War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 527 Military Card in the Nursing Home

When Wei Ran drove back to the city, it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon.However, he was not in a hurry to return to Kazan, nor was he in a hurry to contact Mrs. Darya or Mrs. Valentina. Instead, he went back to the hotel and had a good night's rest after eating and drinking.

In the blink of an eye, the next morning, he unhurriedly called Teacher Dalia.

"Have you found it?" As soon as the phone was connected, Teacher Dalia on the other end asked in a positive tone.

"I finally found something useful, and I've sent it to you."

Wei Ran pressed the hands-free button while speaking, and sent the content of the application form saved in the previous screenshot and the related medal file to the other party.

"Wait a minute, let me take a look." Teacher Dalia responded and then there was no movement.

About two or three minutes later, Teacher Dalia asked, "Do you think that what is mentioned in the application report 'About the 29th Tank Corps of the Fifth Guards Tank Army, Tank Driver Vajim's Identity Certificate' is Madame Valentina's husband?"

Seeing that Dalia did not inquire about the search process in detail as he expected, Wei Ran also secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and replied in a flat tone, "At least 70% sure, although the application report was not passed, but at least detailed It describes the battle and the location where the tank driver Vajim was finally buried, combined with the Soviet map of World War II, it is not difficult to find."

"Where's the difficulty?" Teacher Dalia asked bluntly.

"Excavation license, and sufficient professional excavation personnel."

Wei Ran said bluntly, "Although the application is very detailed, it is not easy to find the tank that was buried at that time more than 70 years later, and it may be more time-consuming than digging through the files. time work."

"I'll take care of the excavation work." Teacher Dalia replied without haste, "Is there any trouble?"

"It's not troublesome, but I do want to ask your permission for something."

After waiting for a while, Wei Ran saw that Darya on the other end of the phone was silent, so he simply continued, "After I return from Egypt, I want to visit that old soldier Leva from Kirov."

"What do you want to do?" Dahlia's tone was a little more vigilant.

"I want to talk to him about film camera shooting techniques"

Wei Ran pretended not to hear the other emotions in the other party's tone, and continued to explain, "Or to be more precise, I plan to learn how to use various antique cameras."

"You want to be a ridiculous war photographer again?" Dalia asked with a little helplessness.

"Hobbies are just hobbies."

Wei Ranhan responded with a smile, "I plan to collect more old cameras in the future, and learn how to use them along the way. This has always been my hobby."

"Don't let him know we know each other, don't let him know where you live. Also, remember to bring him some presents."

"No problem!" Wei Ran made a promise.

"Well then, where are you?"

"City of Belgorod"

Wei Ran opened the curtains to let the bright sunlight shine into the room, "I rushed over after I found the application report of Commissar Trosha, and the next step is to go to the outskirts of Belgorod and see The approximate location cannot be determined first.”

"Mrs. Valentina's grandson has been found." Teacher Darya announced the good news abruptly.

Found it so soon?
Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, but then shook his head. Even though the teachers in Hongqi Forest Farm had long since become homeless wandering wild cranes, it was really difficult for them just to find such an ordinary person. What a difficult thing.

Thinking of this, Wei Ran asked, "I remember her grandson's name is Xiwa? How is his condition?"

“Not great”

Dalia explained over the phone, "After graduating from university, the young man was framed and sent to prison for reporting corruption in the mine. During that time, his mother also had mental problems. After he was released from prison, Siwa took his mother and hid in Petersburg, and usually relied on driving a truck to make ends meet."

"He's worried that Mrs. Valentina will also be retaliated against?" Wei Ran immediately guessed the reason why the grandparent and grandson haven't seen each other for many years.

"It's almost like that." Darya sighed, "I probably don't want Mrs. Valentina to worry about his current situation."

"So now they meet?"

"We met yesterday"

Darya said in a flat tone, "Well, you wait for me in Belgorod, and I will ask Shiva later. If he is willing, I will rush there with him as soon as possible."

"I guess he would be willing"

Wei Ran joked about Teacher Dalia, he almost didn't need to use his brain, he already roughly guessed how Dalia would persuade the grandson named Xiwa.

However, what he didn't expect was that Teacher Dalia had already arrived in Belgorod after nine o'clock that night!
And walking out of the pick-up gate with her was a man who looked about 30 years old and was wearing a set of overalls.

