War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 489 The Captive Riot Under the Snowy Night
When the vision returned to normal, Wei Ran immediately noticed that he was crowded with a group of ragged people on the cargo bed of a truck, and not far from him was sitting a man with a runny nose and two The young man with his big teeth constantly shaking, at this time he was covering a tattered Soviet Budyonny hat on his head with his hands full of frostbite.

Next to this young man was a middle-aged man in his forties. On the thin clothes of this middle-aged man, we could still see whip marks mixed with blood.

In his arms was a severely shedding Soviet Shapka winter hat, and the boy's feet were curled up in the hat at this moment.

Around these two people, other people's condition is not good either. Some of them put their hands into a Soviet Red Army padded jacket with cotton exposed, and some of them got one or even half of their trouser legs. I cut it open and wrapped it around my chilblained feet, and then carefully tied it tightly with cloth strips I found from nowhere.

Looking up at the gorgeous aurora in the night sky, Wei Ran looked down at his attire, each of his feet was wrapped with an unknown animal skin.The clothes on her body were not only thin but also torn.When the cold wind blows over, there will be a layer of goose bumps immediately, followed by uncontrollable shivering.

Looking outside the car, there are dense coniferous forests on both sides. From time to time, there will be trucks or cars driving hard on the snow-covered road.

Just when he was fascinated by watching, the truck stopped with a creak, and before he could react, the people around him had already stuffed their sleeves, trousers, or hats into their pockets very quickly. crotch.

Soon, two German soldiers came over from the cab, smashed the cargo bucket with the butt of their submachine guns, and shouted for everyone to get off the car.

As the crowd jumped out of the truck, the two soldiers immediately yelled that the crowd should be divided into groups of four or five.

Seeing this, Wei Ran risked the price of a gun butt on his shoulder, and squeezed into the line of the two men with hats hidden in their arms.

Soon, when the teams were distributed, one of the soldiers led them to another truck to collect picks and shovels.They drove them forward for another hundred meters, and together they cleaned up the gravel, ice and snow that had buried most of the road surface, as well as a pine tree as thick as a waist.

"Ding!"

Wei Ran swung his pickaxe lightly on the gravel mixed with ice and snow, and at the same time focused on the surrounding environment.

This place is located at a crossroads, and there is a not-so-high but extremely steep hill in the middle of the two roads. They are located at the fork on the right hand side. There is no end to the coniferous forest.

And what they were digging was the gravel, snow and the fallen pine tree that rolled down from the hill between the two roads and blocked most of the road.

"Ding!"

The pickaxe in Wei Ran's hand lightly tapped on the same stone for the second time, and then he found that the young man with the Budyonny hat in his arms touched himself with his elbow and winked behind him.

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't look back at all, he raised his pickaxe vigorously and smashed it hard at the joint between the stone and the surrounding snow.

"Ding!"

After a knocking sound that was louder than before, Wei Ran pried out a piece of gravel that was half the size of a washbasin, and the four people around him immediately helped move the gravel to the side, and then shoveled the snow. Put it into the basket and give it to the people around to carry it away.

When Wei Ran raised his pickaxe for the fourth time, two German soldiers with cigarettes in their hands happened to pass by them, leaving only the smell of nicotine mixed in the cold wind.

When the two soldiers walked away, Wei Ran found that the people around him were all relieved, and even the movements of their hands were perfunctory.

A moment later, a half-track motorcycle drove over from the front of the convoy.At the rear of the motorcycle, there were two German soldiers with cigarettes in their hands, and between them and the driver, a two-person chainsaw was fixed. On the hopper of the car, there are two backpacks, several barrels of oil, and a large roll of canvas that I don't know what to use.

Under Wei Ran's silent observation, the two German soldiers sitting at the rear of the car flicked their cigarette butts and started the chain saw, cutting off the crown of the pine tree with ease.The captive laborers waiting around immediately stepped forward, chopped off the branches with an ax and moved them aside, barely clearing a gap for trucks to pass through.

At this point, the long convoy began to move forward again, while Wei Ran and others continued to clear the gravel and snow blocking the road.

Instead, the two soldiers who operated the chainsaw re-attached the tools in their hands to the half-track motorcycle, and then beckoned the driver to the truck that was responsible for pulling the prisoners of war by the side of the road.Obviously, they wanted to wait for the captives to clean up the gravel and snow first, and then continue until the pine tree with only half of it left was not in danger of slipping and hurting people.

Soon, this long convoy passed through the temporarily cleared intersection, and there were only two trucks, a half-track motorcycle, less than ten German soldiers with weapons, and a group of trembling but Captives who had to work hard.

At this moment, even Wei Ran began to swing his pickaxe vigorously, because he knew that if he continued to spend here, nothing would happen to the Germans hiding in the cab, but they would definitely be killed. freeze to death.

Not to mention that this intersection is like a bellows. Not only is the cold wind getting more and more manic, but even the snowflakes floating above the head are getting bigger and bigger. On the contrary, the aurora that can be seen just now has completely disappeared.

