War Photographer's Notebook

At Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany, Wei Ran, who only threw in a briefcase, walked out of the pick-up gate familiarly, met the pick-up personnel arranged by Carlos in advance, and under the guidance of the other party, found a car in the parking lot. A black Mercedes Benz.

Victor, do you really not need me to drive you to the Ruhr area?The man in his thirties asked politely.

really don't
Wei Bao put it into the carriage and replied, I have been to this place before, and I will contact you if I encounter any trouble.

That's fine.

The man standing outside the car door finally nodded and took a step back, watched Wei Ran close the car door, drove the car out of the parking lot, and finally disappeared from sight.

Of course, Wei Ran didn't lie, he did come here, but last time he came here with Teacher Daria and Mr. Karp, and of course, that bastard Jima.At that time, in order to investigate the death of Mr. Nikolai's wife and children, they even dug a cave that was bombed and collapsed.

It's just that, at the beginning, he and Ji Ma were still rookies who were not very proficient in disguise, but now they have become somewhat famous in their respective fields.

Time flies so fast.
Wei Ran muttered something secretly, and drove the car to the direction of the Ruhr Industrial Zone, which was completely opposite to the real destination of this trip.

Long before the private plane that sent him landed on the airport runway, Anfeiya, who was still vacationing with Suisui in Hawaii, had already sent a set of precise coordinates.

Although Anfeiya didn't mention how to find the location, according to the text explanation attached to this set of coordinates, the castle that Wei Ran saw in the photo was located in a forest reserve.Of course, as Wei Ran predicted, the protected area where the castle is located also belongs to the Hurtgen Forest.

Even, according to the coordinates, the castle is less than eight kilometers away from the memorial hall and cemetery related to the Battle of Hurtgen Forest built after the war, and less than four kilometers away from the firepower fortress site left over from the war at that time .

Of course, the closest to the castle is actually the border of Belgium—only about three kilometers away.

It is precisely because of this reason that Wei Ran, who originally planned to bring his dog Beria to help, had to temporarily decide to leave it on the plane. After all, he didn't want to run across the border just to find the dog.

Compared with these, what Wei Ran cares more about is that although the castle is located in the forest reserve, it is a piece of private land that is not open to the public.

With a lot of doubts and curiosity, he patiently drove the car to the Ruhr Industrial Zone, first found an outdoor goods store to buy a set of outfits, and then found a nearby hotel to live in.

However, in less than half an hour, he changed into the newly bought clothes and shoes, left the hotel, took a taxi back to Cologne, and bought an extra dark brown hunting suit and a foldable car. Then I took a taxi again and went straight to a border town called Hurtgenwald.

Just by looking at the name, one can know the inextricable relationship between this place and the battle that year. In fact, as long as you arrive here, there will be only the last ten kilometers left from the castle that Anfeya helped find. distance.

...

Seeing that it was still early, after Wei Ran yawned, he simply asked the taxi to stop some distance away from the destination, and rode his bicycle slowly to the museum built to commemorate the war .

It is said to be a museum, but it is also a cemetery.It's just obvious that for today's Germany, Nagar is obviously a term they don't want to mention, and it can even be said that they avoid it for fear of being misunderstood by others.

Perhaps because of this, most of the things displayed in the museum seem to recall the war that Americans do not want to recall from the perspective of Americans. Even in the cemetery, most of the things buried in the United States People—after all, enough of them died in that war, regardless of the fact of justice itself.

Carefully wandering in this not too big semi-open-air museum for more than an hour, Wei Ran is like a Pupu

Like passing by in a hurry, they rode their newly bought mountain bikes and rushed to the ruins of the fortress on the map in the midday sun.

As the road got narrower, the farmland on both sides and the anti-tank cones still distributed in the farmland were gradually replaced by pine trees with a height of three to forty meters.Trenches, which have been turned into drainage ditches, gradually appeared on the side of the road.

Finally, when the mobile phone navigation prompts to reach the destination, there is also a moss-covered concrete ruin on the side of the road ahead.

Just looking at the huge steel bars and huge gaps, it is known that this place has suffered an explosion from the inside out, and the remaining bullet marks on the crumbling concrete walls also suggest that they are at least stronger than the Maginot Line. Be stronger.