Even without Darya's introduction, just looking at this man's appearance and his not-so-high stature, Wei Ran already roughly guessed that he should be Siva, the grandson of Vajim and Valentina.

"Siva, he is the historian Victor who has been helping to find your grandfather."

Daria smiled and introduced Wei Ran to the man beside her, and then introduced to Wei Ran, "He is Valentina's grandson Siva."

After shaking hands with this particularly stocky Slavic man, Wei Ran warmly greeted him, "I didn't expect you to arrive so soon. Shall we go to the hotel first or have something to eat first?"

"I made a date with a friend"

Dalia handed a card to Wei Ran while walking out, "Go to this address, the other party should already be waiting for us."

After glancing at the handwritten address on the card, Wei Ran didn't ask any more questions. He took the two of them out of the airport and boarded the rented car. Under the guidance of the navigation, they drove straight to the address recorded on the card.

However, what he didn't expect was that when the car stopped, the destination turned out to be a sanatorium on the edge of the city, next to the North Donets River.

You don’t even need to look at the architectural style of this sanatorium. Just look at the waist-thick street trees on both sides of the corridor after entering the door, and the bronze statue of Marshal Zhukov on horseback surrounded by flower beds in the center of the corridor facing the gate. The business history is at least 30 years.

"Where is this place?" Wei Ran couldn't help asking.

"Nursing home," Dahlia replied with a smile, "Go ahead and drive the car into the parking lot."

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who had already slowed down the speed of the car, stepped on the accelerator again, pulling the two people in the back row along the corridor, and finally stopped in a small parking lot.

What surprised him secretly was that army green KAMAZs were neatly parked in this parking lot surrounded by green trees, and the license plates on the front of the cars were also tightly covered by camouflage canvas.

"Get out of the car." Dalia was the first to open the car door before she could finish her sentence.

Seeing this, Siwa, who had been taciturn all the way, immediately pushed open the car door and walked out, without even uttering a single extra word from his mouth.

"When your grandfather was alive, that mouth was terribly poisonous, why would you be a squib here?"

Wei Ran, muttering to himself, glanced down at his crotch, and couldn't help but think of the vicious ridicule he had just encountered when he appeared in that tank.

The last one pushed open the car door. Wei Ran put his hands in his pockets, keeping a distance of five or six meters from Xiwa. The last one walked into a maintenance workshop next to the parking lot.

It is not much different from common auto repair shops. Except for a few car repair trenches built side by side, most of the other places in this workshop are either various maintenance tools or various parts.

The most exaggerated thing is that when he walked past the rear of a military green truck parked on the ditch, he turned his head inadvertently, only to find that the truck's canvas cargo bucket was filled with each one more than one meter long. A small red Russian-style coffin half a meter wide, and a transparent plastic box closest to the rear of the car was filled with Soviet flags wrapped in plastic!
I'm afraid it's not planning to come up with an anti-Qing and anti-Russian recovery?

Wei Ran swallowed his saliva, slowed down his pace intentionally, followed closely, and found that not only was an AK rifle with the magazine removed fixed on the open passenger seat of the truck, but also There is even a priest's robe hanging on a wooden hanger!
Where does all this go?
Wei Ran became more and more confused. Judging from the truck and the co-pilot's weapon alone, this thing probably came from the Maozi military, but the priest's robe, the coffin and the Soviet flag in the cargo bin seemed to be from Work for God.

and many more
Wei Ran belatedly glanced at the logo on the truck's door, followed by a sudden realization.

The truck was indeed from the military, and they were on a mission that required priest's robes, coffins, and God's help who didn't really care.

Because this truck came from Maozi's 90th Special Search Independent Battalion, an engineering unit dedicated to finding, digging and burying Soviet officers and soldiers left on the Soviet-German battlefield.

The reason why Wei Ran has an impression of this army is really not because of Hongqi Forest Farm, but because of Professor Alexei.

According to what the old man once said, he worked as a historical consultant for this army several years ago, specifically, when Wei Ran was still in junior high school.

It can even be said that Professor Alexey's decision to run the studio later is inseparable from his experience as a historical consultant for this army.

After figuring out the origin of this car, Wei Ran was also full of anticipation for the person he was going to meet next, and even while walking, he wondered whether the person he was about to meet would be the same as his father-in-law Alec. Professor Se also knew it.

(End of this chapter)