War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1675 Popular Bomber

In the warm shack, Wei Ran sat by the fireplace and carefully made the crucial slingshot. This was not a complicated job for him, but it was the key weapon to detonate those butterfly bombs.

Before he could finish polishing the branch into the ideal shape, Father Seryosha called out cautiously from outside, "Victor, can I bother you now?"

"Come in!" Wei Ran, who was still busy, called out, "It's safe now."

A moment later, Father Seryosha pushed the door open and walked in. He placed the Soviet lunch box on the fireplace. He first glanced at the canned fish on the bed, then looked at Wei Ran who was cutting a branch. Finally, he said, "Comrade Victor, eat something first."

"Do you have anything to eat?" Wei Ran asked this question without stopping the work in his hands.

“Of course there is food.”

Father Seryosha replied, "Thanks to the fish you just fried, we will have food to eat for the evening."

"Didn't you have anything to eat at night before?" Wei Ran asked without turning his head.

“There is birch bark fish soup to drink”

Father Seryosha helped put some wood in the fireplace and smacked his lips as he said, "If you peel off the birch bark and boil it in fish soup overnight, it tastes exactly like dried fish."

"What about you?"

Wei Ran finally looked up at the other person, "Have you eaten?"

“Of course I ate it.”

“I’m not stupid”

Wei Ran immediately reminded him, “Your mouth only smells of bad breath, not the fishy smell of fish soup at all.

Dad, I am younger than you, but this position needs an experienced elder to command it in order to exert its combat effectiveness. "

"No, you misunderstood, I am..."

"Dad, take your share of fish soup and eat with us."

Wei Ran said seriously, "I have seen too many people starving to death in front of me in Leningrad. I don't want to see it here too. This is not an experience worth bragging about."

After a brief silence, Father Seryosha silently stood up and left the shack, and soon brought the second Soviet lunch box.

Before the other party could say anything, Wei Ran snatched the other party's lunch box and opened it. He took a look at the fish head that was stewed soft and boneless, and then looked at the fish meat in the lunch box that the other party had sent before. He decided without hesitation, "I like to eat fish heads. Let's switch. Father Seryosha, that portion is yours. Eat quickly. After you finish eating, I have something important to ask you."

Hearing this, Father Seryosha, who was about to say something, opened his mouth, but finally picked up the lunch box that Wei Ran returned to him, and took out a wooden spoon from his boot. He ate it carefully and silently, bite by bite, but never looked up at Wei Ran again.

It took only ten minutes for Seryosha to finish his portion of fish soup, but before he could react, Wei Ran had already stuffed the lunch box of stewed fish head into his hands and said, "Eat this too."

"You too"

“I don’t lack food.”

Wei Ran urged, "Eat quickly, after you finish eating I really want to ask you something very important."

"No, I've already had my share for today."

Father Seryosha resolutely refused the second serving of fish soup. "Victor, if you have anything to ask, please ask it now. I need to help chop wood. We have fewer and fewer people, and this matter cannot be delayed."

"All right"

Wei Ran gave up trying to get the other person to eat more, and asked in a slightly lowered voice, "What's the matter with Vasily's mailbox?"

“That’s what his father left behind.”

Seryosha explained in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "That child is so pitiful, isn't he?"

"I'll probably be setting off quite a few explosions in the forest this afternoon. If you find any German butterfly bombs while you're chopping wood, mark them so they're visible and I'll take care of them."

Wei Ran changed the subject immediately and pointed to the can of fried fish on the bed. "Also, before dark, please find a place on the ice to dig a hole and light a big bonfire. I made a lot of bombs, and we will probably have a rich harvest tonight."

"I'll help you prepare it!"

Seryosha said cheerfully, "Comrade Victor, you should be careful too. Those butterfly bombs are very sensitive."

"Krauts are too old-fashioned. Being too sensitive is not a good thing."

Wei Ran said with a smile, "Anyway, remember to find a way to mark the locations of those butterfly bombs around you."

"We'll use tree branches to hold up the shells as a guide."

Father Seryosha said, “We have marked most of the butterfly bombs that have been discovered in the forest in this way.”

“That’s great”

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief. This was good news for him.

“Remember to eat”

Father Seryosha said seriously, "Victor, we can't do without an all-round reporter like you."

"I will remember it"

Wei Ran nodded, watched the other party leave, then picked up the Y-shaped branch again and slowly polished it.

About an hour later, Wei Ran made a slingshot that was particularly easy to use.

He grabbed the leather bag to feel it, then stuffed it into his arms with satisfaction. Then he picked up the axe for chopping wood, smashed the stones he had just picked up, and picked out the broken stones that were about the size of a thumb joint and put them in his pocket.

Everything was ready. He picked up the fish soup that he had not touched from beginning to end, left the shack, and walked straight to the boys' dormitory not far away.

Gently push open the wooden door nailed with birch bark, and you will see several homemade bunk beds in this warm shack.

Yuri, who was on guard last night, was sleeping on the upper bunk closest to the fireplace and snoring loudly. On the lower bunk, Igor, who was injured last night, was holding a saw in one hand and carefully sawing the firewood picked up by the others into sizes suitable for burning.

