War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 22 People Who Don't Need Stationery

"This is the end?"

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, seeing Vanya looking at him, he immediately picked up the shovel stuck in the mud and continued to dig the drainage ditch full of shrapnel, bullet casings and corpse fragments.

In the busyness of everyone, the trenches at Position 19 were re-fortified, during which Wei Ran even risked stepping on a ladder to take a look outside the trenches.

The battle last night was far more difficult than he thought. The nearest German tank wreckage was even less than 10 meters away from the barbed wire fence directly in front of the trench line.

And such tank wrecks are almost everywhere on this scorched battlefield, but there are more tank wrecks than the tank wrecks. Except for the large and small shell craters that are still emitting green smoke, there are various deaths. German soldiers.

Even on some of the corpses, there were a few particularly fat crows that filled their stomachs while bending and bowing again and again.

But the ones who are more daring than these crows are a few soldiers who also ask for benefits from the corpses. Whether it is a gold ring on their finger or some German coins, as long as these things can be sent home, they can be exchanged for a family. Food, and the cigarettes that the other party had not finished smoking during his lifetime were the most popular German souvenirs in the trenches.Of course, more often than not, what was exchanged was the bullets fired by the German snipers on the opposite side.

But this kind of thing can't be banned at all, and not only will it not be banned, but it will also get the support of the commander of the position, both openly and secretly.Compared with those extraneous things, perhaps life is really the cheapest and least caring thing here.

"Aleutian, the statistics are over." Taking advantage of the break in the middle, Vanya approached the temporary commander of the 19th position, and Wei Ran, who deliberately came over, immediately straightened his ears.

"Not counting you and me, there are 57 people alive, including 6 children, the youngest is 13 years old, and they were all postmen in Mehri."

Seeing that Aleutian remained silent, Vanya paused and continued, "Not counting those children and you and me, there are 11 literate people among these people, including a veterinarian, a postman of the Army Group, a correspondent, and others. There are two other people like me. The remaining six are the gunner and deputy gunner of the anti-tank gun."

"What about the supplementary troops? Why haven't they arrived yet?" Aleushin asked, flipping through the notebook Vanya handed over.

Aleutian shook his head, "Except for the 18 surviving soldiers from the 8th position, there will be no additional troops for a short time, and we have to undertake the counterattack mission of the 18th position."

Aleutin frowned when he heard this, and after a full minute of silence, he said calmly, "Let the three gunners take five people to the No. 18 position to manipulate the two anti-tank guns. Use other weapons first, and immediately make up for the loss of the two cannons! Remind them, before the battle starts again, hurry up to restore the two cannons to combat effectiveness!"

"Understood!" Vanya agreed immediately.

"Let those two people go over to supervise them, and ask the remaining three deputy gunners to form a new gunner squad immediately, and also remind them that they must form combat effectiveness before the battle starts again."

The Aleutian company commander flicked his cigarette butt and finally added, "That's all, call all the other literate people over."

Vanya nodded, immediately took off the iron horn hanging from his waist, and started to gather according to the names on the book.

In less than five minutes, the three gunners left position 19 with five experienced veterans each, led by two soldiers with fierce faces.And Wei Ran, together with the other two, was called by Vanya to the Aleutian Company Commander.

"Let's introduce each other first"

Captain Aleutian let out a circle of cigarettes while talking, and this time even Wei Ran, who had never smoked, took one and took a deep breath, and then coughed uncontrollably.

"You start first"

Aleutian didn't care about Wei Ran's gaffe, and casually pointed at a man who looked at least in his forties.

The middle-aged man said awkwardly, "I'm Cyril, a local veterinarian in Karachi. I was recruited to be a doctor, but I don't have any medicine in hand, so I'm afraid I can't help much."

"I am Beshev, the communications soldier at Position 18," the young soldier next to the veterinarian Cyril introduced himself, "At present, the telephone line between us and the rear has been disconnected. Before the telephone line is reconnected, we can only pass human contact."

"Victor" Wei Ran, who was still coughing, said with difficulty, "The field post of the 6464 Army. The postman."

"If you don't smoke, don't waste these good things"

Aleutin took a cigarette from Wei Ran's hand and stuffed it into his mouth. After taking a sip, he asked, "Beshev, how long will it take for the telephone line to be connected? Besides, we have a radio station. ?"

After thinking for a moment, the young communications soldier Beshev replied, "If the rear is repaired at the same time as me, it will take at least two hours. As for the radio, there was one at position 18 before, but it was smashed by a collapsed pillar before dawn. It’s broken, I haven’t found the command post at position 19 yet.”

"The command post on the 19th is gone"

Aleutian waved his hand, turned to look at Wei Ran, "Are you familiar with the trench lines here?"

Wei Ran shook his head, and said with the same disappointment in the other party's disappointed eyes, "I'm not familiar with it. I was supposed to return to the other side with the letter from the Don River position last night."

"Oh! I remembered"

Aleutian suddenly realized, "Are you the postman who offered to help at the post office in Mehri last night?"

Wei Ran nodded immediately, "Yes, yes! It's me!"

"What else do you want?" Aleutian asked patiently.

"I will take pictures"

Wei Ran, who was determined to find a camera, subconsciously came up with an answer, and then hurriedly said before the other party could speak, "I can also read maps and topographic maps!"

“A little useful”

Vanya, who had been standing at the very edge, had a moderate voice, but it was just enough for Wei Ran and the Aleutian company commander in front of him to hear him clearly.

The Aleutian company commander turned to look at the veterinarian Cyril as if he didn't hear it, "Are you familiar with the trenches here?"

"familiar!"

The veterinarian Cyril replied confidently, "I have also participated in the excavation of these trenches, even if I close my eyes, I will not get lost."

"In this case, before Beshev fixes the phone, you and the six children will be responsible for communicating with the rear to convey combat orders, and by the way, help us bring back ammunition and supplies, and if you can find usable medicine, you will definitely bring them back. "

"No problem! No problem! Leave it to me!" Veterinarian Cyril replied excitedly.

"Commander Aleutian, what about me?" Wei Ran asked after him.

After pondering for a moment, Aleutian asked, "Do you still have any letter paper? Blank letter paper."

"Yes! Yes!"

Wei Ran hurriedly opened the canvas messenger bag. This messenger bag may not look ugly, but its waterproof performance is not bad, and because Wei Ran has been wearing a raincoat, the contents of the bag did not get wet.

The Aleutian company commander looked at the letter paper that Wei Ran took out, flicked the cigarette butts away and said, "Let's take advantage of the break time to organize everyone to write a letter to home!"

"no problem!"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already handed out a few sheets to the Aleutian company commander and the strong man named Vanya, but unexpectedly, the veterinarian Cyril on the side held down the wrist that had just been raised, and then cryptically said: Chao Weiran shook his head.

Seeing the latter looking at him suspiciously, the veterinarian Cyril didn't let go at all, until Captain Aleutian and that Vanya walked away, then explained in a low voice, "They don't need letter paper, and they won't need it in the future. Give them paper."

"Why?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"Both of them are Suka, Suka who came out of the labor correction camp and joined the army."

Cyril almost whispered into Wei Ran's ear, "They don't have any relatives to contact, even if they did, their letters would never be sent to the correctional camp."

　Thanks to Zuifeng for rewarding 1500 points

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(End of this chapter)