War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 515 Target Tomarovka

In the bumpy tank, Wei Ran grabbed a rope tied to the handle, bent down and re-locked the escape hatch of the tank chassis with difficulty. During this process, he was inevitably hit on the head several times.

Stepping on the fastened cover with his foot, Wei Ran leaned his head near the observation hole to observe the situation outside.

Although the observation hole is indeed not as thick as the second child, and the field of vision is not too large, it finally allowed Wei Ran to barely see the situation outside in the turbulence.

As far as the eye can see, apart from large areas of destroyed farmland and smoky forests, the most conspicuous thing is the tanks in front of them that are driving at a distance.

Lowering your head slightly, you can still vaguely see the planes fighting in the distant sky, and the smoke puff that appeared after the cannon hit the target.

Compared with these eye-catching scenes, the occasional ruins on the roadside have become the most inconspicuous existence.

Just as he was fascinated by looking outside, a German fighter jet fell from the sky while roaring with thick smoke, slammed into the farmland some distance away from them, and exploded a beautiful fireball.

At this moment, right in front of Wei Ran's line of sight, a tank that was about to climb over a slope suddenly exploded with sparks, and then, in a deafening explosion, the turret of that tank was also blown away It fell on the farmland.

"Avoid the gun!"

The commander behind Wei Ran yelled loudly, and at the same time, frantically tapped Vajim's left shoulder blade with the sole of his foot!
Before the words fell, Vajim, who was in charge of driving, immediately steered the tank to turn to the left!Under the huge inertia, Wei Ran was immediately slammed against the bulkhead, and at the same time let his sight leave the small and pitiful observation hole.

Almost at the same time when he sat up straight with difficulty, a flash of fire flashed through the narrow observation hole, and immediately after that, there was a low buzzing sound accompanied by a terrifying impact!

"Fuck!" Wei Ran subconsciously covered his ears and cursed.

At this moment, he only felt that his whole body was stuffed into a large subwoofer, and the buzzing sound spreading along the car made him feel that his heart had been slammed into the mouth by an invisible big hand!
What's more terrible is that the 9R radio station next to him also burst into sparks amidst the buzzing.

"Roman!" shouted Vajim, who was driving.

"Alive!" The commander behind Vajim responded, and then stepped on Vajim's left and right shoulder blades with both feet.

Vajim frantically accelerated the turning tank and rushed towards the not-so-large forest wreckage on the side!At the same time, he did not forget to continue shouting his name: "Agafon!"

"People and ammunition are fine!" The loader behind Wei Ran responded with a loud voice.

"Victor!" Vajim yelled out the name of the last person in the tank while stopping the tank under the command of Captain Roman's "foot language".

"Alive!" Wei Ran responded loudly, "But there seems to be something wrong with the radio station!"

What responded to Wei Ran was the noise that could not be ignored when the turret was turning at the back of his head, followed by a dull cannon sound!
"Dang bang"

As soon as the fired shell case hit the floor, the loader behind Wei Ran immediately stuffed a shell into it.

Until this time, the short-lived tank, under the skillful "foot language" command of the commander named Roman, and the violent driving of Vajim, accelerated again and drove towards the forest wreckage hiding the enemy on the edge of the mound. Wei Ran heard the clang of the breech block closing amidst the choking smell of gunpowder smoke.

As the distance got closer, Wei Ran vaguely saw a German No. 4 tank that seemed to have been hit on the track through the machine gun observation hole.

"crunch-"

Vajim drove the tank to an abrupt stop, and Wei Ran also watched helplessly as the camouflaged No. 4 tank turret began to turn towards them.

At the critical moment, Captain Roman finished aiming first, and fired a cannon at the side of the tank.

"boom!"

Amidst the deafening artillery sound, Wei Ran clearly saw a burst of sparks from the armor on the left side of the front of the German tank through the observation hole.Before he could react, another T-34 tank stopped not far away, aiming at that tank and firing a shell.

Amidst the rumbling sound of explosions, the No. 4 tank ambushing on the edge of the mound was blown away from the turret.

This broken exchange of fire seemed to signal the beginning of the battle. At that time, a dozen or so No. 4 tanks appeared one after another on the small high ground directly in front, ambushing the Soviet tanks by virtue of the geographical advantage.There were even two No. [-] tanks that seemed to have strayed into the wrong set!

"boom!"

The T-34 tank that was also firing just now was hit by shells from nowhere, but Captain Roman had already locked the turret first, and while Agafon was loading the shells, he directed Vajim to drive The tank started to go in circles!