"Victor, you're here?"

When Igor saw Wei Ran coming in, he immediately put down his saw and greeted him, "Thank you for saving me yesterday."

"You're welcome. How does your wound feel?" Wei Ran put the fish soup aside and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"have eaten"

Igor pointed to the empty lunch box hanging on the bedside not far away, then pointed to his injured hand and said, "The wound hurts so much that I can't sleep at all, so I better get up and do something. This will at least make me feel at ease."

“I brought you a bowl of fish soup too.”

Wei Ran said, "Eat it too, it will help you heal faster."

"No, what will happen if I eat you?" Igor immediately shook his head, "How can I let you starve?"

“I caught a lot of fish today.”

Wei Ran opened the Soviet lunch box containing the fish head soup, "This portion is a reward for me, but I had a good meal at the dock before I came here yesterday, so I'll give this to you."

"Can"

“I didn’t give it to you for nothing.”

Before the other party could refuse again, Wei Ran said, "I need you to do me a favor."

"What help? Tell me!" Igor said immediately, "I'll help you!"

"Drink the fish head soup first, otherwise I would rather let Vasily help me." Wei Ran said seriously, "This is a very dangerous job."

"You can't lie to me," Igor said after struggling.

"I never lie," Wei Ran assured seriously.

"I'll drink it, you say." Igor took out a spoon from under the pillow and said while drinking the fish soup.

"Drink slowly. I'll talk to you after you finish. Let me warm up first."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already sat down by the fireplace. He fished out a cigarette box from the metal book, took out a cigarette, put it on the holder, lit it and took a puff.

Seeing this, Igor gritted his teeth and finally drank the fish head soup brought by Wei Ran. Wei Ran took the opportunity to suddenly take out his Rollei twin-lens reflex camera, shouted "Don't move", and pressed the shutter towards the other party.

"You have already done what I needed you to do." Wei Ran stood up with a cigarette in his mouth and said before the other party could speak, "In addition to wanting to take a photo of you, I also want you to help me get some gravel."

"Gravel?" Igor looked at Wei Ran in confusion.

“It’s this size.”

Wei Ran took one out of his pocket and handed it to the other person, "I probably need a few dozen a day, how about you prepare them for me?"

"What do you want these pebbles for?" Igor asked puzzledly.

"Used to detonate the butterfly bombs that hurt you," Wei Ran answered truthfully, "Are you willing to help?"

"I do!" Igor agreed immediately.

"Let's use the stones that Vasily found."

Wei Ran pointed in the direction of the cemetery outside and said, "Your injured hand cannot be frozen yet, so you should finish this work in the shack."

"Leave it to me, Comrade Victor!"

Igor said happily, of course he was happy, he was injured, but he didn't want to be a burden that couldn't help. And this was also the main purpose of Wei Ran's intention to ask the other party for help.

Making a gesture to the other party to keep quiet, Wei Ran climbed onto another bunk bed amid Igor's silly smile. He first took a photo of Yuri who was catching up on his sleep, and then took a photo of the gunner Andrei who was also catching up on his sleep.

Without disturbing anyone too much, Wei Ran left the warm hut, put away his camera, put on the hood of his robe, and walked towards the depths of the forest step by step.

Less than 50 meters away from the camp, he noticed a branch sticking out of the snow with a shell casing on top of it.

After searching around the mark, he soon noticed that there was a butterfly bomb hidden in a bush less than half a meter away.

After looking around, he hid behind a thick birch tree, carefully observed the top of his head, then hid most of his body, raised his slingshot, aimed at the butterfly bomb, and shot out a small stone.

Almost at the moment the stone left the leather bag, he dodged and hid behind the tree, trying to curl up his body.

"boom!"

After a loud explosion, the snow on the trees fell down and hit Wei Ran.

Looking at the bushes again, the snow on the surface had been blown away by the butterfly bomb, and there were large impact marks on the trunk of the birch tree next to it.

Wei Ran stood up, brushing off the snow on his body. Like an experienced hunter, he began to circle around the camp with his slingshot. From time to time, he would find a suitable cover and shoot a stone, causing an explosion.

This is absolutely a crucial task. After eliminating these dangerous bombs as much as possible, the work of collecting firewood will undoubtedly be much safer. This is directly related to whether anyone will freeze to death at night.

Amid the occasional explosions, the sky gradually darkened. Wei Ran decisively stopped after failing to hit the butterfly bomb once. He went around to the location of the box of can bombs that Ruslan had shown him before, carefully untied the airdrop box with skis, carefully put the can bombs scattered on the ground in it and stacked them neatly, then untied the torn parachute and parachute rope, and returned to his shack before the sun set.

Before he could think of using these canned bombs to develop an "instant tree-felling tool," a series of rapid whistles came from the sentry tower, and then he heard a girl shouting, "Attention! Attention! West-northwest! West-northwest! Four planes! One is smoking! Attention! Pay attention to the west-northwest."

Amid the rapid sound of whistles, the crew members, who seemed to have anticipated the attack at this time, tore off the camouflage cloth of the anti-aircraft artillery and began to prepare for shooting in an orderly manner under the command of the gunner Jiao Niya.

