War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 330 The Encounter After the Shelling
Before the fog cleared, everyone found their positions in groups near the German artillery positions according to the previous plan.

After covering the cloak, Wei Ran raised his binoculars to look around.

At this time, the artillery observer Andre and the postman Revley are hiding in the fallen leaves under a certain pine tree only 100 meters away from him. It is the closest to the edge of the forest and has the best view. Just wait until the thick fog Disperse completely, and from there you can easily see the whole picture of the German artillery position outside the forest.

Farther away on the other side of Wei Ran, sniper Daniela and nurse Lano hid on a small high ground protruding from the edge of the forest, silently digging a bunker that could accommodate them with an engineering shovel.The position of the two of them can not only see part of the German positions, but also take into account the area around Andre.

But because they are too far forward, the two of them are also the easiest to expose. This point, whether they themselves or others, are well aware of it but powerless.

The ambush position of Wei Ran between the two groups of people can only be said to be good or bad. It is not as good as Andre and the others, and it is relatively safer than Daniela and the others. But more importantly, The gun in his hand was facing mainly from the direction they came from.

While everyone waited patiently, the fog inside and outside the forest gradually dissipated. Wei Ran, who had been digging trenches to pass the time, finally saw the German artillery positions outside the forest.

However, although a lot of gun emplacements have been dug in the position drawn close by the telescope, there are even some trucks parked sporadically around, and some things covered by camouflage nets are piled up on the ground, but they are looking for However, there are not many artillery pieces at all. What can be seen so far are only some small-caliber rapid-fire antiaircraft guns.

Where did the artillery go?
This is a question that pops up from everyone's heart at the same time, and this question is destined to find no answer in a short time.But on the other hand, last night they clearly watched the cannons being dragged by the locomotive drive to the vicinity from their eyes.

Could it be that the artillery has not been shipped yet?Wei Ran muttered to himself, and patiently continued to hold up the binoculars and wait for the turning point outside the forest.

At the same time, Andre, the artillery observer, has already started to measure and prepare for the angle and density of artillery strikes.For him, although there are not many artillery pieces in this position at the moment, since the preparations are so complete, it is only a matter of time before the artillery appears.

As for Daniela and Nurse Lano, the two of them were even less anxious. They wished that the Germans outside the forest would move more slowly, so that they could be more fully prepared and get along with each other longer.

Since the opponent's position was not set up yet, Wei Ran simply picked up the engineering shovel again and continued digging his own bunker to pass the time.

Thanks to the humid climate in the forest and the current season, it is not difficult to dig out the soil mixed with a lot of humus, but the dug out soil needs to be camouflaged to waste some time.

Although it was a bit troublesome, at around four o'clock in the afternoon, he still dug himself a foxhole that was level with his chest and could barely sit on his knees.

Even the excavated soil was not wasted, he piled it around to compact the cloak that covered the foxhole, and finally crawled to the depths of the forest, collected enough fallen leaves to carefully cover the excavated soil Stacked parapets and cloaks that serve as "roofs".

He didn't go in until the outline of the one-person bunker was completely blurred, and raised the binoculars again, while chewing the jerky that Joya gave them, while observing the artillery positions outside the forest.

It's a pity that there are still only those anti-aircraft guns in this position at this time, and there is even only one of those trucks left.

On the other hand, not far from the right side of the artillery position, there were more sidecar motorcycles and half-track motorcycles carrying bundles of telephone wires around the wooden houses.And the latest antennas on the top of these wooden houses also indicate that it may be activated at any time.

In the almost tormented waiting, the time passed by every minute and every second. After the sunset was completely blocked by the tree canopy again, the fog gradually filled the air, but the artillery positions outside the forest did not change at all from the beginning to the end. Even No German search party had appeared in the direction they had come from.

Although this situation is a bit unexpected, it is undoubtedly good news for them.However, compared to the calm on their side, Company Commander Valentin, who was in the Soviet position a few kilometers away, became more and more uneasy.

In just two or three days, the Germans who were more than two hundred meters away seemed to have no idea of ​​going to war. They used the radio to invite them to sing every three to five times throughout the day. Even last night, there were still a few A bold German soldier secretly threw two harmonicas and a pack of canned meat outside their trench, and then blatantly notified them by radio that it was a gift for the singer.

Such an abnormal behavior made him and political commissar Sergey more vigilant, but he had no clue at all. Since Wei Ran and others left, the artillery observer Andrei has not sent any news by radio.At this time, they didn't know whether the other party had found the German artillery positions, or even whether they were still alive.

