War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 407

"boom!"

When two gunshots almost coincided with each other sounded, the searchlights in the distance were instantly extinguished, and at the same time, someone near the anti-aircraft gun fell with his head up.

The two gunshots sounded like a signal, and before the two shell casings fell to the ground, the three machine guns erected around the trench opened fire one after another, covering the deadly anti-aircraft gun.Immediately afterwards, the women who were in charge of washing clothes or collecting wild fruits on weekdays also pulled the trigger on the targets selected in advance.

But the guerrillas, including Slava, Shula, and Wei Ran, took advantage of this moment to risk jumping out of the trenches and rushed over with their weapons.

Just at this time, a string of fire snakes that were extremely conspicuous in the night suddenly appeared on the top of the cab of the half-track truck full of German soldiers, and then, a machine gun on the other side of the trench stopped open fire.

Before everyone could react, the German machine guns also stopped.Boris, the old sniper hiding in the trench, pulled the trigger expressionlessly to withdraw a shell case, and after pushing in a new bullet, he shot a bullet again in the dark at the position of the anti-aircraft gun in his memory.

With the suppression of the trench, Wei Ran and the others narrowed the distance between them and the two half-track trucks to within [-] meters without any risk.

"Ula!"

As Slava yelled, the guerrillas who rushed up immediately jumped up from the prostrate state, and while shouting Ulla loudly, they began to charge with submachine guns or pistols.

Under this desperate style of play, Wei Ran only felt that the guerrillas around him were shot down one after another, but he didn't dare to stop at all.

At this point, the things learned at the Hongqi Forest Farm have long since become useless decorations. The only thing he can do now is to rush up at the fastest speed. As long as he hesitates, he may be left behind forever. here!
How can this be a guerrilla style of play? !

Wei Ran secretly scolded the guerrillas above, but he never pulled the trigger like them from the beginning to the end.And the distance between them and the two cars was only 70 meters.

At this time, in order to avoid accidental injury, the three machine guns on the other side of the trench could no longer provide them with much fire support, and the only thing they could do was continue to cover the anti-aircraft gun on the half-track truck with firepower.

But those guerrillas had already prepared to take out the grenades, rounded their arms in batches and threw them out.However, they were not the only ones who also threw grenades, as well as the German soldiers hiding behind the truck!
But after an explosion, Wei Ran only felt a wave of air rushing towards him!Immediately afterwards, he felt that he had jumped up into the air for a moment and fell on his back on the wheat field.

The severe humming in his ears, the burning pain on his face, and the sore and weak arms and severe pain in his thighs when he tried to get up twice, all these made his heart go cold!
The sound of explosions and firefights that can be said to be close at hand is still going on, but he can only lie on the wheat field, feeling the sound of the people around him stepping on the wheat field when they run by, feeling that someone has picked the wheat from his body. A Bobosha submachine gun that hadn't had time to fire a bullet, and then completely lost consciousness.

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Ran, who was in a coma, was the first to feel the jolt coming from his body. When he opened his eyes, he immediately found that he was lying on a stretcher with one head up and the other down, and at the same time, there was a sheet passing through him. Under his arms, he bound himself so tightly to the stretcher that he couldn't even sit up.

Looking back with difficulty, the first thing Wei Ran saw was a pile of horse dung just squeezed out of the horse's buttocks, and then the sledge piled up with various German weapons and equipment, and he was lying on a corner of the sledge .

And right in front of this sledge, there was actually a half-track armored vehicle towing a German Flak38 single-barreled anti-aircraft gun. Not only was the cargo box of this armored vehicle full of wounded people, but also many wooden boxes were piled up. At the same time, there were many men and women in ragged clothes.

Turning his head and looking at the direction of his toes, he saw two sledges that were also full of trophies or wounded.As for the back of the two sledges, a few women who were in charge of suppressing fire in the trenches could still be vaguely seen, carefully cleaning the ruts left on the ground by the faint light of kerosene lamps.

Finally, he looked at the two sides. The familiar and unfamiliar forest vegetation finally made him feel a little relieved.But then, he began to worry again, whether he had achieved the return mission of assisting the guerrillas in completing the ambush.

"you're awake?"

Hearing this, Wei Ran followed the sound and looked over, and then found a woman in a Soviet military uniform looking at him with concern on the side of the sledge.

"You are."

Wei Ran looked at the other party suspiciously. He was sure that Teacher Jaina was the only woman in military uniform in the entire guerrilla camp. He was even more sure that this female soldier did not participate in the ambush on the railway line.

"Sasha," the female soldier patted the medicine box on her shoulders and introduced herself, "I'm a doctor."

