War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 242 The Italian Aries

After returning to his studio in Volgograd, Wei Ran took a short rest for a day, and devoted all his energy to finding clues about the broken oil barrel.

Trying to decipher the random combination of letters and numbers on the oil barrel is tantamount to daydreaming, otherwise, the archaeologist named Herbert would not have found his head.

However, according to the troop badge on the oil barrel, he can carefully study the combat experience of the 15th Armored Division of the German Wehrmacht in World War II, so as to lay a foundation in advance for entering the battlefield related to that oil barrel.

Compared with the Eastern Front, the North African battlefield is almost like a stepmother.And such an evaluation can be said to be appropriate, whether it is placed in Germany during World War II or in the history class taught by Professor Alexei himself.

In short, Wei Ran doesn’t know much about the North African battlefield. Even Professor Alexei can only tell the timing of some key battles and their impact on the entire war situation at that time.

Fortunately, the historical records of this armored division are relatively detailed.Simply put, after the 15th Division was sent to North Africa, it participated in almost all the battles.

From the Battle of Tobruk and the Battle of Gubi Wells in 1941, to the Battle of Gachara in 1942 and even the Second Battle of Alamein, and after retreating to Tunisia, in the Battle of Kasserin Pass in 1943, this army can almost be found. Troop shadows.

It took a full three days to sort out all the large and small battles that the 15th National Defense Armored Division participated in, and memorized the key nodes and final results of each battle. Wei Ran finally completed entering the battlefield all preparatory work.

Carrying the broken oil drum into the bedroom, Wei Ran took a few deep breaths after closing the door, and then decisively took out the metal book.

With the sound of flipping the pages, the metal book stopped on the blank page 13, and the metal pen started to work as usual, drawing a huge wellhead on the light yellow paper, and a hole drawn from the bottom of the well by a rope. Pull up the oil barrel.

Character identity: Victor, a soldier of the 132nd Transport Company
Returning missions: Escape from British scout vehicles, assist Italian tanker Carlo Parolo in finding water, lead a birthday party and take at least one group photo.

Language Mission: Rescue Italian Tankers

Italy?Why did you go to Italy?
Amidst Wei Ran's uncertain guesses, intense white light filled his field of vision, and his body felt waves of jolts.Gradually, the roar of the engine came to my ears.

When his vision returned to normal, he saw clearly that he was sitting on a three-wheeled motorcycle filled with 20-liter standard oil drums.But the most terrible thing is that less than 10 meters away from the front, there is a stone mountain about one floor high and stretching for twenty to thirty meters, and my hand is tightly twisting the three-wheeled The throttle of the motorcycle!

Hastily released the accelerator, and at the same time slammed on the brake, the somewhat overloaded tricycle slid forward for a distance of one or two meters before stopping with difficulty.

"This broken book will punish me every time!"

Looking at the big rock with a height of one person that was almost close to the front of the car, Wei Ran cursed secretly, got off the three-wheeled motorcycle, and carefully looked at the surrounding situation.

As far as the eye can see, there are patches of desert, sporadic stone mountains and large and small sand dunes.There was only a small half of the setting sun behind him, and the other half was completely blocked by the raised terrain in the distance.

Looking at the three-wheeled motorcycle that almost hit the mountain with him just now, Wei Ran couldn't help but smile. This tricycle is not a three-wheeled sidecar that is common on the Eastern Front battlefield, but is used to pull it with the Chinese countryside in later generations. Gasoline tricycles with people and goods are not much different.

In addition to the oil drums, there are several wooden ammunition boxes and a large box of tin cans in the cargo box of this tricycle.

Finally, look at the clothes on his body, with a submachine gun on his shoulder, a leather bullet bag and two big red grenades hanging diagonally on his chest.

What he wears on his head is a standard German M35 steel helmet. On the side of the helmet, there is also a conspicuous red shield-shaped badge. In the middle of this badge is a sharp white sword. On the leaves of the tree, under the hilt of the sword, there is also the word "132".

Just from the badge on the helmet, I knew that what I joined this time was really the Italian camp in the North African battlefield, and it was also the 132nd Aries Armored Division that had rarely won a battle in the Italian camp!

This will not be the second battle of Alamein, will it?

Wei Ran could no longer laugh when he looked at the helmet that had been taken off. When he inquired about the combat experience of the German 15th Armored Division, he paid special attention to this Italian unit that beat the British.He remembered clearly that the Italian Aries armored division was destroyed in the second battle of Alamein!
Just as he was putting on his helmet again, there was a sudden explosion from the other side of the stone pile that could barely be called a mountain.Wei Ran subconsciously squatted down, then quickly stood up, and rushed to the top of the mountain with a submachine gun in his hand.

Hiding behind a rock, he raised his head cautiously, and then he saw that on the other side of the rocky mountain, there was a wheeled armored vehicle that was still being martyred, and on both sides of it, there was a small one on each side. Poor little Italian L3 tank.

However, the condition of the two tanks was not very good. One of them was lying on the ground on its side, and a tanker was dragging his companion from the inside out.

The other tank had already emitted thick smoke, and there was a screaming tank soldier lying on the top of the battle room.He raised his head and looked into the distance. At the end of his line of sight, on the far horizon, there were two cars driving towards the firefight scene down the mountain with billowing smoke and dust.