And all these turning points appeared in the second half of the night.

The first to discover the anomaly was Revley, who was on duty at night. He was the first to notice a large number of car lights in the German artillery position outside the forest.

Although it was impossible to see what the other party was doing because of the fog, everyone who was awakened by him knew that the artillery they were waiting for was probably already in place!
"Do you want to touch it and have a look?" the postman Raffle asked first.

"No, or it won't work at all."

Andre was the first to refuse, "Even if they set up their artillery positions today, at least they will wait until the fog clears before they start firing. The distance between our position and theirs is only 200 meters. They If you don’t fire blindly under this kind of visibility, it will only lose the surprise value of this artillery position.”

"Andre, when do you think they will open fire?" Daniela asked in a low voice.

"Tomorrow morning" Andre categorically guessed, "when the fog starts to clear tomorrow morning."

"Then let's continue to wait." Daniela made a decisive decision.

"Everyone be more vigilant tonight, they may enter the forest to expand the scope of patrol." Andre continued after hesitating for a moment, "Raffle, take me to the forest now and find a slightly higher position. First use the radio to notify Comrade Company Commander Valentin to get them ready, and also let the first aid station in the forest move quickly."

"Come with me, I know a good place." Revley stood up while talking.

"Shall we follow?" Wei Ran asked.

"No, we'll be back soon." Andre picked up the submachine gun at his feet, tightened the radio station on his shoulder, "Don't worry! There will be no danger."

Watching Revley and Andre leave on a horse-drawn sledge, Wei Ran, Daniela and Nurse Lano looked at each other, and went back to their bunkers to wait patiently. , using a telescope to vigilantly observe the fog-shrouded artillery positions outside the forest.

After more than an hour, Andre and Revley returned one after another, and hid themselves in the fallen leaves again.

This night, for the five of them, there was only boring waiting, but it was not easy for the others.

After receiving Andre's radio message, the company commander Valentin and others who stood firm on the ground immediately moved the first aid station to the depths of the birch forest by nearly two kilometers overnight, and at the same time conducted another raid on the air defense bunkers in the field. Even at the insistence of Dr. Pasha, an additional air-raid bunker was allocated to him, his other two doctors who had just been added recently, and several nurses.

Similarly, the lame Joya also relied on the sledge pulled by the pregnant donkey and the two rags tied to the tail of the sledge to lead the pursuers farther and farther. As for the two girls who asked him to take care of them, They have also been arranged in a more secluded shack in the depths of the forest, each with a weapon they can barely use, anxiously waiting for Joya to go back, or Raffle and others to go back and reunite.

At [-]:[-] in the morning, the sun's rays gradually emerged from the horizon, and the lights of the German artillery positions outside the forest finally went out one after another. At the same time, in the gradually dissipating fog, some vague figures of German artillery and artillery silhouettes appeared.

"Finally the wait"

Wei Ran muttered something to himself, turned his head to look in the direction behind him, saw that there were no pursuers, and immediately took out the anti-tank gun from the metal book.

Since getting this big guy, he hasn't been used seriously. This time, no matter what, he has to take a shot to enjoy himself!

Gently replaced the magazine full of high-explosive bombs and the matching muzzle brake, Wei Ran aimed the circular anti-aircraft sight in the optical sight at the chimneys on the edge of the position that were emitting smoke. Wooden house, and after moving slowly, it finally settled on the glass window of one of the wooden houses facing the direction of oneself.

Gently twisting the hoe under the butt to lock the shooting angle, Wei Ran unhurriedly shook the release ratchet, and pushed a thick bullet into the chamber with a crisp click.

While everyone waited patiently, as the fog became thinner and thinner, they finally saw the 150mm SFH18 howitzers on the positions outside the forest!

Once these frightening big guys fire, not to mention that the bunkers of Valentin's company commander's position may not be able to resist at all, I am afraid that all Soviet positions within a radius of 10 kilometers will suffer accordingly!

Artillery observer Andre was obviously aware of this too. At this moment, he didn't even care about whether the German radio detection vehicles circling around the edge of the forest would find them, so he decisively turned on the radio and started calling the Soviet artillery.

While everyone was waiting anxiously, those German radio detection vehicles were the first to discover something was wrong, but before they could confirm the source of the signal, Andre had already turned off the radio first.

Seeing that there were already patrols leading wolf dogs or driving half-track motorcycles from the camp near the position to the surrounding forest, everyone's hearts were also raised.

