War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1672 The Role of Nursery Rhymes

In the dugout filled with screams, a kerosene lamp emitted a bright light. Under the glaring light, a slim blonde girl was trying to stop the bleeding and suture a young man who had lost most of his calf and was tied to the bed.

Next to her, there was an old man who looked to be in his fifties, and whose temperament and appearance were quite similar to the vanguard in "Barge Haulers on the Volga".

The reason for describing it this way is that he was holding a rope on his back and pushing hard towards the wall. The other end of the rope was tied to a wooden stake driven into the ground on the other side of the wooden bed that served as an operating table.

The middle part of the rope was tightly tightening around the broken leg of the young man on the hospital bed.

"Are you here to help?"

The old man grabbed the rope with both hands, turned his head and asked Wei Ran with difficulty, "Come and help me pull it, I'm running out of strength. Olga, are you still not well?"

"Stop making noise! ​​I'm not sewing buttons!"

The young girl who was trying to sew up the blood vessels and wounds shouted anxiously, "I'm not sure he can survive! If it doesn't work, I can only use a red-hot iron to stop the bleeding like before!"

"Aren't you a nurse?!" the old man who was pulling the rope shouted in dissatisfaction.

"I've only been studying for nine months!" Olga, who was about to cry, yelled back even more angrily, "Anyway, shut up!"

Looking at the young man lying on the bed wailing, Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, took off his backpack and put it aside, then opened the wooden box containing the medicine and took a look.

After a moment's hesitation, he picked up a small piece of gauze, opened the only bottle of iodine, poured some on the gauze, and wiped his hands as quickly as possible.

"Let me do it"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took the needle holder and hemostat from the girl named Olga before she could react.

He quickly sutured the most important blood vessel, and then Wei Ran signaled to the old man to loosen the rope to relieve the wounded man and his wound.

"Don't you have any anesthetic?" Wei Ran took the opportunity to ask.

"We had a bottle of homebrew vodka a week ago," said Father Seryosha, smacking his lips, "and then we had none."

"I'm talking about the anesthetic for pain relief."

"I'm also talking about the anesthetic for pain relief," Seryosha replied dissatisfiedly.

"All right"

Wei Ran raised his chin towards the corner and said to the girl named Olga, "I have anesthetic in my bag. Give our wounded a glass."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!"

The girl named Olga had an equally bad temper. She walked around Wei Ran, opened his backpack, and then let out a scream.

"What's wrong?" Jiao Niya, who brought Wei Ran in, asked hurriedly without even bothering to comfort the young man who had fainted and woke up several times from the pain.

"nothing!"

Before Olga finished her words, she had already pulled out a bottle of vodka, unscrewed it, picked up a chipped enamel pot, gulped down a maximum of two gulps of vodka, and then handed it to Jiao Niya, "Hurry up and let him drink it, it will be of some use!"

Hearing this, Jiao Niya didn't bother to ask more questions. She took the enamel mug, put it to the wounded man's mouth, and poured the not-so-much wine into his mouth.

"here we go"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, Xie Liaosha had tightened the rope again. Wei Ran also began the extremely rough but less painful suture at the fastest speed amid the wounded man's painful wails.

When the young man on the simple operating table fainted again, Wei Ran had already completed the suturing of the skin and flesh, and then began to bandage the area.

"Are you the doctor sent here?" Father Seryosha asked curiously at this time.

"He is Victor, a reporter from the Komsomolskaya Pravda!" Jiao Niya, the female militia who brought Wei Ran in, answered the question first.

"You can also use me as a trauma doctor," Wei Ran added before old man Seryosha was about to say anything.

Still without giving Seryosha a chance to speak, Joanya continued, "Also, our transporter Vanya died, and his body is outside."

"Vanya died too?"

Seryosha reacted quickly, and then finally asked the second question, "Where is the ammunition? Has the ammunition been delivered? Also, has the gun shield we requested been delivered?"

“I haven’t had time to go yet.”

