War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 336 They defended Rzhev with their lives

Chapter 336 They defended Rzhev with their lives

In the rush of thoughts, the off-road vehicle driven by Wei Ran has already left Lufger on the opposite side of the Volga River far behind.The scenery on both sides of the road, which is not considered flat, has also changed from cultivated land and factory buildings to dense pine forests.

Finally, when the satellite navigation indicated that he had reached the closest location to his destination, Wei Ran, who had been distracted almost all the way, slowly stepped on the brakes on the road passing through the forest.

Parking the car on the side of the road, Wei Ran looked around the surrounding environment, took out the sunflowers and vodka bought in Lezhev, then took out a handheld GPS to turn it on, and walked into the covered area Coniferous forest with a thin layer of snow.

Before he could take a few steps, he had already matched this place with his experience not long ago.Perhaps it was a coincidence or God's will, but this was actually the location where the group of them separated from the injured Joya and decided to continue searching for the German artillery position.

Scanning the distance between himself and the destination on the GPS, Wei Ran looked around vigilantly, and after confirming that there was no one there, he waved his hand and took out the white-painted half-track motorcycle from the metal book.

Raising his legs and sitting in the driver's seat, and skillfully starting the engine, Wei Ran drove this old antique slowly through the dense coniferous forest amidst the roar of the engine.

Just judging from the remaining knife cut marks and the healed bark on the surrounding pine trees, there may be people here to harvest pine resin every year. This is good news, at least you don???t have to worry about accidentally crushing landmines left over from World War II. such dangerous objects.

Observing the surrounding environment all the way, Wei Ran drove a half-track motorcycle across a frozen stream, and finally stopped near the wreckage of a wooden house that had already collapsed, leaving only a stone-built fireplace and a chimney.

On the snow-covered ground around this ruined wooden house, except for a string of footprints left by some unknown animals, there are no traces of human activities at all.Obviously, no one has been here for a long time.

Putting away the stalled half-track motorcycle, Wei Ran circled around the wreckage of the wooden house, and soon saw a slightly crooked stone tombstone under a pine tree not far from the house.

Taking out the seldom-used anti-Japanese broadsword from the metal notebook, Wei Ran cut some pine branches to use as a broom to clean up the snow around the tombstone, and then cleared away the overgrown dry weeds, finally finally I can see clearly the words chiseled on the tombstone.

On this not-so-big tombstone, only the three names "Revli", "Danila" and "Lano" are engraved, and under these three names that don't even have surnames, it seems that there are still engraved wearing something.

Using the tip of a knife to dig out the frozen soil around the lower edge of the tombstone, a line of simple Russian clearly recorded everything these three people had done???they defended Rzhev with their lives.

Sighing, Wei Ran put away the anti-Japanese sword in his hand, took out a bottle of cold vodka and three cups from his backpack, filled them up one by one, and placed them in front of this long-forgotten tombstone, and then Take out the bunch of sunflowers that are still blooming and put them on the side of the tombstone.

Standing silently in front of the tombstone for a while, Wei Ran took out his mobile phone to take a photo, and walked towards the wooden house not far away with only a few wreckage left.

The only thing left in this house that is still intact is the stone fireplace.In the snow-covered hearth, there is a rusty German helmet supported by three bricks. This is the only relic from World War II, and may already be the only memory of that war in this wooden house.

Without moving the helmet, let alone taking out the half-track motorcycle, Wei Ran followed the track marks left when he came, and walked step by step towards the road built in the Soviet era outside the forest.

After leaving this quiet and peaceful forest for more than an hour, Wei Ran got into the car and rested for a while, then immediately turned around and drove towards Moscow.

It was not beyond his expectation to find the cemetery of the three of Daniela. Next, let's see what is waiting for him at the address in Moscow provided by the metal book.

He rushed all the way back to Rzhev to fill up the car, Wei Ran didn't waste too much time, and immediately continued to drive in the direction of Moscow.

Following the address provided in the metal book, he stepped on the brakes at the end of an old-looking street.

Just in front of the left front of the car, not far from the opposite side of the road, there is a not-so-large storefront. On the slightly faded billboard, various business categories including photography, printing, and hearse rental are listed.On the opposite side of it, directly in front of Wei Ran, is a hospital that looks as old as this street.