I don't know how much time has passed, when Wei Ran, who was digging stones in the wind and snow, felt that his limbs were about to be frozen and he lost consciousness.A thin young man fell to his feet with a thud, shouting something tremblingly, and started tearing off the few clothes on his body.

Seeing this, Wei Ran sighed secretly. He knew that it was a sign of hypothermia and he was dying. If he could be warmed up at this time, he might be saved. Otherwise, the young man would be frozen to death soon.

Just at this moment, two gunshots suddenly came from the direction behind him!Before he could react, the captives around waved the tools in their hands and ran over in a swarm!
In the heavy snow of goose feathers flying all over the sky, the headlights that had just been turned on were smashed by the captives with the tools in their hands. Immediately afterwards, Wei Ran vaguely saw more than a dozen people surrounding the two trucks, crowding the two trucks like a zombie siege. The German soldiers in the cab pulled them out, frantically swiped their pickaxes on their faces, and scrambled to grab their clothes and weapons!

Immediately afterwards, it seemed that two captives climbed into the cab respectively, shouting words that Wei Ran could not understand.And those captives who were snatching the soldiers' clothes immediately dropped the tools in their hands and hurriedly climbed up the cargo bucket.

At this time, the young man with Budyonny's winter hat in his arms was about to rush over, but was dragged by the middle-aged man who had warmed his feet before and hid in the shadow of the pine tree.

Wei Ran glanced at the other two who were hiding in the shadows, and without hesitation pulled the young man who was about to freeze to death at his feet and followed them.

Under the watchful eyes of the six of them, the two trucks that had been robbed by the captives made a rough U-turn, one drove in the direction it came from, and the other turned into another fork in the road, and some smarter ones, Holding the stolen clothes and weapons, he ran into the forest on the left rear.

Until this time, the middle-aged man immediately pointed to the corpse of the German soldier who was left there and said something to the half-track motorcycle, and then ran out first.

He glanced at the rest of the people who ran out, and then at the young man at his feet who was still tearing his clothes.Wei Ran gritted his teeth, and took out the Soviet cloak and the pair of marching boots with foot wraps from the metal notebook.

Putting the cloak on the young man who was about to freeze to death, Wei Ran tore off the animal skin wrapped around his feet, wrapped the foot wraps with the fastest speed, and put on his boots.

However, after being busy for such a short time, he discovered that another half-track motorcycle with the same sled box was driving along the only road where no prisoners escaped!What's worse, the two people sitting behind the motorcycle have already raised their submachine guns!
At the critical moment, without thinking, Wei Ran took out the gun in the metal book, hid in the shadows, aimed at the three people in the car, and pulled the trigger again and again!

At the same time, among the remaining prisoners, the middle-aged man who seemed to be in the leading position had already picked up a Mauser rifle that was not taken away by the escaped prisoners and pulled the trigger!
The gunfire suppressed by the silencer in Wei Ran's hand, the gunshots from the Mauser rifle in the middle-aged man's hand, and the gunshots from the submachine guns in the hands of the two German soldiers sounded almost at the same time!

The brief firefight came to an abrupt end with the sudden appearance of a half-track motorcycle crashing into a pine tree on the side of the road. Wei Ran also sat on the buttocks of the man who had stopped tearing his clothes in the indescribable sense of brain failure. around young people.

In the blackness in front of his eyes, he watched the middle-aged man sit on the ground with his hands on his thighs, and watched him direct the three young people around him to rush towards the two half-track motorcycles that were left behind. .

After a while, Wei Ran took a breath trembling, and the indescribable feeling finally subsided, leaving only a little nausea like motion sickness.

"Why is it so serious this time?"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, shook his head vigorously, then put away his pistol and looked at the young man lying beside him. After a while, he had stopped struggling, and tried to put his fingers to his nostrils. Only then did he realize that the other party had stopped breathing.

Glancing at a half-track motorcycle that was driving towards him, Wei Ran put away the cloak covering the opponent's body as quickly as possible and stood up.

"Is he alright?" The young man with Budyonny's hat hidden in his arms came over on a half-track and greeted him. While speaking, he took out the broken hat from his arms and put it on his head.

"Dead, already dead." Wei Ran stood up staggeringly, and responded in the language he had just learned. Strange to say, the sequelae of his learning a new language this time seemed to be much more serious than the previous few times.

"Hurry up and get in the car." The middle-aged man sitting on the back of the motorcycle greeted while binding his thighs with the armed belt he picked up. "It won't take long for the Germans to catch up."

"Uncle Kang Tan, where are we going?" While talking, two other skinny men also drove the half-track that also had a cargo bed and a double chainsaw fixed on the hood.

"You are Kantan"

Just as Wei Ran was about to say something, the middle-aged man named Kang Tan first pointed to the pine tree not far away, then pointed to the coniferous forest on the right and said, "We're going north, but there Before, get some pine branches and tie them behind the cargo bucket, so as to cover up some traces. Hold on, everyone, it seems that the snowstorm is coming soon, and we have great hopes of escaping!"

(End of this chapter)