"Ammunition has been delivered"

Wei Ran answered the question, "But there is no gun shield. At least I didn't see anything on the sled that could be used as a gun shield."

Hearing this, Father Seryosha was not disappointed, but rather relieved, "It's good that the ammunition has been delivered."

"And a barrel of kerosene and some letters"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out a few triangular letters from the wooden box beside him and handed them to the other party.

After taking the letters and reading them, Father Seryosha sorted them out and threw some of them back into the wooden box containing the medicines. He explained, "These have already died. Where is Vanya's body?"

'Right outside'

Wei Ran pointed to the door and said, "Also, I brought some gifts."

"Gift?"

"A small bag of flour, a bag of candy, a can of coarse salt and two bottles of vodka."

Wei Ran pointed to the canvas bag in the corner and said, "Father Seryosha, you decide how to distribute these gifts. My work will also be under your command."

Hearing this, Father Seryosha looked at Wei Ran carefully, and then finally stretched out his hand across the operating table, "Welcome to join us, Comrade Victor."

"It's my pleasure, comrade." Wei Ran shook hands with the other party.

"Let's bury Vanya first, and then talk about your business." Seryosha said as he let go of Wei Ran's hand and hurriedly walked out of the dugout.

After just lifting the covering cloak and taking a look, Father Seryosha said, "Send him to the cemetery."

"Can I participate?" Wei Ran asked.

"Of course, come along."

As Seryosha said this, he had already sat on the sledge and shouted at the horse to go deep into the forest. At the same time, he reminded, "Comrade Victor, there are many cans in this forest, but they are bombs dropped by the Germans. So no matter how hungry you are, don't pick up those cans and open them."

"Vanya reminded me before he died"

Wei Ran paused and said, "He also said that someone had reported this before..."

“He didn’t lie to you.”

Seryosha said, "The idiot was killed in the explosion the next day, and he was buried in our cemetery."

"We will all be buried in that cemetery," Jiao Niya, who followed over, couldn't help but say.

"I am the only one responsible for competing with cemeteries for business"

Olga, a nurse who also came over, said, "Thanks to Comrade Stalin, I finally have someone to help me grab business."

"Are there heavy casualties here?" Wei Ran asked after a moment's silence.

"There weren't that many wounded, but every time the German planes came over there were casualties."

Olga explained, "We are missing a gun shield. It would be great if we had one."

"There will be artillery shields, there will definitely be," Father Seryosha assured.

Before Wei Ran could ask anything else, the horse-drawn sleigh had stopped and Wei Ran saw two rows of simple graves.

Some of these tombs have been completely covered with snow, while in others you can still see stacked stones.

At the edge of the cemetery, under a birch tree with forked branches and no leaves, there were a lot of large and small stones piled up.

On the trunk of the tree, 25mm caliber artillery shells are hung with ropes or wires. When the biting cold wind blows into the cemetery, the shells are pushed by the wind and collide with each other, making pleasant noises.

It was not until he stood here that Wei Ran noticed that there were three other dugouts in the other three directions, and their relative positions with the one that had just served as the operating room just formed the four points of a square. And this cemetery was located in the middle of this square.

“Bury it here.”

As Father Seryosha spoke, he had already picked up Vanya's body and placed it in the empty space in the second row of graves.

Without any pause, nor any mourning, and even without waiting for all the militiamen in the position to arrive, Giannia and Olga each picked up pieces of stone from under the forked birch tree and placed them around Vanya's body, covering it up little by little.

At the same time, Father Seryosha also took out a shell, then pulled out a Finnish hunting knife from his waist, roughly carved Vanya's full name on the shell, and then stuffed it under the neck of the corpse.

After reacting, Wei Ran also picked up pieces of cold stones and helped bury the body of the transporter Vanya.

"clang--"

Father Seryosha pulled out a Nagant revolver and tapped the cartridge case hanging on the tree trunk with the butt of the gun.

