War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1673 Friend, have you ever fried fish?

After chatting with Vlada for a while in the shack that served as a kitchen, Wei Ran saw that the other party really didn't need his help, so he simply said goodbye and left, heading towards the artillery position.

At this time, the newly replenished artillery crew members were hiding under the white cloth serving as camouflage and practicing firing actions under the command of gunner Jiao Niya.

Unlike the larger 61K, the elevation and direction mechanisms of this 25mm caliber 72K anti-aircraft gun are all operated by one person, and another person is needed to fire the gun.

In addition, a loader and a gunner to take charge are also needed.

In general, this is an anti-aircraft artillery that only requires four people, and even only three people at critical moments to fight.

Without disturbing the young people who were busy conducting drills, Wei Ran walked to the pine tree where the watchtower was built and climbed up using the wooden crossbar nailed to the trunk.

"Comrade Yuri, I'm the new reporter Victor. Can I go up and sit with you?" Wei Ran asked when he stopped less than two or three meters away from the watchtower.

"Of course, please come up." Yuri in the sentry tower said enthusiastically, "Sorry, I was on guard and couldn't come down to greet you just now."

"This kind of thing is not worth apologizing for." Wei Ran had already climbed up the watchtower while speaking.

This so-called sentry tower is nothing more than a wooden platform with a side length of less than two meters built around a tree trunk as thick as a thigh.

This platform has no guardrails or roof. The only safety device is a rope tied to a tree trunk via a branch as thick as an arm.

Even without an introduction, he knew that in an emergency, the sentry could grab this rope and slide down at the fastest speed.

At this time, the young man named Yuri was sitting on the edge of the small platform, holding a telescope and observing the surrounding night sky.

The rope was placed over his shoulders, and besides that there was another rope around his waist, tying him to the tree trunk to prevent him from falling.

“Sit anywhere”

Yuri quickly looked back at the visitor, raised the telescope again to look for targets that might appear at any time, and said, "There is an extra rope on the branch above your head. Remember to tie yourself to the tree trunk. This is very important, just as it is important not to pick up cans on the island."

"Thank you," Wei Ran said as he raised his hand to take out a rope, passed it through the belt around his waist and tied it to the tree trunk.

“This is the place with the best view on the whole island”

Yuri, holding a telescope, said, "The direction my telescope is facing is the center of Lake Ladoga. German planes sometimes bypass the air defense positions from that direction. We are on guard against these slipping through the net."

Before Wei Ran could say anything, Yuri spoke like a responsible tour guide, "Behind me, those flashing red lights are the lifeline of Leningrad. There is an anti-aircraft position on another island closer, but there is also only one anti-aircraft gun there."

Subconsciously looking in that direction, the flashing red lights formed a winding dotted line that disappeared at the end of my sight.

"Far away on my left is our Leningrad"

Yuri continued, "The third anti-aircraft position on the other island to the right also has only one gun."

After looking around in all directions according to the other party's introduction, Wei Ran pointed to a place far away from the artillery position and asked, "What's going on in that direction? Why is there a bonfire there?"

“It’s a trap”

Yuri didn't even look in that direction and explained directly, "The ice there has been broken, and the bonfire will make the fish hiding at the bottom of the lake swim up, and will also attract German planes to fly in that direction.

Anyway, it's good to catch fish or German planes."

"Who is in charge of this matter?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Old Ivan and Sasha," Yuri said two names that were too popular. "They are fishermen on Lake Ladoga. It would be best to leave this matter to them."

"How was the harvest?" Wei Ran asked.

"not so good"

Yuri sighed. "The fish hooks they make with nails and leather ropes often freeze, and the weather is too cold. The fish often don't bite at all."

"Can you introduce everyone's work?" Wei Ran asked a new question like a serious reporter.

"Father Seryosha is our captain"

Yuri started to introduce, "He participated in World War I and was a machine gunner. Aunt Vlada is our cook, and her daughter Olga is our only nurse."

"Wait, Olga is Vlada's daughter?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"certainly"

Yuri said as a matter of course, "She also studied at the Military Medical Academy in Leningrad for a few months."

"Where are the others?" Wei Ran asked.

"Then there is Jiao Niya, who was originally a university student majoring in mathematics, but is now the most important artillery commander in our position. She is the only one who can command that artillery in battle.

Her first gunner is Andrei, her second gunner is Lisa, and her ammunition carrier is... Let me see."

As he spoke, Yuri aimed the telescope at the artillery position covered by white cloth.

"It should be Yulia. She has just been selected into the artillery team." Wei Ran said.

“That’s Yulia.”

After a pause, Yuri said bravely, "I like Jiaonia. I have confessed to her, but she didn't agree."

