War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1677 Ice Sculpture
In the howling blizzard, Sergei shouted at the draft horses that had just drunk some hot water, pulled eight boxes of precious fish and meat, and left the island with everyone watching.

"Everyone go back and rest. Yuri, you stay on guard in the shack."

Father Seryosha issued an order, "Rest well and get enough rest. Once the snowstorm stops, the German planes will come."

"Hurray!" shouted the youngest, Vasily, waving his little fists.

"Hurray!" Everyone shouted, suppressing their worries about Sergei and returning to the shack together.

"How much fish do we have left?" Seryosha asked Vlada as she was about to go to the kitchen.

"There are still four boxes of fish meat, and a lot of fish meat and internal organs." Vlada said, "Give it to them?"

"Ivan, will you go after daybreak?"

Seryosha said to the old fisherman Ivan, "The militiamen on the other two islands must be starving too. Send two boxes to each island."

"Do I need to teach them how to make canned fried fish?" asked Wei Ran, who was also in no hurry to leave.

"No, no need."

Father Seryosha made a decision, “There are no reporters like you on those two islands, let alone nurses like Olga.

The gunners are the only military personnel on those two islands, and it's too dangerous to let the others do this, so let's do it."

"Alright"

Wei Ran nodded and said, "I will continue to look for canned bombs after the snowstorm stops."

"Let Ruslan take you there. Let Igor take you there. He knows where the canned bomb is." Father Seryosha said, "Okay, let's all go and have a rest."

Returning to his own shack, it was now exceptionally warm because of the fireplace.

Wei Ran threw a few extra pieces of firewood into the fireplace and left a gap in the ventilation window, but did not rush to lie down. Instead, he took out the film that both sides had shot from the Rollei, then opened the small suitcase and took out all the film that had been shot inside.

He planned to give these things to Sergei to take to Kobona tomorrow. As for what happened just now, he really couldn't bear to waste the precious time of the transporter and ask him to wait for him.

After putting all the films into sealing tubes and sealing them with candles and rags found in the box, Wei Ran took off his robe and lay down on them, secretly hoping that the snowstorm would last longer, but also conflictingly hoping that it would stop as soon as possible.

Either option can save a group of people, but it also means that a group of people may be killed.

The paradox of the war multiple-choice question is the trolley problem.

But in the problem of war, there is no need for this, and no time is given to any participant to think.

Everyone, including the person tied to the railroad track alone, would choose the option that would cause the least harm without hesitation.

Utilitarianism?
of course!

Otherwise, how could there be war?
Amid these meaningless thoughts, Wei Ran finally fell asleep with difficulty after tossing and turning.

He dreamed that he turned into a fish in a box, and that he was riding on a horse-drawn sleigh, a car, a combat sled, and even a dog sled and was sent to Leningrad, which was also ravaged by a blizzard. He dreamed that the hungry children were happy to receive this gift.

He also dreamed of the animal keeper, the clever dog, the traffic police holding red lights, the children whom he had jumped into the icy lake again and again but failed to save, and the colorful hats.

Finally, he woke up with a loud shout and cold sweat on his forehead.

At this time, the shack illuminated by the fire from the fireplace was still warm, and the ventilation window on the side of the door was not blocked by the snow. However, he himself felt an urgent urge to urinate because he drank too much fish soup before going to bed.

Putting on the robe that still had some body temperature, he opened the wooden door of the shack and walked out on the thick snow.

The sky was already much brighter at this time, and although the wind was still blowing, the snow was much lighter.

Across the cemetery, at the door of the shack that served as an operating room in the distance, there was a red signal light that swayed in the wind. The operating room was also lit with a dim light.

Wei Ran randomly selected a tree, lifted up his robe and released the water while looking at the sky above his head. According to his estimation, this snowstorm would probably not last long and would be over.

Just as he shook off the last drop of water, he also noticed that there seemed to be a light approaching them in the distance.

Sergey is back?

Wei Ran immediately collected the bird and ran into the shack, picked up the small bag of film he had prepared in advance and ran over.