While everyone waited patiently, less than 5 minutes before and after, the rumbling noise of shells and rockets tearing the air began to appear in the sky, followed by Katyusha rockets, the size of which was unclear. The caliber shells hit the position less than 500 meters away from the German artillery positions.

Andre slammed the dirt in front of him fiercely, gritted his teeth and turned on the radio again to guide the artillerymen in the Soviet position to correct the shooting angle.

At the same time, the artillerymen in the German position also realized that this position had been discovered, and immediately gathered the artillery that had just been deployed overnight, and prepared to be towed away by the truck parked not far away at the fastest speed.

However, the time required for the artillery to move its position is directly proportional to the caliber of the artillery. For these big guys with a caliber of 150mm, the weight of a single gun mount may be able to catch up with the weight of a full set of small-caliber artillery. The Soviet artillery, who had been waiting for Andre to send back the observation results before, corrected the shooting speed of the elements, which undoubtedly far exceeded the speed of local artillery transfer.

Soon, the second wave of artillery shells crossed the positions of both sides, and slammed into the open space between the German artillery positions and the forest where Wei Ran and others were hiding, and also covered nearly a quarter of the artillery positions.

Although the shelling this time had little success, it happened to help them deal with the patrol soldiers who were getting closer.At the same time, Wei Ran also used the cover of the explosion to aim at the target he had chosen long ago, and pulled the trigger of the anti-tank gun continuously!

After two consecutive 20mm caliber high-explosive bombs flew a full distance of 800 meters, they smashed into the glass window about one and a half meters square with accuracy. It is already considered high, but how much damage the two brothers can cause in the wooden house with the antenna overhead, I am afraid that only the people in the wooden house will know in a short time.

Not long after the addicted Wei Ran put away the anti-tank gun, the third wave of artillery fire called by Andre finally hit the right position accurately.

Although the distance from the German artillery position is more than one kilometer, the sound of the explosion of the shells with huge energy and the dense Katyusha rockets, as well as the circles of shock waves visible to the naked eye caused by the shells that exploded , still let Wei Ran and others hiding at the edge of the forest have the illusion that their hearts will be torn at any time!

Compared with their delusion, the small wooden house that was hit by two 20mm high-explosive bombs not long ago, and the wooden houses abandoned by the surrounding forestry workers, after undergoing the third round of justice from heaven, are literally The top was torn to pieces.

Now, in the field of vision of the telescope in Wei Ran's hand, the wooden boards that served as the foundations of those wooden houses have been blown away to nowhere.

"Calibre is justice."

Wei Ran muttered something to himself, moved the binoculars to look in Andre's direction, and then found that the other party was still talking with the radio.

Soon, the fourth round of artillery fire arrived as scheduled. The location of this attack seemed to be farther away, and because of the terrain and the occlusion of the pine trees in front, Wei Ran couldn't see it at all, but the explosion that occurred after this shelling , but it was even more terrifying than before, so much so that he had the illusion of an earthquake!

Frightened, he glanced at the puff of smoke rising into the sky in the distance, and when Wei Ran looked at Andre again, he found that he had already stood up and left the hiding place with his back bent, and Raffles was facing him at this time. Beckoning.

Quickly jumping out of the bunker, Wei Ran grabbed the camouflage cloak and draped it over his shoulders, and ran towards the harness horse tied deep in the forest.

The speed of Daniela and Nurse Lano was also not slow, and they completed the artillery guidance task so easily, and there were no pursuers to surround them, which was unbelievably good news for them.At the very least, this also means that they may survive, or possibly live longer.

After a group of five gathered at the somewhat frightened draft horse, Raffle easily calmed the draft horse with a handful of corn grains added with salt, and then beckoned everyone to get on the sledge and run into the depths of the forest.

It wasn't until they could no longer see the boundary line between the forest and the open space behind them that Raffle sighed fortunately, "I really didn't expect that we would be able to complete the mission alive."

"Yeah, it's good to be alive." Nurse Lano put aside the sniper rifle in her hand, took a sip from the water bottle containing vodka around her waist, handed it to Daniela, and leaned into the other's arms .

"Andre, where did the artillery you called for the last time explode?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Ammo dump"

Andre took a sip of the vodka from the kettle that Daniela handed over, "There is more soil than when we first saw the artillery positions, I guess they must have piled up the ammunition there , So the excuse of missing a hit called another artillery cover, I didn’t expect it to really make my bet right.”

Having said that, Andre raised the kettle again and took a big gulp of vodka, then handed it to Ravry who was driving the car.

"Where are we going now?" Revley asked after also taking a sip of vodka, "Look for a place to hide first, or find a way to return to our position?"

