War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 243 Lost
When night enveloped the desolate desert, the temperature, which was not considered warm, suddenly dropped below zero.

In a bunker next to the foot of the mountain, Carlo skillfully filled several empty lunch boxes with dry yellow sand, and then poured fuel into them.While Panettone carried the oil barrel a little farther, he had already thrown a lit match into the lunch box.

Immediately, balls of constantly beating flames steamed out of the lunch box, providing much-needed warmth to the people sitting around.

Everyone hurriedly put the opened cans on the burning flames, and Carlo asked the question he asked not long ago again, "Victor, you really don't know where this is?"

"I really do not know"

Wei Ran replied helplessly, through the insinuations during the chat just now, he had already confirmed that he was indeed at the end of the second Battle of Guppy Wells, or more precisely, on the night of December 1941th, 12, when the Italian First 4 Aries Armored Division, under the order of Rommel, rushed to the rescue of Gubijing on the day!

Before Wei Ran met Carlo and the others, they had already been intercepted by the British, and Carlo and the others were the scouts at the outermost edge of the battlefield and at the forefront.

Although Wei Ran rescued the three of them, but also because of his panic, the three of them didn't realize that they had lost their way until they were getting ready for dinner.

"We have to find a way to get back as soon as possible."

Carlo said worriedly, "It's okay if we run to the rear, but if we run to the rear or flank of the British, even if the battle at Gubijing is over, we may not be much safer."

"It's a big deal to surrender." Panettone said indifferently, "Maybe we can drink red wine in the British territory."

Pierre, who had a splint on his arm, licked his lips and said, "Even if there is no red wine, there is olive oil, it is better to have a piece of white bread."

"But now we only have these stinky canned tuna." Carlo tapped the skin of the can with his fork helplessly. "Of course, there is also Mussolini's butt that can never be eaten."

“I almost forgot the taste of pasta”

Pane went to the campfire and gathered together, "It's been half a month in a row, and what I have received are either canned tuna or canned sardines."

"I got biscuits for half a month," Pierre said with some nostalgia, "but I was lucky enough to get a can of tomatoes. I originally planned to eat them together if I could get pasta after this battle. Pity."

"several"

Wei Ran, who had been holding back his silence, shook his water bottle, "Compared to pasta, should we care about drinking water?"

"Don't worry," Carlo reassured optimistically, "We'll be able to drink water when we go back tomorrow, it's nothing overnight."

"I hope." Wei Ran responded with a strange expression. The return mission this time included finding water. According to the urine property of the metal book, it might not be easy for them to replenish fresh water.

While everyone was chatting, the tin cans on the bonfire also gave off heat amidst the rattle.Wei Ran took a mouthful of canned beef with the title of "Mussolini's butt" and put it in his mouth to taste it.

To his surprise, this kind of canned food is not unpalatable except that it is not salty enough, and the taste is not much different from the starchy and cheap canned luncheon meat that I used to eat when I was in high school. At most, it is more loose and greasy on the palate.

Curiously, Wei Ran picked up a piece of hot tuna meat, and before it was delivered to his mouth, Wei Ran smelled a strong fishy smell.Trying to take a bite, the more Wei Ran chewed, the more disgusting he became, and finally he couldn't swallow it, so he just spit it out.

"You guys who are lucky to be transported are definitely not used to these things." Panetto poked a piece of tuna meat into his mouth, chewing and joking with Wei Ran, who almost couldn't help retching.

Wei Ran grinned in embarrassment, and honestly poked a piece of beef can again. However, even though he had just spit out the fish, the stench like a biochemical weapon still lingered, even after eating it. The taste has also changed.

Completely lost his appetite by these two, Wei Ran simply got up and said, "I'll go to the top of the mountain to see, lest the British guys catch up."

Under Panetton's undisguised teasing smile, Wei Ran left the sandpit and climbed up the adjacent stone mountain, then chose a place with a leeward wind, and began to dig things out of the metal book.

To his surprise and joy, this time the anti-tank gun and the medical box were finally able to be taken out, but the semi-automatic rifle, his own gun, and even the food box were not able to be taken out!

"Since the book changed to a metal cover, why are there more restrictions?"

Wei Ran played with the Rollei double-lens reflex camera in the protective case and muttered to himself, the camera can be taken out, but the film that was loaded in it before was gone again, but he clearly remembered that the last time he came back from the Baiyangdian battlefield He clearly remembered that the film that was put in was still there.

"According to previous experience, next time we will meet someone with a camera?" Wei Ran muttered to himself, put away the camera in his hand and the anti-tank gun beside him, and then looked around with the binoculars.

"It's broken!" Wei Ran frowned, just in the direction they came from, there were several beams of dim car lights bouncing back and forth on the undulating terrain!

