War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 288 Property of the German Navy

With the help of the tall and fat captain Martin, two gasoline barrels with a capacity of 200 liters were lifted onto the sled.

By the way, the captain, who didn't seem to like to talk very much, also put a few big crabs frozen into ice cubes, some fruits and vegetables on their sleigh cart, and even the four reindeer each got some fodder and grains and beans.

Taking advantage of the reindeer burying most of their heads in the tin bucket to eat, Leo and the captain Martin each lit a cigarette, and helped the reindeer clean the snow with an iron brush on the cold and windy pier while using Norwegian What are you talking about.Wei Ran also made a gesture of urinating, and got into the warm cabin on his own,
Seeing that Leo and Martin behind him didn't intend to stop him at all, he also secretly heaved a sigh of relief, went into the small bathroom to urinate, and took a glance at the only few cabins by the way. walked out.

After the reindeer had eaten the forage in the tin bucket, Leo put a few pairs of skis on the sleigh, and the two yelled at the reindeer and turned around and ran back with the overloaded sleigh.Behind them, the fat captain Martin spat in disdain, turned around and got into the warm cabin.

Because of the heavy fuel on the sleigh, their speed slowed down a lot on the way back. Every now and then, they even had to gather four reindeer on one sled and wait until they were dragged out of the snow den before they could continue their slow journey. go ahead.

Therefore, when they rushed back to the valley on the easternmost side of Bear Island after walking more than 20 kilometers, it had been more than three hours since they set off.

Jonas, who had been standing by the tent, waited until the three young men worked together to lift the two heavy oil barrels off the sleigh, then secretly put away a pistol in his pocket, and helped them build Tent, while looking for Wei Ran, he inquired about the situation on the fishing boat.

Naturally, Wei Ran knew what this old man was worried about, so he happily gave a brief description of the situation on board.

At this point, Professor Jonas was relieved. After the two tents were set up, he immediately led them to the rock wall that might hide the entrance of the warehouse. The entrance to the buried cave, all we have to do is find the entrance."

After listening to Professor Jonas, Eric picked up the snow shovel without thinking, and vigorously threw a large piece of snow behind him.With such an idiot taking the lead, this time even Professor Jonas followed suit with the shovel.

Under the busyness of the four people, the heavy snow was thrown behind them, and the originally buried foot of the mountain was also illuminated by the kerosene lamp behind the four people.

Panting, Eric poked the shovel on the thick snow, sat down and complained, "If we knew this, we should bring a small bulldozer over here. When will this dig? I'm afraid we will find those meteorological data I already missed the graduation ceremony."

"Why didn't you say bring a snowplow?"

Professor Jonas, who was also sweating profusely, sat down next to each other and joked as he unbuttoned his heavy winter clothes, "You can get precious polar meteorological data just by digging some snow, Eric, you should be satisfied. "

"Look at Victor"

Eric raised his finger and pointed at Wei Ran, "Isn't he tired? Why is he as physically strong as my cousin?"

"It's because our physical strength is too weak." Professor Jonas shook his head helplessly. "Let Leo and Victor also take a rest. Later, we will dig in groups in two directions, so maybe we can go faster."

Hearing this, Eric quickly yelled a few words to his cousin Leo in Norwegian, and then switched to German to stop Wei Ran.

When the two men with the best physical strength stopped, Eric walked to the side of the kerosene lamp, poured a cup of hot coffee for everyone from the thermos, and told Professor Jonas' arrangement during the break .

Naturally, Leo had no objections, and Wei Ran, who was already paddling, had no objections either.After everyone finished drinking a cup of coffee, Eric took the initiative to form a group with his cousin Leo, chose the direction on the left, and continued digging while chatting in Norwegian, which only the two brothers could understand.

Seeing this, Professor Jonas opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything after all. He called Wei Ran to go in another direction and continue digging close to the foot of the mountain.

After digging so busy for a full two or three hours, even Wei Ran, who had been slacking off all this time, was already sweating on his forehead, Eric and the others uttered an exclamation.

Wei Ran and Professor Jonas, who glanced behind him from time to time, looked at each other, turned around, picked up the kerosene lamp, and ran towards the direction where Eric and Leo were in charge.

"Found it?" Professor Jonas asked, shouting as he ran.

"did not find"

Eric said and kicked a black stone next to his feet, "But we dug up coking coal, and there seems to be a lot of coking coal buried in the snow ahead."

"Coking coal?"

Professor Jonas moved the kerosene lamp in his hand forward, and said pleasantly, "It seems that the opening of the warehouse should be near here."

Before everyone could say anything, Leo, who hadn't stopped, pointed at the rock wall with the shovel in his hand and said something.

Everyone leaned over again and found a rusty but still firmly fixed piton on the mountain wall.There is even a small piece of electric wire left on the piton.

This little discovery was more useful than any encouragement, even Wei Ran stopped being lazy, and continued to wave the snow shovel along with the paralyzed crowd, quickly clearing the snow that seemed to be forever digging.

