War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 25 If you can live until the end of the war

The No. 19 position covered by the pouring rain fell into a rare quiet, damp and dark bunker. Wei Ran was surrounded by several Soviet soldiers of different ages, racking his brains to combine his knowledge of Soviet history and his previous experience. With his travel experience, he patiently answered various questions raised by the soldiers around him.

He even didn't mind using the excuse of "imagining" to help them "imagine" the beautiful world after the war.After all, these soldiers are likely to be flattened by the Germans along with Position 19 in a few days. Even if they are lucky enough to survive, the probability of surviving until the Soviets enter Berlin is not as high as winning the lottery the difference.

"If only it's what you say"

The veterinarian Cyril tapped his pipe that was about to burn out, "If you really can live until the end of the war, it doesn't matter even if everything is not as good as Victor's wild guess at that time."

A soldier sitting next to Cyril leaned back on the log that served as a wall, "Yeah, if I can really live until the end of the war, I will definitely be a postman like Victor and go to every city .”

"You will get lost in the trenches, and you plan to be a postman?"

A person who was acquainted with the soldier joked happily, "Maybe when you deliver the letter, the mailbox at the recipient's door will be covered with black mushrooms."

Loud laughter came from the low and damp bunker, and Aleutian, who was standing in the shadow outside the bunker door, raised his head, let the dense raindrops hit his face, and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear , "It would be great if it was true to what you said, and it would be great if we could really live until the end of the war."

The taciturn Vanya patted the former on the shoulder lightly, silently holding the extinguished flashlight, walked quickly past the door of the bunker, and walked to the anti-tank artillery position not far away.

Wiping the rain on his face vigorously, Captain Aleutian did not disturb the soldiers listening to and telling stories in the bunker, and turned silently to the mortar position on the other side of the trench.

The torrential rain raged throughout the night, and the accumulated water in the trenches once again submerged their ankles. The recruits temporarily organized by Vanya vigorously waved their engineering shovels and pickaxes, giving the five vital counter-attacks to the ground. Tanks and two 120mm heavy mortars stepped up to build a waterproof wall.

In the bunker, Wei Ran, who had told the "future story" for most of the night, finally closed his eyes and fell asleep amidst the sound of the sleep-aiding rain.

"Da da da!"

The sound of heavy machine gun firing, which was enough to wake everyone up, suddenly sounded, and the foot-long muzzle flame was particularly conspicuous in the unweakened rain.But then, the sound of machine gun fire, which was like an alarm bell, stopped abruptly with a scream, followed by the sound of submachine gun fire that was almost continuous!

Suddenly awakened, Wei Ran rolled subconsciously, and then fell into the stagnant water enough to submerge him with a "crash".

Struggling to get up and wipe the sewage from his face, Wei Ran, who was soaked all over his body, looked around with the oil lamp hanging above his head. At some point, the rainwater enough to cover his knees had accumulated in the bunker, and even the bunker used as a bed On the ammunition box, besides the awakened soldiers, there were also a few drenched black mice.

But outside the bunker, the piercing gunshots, shouts, and grenade explosions intertwined so loudly that the heart almost lost its rhythm.

After groping to find the flashlight that he kept beside him before going to bed to light it up, Wei Ran first touched the two anti-tank magazines that were still in his pocket, and then picked up the Mosin Nagant rifle that was on the ammunition box .

Following the surrounding soldiers out of the bunker, the sound of firefighting in the rain became clearer, but the sky above was still so dark that you couldn't see your fingers.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long at all. A flare was shot into the night sky amidst the sound of a dull cannon, and then the entire battlefield was completely illuminated.

Struggling to climb up the trench, Wei Ran carefully poked his head out behind the sandbag that served as a cover, but what he saw later made him feel chills from the back of his head all the way to his tailbone.

At some point, under the cover of night and heavy rain, at least a hundred heavily armed Germans had cut a dozen or so holes in the barbed wire that were big enough for tanks to drive through, and the straight-line distance from the barbed wire to the trench line was even 100 Not even meters!

Almost at the moment when the flares came into play, several machine guns at position 19 fired at the same time, and the fire snakes mixed with tracer bullets instantly suppressed the German soldiers who were almost close to their faces in the bomb crater filled with water.

But then, the German artillery began to show its power, and dense shells smashed into the vicinity of Position 19. Even one of the machine gun fire points was hit, and even the guns and people were blown to pieces in the rain.

But even so, the rest of the firepower points and the soldiers lying on the muddy trenches did not stop shooting, and tried their best to wipe out all the sneak attacking German soldiers near the barbed wire.

And as the No. 19 side stopped firing first, the artillery from the opposite side also tacitly stopped roaring.

"Where's our artillery observer?!" Captain Aleutian shouted and asked, sticking to the trench.

"I'm here!" The observer who came to position 19 with signal soldier Beshev last night immediately ran to the side of the Aleutian company commander.

"What's your name?" Aleutian asked aloud.

"Kaze!" the artillery spotter yelled in response.

"When will our artillery be able to fight back?"

"Not enough distance!"

Kaze shouted in response, "The artillery positions on the west bank have been blown up by German planes, and the artillery positions on the east bank are too far away to reach them!"

Aleutian punched angrily on the trench wall dripping with mud, "Vanya! Organize a group of people to repair the barbed wire immediately! By the way, plant a few more mines!"

"You guys come with me!"

Vanya pointed at a few people with the beam of the flashlight at random, but when the beam inadvertently hit the face of the person next to Wei Ran, it went out very quickly, and then it turned on again after a certain distance and jumped to the next person face.

Wei Ran, who was about to get up, was stunned. Among the people Vanya accidentally selected just now were the soldier who chased him to ask how big the Red Square was before going to bed and the soldier who wanted to be a postman after the war. !

He even remembered that the stubble-faced soldier had a five-year-old son, and he even remembered that the soldier who wanted to be a postman seemed to be a road idiot, to the point where he would get lost in the trenches!But he didn't remember the other party's name at all.

But those soldiers who were selected had no complaints. They each received mines and barbed wire, immediately turned over the trenches, crawled forward and disappeared into the manic rain.

Not long after, two grenade explosions and a faint scream came from the direction of the barbed wire.

　The next chapter will be updated later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)