War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1676 There were no wounded and no children.

In the darkness of the night, more and larger snowflakes began to be mixed in the cold wind.

On the shore of the island, everyone hid behind a makeshift shelter made of snow, nervously looking at the bonfire on the ice that was supported by three logs and placed just above the ice cave.

At the edge of the bonfires, Wei Ran held a can of fried fish in one hand and another can of fried fish under his armpits.

In order to avoid accidental slips when taking photos in the evening, he even tied an extra copper foot made of shell shells to his Lappish boots.

"Everyone get hidden! I'm about to start!"

Wei Ran shouted loudly, and the people hiding in the temporary shelter subconsciously pressed their bodies down.

Without any hesitation, Wei Ran threw the can in his left hand into the first ice hole, took two quick steps and threw the can in his right hand into the second ice hole.

Without stopping, he picked up the other two cans from under the armpit of his other arm and threw them into the other two ice holes.

Without waiting for the last can to sink into the ice hole, and even before the first can that had already sunk into the water exploded, he took a step forward, ran up to the lakeshore at full speed and jumped into the makeshift shelter.

"Why hasn't it exploded yet?" asked the old fisherman Ivan.

'Not so fast'

Wei Ran explained, "But it will definitely explode. Wait a minute, Vasily, lead everyone to count together, and we'll see when it will explode."

"it is good!"

Vasily covered his ears with his hands, cleared his throat and began to count.

"1, 2, 3, 4"

As more and more people began to count in unison, when they counted to "16" in unison, the explosion finally began under the ice cave!

"Oh!"

After the first explosion, the ice layer within a radius of more than ten meters was shattered. Everyone cheered.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

After a series of dull explosions, the ice within a few dozen meters was completely shattered, and the bonfires that were set up were all extinguished by falling into the water.

Soon after, a large number of bubbles appeared on the cold lake surface as if a boiling pot had begun to emerge. Wei Ran knew that it was caused by the rising of methane in the lake.

"Why not?"

"Fish! I saw a fish!"

Before Yulia could finish her words, her little boyfriend Sasha cheered even louder and more surprised!

"It's a fish! I saw it too!" Gunner Jiao Niya also cheered.

At this time, the exploded surface of the lake looked like boiling dumplings, and fish of all sizes floated up from the water.

"Fishing!"

The old fisherman Ivan was the first to react. He climbed out of the temporary shelter and pushed a small wooden boat onto the ice.

Almost at the same time, the rest of the people rushed out of the shelter, carrying either a scoop net, or a sack, or a wooden box that was originally used to store ammunition!
Amid everyone's joyful cheers, Father Seryosha and Saha each used a scoop net to scoop up lake fish floating on the edge of the broken ice, while old Ivan rowed a small wooden boat alone to catch fish in deeper water.

The rest of the people, including Wei Ran, put all the fish, big and small, that were caught ashore into sacks and wooden boxes, and then used sleds of various sizes to pull them to the shore.

"When the war is over, I'm going to fry fish like this, too!"

Sasha, who was also a fisherman, said excitedly, "Comrade Stalin is my witness! Before the war, my father and I had never caught so many fish in one net! This is simply a dream!"

“There is a better way!”

Wei Ran said loudly, "You must live until the end of the war, then I will teach you how to make a new energy fishing rod!"

"What is that?" Sasha, who was busy fishing, asked loudly with great excitement.

"It's a secret! I'll tell you after the war is over!" Wei Ran made the promise loudly.

"It's settled then! You can't lie to me!" said Sasha.

"I promise! I swear to Comrade Stalin!"

Wei Ran made a promise loudly. He really hoped that the other party and everyone present could survive until the end of the war.

"Victor! I think we can go to the other side of the island and bomb a few more times!" Ammunition operator Lisa suggested, "It's rare for us to have such good weather!"

"You're right!"

Ruslan and Igor, who had an injured hand but still came to help, said in unison.

"In that case, you guys continue fishing, I'll go prepare the bomb!"

Wei Ran happily stopped the work in his hands. He didn't care whether he had exceeded the target of hunting fish in the return mission. He wanted to blow up all the fish in Lake Ladoga!

"Can you help us?" Father Seryosha asked loudly.

"need!"

Wei Ran responded in the snow, "Go and choose a spot to fry the fish immediately, dig a hole in the ice, and then light a bonfire!"

“I know where the fish are more abundant!”

Old Ivan, who came back in the small wooden boat, said, "I have also brought back the firewood. Everyone, go and get some dry wood. I will take you there!"

Under the leadership of the old fisherman, except for the sentry Yuri who was on guard and the artillery crew members who could not leave their positions, most of the others helped carry the empty wooden boat and ran away, leaving only the cook Vlada, the injured Igor and the youngest Vasily, who were busy carrying the fish they had just caught to the kitchen on a sled.

"God, what kind of person have you sent to me?" Vlada secretly made the sign of the cross on his chest in the snow, his tone full of gratitude.

In the shack, Wei Ran familiarly made a dozen cans of fried fish, and then loaded them in the airdrop box sent by the Germans, and under the guidance of Vasily, came to the lake on the other side of the island.