"Maybe you should try a few more times," Wei Ran suggested kindly.

"Wait until the war is over."

Yuri pointed the telescope at the night sky again. "Jionya said that she has no mood for love before the war is over, so I will wait until the war is over before confessing my feelings to her again."

"You will succeed then," Wei Ran said sincerely.

"I think so"

Yuri couldn't help but smile and continued to introduce, "Old Ivan and Sasha are in charge of fishing, and they follow Aunt Vlada's instructions.

I forgot to mention that Sasha is old Ivan’s nephew, and he and Yulia are lovers. I have seen them kissing secretly on the shore more than once.”

"What else?" Wei Ran asked.

"And Sergey, he's in charge."

After a pause, Yuri asked, "He is the transporter, right? I just saw him driving a horse-drawn sleigh towards the traffic line, and he was waving at me."

"That's right," Wei Ran nodded.

"Then let's not talk about him."

Yuri said, "Let's talk about Vasily. He is the youngest among us, but he did not escape from Leningrad with us."

"Where is he from then?"

“He is the son of the militia political commissar who was stationed here before. His mother was a courier and she starved to death three months ago.

But Vasily doesn't know about this yet, so don't tell him, or he'll cry for days."

"I'm very tight-lipped," Wei Ran thought for a moment and asked, "What about the other people?"

“Sonia and I took turns on sentry duty, she’s my sister.

Ruslan and Igor were responsible for collecting firewood, which was as important and as dangerous as fighting.

Yuri said, "And they are also the reserve force of this position. No matter which position has casualties, they have to replace them."

"Is this a dangerous job? I mean collecting firewood."

"certainly"

Yuri nodded and said angrily, "The Germans dropped a lot of canned bombs. Some of those bombs are real cans, and some are bombs. No one knows what is inside before opening them.

The woodcutters not only have to work all day to ensure that everyone does not freeze to death, but also have to resist the temptation of canned bombs. "

"Let me give you a gift"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already taken out a pocket warmer from the metal book, lit it and handed it to the other party.

"This hand warmer is so beautiful!"

Yuri exclaimed, "Just think of it as lending it to me. Wait for me."

"How about giving it to whoever is on sentry duty?" Wei Ran suggested without waiting for the other party to finish speaking.

"Comrade Victor, you are much more normal than the last reporter."

Yuri said happily, as he also stuffed the hand warmer that began to release warmth into his arms.

"The previous reporter was abnormal?" Wei Ran asked with interest.

"He is a traitorous journalist, and it seems he is a Jewish journalist who escaped from Poland."

Yuri said distressedly, "I am not a Fasusi, and I have no prejudice against the Warts, but he is not as easy to talk to as you. On the day he came, he took a photo of all of us and also took a group photo.

He said he was worried that we would die one day, so it would be better for him to help take a picture first so as not to affect his news reports.

He was killed the next day after he opened a can bomb he had found.”

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed secretly. He could probably guess that the reporter was probably trying to verify the authenticity of the can bomb incident, and he might have just overestimated his ability.

"boom!"

Just at this moment, an explosion suddenly occurred in the forest some distance away from the cemetery.

"It must be the bomb the Germans just dropped!" Yuri said confidently.

"I gonna go see"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he had already untied the rope around his waist, put on bearskin mittens, grabbed the rope and slid down.

"Comrade reporter, be careful! Don't pick up any cans!"

Yuri on the sentry tower reminded him worriedly, even though he was just a child who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful!" Wei Ran promised as he slid down.

When he returned to the ground and ran towards the direction where the explosion occurred and screams seemed to be coming from, Seryosha was also running in that direction.

"Follow me!" Old Man Seryosha, holding a kerosene lamp in his hand, reminded Wei Ran.

Hearing this, Wei Ran slowed down his pace and followed the other person.

As they got closer, Wei Ran also noticed that a young man who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen years old was clutching his wrist and wailing.

When the light of the kerosene lamp covered him, Wei Ran also noticed that most of his left palm had been blown off.

Next to him was a bundle of firewood and a light handsaw.

"rope"

Wei Ran greeted him without hesitation.

Hearing this, Seryosha untied the belt around his waist and handed it over.

"What's your name?"

Wei Ran said, already strangling the injured man's hands with a belt, "What's your name?"

"he is."

"Selyosha, let him answer himself!" Wei Ran interrupted Selyosha's answer, "Bring the firewood and the saw!" As he said that, Wei Ran had already tightened the rope, and then carried up the wounded man whom he had just met briefly.

"Igor"

The wounded soldier lying on Wei Ran's shoulder endured the pain and grimaced as he replied, "My name is Igor."

"Igor, what happened just now?" Wei Ran asked as he ran back.

