While Brad was speaking, he glanced at Wei Ran, who took out a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes from his butt bag as usual, tore them open and gave one to each of Brad and Robert. He complained in a dumbfounded voice, "You guys are so calm. I almost thought this camp was going to be breached last night, but you actually still have the heart to have a party."

"Victor, I told you last night that you are too cowardly."

Robert, the black man, took the cigarette and laughed and mocked, "We had a great time with those guys with sticks in their mouths. It's a pity that you didn't participate."

"forget it"

Wei Ran smiled wryly and spread his hands, "I'm not like you. In fact, I didn't sleep all night last night. I kept thinking about what I would do if the guerrillas broke through here or if a shell hit our house. "

"He was thinking last night about whether to apply to leave immediately after returning to Da Nang. It would be more difficult." Le Youfu was at the side to help "make up for it."

"You are indeed not very courageous."

Brad took over the topic and reminded with a smile while admiring the films hanging by the window, "But Victor, compared to those little actions last night, what you should be worried about is actually what you are going to experience next. "

"What's going on?" Zach asked.

"After breakfast, you will follow the Hambang men in this camp to wipe out the guerrillas." Brad said and turned around, "If you still plan to go, you'd better put on a body armor and a helmet.

Objectively speaking, the combat effectiveness of these people with sticks is not very high, and "

"And what?" Wei Ran asked pretending to be nervous.

"The Vietnamese guerrillas hate them at least ten times more than we do."

Brad pointed outside, "I'd bet if I invite you here a hundred times, you'll get caught in the crossfire."

“Let’s just go back to Da Nang now.”

Wei Ran suggested decisively, "While those girls with penises who don't wear underwear haven't left yet, maybe I can make friends with them."

"Come on Victor"

Zach said angrily, "Didn't you hear that Brad was trying to scare you?"

"I don't think this is trying to scare me."

"Actually, I didn't scare you."

Brad snapped his fingers as he spoke, and Robert, the black man, immediately placed the bucket bag he was carrying on the table, "Here are the body armors we prepared for you. If you want to return to the Cowshed Camp alive, Or if you survive the next encounter, the helicopters at the Cowshed Camp or even the fighter jets from Da Nang will provide you with support. It’s best to wear them honestly.”

"We are still waiting for you to publish the photos you took yesterday in the newspaper."

Brad pointed to the negatives after speaking, "Zach, can we take them away? Everyone is still waiting to share their own photo negatives."

"certainly"

Zach nodded happily, "If you are not in a hurry to leave, it is best to hang them here and wait for them to dry. We will leave them here when we follow the stick man to interview later. You only need to arrange the soldiers here Just keep it."

After speaking, Zach snapped his fingers at Li Youfu and said, "Troyer, leave a pair of folding scissors and some envelopes so that they won't get dirty when they separate the negatives."

"it is good"

Li Youfu responded, turned around and took out a stack of brown paper envelopes from his backpack and placed them on the table.

"I hope you can come back alive"

Brad patted Zach's shoulder affectionately, then leaned into Wei Ran's ear and whispered, "Victor, my good friend, when you come back here, I will prepare something for you." A fresh gift to make up for last night’s regret. Of course, I will keep it a secret, only the two of us know about it.”

"I will convince Zach to find a way to get your photo published in the newspaper." Wei Ran suppressed the shock in his heart and pretended to be surprised and said into the other person's ear.

"Then it's settled"

After speaking, Brad opened the distance between the two of them, turned around and walked out, saying, "I wish you good luck, friends, Robert. Just stay here and guard our souvenirs. Our helicopter is broken anyway." There’s no rush to go back.”

"give it to me"

Robert responded with a big grin and sat down on the chair next to the bed, obviously not ready to leave.

Upon seeing this, the three Wei Ran glanced at each other without leaving any trace, enthusiastically sent away Platoon Sergeant Brad, and then started preparations in tacit understanding.