Before he had time to think about it, Wei Ran turned around and ran down the stone mountain, driving a three-wheeled motorcycle around the stone mountain and stopped beside the tank that was emitting heavy smoke.

After such a short period of time, faint flames could already be seen inside the tank under the tank soldier lying on the hatch, and his wailing became even more miserable under the high temperature.

Dragging the opponent's shoulders to lift him out of the tank, Wei Ran used sand to cover the flames on the opponent's legs before noticing that one of his arms had been dislocated, and the other arm was dislocated from the position of the biceps, obviously There was a fracture.

Ignoring what the other party said at all, Wei Ran first restored the dislocated arm to its original shape amidst the other party's screams, then pointed to the three-wheeled motorcycle next to him, while he himself ran to another tank lying on its side , Helping the tanker with a big bag on his forehead pull out another unconscious soldier.

Almost at the moment when the two of them lifted the unconscious tanker onto the three-wheeled motorcycle, the familiar sense of brain shutdown struck again. Wei Ran felt his eyes go dark, and then he sat down on the ground.

"Are you okay?" the tanker with a bulging forehead asked with concern.

"It's okay"

Wei Ran, who finally understood what the other party was saying, waved his hand, stood up staggeringly with the help of the other party, pointed to the steaming smoke and dust not far away, and urged in the Italian he just learned, "Hurry up, get in the car .”

Hearing this, the tanker quickly climbed onto the cargo tank, holding a wounded man with one hand to prevent them from falling.At the same time, Wei Ran also twisted the accelerator to increase the speed of the three-wheeled motorcycle to the highest speed.

As the soldier with a broken arm wailed more and more weakly, Wei Ran drove the heavily overloaded three-wheeled motorcycle around the stone mountain, temporarily blocking the sight of the pursuers.Then choose places covered by sand dunes or low mountains to run.

"The one with the bag on the head, what's your name?" Wei Ran asked with a loud voice.

"Panetone, what about you?"

"Victor"

Wei Ran took off the submachine gun on his body and threw it to the other party, "Check to see if the bullets in the ammunition box are useful, if not, throw them away, by the way, leave the ammunition box, and throw half of the oil barrel out too! "

"Okay!" Panetto took the submachine gun and carried it on his shoulder, looked at the mark on the ammunition box, then pulled out a dagger from his waist, pried open the box cover, and dumped the bullets inside.

After emptying the only few ammunition boxes in the cargo box, Panetone picked up oil drums one after another, opened the lids and threw them outside.

With the weight reduced, the speed of the three-wheeled motorcycle has also been significantly increased. Wei Ran, who did not dare to turn on the light at all, crossed several sand dunes and a stone mountain in a row until the sun was completely blocked by the horizon, and then stepped on the brakes .

It wasn't until this time that he noticed that the tanker who had been unconscious before had woken up, but the one with the broken arm had fallen into a coma.

"What's his name?" Wei Ran looked at the tanker with a broken arm and asked.

"Pierre" stretched out his hand to Wei Ran who was unconscious before, "I am Carlo, we are both scouts of the 32nd Tank Regiment, thank you for saving us earlier."

Are you Carlo?

Wei Ran glanced at the distinctive mustache on the other's lips, reached out and shook his hand, "I'm from the 132nd Transportation Company."

After the two got to know each other, Panettone who was on the side said worriedly, "Pierre's arm is broken, and he needs an operation as soon as possible."

"Let me try." Wei Ran pointed to the unconscious Pierre and said, "Both of you hold him down."

"You're going to have an operation here?" Carlo asked in surprise, "I've never heard of anyone in the transport company performing an operation."

"I don't know there is a hospital or a professional doctor near here," Wei Ranji said in a bachelor's manner.

Carlo and Panettone looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and hugged Pierre's armpit as Wei Ran requested, while the other held his burnt legs.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran touched the broken part of the opponent through the skin, and then grabbed the broken arm and pulled it out under the horrified eyes of the two, while pushing hard with the other hand at the broken place.

Under the stimulation of severe pain, Pierre, who was originally unconscious, woke up instantly, but before he could scream, Carlo, who was hugging him, covered his mouth.

Wei Ran touched the fractured area, seeing that there was still some misalignment, he immediately repeated the action without saying hello.During Pierre's screams and struggles, he aligned the broken bone stubble.

"Panetone, take apart the ammunition box and pass me the board." Wei Ran said while supporting the fracture.

Hearing this, Panetone hurriedly took down the wooden box in the cargo box, and smashed it with the butt of his gun to dismantle four three-finger-wide wooden boards.

"Cloth" Wei Ran continued to make requests. These should have been prepared before the bone setting, but it was his first time after all. Although he was taught the bone setting skills by the notebook, he didn't have much experience in these "peripheral services".

Panettone swiftly took off the shirt inside and tore it into long strips and handed it to Wei Ran, who took it, wrapped the wooden board, fixed Pierre's arm, and then helped him hang his hand around his neck .

　Sorry, the company is working overtime, and the promise to update during the day has been broken. I just coded a chapter and read it first.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)