Four holes have been dug in the ice and a bonfire has been lit to attract fish.

"Old Ivan has taken his men to dig an ice hole in another direction," said Father Seryosha, "Let's bomb it a few more times tonight!"

"no problem"

Wei Ran said, "You all hide well, Father Seryosha, you are personally responsible for guarding this airdrop box full of bombs. No one is allowed to touch the cans inside. They are very dangerous now."

"Leave it to me!" said Seryosha.

Picking up four cans as he did before, Wei Ran threw them into the ice cave one by one with increasing skill and hid in the shelter.

This time, Vasily started counting without him saying anything, and the others followed suit with interest.

This time, when everyone counted to 15, the cans exploded one after another underwater and the ice surface broke.

The only difference from last time was that this time everyone rushed over like a swarm of bees without waiting for the fish to float up, using scoop nets, small wooden boats, and even sticks to bring all the fish that had just floated up to the shore.

This time, Wei Ran did not participate. He just pulled the airdrop box, followed Vasily's footprints on the ground, and walked to the next fish frying spot.

On this rare snowstorm night, the German planes did not cause any trouble, and Wei Ran stopped with a sense of unsatisfaction after using up all the canned bombs he had recovered.

When everyone returned to the shack in the increasingly heavy snow and wind, the several large wooden basins and wooden boxes in the kitchen shack were already filled with fish. Even the trees outside the shack were hung with fish meat that had been gutted and cleaned of the internal organs and scales.

"There are at least 100 to 200 kilograms of fish here now!"

Vlada said excitedly, "Before the Germans who kill the fun come, all of you should help!"

"Aunt Vlada, what do you need us to do?" Vasily asked first.

"Clean the guts, scrape the scales, cut off the heads, string the fish meat together and hang it on a tree outside to freeze!"

Vlada took over the command, "Don't throw away the fish scales, viscera, and fish heads, they can all be eaten!
And! I have cooked a pot full of fish heads! I declare! Everyone will have enough to fill their stomachs for a midnight snack today!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone cheered - including Wei Ran, who hadn't eaten for the whole day.

Obviously, the kitchen could not accommodate too many people, so everyone automatically divided into two groups and used various means of transportation to drag the fish that had been frozen into ice sculptures to the relatively spacious boys' and girls' dormitories.

"Vassili, your job is to read to everyone."

Seryosha lit the oil lamp and gave orders, "Igor, you work harder and hang the cleaned fish on the tree. The rest of you will be responsible for killing the fish!" "Yes!"

Igor and Vasily were the first to agree, and the others responded with even louder responses.

In the light of the fireplace and the oil lamp, Wei Ran took off his Maritza robe and placed it on a bed that belonged to someone unknown. Then he rolled up his sleeves and picked up a dogfish. He then took out the gravity knife from the metal notebook, scraped off the scales and cut off the fish head, and cut open the frozen fish belly. He used the gravity knife's uncoiler to pick out the frozen internal organs and threw them into a wooden box on the side.

"In the pre-dawn mist, the Dnieper River shone dimly; the river water washed the stones on the shore, making a slight gurgling sound."

As Vasily read in his drake voice, everyone kept quiet tacitly and were busy dealing with the fish that were risking their own lives to save lives, just like Lake Ladoga.

That night, the wind and snow grew stronger and stronger. The German planes really had no intention of coming, and even if they came, they would not be able to see anything.

For this reason, the artillery crew led by Giannina and Yuri, who was in charge of night watch, also ran back to the shack at midnight and joined in the work of processing the catch.

When all the catch was cleaned, when the scales, internal organs and fish heads were sent to the kitchen, Olga and her mother Vlada also filled a lunch box with fish head soup for each person.

"What are you going to do with these?"

Wei Ran was holding his lunch box, using the stewed fish head to soothe his stomach which had been hungry for a whole day, and asked curiously.

He had to admit that although there were not many seasonings, the fish head stewed by Aunt Vlada tasted quite good.

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"Boil the fish scales overnight and let them cool down. They will become delicious jelly tomorrow."

Vlada explained happily, "Those internal organs are not dirty. They can be boiled overnight to produce a lot of fish oil. Not only can they treat children's frostbite, but they can also be used as candles after solidification, which can help us save precious kerosene."

"Where is the fish head?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"For eating," Vlada responded as a matter of course.

“The fish.”

"The fish will be sent to Leningrad"

Olga answered the question for her mother, "They need the food more, comrade reporter. There are still a lot of canned bombs on this island, right?"

"It looks like the fish in the lake are going to suffer," Wei Ran said with a smile, "but I like this job."

"We were still worried that you would have different opinions on how to deal with this." Vlada breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've been to Leningrad," Wei Ran said abruptly.

"We are Leningraders," Vlada and her daughter Olga answered in unison.

“So we agree.”

Wei Ran said as he put the lunch box to his mouth and took a big gulp of the thick fish soup, "This fish soup is really delicious."

"Everyone ate a lot today," Vlada said with a smile, "We still have a lot of fish heads."

"There are still many canned bombs on the island"

Wei Ran added a sentence, and the people who were still in the kitchen also burst into laughter.