"Zach, can you give me a radio like the one you gave to Platoon Commander George?" Robert, a black man, asked, licking his thick lips that made people feel disgusted just by looking at them.

"Of course, no problem! Troye!" Zach, who was busy packing the secret bag, greeted.

Hearing this, Li Youfu also opened his backpack again, took out a brand new miniature radio, and handed it to Robert along with a box of button batteries.

"Thank you! Zach, you are such a generous person, just like your nickname, good man Zach!" Robert praised while playing with the small radio.

"It's just a radio"

Zach waved his hand nonchalantly, "Robert, we haven't had breakfast yet. Do you know where the canteen in this camp is?"

“The food here is not delicious”

Robert said subconsciously, "If you want to try it, I will find someone to take you there."

As he spoke, he stood up, walked out of the semi-underground house with the radio turned on, and called a soldier with a stick not far away who seemed to be specially serving them with a rogue whistle that sounded like a dog barking. , said in a arrogant tone, "Take my friends to have breakfast, remember to get more meat for them, don't let those canned spiritual meats that are older than me appear on their plates."

"Yes!" The soldier holding the stick stood at attention and saluted in response.

"I'll ask you to look after our things." Zach showed enough trust and asked Wei Ran and Li Youfu to leave the house, and led them to their canteen under the leadership of the soldier holding the stick.

At the same time, Robert also put down the radio, roughly rummaged through the bag left by the Weiran trio, and after taking away a box of "playing cards", restored it to its original state.

Almost immediately, the three Wei Ran people who had already walked into the camp canteen also jumped in and grabbed a breakfast each.

Despite Robert's instructions, this was just breakfast after all. What Wei Ran received was just a plate of fried rice with diced chicken and a boiled egg, a bowl of soybean paste soup and the expected cooked dish - kimchi.

"Robert is right."

Zach just tasted a spoonful of miso soup and gave up decisively, "This is not as delicious as the breakfasts sold in restaurants around Da Nang that are more difficult to run."

“Really not that good”

Wei Ran took a few bites of fried rice and replied, "The most delicious thing in this breakfast is probably the boiled eggs."

"Their chef was probably only responsible for washing dishes in the Chinese restaurant where I used to work."

Li Youfu pushed aside the bowl of tofu soup that he also took only a sip of. "The restaurant where I work can make these tofus that taste better than meat, but look at what's in our bowls? It looks like it's been adulterated with auntie." Like bloody vomit."

"Troyer, you are so disgusting."

Zach, who originally planned to put the spoon into Li Youfu's bowl to taste it, threw the spoon directly on the table while complaining with laughter.

They each ate two hard-boiled eggs and managed to get through their breakfast. After they finished smoking another cigarette, it was estimated that Robert had almost rummaged through the three of their things, then they looked at each other and smiled, got up and left the canteen.

When they returned to the semi-underground room, Robert no longer knew where he had gone. Also missing were the films hanging by the window.

Seeing this, the three of them silently rummaged through their backpacks. Li Youfu whispered, "There is a box of poker missing."

"Put on your body armor," Zach responded in a nonchalant manner.

Hearing this, the three of them each took off the grenadier vests given by Angus, took out the body armor from the bucket bag left by Robert and put them on, and then put the grenadier vests full of film on them. Outside.

Finally, they put on the American steel helmets in the bucket bag and carried their respective backpacks. When they walked out, Brad and others, who had become "friends", were already waiting for them in the shadow of the damaged helicopter.

"I wish you good luck, friends!" Brad and the three of them each bumped their fists. "We will be here waiting for you to come back."

"It sounds like there will be a surprise when we come back?" Zach asked expectantly.

"Of course!" Brad happily made a guarantee that every man would understand.

Without wasting too much time, the three guards followed a group of soldiers and boarded an American armored vehicle.

In this aluminum coffin, there were also several other soldiers with sticks wearing American equipment.