At the same time, Wei Ran also threw away the can bomb that he had just dragged to the door of the shack, quickly ran to the artillery position, hid behind a big tree, and took out the gun camera that he had been carrying in his bag as quickly as possible, and used the telephoto lens to cover the artillery crew members.

A moment later, the anti-aircraft guns began to roar, and the bombers overhead also began to fire. The dense bullets hit the trunk of the pine tree where Wei Ran was hiding, making a terrifying woodpecker knocking sound, and also shaking off the snow on the tree.

Before the falling snow blocked the camera lens, Wei Ran pulled the trigger one by one and took a single photo of the four artillery crew members headed by Jiao Niya.

Fortunately, although he didn't know whether the young militiamen shot down a plane, he didn't see anyone injured.

Soon, he saw Jiao Niya's cheers in the viewfinder and subconsciously turned his head. In the air that could not be completely blocked by the tree canopy, two planes were already rapidly descending with black smoke, while also dropping bombs of unknown types.

The confrontation on the ground and in the air did not stop there. The artillery positions beside them were still roaring at the German bombers in mid-air with 7 rounds in units. Even the girl on the watchtower did not come down. Instead, she grabbed a tree branch with one hand and held a telescope with the other, reporting the position of the plane loudly.

In just less than five minutes, the anti-aircraft artillery on the three islands fell silent one after another. Before the remaining plane could complete its climb, the tail was smashed by the artillery crew commanded by Jiao Niya, and it began to stall and spin, and finally plunged into the icy lake in the distance.

"Comrades! We shot down two today!"

Jiao Niya was the first to cheer, then the entire artillery crew cheered, followed by the girl on the watchtower and the militiamen who came from all over, also cheered.

"Comrades!"

Wei Ran waved the camera in his hand, "I think this is a moment worth remembering, so how about letting me take a group photo of everyone?"

"no problem!"

Jiao Niya said, "Comrade reporter, where do you want to shoot?"

"Next to our artillery, of course!" Andre suggested loudly as a matter of course.

"Andre is right!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pulled over an ammunition box and stood it up, and placed the Rollei twin-lens reflex camera on it. "Everyone, hurry up! We have to take the group photo before the sun goes down. After the sun goes down, I'm going to show you how to fry fish!"

"Victor caught several fish today! I saw them all!" Sonya, the girl who was still on the watchtower, shouted.

"Sonia! Come down and take pictures with us!" Wei Ran called out.

"No way! I have to stand guard!" Sonya refused without a second thought.

"Let me take your place!"

The loudmouthed Yuri said, "It's my turn to stand guard."

"This position is mine now!" Sonya refused once again without giving her brother Yuri any face.

"How about this, let's change direction and use Sonya as the background as well!"

Wei Ran suggested loudly, "Sonia! Light the oil lamp! Hang it behind you!"

"Let's follow the reporter's arrangements!" Seryosha also said.

This time, Sonya in the watchtower finally stopped refusing and quickly lit a red kerosene signal lamp and hung it on the tree trunk behind her.

"Everyone look at me!"

Wei Ran called out, and the rest of the people either stood on both sides of the artillery or sat on the shelter made of ice and snow. Vasily, in particular, was carried on the shoulders of the old fisherman Ivan.

“Get ready—!”

Wei Ran pressed the selfie lever while giving a long reminder, then quickly ran towards the group of people taking photos. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to reach the position, he slipped and fell to the ground, and as expected, everyone in the camera, including Sonya in the distance, smiled happily.

"Everything is for the front line!" Wei Ran, lying on his back on the ground, waved his fists and shouted.

"Everything for the front! Everything for victory! Defend Leningrad to the death!"

At the moment the shutter flashed, everyone in the camera waved their fists and shouted the same inspiring slogan in unison.

"Comrades, who can help me up?" Wei Ran, who was still lying on the ground, asked with a grin, "My butt seems to be broken in two!"

Amidst another round of laughter, gunner Andrei and Sasha, who was originally responsible for fishing, simultaneously reached out to help and pulled Wei Ran up.

"Comrade reporter, when are we going to start frying the fish?" Andre asked expectantly.

"hold on"

Fishermen Old Ivan and Sasha said almost at the same time, "The fight just now must have scared away all the fish."

"It would be great if Victor's bomb could also bring down the German planes," Vasily, who was still carried on old Ivan's shoulders, said longingly.

"The German planes won't come tonight."

Old Ivan looked at the sky above and said, "I guess there will be a snowstorm tonight. Children, you must move all the firewood into the shed in advance, and always pay attention to the ventilation windows."

"Those transporters and traffic workers are going to suffer again"

The words that Yuri couldn't help but say made everyone fall into silence, and made Vasily, who was originally happy, look worriedly in the direction of Leningrad's lifeline.

"If a snowstorm starts to blow, Yuri, you will not be on guard duty."

Father Seryosha changed the subject at the right time, "Vassily, how about you continue to read your father's book How the Steel Was Tempered to everyone in the evening?"

"Can I go and sit in on the class then?" Wei Ran also chimed in at the right time, helping to change the subject tacitly.

As expected, his request was welcomed by everyone.