Almost at the same time he ran out of the forest, the door of the medical room was pushed open, and Yuri ran out shortly afterwards.

"It's Sergei!" Yuri breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried he wouldn't come back."

“Prepare the hot soup quickly”

Wei Ran gave a reminder, and at the same time opened the backpack he had just brought over, took out the gun-style camera as quickly as possible, and aimed at Sergei who was running towards him.

However, when the people and the horse-drawn sleigh in the camera got closer and closer, so close that he subconsciously pulled the trigger to take the first photo, he realized that something was wrong!

"Something happened to Sergey!"

Wei Ran hurriedly put away his gun-type camera. He saw clearly just now that the person sitting on the horse-drawn sleigh was almost a snowman!
"What did you just say?" Yuri pushed open the door of the medical room and shouted.

"Something seems to have happened to Sergei! Hurry up and wake up Father Seryosha!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he whistled loudly, shouting at the horse to run a few steps faster towards him.

A moment later, he grabbed the reins and stopped the sled. Almost at the same time, Father Seryosha and Old Ivan also came out.

"Sergei? Can you hear me? Sergei?"

Wei Ran shouted the other person's name while trying to wipe off the ice and snow that had accumulated on his body and face.

However, the ice and snow had frozen to his face and the German goggles he was wearing.

I touched his neck with trembling hands; it was cold and there was no pulse at all.

He continued to touch his chest, and there was still a trace of warmth, but it came from the arms warmer that belonged to him.

"Step aside"

Wei Ran called out and carefully picked up Sergei, but he still maintained the sitting posture of driving the horse-drawn sleigh, he didn't even loosen the reins!

"Sergei is dead," Yuri said sadly.

“Let me try again”

As Wei Ran spoke, he tore off the gloves on Sergei's hands, picked him up again, and carried him into the shack that served as an operating room.

But even lying on the simple wooden bed that served as an operating table, Sergei still maintained the driving posture.

"Victor, Victor."

Seryosha stopped Wei Ran who was trying to perform CPR on Seryosha, "He's already sacrificed, he's dead, he's frozen to death, Victor, let him go, Sergei is dead."

Hearing this, Wei Ran did not intend to give up. He stubbornly took the hot towel that Yuri had prepared and applied it near Sergei's neck, then began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, and finally, he gave up the rescue after being pulled back by Father Seryosha and Old Ivan.

"Take off his robe and send him to the grave."

As Seryosha spoke, he picked up the hand warmer that was still releasing heat beside the bed and handed it to Wei Ran, "Comrade reporter, we hope that everyone can get out alive and leave alive.

But this is war, and war means death. Today it was Sergei, tomorrow it could be me, Yuri, or Jonya.

There will always be casualties in war, and all we have to do is end this war before everyone dies."

"Yes, yes"

Wei Ran took the hand warmer and said, "How could Keke freeze to death?"

“We don’t have time to grieve”

Standing at the door of the shack, Joanya said, "It will be dawn soon, and the German planes will come. Comrades, be prepared to die for Leningrad."

"For Leningrad! Ura!" Inside and outside the shack, the few remaining militiamen shouted the same slogan in unison.

“Let me take a group photo of you all.”

Wei Ran requested, "Take a group photo with Sergei in it, before the German plane arrives."

"Then take a picture," sighed Father Seryosha.

There is a bit of black humor in the scene where Sergei, who is literally frozen, still maintains, and can only maintain, the driving posture.

For this reason, after some discussion, everyone decided to let him sit on the horse-drawn sleigh again, and the rest of the people gathered around the sleigh.

"Click"

Wei Ran, holding a kerosene lamp in one hand, pressed the shutter and took the last photo of the transporter Sergei.

"Let's take him to the cemetery."

As Seryosha spoke, he carried Sergei with great effort and said as he walked, "Vassily, we need to select a new transporter next."

"I see"

Vasily accepted this cruel task with a tense and red face.

Just like burying the last transporter Vanya, everyone shoveled away the snow at the next spot next to him in the cemetery, let Sergei lie on his side, and then dug out the large and small stones that Vasily had picked up from under the birch tree not far away, and carefully covered Sergei's body. After everything was done, everyone including Wei Ran lined up, and Vasily also stood on his small sled and recited the nursery rhyme again.