Of course, this so-called all-American equipment is actually extremely messy. Only two soldiers use M16s. The rest of the soldiers use M14 sniper rifles, M1 carbines, grease guns and even BAR machine guns.

In addition, there was an additional piece of equipment that Wei Ran had not found in the T team in the bullpen camp before - a flamethrower.

"Gentlemen, can I take a picture for you?" Wei Ran asked enthusiastically in stick language.

"of course can!"

The soldiers with sticks in the carriage responded one after another. At the same time, they subconsciously straightened their chests, showing off their weapons and their proud expressions as if they had won the battle.

"I hope you won't implicate us when you get beaten up."

Wei Ran muttered secretly and put down the half-frame camera in his hand, and then started to talk about the daily routine with the stick-talking language that almost all the stick-holding people in the car knew, and asked about today's combat mission.

However, the result of this question was both expected and unexpected.

To put it simply, they were there to suppress and retaliate against the guerrillas who attacked the camp last night. But what's troubling is that after fighting almost all night last night, these cuties didn't capture a single prisoner.

In other words, there is no intelligence without prisoners, but even without intelligence, they seem to have determined where the enemy is hiding. Could it be that this was calculated by throwing copper coins into fortune-telling?

What was even more outrageous was what happened later. During his side attack, one of the soldiers, holding an M16 in his arms, seemed to be a squad leader and firmly stated that their combat goal today was to kill a hundred guerrillas.

When he translated this to Zach and Li Youfu, both of them also looked stunned and faintly uneasy. Apparently, they had realized something.

In the following time, Wei Ran and the other three began to remain silent, but the soldiers in the carriage had already begun to discuss happily about how many you would kill and how many I would kill, what you would rob, and what I would do to the captured girl. What to do.

It's a pity that there is no tape recorder

Wei Ran muttered regretfully, and then subconsciously glanced at Zach, who seemed to be resting his mind or kidneys with his eyes closed, secretly looking forward to whether the other party would come up with some "high-tech" interview equipment later.

After about half an hour, the armored vehicle finally stopped. When the rear hatch opened and bright sunlight shone in, Wei Ran immediately saw that there was a patch of water outside the door, and it seemed that he was preparing to transplant rice. of paddy fields.

As the soldiers with sticks in the car got out of the car, the three of them soon saw a small village not far away.

"Sir, are the guerrillas we want to ambush in that village?" Wei Ran asked one of the soldiers who had an M16 in his hand.

"Of course! They must be there, and they must be there!" the soldier said firmly.

Upon seeing this, Wei Ran and Zach looked at each other and translated the answer they just received into English.

The three of them looked at each other and tightened the helmets on their heads. Zach even opened the lens cap of the Leica camera around his neck.

While they were waiting, more than thirty soldiers with sticks who participated in this operation walked into this small village holding weapons and facing away from the machine guns on the armored vehicles that could be fired at any time.

"boom!"

A soldier with a stick who appeared to be the platoon leader at the front held a 1911 pistol and fired a shot above his head.

Amidst the gunshots that broke the tranquility, the soldiers with sticks skillfully drove the people out of the village and gathered them in the open space on the edge of the village.

"He, and him, and a few over there, arrest them all, they are Viet Cong!"

The soldier, who was suspected to be a platoon leader, pointed his pistol at the panicked villagers and issued an order. Immediately, several soldiers rushed over and dragged the selected male villagers away amidst the begging of some women who were kneeling for mercy. out.

"Troye, give me a Super 8!" Zach whispered.

Upon hearing this, Li Youfu immediately took off the backpack, took out a super 8mm camera from the backpack below and handed it to Zach.

Looking proudly at Zach, who had already raised the camera, the platoon leader straightened his helmet, waved his hand and said, "Tie them up and put them in the car!"

"Sir, how did you determine that they were the Viet Cong?" Wei Ran asked curiously in stick language.