After more than half an hour, they dug out a pile of coked coal that was as high as a person and piled up against the rock wall to form a tomb. Next to this pile of coked coal, about one meter above the ground, there was A hole that was tightly blocked by large pieces of coking coal and even covered with a thick layer of ice.

The diameter of this semicircular hole is only a little over one meter, and there is a small hole on the side about the height of the top of the head, which is only the size of a bowl. A rusty iron chimney protrudes from this small hole.

After successfully discovering the entrance of the cave, the four of them rested for half an hour against the snowdrift not far away. After recovering their physical strength, Leo signaled everyone to stay away, and then took out the pistol that was always on his waist , Aim at the hole and pull the trigger again and again.

The .45 caliber bullets slammed into one of the coking coals with huge energy. Seeing this, Wei Ran simply pulled out the 1911 pistol he got on the ship, and shot at the coking coals and ice blocks blocking the entrance of the hole. Jonas, from the beginning to the end, did not take out the pistol he carried with him.

When Wei Ran and Leo each emptied two magazines, the originally blocked hole had been smashed into pieces of coking coal by bullets, revealing an iron door with white paint behind it.

Seeing this, Professor Jonas didn't stop him, but waited until Wei Ran and Leo emptied their last magazine, and then he slowly stopped them.

Leo glanced at the rusty padlock on the iron door, put away the pistol with some insatiable desire, then pulled out the ice pick that had been hanging on his belt, and smashed it open in two or three strokes.

Just now, Wei Ran deliberately emptied the magazine, and Wei Ran, who was watching with cold eyes, saw Jonas quickly put the key he had just taken out back into his pocket, turned around with a suppressed smile, and stood calmly in the distance stand.

I don't know whether Leo, who knocked off the padlock, was out of caution or out of the professional ethics of a guide. Not only did he not push open the iron door with bullet holes remaining, he even pulled his cousin Eric aside to watch him That meant, apparently, that Professor Jonas was going to be the first to go in and have a look.

On the other hand, Professor Jonas didn't care. He pushed open the iron door, waited for a while, and walked in with a kerosene lamp.

After Leo and Eric walked into the iron gate, Wei Ran, who was deliberately left at the end, picked up the kerosene lamp on the snowdrift beside him, and slowly bent down and got into the low hole.

Compared with the narrow entrance, this cave is spacious enough, not only can you stand upright, but it is also a full two meters wide.

In addition, there are two consecutive 90-degree bends inside the cave, and each bend is equipped with a wooden door nailed with animal skins.And above the heads of each door, there is actually a miner's lamp protected by a metal cover.

After passing through these two wooden doors, the first thing Wei Ran saw was a cast iron stove.The smoke pipe of this stove goes all the way up, and after reaching the highest point, it bends 90 degrees and extends to the outside.

It is a pity that maybe the summer snowmelt flowed in along the chimney, not only the underside of the astonishingly large cast iron stove turned into a lump of ice, but even a layer of ice formed on the rocky ground around it.

And beside the cast iron stove, there is a small gasoline generator covered with dust.Continuing to look inside, there are tables placed side by side.

These tables were all covered with a layer of canvas. After Jonas, who was walking in the front, lifted the canvases one by one, Wei Ran found that besides two sets of different models, the high-power In addition to the radio station, there are two sets of Enigma cipher machines in wooden boxes.

On other tables, office supplies such as pencils, pens, paper, typewriters, and brass slide rules are neatly arranged.

In addition, opposite the row of wooden tables against the wall is a row of iron shelves, which are full of folders next to each other.Meanwhile, Jonas and Eric were excitedly pulling out a file folder from the shelf and flipping through the contents quickly.

As for Leo and Wei Ran, they focused on the drawers of that row of desks.These two people, no, perhaps it is more accurate to say that these four people are like thieves who sneaked into a rich man's house, rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for things they are interested in.

"Oh ho ho ho!"

Leo suddenly let out a cheer, grinned and said something in Norwegian, while showing everyone the thick stack of pornographic magazines he just dug out from the drawer, as well as a black lingerie and stockings .

"Professor, were there any women working here at that time?" Eric asked in surprise.

"Stupid child, if there are women here, what Leo can find is not pornographic magazines." Professor Jonas shook his head helplessly, and murmured in a slightly lower voice, "I hope it wasn't left by my father."

"What should that be?" Eric asked inexplicably.

"Rubber products and birth control pills, maybe."

Wei Ran threw back a few World War II German marks that he had just dug out from the drawer, "Maybe there are also things like the weapons used in duels when fighting with other male colleagues for female colleagues."

"Can you be more serious?" Eric reluctantly stuffed the folder in his hand back to its original position.

"What Victor said is probably true." Professor Jonas echoed with a smile, and greeted after walking a few steps inside with a kerosene lamp, "You two come here quickly, we seem to have some unexpected gains. "

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Eric hurried forward a few steps, and then saw that in the innermost side of the cave, apart from a locked iron door, on the last table against the wall, there was a There is a crate similar to the size of a later 24-inch suitcase.

What's more special is that there is a seal on the wooden box to remind that it is the property of the German Navy in World War II!

(End of this chapter)