"It's Sasha again."

"What did you say?" the female doctor asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Wei Ran waved his hand with difficulty, "How is my situation?"

“Not too serious”

Dr. Sasha smiled and explained, "You should have been knocked out by the shock wave of the grenade explosion, but you're lucky. It's just a dislocated right arm and a piece of shrapnel embedded in your thigh. I've already treated it for you. Well, as long as you rest for a while, you can recover."

Looking at his right hand, Wei Ran tried to move it a bit, then frowned. Just by the soreness in his bones and the faintly visible footprints under his armpit, he knew that this Sasha made joints for himself. When resetting, it must be the most brutal method.

Stretching his head to look at the torn trouser leg and the gauze wrapped around his thigh, he tried to move his right leg. Although the pain was unavoidable and the wound felt tight, it seemed that he would not be disabled.

"Where is Slava?" Wei Ran looked at the other party and continued to ask, "How is their situation?"

Sasha pointed to the half-track truck in front, "They took down the German camp across the railway, rescued some people from there, and brought back some weapons, but there are many people who were not rescued, and most of them were killed by the Germans." People were killed with grenades."

"Where are Slava and the others?" Wei Ran continued to ask, "How long have I been in a coma?"

"less than two hours"

Sasha reassured, "Don't worry, they seized a lot of weapons, and now they are going to support the battlefield downstream of the railway line. With those weapons, there will be no accidents for them."

Hearing this, Wei Ran nodded silently and lay down on the stretcher again, but at this moment, his inner uneasiness became more and more serious.Speaking of which, he has been here for four or five days, but he has never seen the well that was filled with corpses from the beginning to the end.

Just at this time, the roar of the plane suddenly came from the night sky covered by treetops.The convoy that was advancing in the forest immediately moved closer to the tree, and the seized half-track truck immediately turned off its engine.

Less than 2 minutes before and after, several planes roared over the forest, followed by the unique whistle when the bomb landed.

Before everyone could react, a series of explosions occurred far away from them, and then the soaring flames even dyed the night sky red!

In Wei Ran's doubts, this team full of trophies and wounded walked through the forest for more than an hour.Finally, it stopped in a not-so-big forest glade.

What surprised Wei Ran was that many captured German vehicles were parked in this open space, ranging from half-track motorcycles to half-track trucks to all kinds of motorcycles, and even a No. 2 tank!
And these weapons and equipment hidden under the lush trees, without exception, are all camouflaged with dead branches and weeds, let alone invisible from the sky, even in the forest, if you don't get close, it is really difficult to find .

"These."

"We got it all"

Dr. Sasha explained in a flat tone, "Unfortunately, because of the lack of fuel, we can't use these things at all, and we can't use them in the forest, so we can only put them here temporarily."

While speaking, the half-track armored vehicle had already been driven under a lush oak tree, and some old people who were waiting here in advance immediately moved the wounded and trophies from the cargo box to the sledge , Then immediately covered the cut branches and weeds on it.

However, the single-barreled anti-aircraft gun and the supporting ammunition did not stay here, but were drawn by horses and continued along a creek densely covered with cobblestones.

This time it took less than half an hour to stop again, and then Wei Ran saw those acquaintances including Teacher Jaina and Ivan.

"Victor, are you injured?" Ivan, who was helping to carry the loot, exclaimed immediately after discovering Wei Ran. Immediately afterwards, his friends also surrounded him.

"It's okay, I'm fine"

Wei Ran patted the boat cap on the opponent's head, "Why did you come here?"

Ivan turned his head and glanced at Dr. Sasha who was helping the wounded to check the wounds, and then explained, "This is our backup camp. When Uncle Slava and the others need to fight the Germans, we will hide here. Compared with the previous camp, this place is located deeper in the forest, and we have dug some trenches around, so it is relatively safer."

Wei Ran let the other party help him untie the bed sheet that was strangling the creaking nest, stood up with the support of the other party, and continued to ask curiously, "Then why don't you usually live here?"

"It's too far outside the forest"

Ivan supported Wei Ran and said while walking towards the tent not far away, "If you go from here to the outside of the forest, it will take at least two or three hours. We can't be separated. If there is an accident, no one will be here. Know."

"Ivan, is there a well here?" Wei Ran asked abruptly.

"well?"

Ivan froze for a moment, raised his finger and pointed to a small pool not far away and said, "Who would dig a well in a place like this? The water there won't freeze even in winter."

"So it's not here." Wei Ran, who was still looking around at the last moment, muttered to himself, only feeling that the doubts in his heart were getting more and more.

(End of this chapter)