"A German walked out of the thick fog and pulled out a knife from his pocket. I'm going to kill you." When the nursery rhyme stopped, Vasily's finger also fell on Uncle Seryosha.

"I... I counted wrong," Vasily said in panic.

“You counted correctly.”

Seryosha came out while he was talking, "It's me, I'm the new transporter, I'll bring the ammunition and the artillery shields we desperately need.

Children, the position here depends on you. Old Ivan, when there are some things that cannot be decided, it depends on you to make the decision. "

"But we can't leave without your command," Giannia said, "Anyone can do it, but you can't leave."

"You are the one who commands the anti-aircraft artillery. Even if I become a gunner, I will have to accept your command."

Seryosha said, already wearing the Mazar robe left by Sergei, "Vlada will direct you in the food matters, the rest is just chopping wood and..."

Father Seryosha paused for a moment and said, "Vlada, prepare the other four boxes of fish. I will send them to the other two islands later. The rest of you, in addition to your own work, remember to cooperate with Comrade Victor in fishing, Igor."

"To!"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Igor, whose hand was injured in an explosion a few days ago, responded quickly.

"I have an important mission for you. Next, you will follow Comrade Victor's command and assist him in finding the can bomb."

"Yes!"

Igor complied with the order.

"That's it, let's not waste time."

Seryosha said, "Everyone help to move down the supplies Sergei brought back, quickly."

"Seryozha, I have some film that I hope you can deliver to me."

"Let's put those things in Vasily's mailbox first."

Without waiting for Wei Ran to finish, Seryosha gave a different opinion and said calmly, "The German bombers will be here soon. I may not be able to make it to Kobona alive."

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

Under the command of Father Seryosha, the group unloaded 10 boxes of ammunition from the sled. This time the sled was seriously overloaded with ammunition.

Without wasting too much time, after all the four boxes of fish and meat were loaded onto the truck, Father Seryosha immediately shouted to the draft horse, which had only rested for a short while, to turn around and head back in the direction they came from.

"Cheer up, everyone!"

Seeing that everyone was in low spirits, Giannia took over the command and said, "We have plenty of ammunition now, so we can definitely shoot down more German bombers!"

"You're right!"

Yuri was the first to respond, saying that he liked Giannia, and this was no secret on the island.

"The Germans will give us many opportunities to take them down today"

Giannia continued, "Remember, we can die here, but we must not let a single bomber disturb the traffic and transport personnel on the road!"

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

"Children, come and have something to eat while there is still time."

Vlada and Olga greeted, "How about a bowl of fish head soup each?"

This proposal was once again cheered by the crowd, and soon Vlada and her daughter Olga served each person in the queue a bowl of hot fish head soup with the bones cooked until they were soft.

Taking this opportunity, Wei Ran also noticed that after a whole night of boiling, the internal organs in the pot had already formed a thick layer of fat.

While serving the rice, Vlada dipped a small piece of rag into the clear fish oil and carefully applied it to their hands and red cheeks.

After everyone had eaten the fish head soup, Vlada and Olga, a mother and daughter, dug out a pile of shell casings and buried them in an enamel basin filled with snow, and put a thin hemp rope in each shell casing.

Then Vlada scooped up spoonfuls of fish oil and poured them in.

"This way it can be used as an oil lamp," Olga proudly explained to Wei Ran who was watching from the side, "This was invented by my mother!"

"Poor people around Lake Ladoga used to do this"

Vlada said lovingly, "I used this kind of fish oil lamp when I was Vasily's age. It doesn't smell very good when it burns, and it produces a lot of smoke, but it helps us save a lot of kerosene."

While they were chatting about oil lamps and kerosene, Yuri also handed over the night watch to his sister Sonya.

Seeing this, Wei Ran temporarily interrupted his chat with Vlada and her daughter, called Sonya and Yuri first, then ran back to the shack as fast as he could to take out the airdrop box with the cast iron stove, picked up the German wine jug, poured some kerosene into it, and filled the hand warmer that was about to go out.