"Put out the fire and get in the car!" Wei Ran put away the binoculars, turned and shouted down the mountain, "There seems to be a car behind us!"

Hearing this, Carlo reacted the fastest, picked up the hot can and put it aside, while Panetone, who was next to him, pushed the surrounding yellow sand with his shoes to bury the newly lit bonfire .

"What's the situation now?" Carlo asked Wei Ran in a low voice.

"It's getting closer!" Wei Ran ran down the short hill, "We must leave here as soon as possible, the other party has at least four or five cars!"

"go!"

Carlo poked the last piece of beef with a fork and stuffed it into his mouth. Before he even had time to dig out the lunch box under the yellow sand, he helped Pierre, who was inconvenient in his legs and feet, walk to the tricycle above the sand pit.

After the three of them got into the car, Wei Ran, who ran down the mountain, started his motorcycle and asked, "Where are we going?"

"Go south!"

Carlo said without thinking, "Their patrol focus is not in the south, and as far as I know, the 101st Division should be in the south of us."

Wei Ran looked up at the stars in the sky, and determined the direction with the help of the Big Dipper. He didn't even dare to turn on the headlights, let alone hit the accelerator, and started slowly away from the short mountain where he was hiding.

In the cargo container behind him, Panettone and Pierre, who was the most seriously injured, stared at the left and right directions, while Carlo, who was holding a submachine gun, watched behind him vigilantly.

Almost at the same time that Wei Ran was driving a three-wheeled motorcycle around a sand dune, Carlo also saw the flashing car lights at the end of his sight.

"Hurry up!" Carlo urged without looking back.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately turned the accelerator to the bottom.Without daring to stop for a moment, they headed towards the south direction. After running like this for two or three hours, as the temperature got lower and lower, the desert gradually blew violently.

This is quite good news, at least their three unique ruts can be covered up to some extent, but the bad news is that Pierre has developed a high fever from nowhere.

"Hide behind the sand dune in front!" Carlo shouted at Wei Ran against the wind mixed with a lot of fine sand.

Wei Ran, who had already put on the goggles, didn't dare to open his mouth at all, raised his hand as a signal, and then turned the handlebars to stop on the leeward side of the sand dunes.

"Why are those british guys chasing us?" Wei Ran asked in bewilderment after he extinguished the engine.

"Why else?"

Panetto took off his clothes and covered Pierre, and at the same time said as a matter of course, "The three-wheeled motorcycle you drive is the most transport company, and they must be chasing you to find the transport company and destroy our logistics. supply."

"Find the transportation company?" Wei Ran shook his head, "I'm afraid we don't even know where we are now."

"We'll think about these things after dawn, if we haven't been buried in the sand." Carlo jumped off the cargo bucket while talking, "I'll go to the dune to watch, you guys find a way to dig a sand under the three-wheeled motorcycle Get out."

"Let me come." Wei Ran said first, "Panetone, go to the sand dune in front and see if there are any fire lights around or the 101st division that Carlo mentioned."

Panetone nodded upon hearing this, and limped towards another sand dune not far away.

It wasn't until he began to climb up the sand dunes step by step, that Wei Ran reached out and touched Pierre's hot forehead and the large burns on his legs, and then took out the medical box under the cover of night, and found it inside. Syringe, gave him a shot of penicillin as quickly as possible.

Putting away the medical box again, Wei Ran took out a wooden slat from the cargo bed, randomly dug a shallow hole under the truck bed, and then helped Pierre into it.

Almost on the front and rear feet, Panetone also limped back against the wind, half-kneeling on the side of the cargo bucket and said, "There is nothing in front of you, except for the sand dunes, which are mountains, and you can't see them clearly at any distance. .”

"Can you recognize where we are?" Wei Ran asked while covering his mouth.

The former shook his head when he heard the words, and replied while burying his body in the sand that was still warm, "Carlo and I have never been here, but I guess it should not be too far from the 101st Division. Let's listen carefully tonight. Then, if there is the sound of firefighting around, maybe you can find your way back by following the sound."

"we can only do this"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he hurriedly imitated the other party, put his head under the cargo bed of the three-wheeled motorcycle, and then buried his limbs as much as possible in the sand that had been exposed to the sun all day, trying to keep his body warm.

After staying up like this for most of the night, the gust of wind finally stopped completely. The people who had been frozen for a long time dug a shallow hole in the sand, poured some fuel into it, and started a fire with difficulty. Build a bonfire.

Roasted by the constantly jumping flames, everyone's bodies gradually warmed up, and at the same time, the sky gradually turned pale, but what made them desperate was that not only did the rut marks when they came disappear together with the enemy, but also the whole night , none of them heard any movement of firefights around them!

(End of this chapter)