"So be it"

After Father Seryosha finished speaking, he asked Wei Ran to get on the sled, pointed to the dugout that was almost diagonally opposite to the one that served as the operating room, and said, "Comrade Victor, you can live in that shack. The journalist comrade we just talked about also lived here before. Many of his things are still here. You may be able to use them."

"Okay." Wei Ran nodded and agreed to the other party's arrangement.

"Olga, go and bring Comrade Victor's backpack. Giannia, go and get some firewood and help Comrade Victor light the fireplace."

"Yes!"

Olga and Giannina responded simply, turned around and ran in different directions. At the same time, Seryosha also shouted at the horse to run, taking Wei Ran around the cemetery and to the door of the shack.

This shack is not really that big. It is a semi-underground structure, and the only window is about the size of two instant noodles.

With the faint light reflected from the snow outside, one can vaguely see that there is a mud fireplace on one side of the entrance. Except for this area, the surrounding walls are all reinforced with wood, and even the ground is covered with a layer of wooden boards.

Next to the fireplace was a single bed made of wooden boards. In the remaining half of the space, which was almost the same size as the single bed, there was a simple wooden table.

“This is where we stored our ammunition and fuel.”

Seryosha explained, “But we are seriously short of both ammunition and fuel, so this place has been left idle.

Comrade Victor, you can live here. This shack is far enough from the position and safe enough. "

As he spoke, he pulled out an ammunition box from under the bed, took out a green-painted metal oil lamp from it and lit it. "Here are all the things left by the previous reporter. You may be able to use them."

"Father Seryosha, can I ask about the basic situation of this position?" Wei Ran asked.

"You will understand it slowly"

Father Seryosha said, "Now I will go and select new transporters."

"Can I follow along?"

"It's up to you." Father Xie Liaosha turned around and got out of the dugout before he finished speaking. Seeing this, Wei Ran also hurriedly followed him out of the dugout.

They didn't go far. Father Seryosha took out a whistle and put it in his mouth and blew it. Soon, people came running over from the other two shacks and the direction of the position.

Soon, a total of no more than 14 people stood in a row beside the cemetery, including Olga who was carrying Wei Ran's backpack and Jiao Niya who was holding a bunch of firewood.

"Send Comrade Victor's stuff in first."

Seryosha waved his hand and said, "Let me introduce you. This is Comrade Victor, a reporter from Komsomolskaya Pravda."

After saying this, the remaining 12 people in the row began to chatter among themselves.

But what kind of people are these?
Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh. Even though these ragged people tried their best to wrap themselves up tightly, and even though it was dark, he could still barely see clearly that there was an old man about the same age as Seryosha's father, an old woman with a hunched back, and the remaining seven or eight people were all children no more than sixteen or seventeen years old. The one at the end of the group was probably only about ten years old judging by his height.

"Quiet, all quiet!"

Seryosha waited until Olga and Janiya returned to the team before he spoke, "Our transporter Vanya was killed, and the gunner Mikhail was also injured.

Now we need to select a new transporter to take Mikhail to the rear, and bring back the ammunition we urgently need, and continue to apply for artillery shields."

After a pause, Seryosha said, "We will select the transporters first, and now the artillery members will step out."

As the order was given, a young man and two girls including Jiao Niya took a step forward, then ran to the sled and lifted the kerosene and four ammunition boxes off the vehicle.

"Vassili, it's your turn to work."

Before he finished speaking, Seryosha had already walked into the line and stood at the head of the line. Immediately afterwards, the smallest militiaman at the end of the line stepped out, stretched out a finger, and began to point at the others one by one, starting with Seryosha at the head of the line. At the same time, he sang the nursery rhyme in his hoarse voice, "A German walked out of the thick fog, and pulled out a knife from his pocket. If I want to kill you, it's you."

When the short nursery rhyme stopped, his finger also fell on a young man.

"Sergey, from now on you are the transporter." Seryosha, who was at the head of the line, said, "Let's go now."

"Yes!"

Sergei stepped out and saluted everyone, then walked towards the horse-drawn sleigh not far away.

"Please wait a moment," Wei Ran said, "Can I take a picture of you?"