Looking up and squinting at the fragmented sun cut by the canopy, Wei Ran thought for a while, then pushed the newly bought bicycle into the dark and damp bunker and put it against the wall, then took out the hunting outfit he bought and changed it on, reopened the navigation, and walked to the castle less than four kilometers away.

Gradually, the road under his feet became more and more desolate. Even after he walked across a small stone bridge that looked very old, he could no longer see the existence of the road.

Not only that, even the sunlight above the head is becoming more and more difficult to scatter the sunlight because of the denser and denser pine trees.

However, perhaps it is because the sunlight is difficult to shine, but this forest is clean enough, and there are no bushes at all. The visible moss even stretches to the end, so that it is impossible to tell whether it is the ditches washed by the stream or the remains of the trenches distributed in the forest.

No wonder the American soldiers killed so many people here.”

Wei Ran stopped in his tracks, muttered and observed the surrounding environment, and at the same time took out the latest British army kettle from the metal book, unscrewed the lid and took a sip of still warm hawthorn leaf tea.

The dense pine trees in this forest are as thick as the waist, and the height is at least more than [-] meters.The dense growth density not only easily covers the sunlight above the head and the view of the plane looking down.At the same time, it also blocks tanks, armored vehicles and even more agile Willys jeeps that try to drive into the forest.

...

Frankly speaking, in this environment, the best thing to use is probably the German half-track motorcycle.Because that thing doesn’t have to worry about getting stuck in the forest, let alone being blocked by those hard-growing pine trees because the car is too wide.

Putting away the kettle, Wei Ran turned on the phone screen to check the signal strength, and then continued to take steps, walking towards the destination in a leisurely manner.

Gradually, he could no longer see the trenches that seemed to be trench ruins, and at the same time, he could not see the existence of concrete firepower bunkers. Correspondingly, the soil under his feet had a higher and higher water content, and it seemed to have a tendency to become a swamp.

It was also when he walked around a small swamp that a barbed wire fence that almost grew into the tree trunk appeared directly in front of him without warning. The barbed wire fence extending to the end of his vision was three meters high. There is also a rusty metal sign fixed on it, on which there are clear warnings in German and English, such as private land is forbidden to enter or private land contains beasts.

Putting on the wear-resistant gloves bought from an outdoor goods store, Wei Ran touched the rust on the barbed wire. After thinking for a while, Wei Ran stepped back a distance of more than [-] meters, and followed the direction of the barbed wire casually in circles.

What he didn't expect was that after walking down this circle, the length of the barbed wire fence might be about two kilometers. Most importantly, he even found a gravel road with a width of about two meters.

However, this gravel road does not go straight to the outside world, but winds through the pine forest. If the roadbed is not about half a meter higher than the surrounding area, I am afraid it will not be noticed at all.

Even, he was sure that if he flew a plane over the forest, it might not be easy to notice the gravel road.

What's even more strange is that when the barbed wire fence crossed the gravel road full of fallen leaves, there was not even a door left.And Wei Ran walked around
When you come down, you can see only pine trees on the other side of the barbed wire, and there is no castle at all.

After a little thought, he finally put on an extra baseball cap and mask, ventured over the barbed wire fence, and under the cover of the pine trees, he approached the most core area cautiously a little bit.

As the distance got closer, he also clearly felt that not only was the terrain rising slightly, but also the growth density of the surrounding pine trees seemed to be greater. However, even if you only compare the thickness of these pine trees, you can see that those are relatively thinner. Yes, I am afraid they are all artificially cultivated.

Be vigilant and continue to walk in for nearly a hundred meters. When the barbed wire fence behind you is completely blocked by tree trunks, a dry moat appears in front of you!
However, this moat, which is more than [-] meters wide, not only has no water at all, but is also full of pine trees.

But even so, he could barely see that in the middle of the moat covered by thick tree trunks, there was indeed a not-so-big Gothic castle built.

But what puzzled him was that the castle seemed to be covered with pine trees everywhere!
Walking around the dry moat with doubts, Wei Ran successfully found a small stone bridge less than three meters wide.And at a distance of only a few tens of meters from the small stone bridge, he also found a building similar to the concrete fortress he saw before, built on the side of the moat.