With a distance of only a few hundred meters, perhaps the No. 34 artillery, which occupies the advantage of the high ground, can also easily destroy the T-[-], but only if these Soviet tanks stand there obediently.

On the contrary, as long as they run, apart from command and cooperation, the competition between the two sides is the rotation speed of the turret and the speed of the tank itself.

In terms of command and coordination, the T-34 with only four crew members has an inherent disadvantage, but its speed is much faster than the opponent. Although this advantage is almost filled because the small high ground occupied by the opponent, but in this area On the battlefield, the Soviet Union's T-34 clearly still has a numerical advantage!

On the other hand, Vajim's driving skills are indeed excellent. Although Wei Ran has been shaken by the huge inertia and bumps, in fact, no shells fell on their tank again.

Of course, no matter whether it was Vajim who was in charge of driving or Roman who was in charge of command, they obviously had no intention of escaping. shells.

Inside the tank filled with choking gunpowder smoke, Roman quickly tapped the back of Vajim's head with the tip of his boot, and the latter immediately pulled the lever to control the tank to accelerate back for a certain distance, waiting until the loader Agafon sent the shells into the barrel, Immediately stopped the tank.

Ben pointed to the barrel directly in front of him and moved slightly, Roman fired a cannonball decisively.At the same time, Wei Ran, who has been sticking his eyes to the observation hole, also clearly saw a German tank that had just fired two 300 meters ahead, and before he had time to move, he signed for it at the turret seat ring. Fire shells.

"Good job!"

Roman yelled, and directed Vajim with his feet as if stepping on a sewing machine, manipulating the tank to start changing positions again.And the loader behind Wei Ran immediately loaded a shell after the former locked the turret.

In the ensuing battle, Wei Ran acted as a spectator through the small observation hole like a spectator who bought the best position.

After the firefight lasted for more than half an hour, there were more than [-] tank wrecks under the mound, and only the last four of those German tanks remained.

But compared to rushing down from the high ground, it has become a luxury for them to retreat under the siege of many Soviet tanks.

The last few tanks were easily dealt with, and then the only remaining enemy on the small high ground was pulled out with the cooperation of the infantry who came from behind.The sudden exchange of fire finally stopped.

With a "creak", Vajim stopped the tank again under Roman's command, then pushed open the hatch of the driver's cab and stuck his head out.

"Come down and take a look!" Vajim retracted his head and said, "Victor's luck is really good."

Hearing this, Roman and the loader Agafon opened the hatch above their heads one after another, and then the loader left the turret with both hands, and then poked his head down and asked, "Victor, do you want to come out and take a look? "

"What's the matter?" Wei Ran's inquiry did not receive a response, but seeing that the other three had climbed out of their hatches, he immediately got up and got out of the tank.

It wasn't until he jumped out of the tank that he realized what had happened.Just on the edge of the heading machine gun shield, a bullet hole the size of a fist was particularly conspicuous, and the bullet hole even covered half of the machine gun shield.

Obviously, the shell that hit here was bounced away, otherwise Wei Ran's body would have been torn to pieces by this time.

Secretly pinching the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand, Wei Ran had time to observe the tank that saved his life.

Going around the three men who were urinating against the tank tracks, the first thing Wei Ran saw was the white number "29" on the left side of the turret, and on the right side of the turret, there was a sentence "In order to regain the Soviet Ukran ’ in white paint.

In addition, the turret of this tank still has a large number of remnants that are either covered by paint or obviously left by bullet marks from the battle just now.

"We should go!"

Roman said hello after fastening his belt, and then asked loudly, "Victor, is our radio broken?"

"It seems that it was damaged by the ricochet just now. I haven't had time to check it yet."

Wei Ran responded while looking at the other party.The driver named Roman was not tall, and besides the oil stains on his slender face, there was also a scar that was obviously caused by a burn.In addition, there are also a bravery medal and a military service medal on his chest.

"Vajim, remember to drive the tank a little bit later, and let Victor try to fix the radio." Roman had already climbed onto the tank while speaking.

"Leave it to me!" Vajim replied, wiping his face with a dirty towel.

"This is Vajim?"

Wei Ran glanced at the other party, muttering to himself as he drilled into the tank, just like what Mrs. Valentina described before entering the battle, this Vajim is not only short in stature, but also looks good among the Slavs. Not prominent, and his slightly limp gait when he walks is also very iconic.

In contrast, the image of the loader Agafon, who is also in his early 1.7 meters, is much better.