"The last reporter has already taken a picture of me."

Sergei said as he got on the sled and handed the blood-stained cloak to Wei Ran, "Comrade reporter, compared to taking pictures, what we need here more now is a transporter to bring in supplies."

After saying that, without even waiting for Wei Ran to say anything, he shook the reins and shouted at the horse-pulled sleigh to run out of the forest without hesitation.

"Next we have to select the gunner to replace Mikhail. Cook and Olga step out," Seryosha ordered.

Hearing this, Olga and the old woman in the team also stepped out and stood at the edge of the team.

"Vassily, go on," Seryosha said again.

Seeing this, Wei Ran was stunned for a moment and walked towards the team.

His sudden action made the little guy who was in charge of recruiting soldiers and generals confused and at a loss.

"Vasily, go on." Wei Ran urged gently.

After a short silence, Vasily started from the person next to Sergei and spoke again, "A German walked out of the thick fog, pulled out a knife from his pocket, and the one he wanted to kill or shave was you."

When his finger stopped, a girl walked out and automatically stood next to the three-man crew.

"Yulia as gunner"

Seryosha stepped out and said, "Comrades, we are the last line of defense on the ice road. We can die, the island can be bombed, but if the planes break through our line, Leningrad will lose vital bullets and food."

"Everything for victory! Everything for the front! Defend Leningrad to the death!" Everyone present except Wei Ran shouted the same slogan in unison.

"Disband!" said Seryosha and blew the whistle again.

At the sound of the whistle, the artillery crew members who had replenished their numbers called a few people for help, carried the ammunition boxes and ran to the artillery position at the edge of the forest. The rest of the people also started to do other tasks according to their division of labor. Even the little boy who was in charge of counting the troops and generals pulled a wooden sled to the edge of the island. Obviously, he also had a job.

"Father Seryosha, please arrange some work for me." Wei Ran said again.

"Aren't you here for an interview?" Seryosha asked back.

"I have plenty of time, don't I?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Let me think"

Seryosha thought for a moment and said, "Well, Victor, if you are interested, you can go to the sentry tower. You can see our entire camp there. You can also talk to Yuri who is in charge of the sentry tower. He has a loud voice and a big mouth. You can get the answer to anything you want to know from him."

After that, Seryosha pointed at the chef who was walking away and said, "If you want, you can also help Aunt Vlada. Her legs and feet are not very convenient, but her kitchen is the warmest place. Also, you can send all the gifts you brought to her."

"last question"

Wei Ran pointed to the other two shacks and said, "Can I go to those two shacks?"

"Of course, on the left is the boys' dormitory, and on the right is the female soldiers' dormitory, so remember to knock before entering."

After Father Seryosha finished speaking, he picked up the barrel of kerosene and walked towards the male soldiers' dormitory.

After a moment's hesitation, Wei Ran returned to his shack with the blood-stained Soviet cloak. With the help of the oil lamp, he first lit the Russian-style fireplace made of mud and stones. Then he filled the enamel milk can on top with snow and placed it on top.

Blowing out the oil lamp, Wei Ran closed the doors and windows, and with the help of the firelight from the fireplace, he took out all the props that could be used this time and checked them one by one.

Fortunately, the kerosene lamp, lighter and pocket warmer were filled with oil, the pen and ink cartridge were full of ink, and even the cigarette box contained 20 cigarettes.

The most important thing is that the airdrop box with the cast iron stove was not only filled with coal, but even the kerosene lamp, the kerosene in the German kettle, and the bottle of canned Salo meat that Kona left for him when he entered the Leningrad battlefield last time were not withheld!
Without any hesitation, Wei Ran took out the can of Salo meat and stuffed it into his backpack. Then he put away the airdrop box and dragged the box containing the previous reporter's belongings to the fireplace.

There weren't many things in the box, just a German soldier's canteen that was picked up or captured from somewhere, and a silver coffee pot about the size of an orange, which was obviously obtained from the Germans. The coffee pot also contained a few bags of substitute coffee also produced in Germany.