"If I say they are, they must be!" the platoon leader said affirmatively, and then added, "Gentlemen, remember to make us look more handsome in photos."

"as you wish"

With a smile on his face, Wei Ran suppressed the murderous intention in his heart. At the same time, he raised the Minolta camera hanging around his neck and took a photo of the other party.

Soon, under the selection of the platoon leader, several male villagers were sent to a truck that was driving together with them, beating and kicking them.

"Let them bring over the cattle from the village, as well as their rice and chickens, otherwise they will be arrested together as Viet Cong."

The platoon leader issued the second order, and a soldier with a stick holding an M3 submachine gun next to him immediately translated it into Yuejun, a language that Wei Ran couldn't understand.

As soon as these words were said, the remaining old, weak, women and children also knelt down and cried, kowtowing and begging bitterly.

Looking at Li Youfu, whose hands were shaking and unable to hold the camera steady, Wei Ran took a deep breath, raised the camera again and pointed it at the villagers.

However, before he could press the shutter, the platoon leader picked up his M16 rifle without warning and pulled the trigger!

"Ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta!"

Amidst the piercing sound of firing, Wei Ran subconsciously pressed the shutter. Among the villagers who were kneeling on the ground, several old people immediately fell into a pool of blood, trembling along with the babies they held.

"call!"

At this moment, the soldier carrying a flamethrower who was guarding a car on the way here also sprayed a bright fire snake towards the nearest thatched house.

And all of this was recorded by the three Wei Ran cameras - including the crazy and arrogant smile on the face of the platoon leader.

Under this real threat, in the second round of orders, some villagers finally stood up in panic, stumbled into the village, ran into the paddy fields, or carried bags of rice on their backs, or led them to The cattle, goats, and even chickens and ducks in cages that they depended on for their livelihood.

Almost as soon as Zach finished shooting the fourth film box with the Super 8 camera in his hand, there was already a pile of trophies for sustenance on the backs of the trucks not far from them.

However, the platoon leader was not satisfied. Or rather, not only him, but also the soldiers under his command were not satisfied at all.

Under the gaze of the three people, the platoon leader walked into the crowd of villagers who were kneeling on the ground, bent down and pinched a girl's chin to force her to raise her head. After a closer look, she shook her head in disappointment.

Before the girl, the villagers and even Wei Ran could breathe a sigh of relief, it walked over to another young woman holding a child and pressed the barrel of the 1911 gun smelling of gunpowder against the infant child. The child then raised the young mother's chin and glanced at her with a lewd expression.

This time, he nodded with satisfaction, and then put his hand into the woman's collar from where he was!

"ah!"

The young mother let out an exclamation, and immediately next to her, an old man who looked to be forty or fifty years old hugged the long leg tightly. Wei Ran couldn't understand it, but he couldn't understand it. Yue Nanyu, who almost made Li Youfu crush the camera in his hand, begged.

"boom!"

The platoon leader lowered the hand holding the pistol, casually pulled the trigger, and shot the old man at his feet in the back of the heart!

"Everyone saw it, he just tried to hold me hostage!"

The platoon leader said loudly in stick language with a mocking look on his face, and the soldiers around him also burst into laughter.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled out the woman holding the child, and then actually took off the belt of his pants under the bright sunshine, "I will punish you! This is where you hide the Viet Cong." cost!"

It would be great if there really were Viet Cong around this village.

Wei Ran looked at the lush forest surrounding the village in secret anticipation. At the same time, he also noticed Li Youfu beside him who had already picked up the French submachine gun on his back.

"It would be great if a hundred fully armed Charlies could rush out immediately around this village."

Zach murmured to himself what Wei Ran was thinking in a feeble tone. At the same time, he used his other hand to hold down Li Youfu who had already picked up the submachine gun. He held up the Super 8 camera and stared helplessly. He watched the other soldiers around him rush into the villagers like wild beasts, and watched them roughly drag away girls, children and even old women with white hair.