...

But the strange thing is that this fortress seems to be one size smaller. The dark hole is not so much an entrance as it is a large ventilation hole, because the width and height may only allow one person to bend over at the same time. Go in stooped.

I took a telescope and looked at the castle until I was sure that there was no monitoring in this place, then I tightened my gloves, mask and hat, crossed the small stone bridge, and walked into the courtyard through the doorway.

However, what puzzled him was that although the courtyard inside the castle was paved with stone floor tiles, there were also oversized wooden flower pots that were almost one meter square next to each other. Without exception, there are lush branches and leaves, at least there is a pine tree four or five meters high.

Even, on the edges of these closely arranged flowerpots, you can still see the sprinkler irrigation equipment fixed on them, as well as several fertilizer packaging bags that have not been taken away in time.

If the yard full of super-sized potted pine trees is not a standard circle, then at least three-quarters of the area of ​​the circle is fully occupied by those lush potted pine trees.

Even, if it weren’t for the one-meter-high stone wall base and the cast iron fence wall on the wall base next to the river bed, these potted pine trees that are growing very well may be connected with the pine trees in the river bed .

As for the remaining quarter of the yard, a platform with a height of four meters was built. There was a locked gate on one side of the platform, and a large wall facing the entrance on the other side. The window, but there are curtains drawn inside the window, so it is not clear what it is for.

Circling upwards along the steps that are also filled with pine potted plants, as expected, there are also flower pots next to each other, and there are also pine trees in the flower pots.

But this nearly square platform is connected to two particularly beautiful buildings.One of the smaller buildings near the entrance seems to be a church, and stained glass can still be seen on it, as well as the cross on the top tower.

Distributed at 90 degrees to the church is the main body of the castle. Although there are only three floors from the window, the height of each floor is extremely exaggerated, not to mention that there is another floor on the roof that seems to be of the same height gothic spire.

But what puzzled him was that such two beautiful buildings were not only surrounded by unsightly flower pots, but also had scaffolding near the wall, and the scaffolding was covered with trees. Climbing plants similar to creepers.

Is this going to blur the outline of the building with plants?

Sitting on the edge of a flowerpot, Wei Ran was lost in thought as he looked at the closed gate of the main building. It stands to reason that such a beautiful building has been spent on such a large amount of work, even if it cannot accommodate people, there is no need to do it. These things.

However, the sprinklers on these flower pots and the fertilizer packaging bags marked with the production date of the autumn of the previous year clearly imply that someone is taking care of them here.

After some hesitation, Wei Ran passed through the scaffolding covered with vines, and approached the window on the side of the main building's main building, and covered the glass with his hand to take a look inside.What he didn't expect was that this building, which looks so beautiful, turned out to be a rough house!

...

Unwilling to take the risk, he climbed up to the window on the second floor and took a look in. There was no fart in this window, which was like a barren wall!

After all, he was worried that the scaffolding that had existed for an unknown period of time was not safe, Wei Ran did not continue to climb up, but returned to the ground, and once again walked to the door of the church-like building.

Like the windows on the edge of the platform under his feet, the inside of this church seemed to have curtains drawn, so he couldn't see anything through the windows.

But fortunately, the keyhole on the door was extremely old-fashioned, and he even suspected that the key staring at the table in Mr. Dominique's collection room was used to open the door.Correspondingly, it became extremely easy to pry open the locked door.

With a light click, Wei Ran put away the lockpicking tool, and carefully pushed open the two thick wooden doors, which were more than two meters wide and covered with copper skin.

When the incomplete sunlight shone through the crack of the door into the room, Wei Ran was stunned.

He did not expect that this place is really a church, with a dusty floor, a confession bench also covered with a thick layer of dust, and even the cross in front of it and the holy icon that seems to be made of bronze, and it looks incomparable. Luxurious, but at the same time a pipe organ with a sense of age.

Looking up at the high dome, Wei Ran didn't step in. Instead, he took out a pair of climbing crampons he bought at an outdoor goods store from his bag and put them on his shoes.

In addition to providing better grip, these crampons also have another function of using those spikes to avoid damaging the dust on the surface and leaving hard-to-remove footprints.