"Petite bourgeois!" Wei Ran snorted and continued to rummage through the box.

There was also a pair of sheepskin gloves and a woolen blanket in the box. When he lifted the woolen blanket, he found a long black leather suitcase covered with a canvas backpack hidden underneath.

"What is this rare thing?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the only two metal buckles on the suitcase and flipped it open, then raised his eyebrows in surprise.

This is really a rare thing, something he never thought would appear here - a Leica gun-style camera with one body and two lenses!
I rummaged through the box and found that in addition to the camera, there were more than a dozen sealed film tubes.

However, just by looking at the labels on the sealed tubes, you can tell that most of these films have been used, and apart from the one in the camera itself, there is only one roll left that has not been used.

However, it was also through the labels on the sealed tubes of film that he knew that it was probably the end of January or the beginning of February 1942, which was almost the most difficult and severe time.

He also knew that at this very moment, in the city of Leningrad, Kona and those children were struggling against the severe cold and hunger.

After a moment's hesitation, he put the suitcase back into his backpack and then carried it on his back. He could use this thing, and it was much more useful than the Rollei twin-lens reflex camera in the metal book.

Picking up the gifts he brought, Wei Ran stood up and left the shack which was gradually becoming warmer, and walked towards the direction where the chef Vlada had just disappeared.

He didn't have to look for it deliberately. Just by following the path trampled in the snow and the smell drifting in the wind, he easily found a shack hidden on the other side of a lying pine tree.

The shack was so low that he hadn't even seen it just now.

He walked into the shack, bending over, and saw the cook, Vlada, sitting by the fireplace, chopping a frozen fish with an axe.

On the fireplace next to it, there were several enamel pots and kettles.

"Comrade journalist is here"

Vlada, with a head full of white hair, greeted Wei Ran but did not stop the work in his hands.

"Aunt Vlada, this is the gift I brought."

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the things in his backpack one by one. He also glanced at the pots on the fireplace. There was only fish soup in them, and even the fish meat was not very big.

However, contrary to his expectation, Aunt Vlada was not very happy when she saw these precious foods. Instead, she said with a little dissatisfaction, "These weights should be used to transport the ammunition we urgently need. We can find a way to fill our stomachs. Besides, we don't need any reporters. What we need is more shells."

Hearing this, Wei Ran was silent for a moment and then asked, "Where are the fish? Where do the fish come from?"

"Next to the position, there's fish to be caught."

Vlada said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I am very grateful for the precious food you sent, especially the salt, but we really need ammunition here."

“No need to apologize”

Wei Ran quickly said, "You are not the one who should say sorry."

"Those Germans and Finns don't know how to say sorry," Vlada sighed, "Sit down and pour yourself a glass of water to warm yourself up."

"Let me help you," Wei Ran said, "I can do these heavy work."

"I'll do it"

Vlada refused Wei Ran's help, and then asked tentatively, "Reporter, have you been to Leningrad? What is the situation there?"

"I've been there"

Wei Ran sighed, "The situation is very serious. This winter is too cold. Many people in the city have frozen to death, and many people have starved to death."

“My son is in Leningrad”

"He was a firefighter and I hadn't heard from him in months," Vlada said.

"How did you get here?" Wei Ran couldn't help but ask.

“We withdrew in November last year.”

Vlada murmured to herself, "We were all evacuated from the city. We encountered German planes bombing on the way. My husband fell into an ice hole and died. We urgently hid on another island. At that time, we happened to hear that people were needed to help here, so we came here."

"All of them?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

“All of them”

Vlada nodded. "There were 25 of us, but now we are the only ones left."

"Where are the militiamen who were guarding this position?"

'All dead'

Vlada said calmly, "Some died of freezing, some died of starvation, but most were killed by German planes. More than two months ago, the Germans dropped a bomb on the position, and many people were killed at that time."

"How long do you plan to hold on?"

Vlada, who is over 50 years old, replied as a matter of course, "We will hold on until we all die here, or drive those Germans away."

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