"I do not know"

Igor, who was about to cry in pain, replied, "I was just sawing a branch, and then something exploded."

"You'll be fine"

Wei Ran ran faster and faster while speaking, "I will help you sew up your wound."

"I don't want to withdraw," Igor said, "I can still fight."

“You can’t leave even if you want to.”

Father Seryosha, who was chasing behind, said, "If Sergei hadn't frozen to death on the way, it would have taken at least two or three days for him to come back."

"Dad, let me go to the artillery position." Igor said, "I"

"Shut up!"

Seryosha didn't even give the other party a chance to finish his words. "We selected people to fill in in a fair and just manner. No one can cut in line!"

Before the two men could continue their conversation, Wei Ran had already pushed open the wooden door of the shack closest to the artillery position and saw Olga who was using an enamel pot to steam and sterilize surgical instruments, as well as a rope and a bottle of vodka in her hand which served as an anesthetic.

"Tie him up"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he rushed out of the shack again, ran back to his own shack as fast as he could to take a look, then took out the kerosene lamp and ran back.

"Where did you get the gas lamp?"

As soon as he ran in, Seryosha asked curiously.

"I brought it"

Wei Ran directly handed the gas lamp to the other party, "Quick! Light it up!"

Seeing this, Father Seryosha didn't have time to ask any more questions. He just grunted and filled the gas lamp with gas and lit it.

After a while, Wei Ran had washed his hands with the hot water that Olga had prepared in advance, and then roughly smeared them with iodine.

As for surgical gloves, there are no such things here.

"Put the gas lamp in front of me on the left, and give Igor a glass of wine and something to hold in his mouth."

Wei Ran gave the order, "Olga, go across from me and give me whatever I need."

Under his command, Olga went around to the other side of the operating table and got ready.

Seryosha also picked up the wine that Olga had just poured and brought it to Igor's mouth, asking him to drink the not-so-much spicy wine in one gulp.

"Hold him down"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, Seryosha skillfully pressed Igor down with his own weight and held down his hand tightly.

"what--"

Amid the shrill screams, Wei Ran began cleaning and suturing the wound as quickly as possible under the ice-blue light.

"Are you really a reporter and not a doctor?" Olga, who was standing opposite, asked curiously.

"certainly"

Wei Ran responded vaguely, "Give me another hemostat."

"there is none left"

Olga replied, "We only had three hemostats, and you used them all."

"Then use tweezers to help me clamp this blood vessel." Wei Ran pointed with the back of the scalpel.

Seeing this, Olga immediately picked up a pair of tweezers and clamped the corresponding blood vessel.

With her help, Wei Ran successfully sutured the wound and bandaged it. Igor, who had been wailing in pain, finally breathed a sigh of relief and fainted.

"Send him back to rest."

As Wei Ran spoke, he left the task of cleaning up the mess and the glaring gas lamp to Olga.

He had just finished his work and walked out of the shack when Yuri blew a shrill whistle in the nearby sentry tower, and then shouted at the top of his voice, "Attention! Attention! There seems to be a plane in the northwest direction! Attention! There seems to be a plane in the northwest direction!"

"Prepare!"

Gunner Jiao Niya immediately issued an order, and the white cloth that had just been covered was torn off again.

Under Wei Ran's gaze, Jiao Niya raised a one-meter rangefinder that came from nowhere and pointed it towards the northwest, while she uttered corresponding commands in an orderly manner.

Under his command, the artillery was quickly aimed in the corresponding direction. Yulia, the gunner, also gently pressed the fire pedal with her foot, ready to fire.

Gradually, everyone heard the roar of fighter jets coming from the night sky. Wei Ran had already taken out the small leather suitcase from his backpack, took out the gun-type camera, and after some adjustments, hid behind a pine tree, aiming at the plane that was getting closer and closer in the night sky and got ready.

The only plane was getting closer and closer with the increasingly clear roar, but Jiao Niya still did not issue any orders.

After an anxious and brief wait, accompanied by Jiao Niya's cry, the anti-aircraft artillery finally fired a shell!
Amid the dense sound of "boom boom boom" artillery fire, Wei Ran repeatedly pulled the trigger of his gun camera, trying to capture the precious moment when the tracer bullet hit the bomber.

However, this continuous shooting did not cause any damage to the Stuka. Instead, it began to fire as the anti-aircraft gun emptied the seven shells in the magazine!

“Boom boom boom!”

Just at this moment, the artillery on another neighboring island finally started firing. Wei Ran almost subconsciously pressed the class-linked shutter and clearly recorded the moment when the shells hit the area around the cockpit of the bomber!
With a shrill whistling sound, the bomber's strafing came to an abrupt halt, and it then fell from the night sky, leaving a trail of black smoke, and crashed almost straight into the ice on one side of the island. With a loud bang, it broke through the ice and sank to the bottom of the lake.