On the side of the door, besides an old Lada car produced in the Soviet era, there is also a black Iveco van that was wiped exceptionally clean.

It's just that at this time, there is a husky raised by someone who doesn't know who is sticking out one leg, using the tire of the Iveco as a small tree that needs to be fertilized, and it may freeze soon after pouring it into beautiful amber urine.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran summoned the metal book, took out the photo album with the cloak and boots, randomly selected a photo negative of a soldier, carefully wrapped it with a newspaper found in the car, and put it in his pocket inside.

Pushing open the car door, after Wei Ran crossed the road, he unhurriedly pushed open the glass door of the store.

"Picture or print? Or rent a car?" A girl who seemed to be in her twenties at most stopped playing the accordion and asked.

Seeing the old man sitting on the sofa not far away, Wei Ran took out a package wrapped in newspaper from his pocket with a normal expression, and asked politely, "I want to develop photos, film photos, you are here"

"no problem"

The girl put down the accordion and asked bluntly, "How do you want to wash it? The regular size can be printed directly on the computer, and each sheet costs 500 rubles. If the size is too large, you may need to pay extra. If you use the traditional method to wash it, you need to check the condition of the film. It is billed separately from the selected photo paper."

"Just use the traditional method, how long will it take to get it?" Wei Ran asked while pinching the paper bag, "I want the fastest way."

"Half an hour." After the girl finished speaking, she turned to look at the old guy beside her, "No problem, grandpa?"

"Let me see the negatives first," the old guy said with a smile. While speaking, he took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket and put them on slowly.

"No problem." Wei Ran passed the paper bag in his hand to the other party, and at the same time looked at this small shop with an area of ??????at most 50 square meters without any trace.

It is not much different from the common printing shops in China. Various examples and samples are hung on the three walls around this small shop, including several portrait frames with Gorbachev's head as a model.

Just when Wei Ran was thinking about the blood relationship between the old man and the young man and the Tonya who had the title of "artist" on the Lezhev battlefield, the old man who seemed to be over sixty years old turned off the lamp and said, "This negative is not badly preserved, young man, what size do you want to print?"

"Normal size is fine," Wei Ran quickly replied.

"Rinsing costs a thousand rubles"

The old man offered a price that was a little expensive but not too expensive, and then said, "Of course, if you are willing to pay an extra thousand rubles, you can watch the process of developing photos up close next to me."

This old man can still do business.
Wei Ran muttered to himself with a weird expression, and then happily took out two big tickets and handed them to the girl behind the bar at the door, who was playing "Taking a Gun Card" on the accordion.

The latter just pointed to the bar with his chin, but did not stop playing.Seeing this, Wei Ran simply put the money on the bar, and used the water glass on the table to help hold down a corner, and then followed the old man through a wooden door and walked into a dark room that was no more than ten square meters in size.

Compared with the ordinary "print shop" outside, the walls around this darkroom are covered with large-scale black-and-white photos.

Some of these photos are of unknown battlefields, Soviet street scenes with the characteristics of the times, and Baiyang missiles displayed during the Red Square military parade, even in the largest and only color photo , It was the night of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the precious picture of the Soviet flag lowering from the top of the Kremlin!
"In the Soviet era, I was a reporter." The old man said calmly, "Almost half of the photos here were taken when I was a reporter."

"What about the other half?" Wei Ran asked.

The old man closed the door and replied while preparing the potions needed to develop the photos, "The other half was taken by my father. He is a real photographer."

"It's really well done"

Wei Ran said sincerely, this is not his compliment. Compared with his photography skills, which is easy to return to vulgarity halfway through his life, any photo displayed in this darkroom can be called a "work".

"A good shot is just because you are close enough and you press the shutter enough times."

The old man made preparations, and fixed the negatives specially selected by Wei Ran on the old-fashioned enlarger, and then he even began to explain in detail the principles and precautions of the steps of developing photos.From this point of view alone, the two thousand rubles just paid have been earned back.

Although the technique of developing old photos by himself is not bad, this old man who has never even introduced himself by name is definitely considered a professional.By the way, Wei Ran also learned some tricks that I don't know if I will use them in the future.

A short half an hour passed by, and when the old man took down the photo that Wei Ran had hung on the rope not long ago, he subconsciously frowned, "Why do I seem to have seen this photo before?"

(End of this chapter)

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