Although he was also wearing a dirty tank suit, it was still obvious that his figure was definitely comparable to that of a fitness trainer, and even that oily face was also handsome enough to be called handsome. Likewise, There is also a military medal pinned to his chest.

While Wei Ran sat firmly, Vajim had already started to drive the tank forward.At this time, Roman and Agafon were already busy re-stuffing the shell casings that had cooled down under their feet into the ammunition rack.

"Roman, where is our destination?" Wei Ran asked before starting to check the malfunctioning car radio.

"Tomarovka" Roman responded with a loud voice, and then asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Wei Ran waved his hand, and in his heart he already matched the place name with the Battle of Belgorod that took place in early August 1943.

"Is today the third or the fourth?" Wei Ran asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Of course No. [-]." Vajim, who was in charge of driving the tank, responded loudly, "What's the matter, Victor? Is today your birthday?"

"My birthday is still several months away." Wei Ran responded indiscriminately, and already had a general understanding of what was going to happen next.

Fumbling around on his body, Wei Ran took out a document. After flipping through it, Wei Ran became more and more sure that his role this time belonged to the 5th Tank Army under the 29th Guards Tank Army. One of Malovka's main tank units.

Trying to recall the historical content learned in professional courses, Vajim has also driven a tank to climb up the small highland just occupied by the German army.

Looking outside with the help of the narrow observation hole, Wei Ran put away his thoughts, dismantled the metal shell of the car radio during the bumps, and carefully inspected the situation inside.

"Can the radio station be repaired?" Roman bent down and asked loudly.

“Not so good”

Wei Ran shook his head, "Several electronic tubes were shattered, and the circuit board seems to have some problems due to a short circuit, unless we still have usable parts."

"Otherwise we can only communicate by semaphore as before?"

Ajiafeng, the loader behind Wei Ran, complained, "Why is this broken radio not as strong as my grandma's reading glasses?"

"It would be great if Victor survived," Roman said helplessly, "Just wait and see, maybe we will have a new radio station after we take down Tomarovka."

Agafon teased angrily, "Why don't you say that we will get a new tank after we take down Harkov?"

"Don't even think about new tanks"

Vajim responded for Roman, "But if you can really win Harkov, I can buy you a drink. Before I left Harkov, I buried a whole box of vodka in the yard of my house. "

"Come on Bavajim"

Agafon the loader immediately responded, "Two days ago, at about this time, you also said that before you and your wife left Belgorod, you hid under the floor of the house where you lived. A case of vodka. How long has the case of vodka gone from Belgorod to Kharkov?"

"Didn't it occur to you that they might be two boxes of vodka?" Vajim said triumphantly. "I even have a box of vodka hidden where I live in Voronezh."

"Where did you get so much vodka?" the driver Roman teased, "Could it be that you peed into the wine bottle while sleepwalking?!"

"What I'm saying is true!"

Vajim proudly showed off, "My wife is a cashier in the store, and I used to be a tractor driver, so our income is pretty good. The important thing is that she likes to drink as much as I do, and working in the store is always a good thing. It will be easier to buy alcohol than others. So every time we move, we will find a way to get a case of vodka first.”

Speaking of this, the pride in Vajim's tone turned into hatred, and he cursed loudly, "But those Germans who should be stuffed into the mule's asshole and have their necks cut off, every time they don't wait for us to finish drinking Forced us to move again. After the last move before I joined the Army, we didn't have enough savings to buy us a case of wine!"

"A cashier is an enviable job"

Ajiafeng looked jealous, "I really don't understand, your child is about to be born, why is there no girl looking at me? Even if it's not a cashier."

"don't worry"

Roman lit a Mohe cigarette, and said leisurely, "Sooner or later, not only will we be able to take Wu Kelan back, maybe we can even send it to Germany. At that time, you can get a German woman back, I think Our tank can still fit a woman in."

"As long as she wears a little less, it really fits." Vajim said this while deliberately emphasizing "wear less".

"Bless Comrade Stalin"

Agafon also lit a choking Mohe cigarette, "When we take down Tomarovka, whether it's wine or a woman, I'll be satisfied with just one."

"Comrade Stalin will not bless you in such a matter"

Wei Ran, who had been silent for a while, took out a shiny silver flagon and shook it, "I can't do anything about women, but at least we can each have a sip before we take down Tomarovka."

"Is there wine in there?!" Vajim, who reacted the fastest, did not finish his sentence, and three pairs of eyes looked straight at the small flagon in Wei Ran's hand.

　Sorry for coming home late, I will update today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)