After collecting the airdrop box and running back to the kitchen door, Wei Ran handed the hand warmer, which was releasing heat at full capacity again, to Sonya, who needed to stand guard on the treetop for the entire day.

"Thank you, comrade journalist."

Sonya put the small bag containing the hand warmer into her arms, took the binoculars and whistle handed to her by her brother Yuri, and climbed up to the watchtower on the treetop as the cold wind weakened a little.

Sergei's death made everyone start preparations in full swing. The artillery crew members led by Joanya were busy using torches to heat the artillery's buffer system and various components to prevent them from being frozen by the low temperature.

Vlada was busy making jelly by mixing the fish intestines, from which all the fat had been boiled off, with the fish scale soup that had been boiled overnight.

Old Ivan led his men into the woods to chop firewood, and secretly decided to help Wei Ran find more canned bombs that he usually avoided.

Even Vasily was not idle. He pulled his sled and took his hammer to hit more stones.

"Victor, shall we go look for canned bombs?" Igor asked. "I know where they are. Even if they are buried in the snow, I can find them."

"How do your hands feel?" Wei Ran asked.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," Igor said, a lie that could be easily identified.

Wei Ran did not expose the other party, "Since it doesn't hurt anymore, come and help me."

As he spoke, he led the other person to the forked birch tree, then motioned for the other person to ride on his shoulders, and he slowly stood up.

"While Vasily is away, please put these films into his mailbox for me." Wei Ran said, handing the other party a small package containing the sealed tubes of film.

"And then we go look for can bombs?"

Igor opened the glass lid of the can with one hand and asked expectantly, "It would be great if we could fry as many fish today as we did yesterday."

"yes"

Wei Ran, who was carrying Igor, sighed and asked, "Are you from Leningrad too?"

"Of course," Igor replied proudly.

"Are there any family members here?" Wei Ran asked with a hard heart.

“My brother is on the front line”

Igor put the small package containing the film in, closed the glass lid with difficulty, and then closed the metal lid of the ammunition box. "But I don't know if he is still alive. He is also a gunner in charge of anti-aircraft artillery, just like Joanya."

"He will survive, and so will you."

Wei Ran said this as he squatted down slowly and put Igor down.

"It doesn't matter if I can't survive," Igor said as he walked into the forest, "as long as I can drive the Germans away, I'll be satisfied."

"We will drive them away, I promise." Wei Ran said confidently.

“I believe it too”

Igor waved towards Wei Ran, "Come on, I'll take you to find canned bombs. I know where they are, and there are a lot of them."

"beep--!"

Before Igor could finish his words, Sonya's whistle sounded from the direction of the sentry tower. Then, everyone heard her shocked shout in the cold wind, "West-northwest! Attention! West-northwest! Planes! There are more than a dozen planes! Attention! West-northwest! West-northwest!"

As Sonya yelled at the top of her lungs, the running group led by Giannia immediately extinguished their torches and took their positions, and the rest of the group also ran to the nearest shelter!

"Hide now!"

Wei Ran greeted Igor and ran to the simple operating room closest to the artillery position!

Almost at the same time, Olga also ran over, and rushed into the shack that served as the operating room at the same time as Wei Ran. They tacitly sealed the chimney with one of them, and covered the fire with a basin of snow prepared at the door in advance.

Just as they were getting ready, the shrill roar of bombers was heard from the sky outside!

Under Wei Ran's nervous gaze, Sonya waited for the rope to slide down from the tree, and ran across the cemetery into the girls' dormitory.

Almost at the same time, the only anti-aircraft artillery on the island and the anti-aircraft weapons on the other two islands also opened fire one after another, firing shells into the sky.

In response, several bombers also began diving, strafing, and dropping bombs. Some of them were covered by the exploding shells, and some emitted black smoke or changed their flying posture, and plunged into the ice layer near or far.

But more bombers did not intend to engage with them, but instead headed straight for the traffic line they were desperately guarding.

(End of this chapter)