Andre thought for a while and said, "Find a place to hide first, maybe we will have a new mission soon."

"Then let's go to Joya's site and repair it." Revley suggested, "His other shack is not far from here, and it can be found within an hour at most."

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Raffle returned the kettle to Lano, shook the reins immediately, and started to run, yelling at the draft horse.

"This animal is really good." Nurse Lano took the water bottle and hung it on her waist again in admiration. "I was worried that it would be frightened or bark when the shells exploded."

Revley sighed and explained, "After the Germans occupied our village, Joya deafened the ears of this horse and his other donkey, and asked a veterinarian to do a minor operation on his throat. It has become dumb, and now it can no longer make any sound, but there is no way to do it, if not, Joya would have been caught by the Germans long ago."

Everyone was stunned when they heard the words, and Daniela shook his head and sighed, "When a war starts, even the animals will suffer."

Nurse Lano, leaning on the former's arms, murmured, "Even people suffer, let alone animals."

Andrei lay down on the sledge and closed his bloodshot eyes, "Yes, if Moscow is really occupied by the Germans, our situation will not be much better than that of this animal."

"I don't know when this war will end." Raffles also muttered, while shaking the reins much more gently.

After riding this sledge in the dense pine forest for more than an hour, Raffle tightened the reins and reminded in a low voice, "The situation is not right! There is the sound of an engine!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately turned over and jumped off the sledge, each hid behind a pine tree, observing the surrounding environment vigilantly, and Raffle also skillfully comforted the draft horse and lay down on the ground again.

"Revri, how far is it from here to Joya's shack?" Daniela asked in a low voice.

"It's very close," Raffle said, pointing to the raised terrain not far away, "Cross over there and you'll be there."

Daniela looked at the direction the former was pointing at, listened for a moment and then said in a low voice, "The sound of the engine is coming from another direction, Raffle, go and see if there is anything unusual about Joya's shack. Let's block here, if Joya is over there, take them to hide first."

"Be careful," Revley said, about to stand up.

"Andre, you go too."

After a short pause, Daniela said with difficulty, "Revri, if necessary, protect Andre first, he is more important than everyone else!"

"I, I understand! I will protect him!" After Raffle finished speaking, he immediately motioned Andre to sit on the sledge again.

Artillery observer Andre looked at Daniela and Nurse Lano, and then at Wei Ran, gritted his teeth and jumped on the sledge, letting the postman Raffle pull the quiet draft horse away from the spot.

"Don't shoot unless necessary"

Daniela gave a final reminder, and then led Lano to hide behind a fallen dead tree, raised the binoculars and looked in the direction of the engine.

At the same time, Wei Ran has also hid behind a pine tree with a diameter of more than one meter, and took out the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle with a scope from the metal book.

Less than 10 minutes before and after, two half-track motorcycles appeared at the end of the three people's field of vision, and on the engine cooling covers of the two half-track motorcycles, there was a machine gun on each!
This is not over yet, followed by more than a dozen German soldiers walking out of the bushes with Mauser rifles or submachine guns. A wolfhound that begins to growl or howl.

"Bang! Bang!"

Almost at the same time when Wei Ran was thinking about whether to fire, Daniela and Nurse Lano had already pulled the trigger in no particular order!
After the gunshots that sounded almost simultaneously, the drivers of the two leading half-track motorcycles tilted their heads, and a cloud of blood burst out of their faces!
The out-of-control half-track motorcycle continued to move forward driven by the engine, but Daniela, who was using a semi-automatic rifle, had already pulled the trigger for the second time with Wei Ran in no particular order!
After another almost simultaneous gunshot, the two machine gunners kneeling on the back of the half-track fell down one after another.And Lano's subsequent shot also accurately killed a wolfhound that had spotted them!

It was also from this shot that the rest of the German soldiers immediately started to fight back, and even the only wolf dog that was still alive was released from the leash, and rushed towards the direction of the three of them!

"boom!"

Danila risked a third shot and hit the wolfhound, who was no less threatening than the Germans holding submachine guns, and immediately retreated behind the dead wood where he was hiding.

So far, the advantages of the three of them have all been exhausted, and the dozen or so German soldiers suppressed them with fierce submachine guns, and they couldn't even raise their heads, and at the same time they were closing the distance little by little.

In this dense red pine forest, the effective field of vision is no more than 50 meters, and once they get within [-] meters, the opponent can easily kill them with a few grenades thrown at random!
　I'm too lazy to think about the chapter name, so I updated it two-in-one
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(End of this chapter)