"The plane crashed into the lake!"

In the sentry tower above, Yuri shouted excitedly, "Go and have a look! There must be fish there! And, Jhonya! Is anyone injured?"

"no one!"

Jiao Niya responded loudly, "We are lucky! The artillery position next to us helped a lot! No one of us was injured!"

"It looks like our trap for catching fish has been destroyed!"

The young man who seemed to be called Sasha said regretfully, "I just made a new fishhook this morning."

Amid the somewhat chaotic shouting, Seryosha and the young man who had just complained, each carrying a scoop net, ran towards the crash site. Jiaonia also summoned her companions around her to cover the anti-aircraft artillery with white cloth.

Even the fishing trap in the distance was moved and the bonfire was relit.

Seeing that these more than a dozen people each had their own position as if they were forming their own ecosystem, Wei Ran returned to the shack assigned to him after a little thought and lay down on the not-so-comfortable hard bed made of pine needles.

The shack was small enough that the fireplace kept it warm enough for him to think about what to do next before he started to feel hungry.

The most important thing is to complete the return mission.

After thinking about it one by one, he first needed to take over the sentry's job in order to complete at least four air raid warnings.

In addition, he also needs to assist in destroying at least two enemy planes, which requires him to find a way to join the anti-aircraft artillery team.

This is undoubtedly a paradoxical situation, unless
Unless there is no longer a complete artillery group on the island, the sentinels will join the artillery group.

In comparison, taking group and individual photos and catching 20 kilograms of fish became the easiest tasks.

In this case, let's wait until dawn.
Wei Ran climbed up again after making up his mind, then he took out the German water bottle left by the previous reporter, filled it with boiled snow water, held it in his arms, and covered himself with the cloak that was still stained with the blood of the previous transporter.

"I don't know how Kona and the others in the city are doing now."

With such doubts, Wei Ran, who had no way of leaving the island, entered a not-so-pleasant dream.

When he woke up, it was already bright outside the shack, but the forest was much quieter. Only the figure in the watchtower was staring at the sky.

After walking out of the shack, Wei Ran looked around, then turned and walked into the forest.

After searching all the way, he soon found a tin can with Russian words and a piglet pattern printed on it.

Wei Ran gently picked up the can and weighed it, then took off his bloodstained cloak and used it as a bag. He put the can in it and carried it under his arm, and continued searching in the forest.

Soon, he found the second, third, and fourth cans one after another, and by the way, he also discovered the infamous butterfly bomb.

"What are you doing?"

Just as he was staring at the butterfly bomb absent-mindedly, a young man who was wrapped up extremely tightly with only a pair of eyes showing walked over from a distance.

The young man was pulling a small sled loaded with firewood in one hand and holding a saw in the other.

"Are you Ruslan?" Wei Ran asked.

"Yes, it's me."

Ruslan nodded and asked confidently, "Isn't it Yuri who told you that?"

"That's right"

Wei Ran also nodded, "Ruslan, can I take a picture of you?"

"Do you want me to pretend to saw wood?" Ruslan asked as he casually placed the saw on the branch of a pine tree.

"Did the previous reporter ask for this?" Wei Ran asked.

Ruslan nodded nonchalantly, "Do you need me to do this?"

"Forget it, no need."

Wei Ran shook his head. "Can we just chat?"

"I have to go chop wood, or someone will freeze to death at night."

Ruslan pointed at the butterfly bomb not far away and said, "Also, don't touch that kind of bomb. It's best to stay away from it. It's scarier than a can bomb. It might explode suddenly at any time."

"Let me go chop wood with you." Wei Ran said as he slung the can bomb in his cloak over his shoulder.

Ruslan was good-tempered, nodded amiably, and continued to wander in the forest, explaining, "We need to find dead pine trees, and it is best to be far away from the camp. This is very important. The trees in the camp must be kept as cover.

Also, don't touch the cans in the forest, like that one over there that says Hey! What are you doing! Put it down! You can't eat it!"

Amid Ruslan's exclamation, Wei Ran picked up the can bomb and stuffed it into his cloak bag.

"In there."

Ruslan belatedly glanced at the canvas bag Wei Ran was carrying and swallowed uncontrollably.

"Yes, they are all canned bombs." Wei Ran said with a smile, "I am here to find them."

"What are you going to do?"

Ruslan asked nervously, and at the same time couldn't help but take a few steps back, but accidentally sat on the sled loaded with firewood.

"Friend, have you ever fried fish?" Wei Ran asked with a smile a question that the other party had not expected.