Putting down the lunch box, Wei Ran took out the camera again. After some adjustments, he pointed the lens at everyone, especially at Vlada, who was responsible for serving soup and fish heads at the pot, and pressed the shutter button towards her.

That night, Wei Ran didn't leave the warm and lively kitchen until he had filled his stomach completely, until he was sweating profusely, and until he took a photo of every person who was holding a lunch box with fish head soup.

He returned to his own shack and lit the fireplace, then burped comfortably, lay on the bed and lit a cigarette. While patiently waiting for the shack to heat up, he was secretly thinking about how to take the remaining photos and how to complete the tasks of warning and destroying enemy aircraft.

In addition, he couldn't help but worry secretly whether he would be able to find the can bomb on the island after the snowstorm, and whether he would step on the disgusting butterfly bomb.

"Sergey is back!"

Just at this moment, Andre's surprised cry was faintly heard outside the shack.

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who had been lying down, immediately got up, put on his boots and ran out of the shack.

When he ran to the door of the boys' dormitory, he saw Sergei, who was shivering from the cold, being helped down from the sled by old Ivan and Seryosha. He also saw Olga, who came with the kerosene lamp he had provided, and Vlada, who was holding a lunch box of fish soup.

"I'm sorry"

Sergei, who was shivering from the cold, said guiltily, "I didn't bring back the gun shield. I just received it."

"We'll talk about this later!"

Father Xie Liaosha ignored Wei Ran who was pressing the shutter beside him and said distressedly, "Help him in and warm him up!"

"ammunition"

Sergei turned around with difficulty and pointed at the sled. "Kerosene. And medicine. Medicine."

"Let's talk after we get in!"

Seryosha carried Sergei directly into the shack, while Joanya and the artillery crew members carried eight boxes of ammunition and a barrel of kerosene from the sled. At the same time, Olga also picked up a wooden box containing medicine.

This was not the end. Almost at the same time as the supplies on the sled were cleared, Vlada brushed the ice and snow off the horse pulling the sled, and at the same time directed everyone to lift the ammunition boxes filled with cleaned fish meat onto the sled, eight boxes in total.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who had originally planned to go into the shack, raised his camera again and took another photo under the bright light of the kerosene lamp before going into the shack.

At this time, Sergei, who had taken off his frozen cotton coat, was sitting by the fireplace, holding a lunch box full of fish head soup and drinking it tremblingly. At the same time, he was also telling intermittently about how he rushed to the dock of Kobona and received the ammunition.

"The commissar told me"

Sergei swallowed a mouthful of fish soup and said, "I don't know his name, everyone calls him the political commissar.

He told me that he would help us find a cannon shield as soon as possible.

He also asked me in detail about the situation on the island. He hoped that all the underage children and the wounded could leave the island tonight and go to Kobona with me.

He also said that he would organize militia to provide support and reinforcements here as soon as possible.”

“There are no underage children here.”

It was Vasily, the youngest, who said, "Brother Sergei, please tell Comrade Political Commissar that there are no underage children here. There are only militiamen who are ready to take up arms at any time."

“Vassily is right.”

Igor, who had an injured hand, also said, "There are no wounded here. My hand is slightly injured, but I can replace Yuri or Sonya to stand guard. I can also serve as a gunner! Anyway, our artillery can be fired just by stepping on it."

"Igor, you and Vasily leave tonight," said Father Seryosha, "This is the order of the political commissar."

"My father is also a political commissar, and he can't be driven away!" Vasily stood up and said, "I won't leave!"

"I think you should stop discussing these meaningless issues. If everyone wants to go to Kobona to escape the war, they won't risk coming to this island."

A little later, Aunt Vlada walked into the shack and said, "Sergey, are you leaving tonight?"

"There's a snowstorm tonight, so the German planes won't come," Sergei said, "so I want to make another trip. Maybe I can deliver some ammunition before daybreak."

"Then go ahead"

Vlada helped everyone make a decision. "Reporter Victor helped us catch a lot of fish tonight. I just asked everyone to load eight boxes on the sled. When you return to the ice highway, ask the convoy going to Leningrad to take some of the fish. It won't make a difference if each car only has one more box of fish."

"You caught so many fish?" Sergei was stunned and subconsciously looked at Wei Ran who had just taken another photo of him.

"It's just luck," Wei Ran explained vaguely.

"I'll leave now!"

As Sergei spoke, he drank the remaining half bowl of fish soup in two or three gulps, and then ate the two fish heads in it. Then he stood up and said while putting on his clothes, "I will report to the political commissar. There are no wounded here, let alone underage children. There are only militiamen who are ready to fight at any time."

"Take this, you need it more than I do."

As Yuri spoke, he handed the hand warmer that Wei Ran had given him yesterday to the other party, and then looked at Wei Ran apologetically.

"He really needs this more." Wei Ran's approving attitude also made Yuri feel a little relieved.

"Let me go in this weather." Old Ivan said, "Sergey, you take a rest and take over when I come back. I am more familiar with this place than you."

"This is my job until I'm in the grave."

Before Sergei finished speaking, he had already put on a robe of the same style as Wei Ran, put on a hat, picked up mittens, and walked out of the shack.