Cautiously, he first stepped on the ground with one foot and tried it. Seeing that only a few matchhead-sized marks were left, he turned on the flashlight function of his mobile phone and walked towards the center of the church with confidence.

If his memory is correct, the window with muzzle flames on the ruins of the castle drawn on the oil paintings found in Dominic's home seems to come from this church.

Or to be more precise, it comes from the position against the wall behind the icon of this church.

Carefully walked to the left side of the holy elephant and opened the wooden door, but it was just a stairwell leading to the underground. At the same time, he also noticed that there were some old-looking hanging on the walls of the stairwell. oil paintings, and the paintings in these oil paintings seem to be this hidden castle.

Thinking about the four-meter-high platform when I first came up, there is another floor below the church that seems to make sense.

However, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to go down. Instead, he closed the door, walked to the right side of the holy elephant, and opened the wooden door here.

Compared with the stairwell just now, the space here is much larger, and there is even a very beautifully built fireplace. In the fireplace, there is a smoked black Dutch pot hanging from an iron hook, and An equally dark German lunch box.

There is no window on the left hand side of the fireplace, but there is a wooden staircase spiraling up against the wall. He glanced up, and it seemed to be the bell tower of the church. He could even see the copper hanging on it. bell.

On the right hand side of the fireplace, next to the door, is the only window in this not-so-large room.

...

It should be this window. Wei Ran stood in front of the window and muttered.

He opened the curtain that seemed to be ruined and took a look outside. What he didn't expect was that the window was on the third floor.

It can be clearly seen that the two layers inside and outside should be added the day after tomorrow, and they are completely two complete pieces of large glass with excellent transparency.

But the middle floor is similar in style to this church, with pieces of stained glass painted with religious figures or scenes that Wei Ran couldn't understand.Several pieces of glass were cracked.
Even on the window sill sealed between the inner and outer layers of glass, there are still some rusted bullet casings, and a tin can that seems to be used as an ashtray.

It's full of bullet casings from Mauser rifles. Could this be a sniper spot?

Wei Ran pondered for a while, then closed the curtains again, turned and left the room, and went into the stairwell again.

He took a few photos of the oil paintings on the wall first, and then he stepped on the stone steps to go downstairs.But what he didn't expect was that when he walked down the stairs to the end, there was a black cast iron door right in front of him.

I tried to push it, but it didn't move at all. If I wanted to pull it out, I didn't even think about it, because there was no handle on the door at all.Even if he wanted to pick the lock, he couldn't do it, because there was not only no handle on it, but also no lock hole.

After careful inspection, Wei Ran resolutely chose to give up, turned around and walked back to the church along the stairs.

Could it be that the clue is in the main building that looks like a rough house. No, there is also a room under the platform!

Wei Ran patted the top of his head, carefully opened the door and restored it to its original state, then locked the door, went down the steps on the side of the platform, and then pried open the locked door.

This time, he finally had a new clue.

What he never expected was that in the space under the platform, there are not only rooms such as mills, wells, kitchens, warehouses, and even a flower room with only flower pots, there is even a car parked inside. Very retro style carriage.There was obviously a garage door directly in front of the carriage, but it was completely blocked by red bricks, and the door could not even be seen from the outside.

But compared to these, what Wei Ran really cares about is the imperial gray half-track motorcycle without any number or pattern parked by the narrator of the carriage.

On the trailer connected to this half-track motorcycle, there are not only a set of 80mm Gr34 mortars, two engineering shovels and an axe, but also six iron mortars. Ammunition boxes and a Wehrmacht barrel that smells of petrol.

Trying to pick up one of the ammunition boxes, the heavy weight immediately made him frown. He carefully placed it on the ground and opened it. There were indeed three 80mm caliber mortar shells inside, or more precisely, These are three Type 39 airburst bombs with long rod fuzes!

And such ammunition was precisely one of the weapons used by German soldiers to attack American soldiers in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest!

Thanks to the special long-rod fuze used by this mortar shell, this thing can explode in the air at a certain distance from the ground, and this kind of explosion also overcomes the impact of dense forest on the explosion and damage of the shell.

Even, because American soldiers at that time were trained to lie down immediately when encountering shelling instead of hiding under a big tree, more lives were taken away by this kind of mortar that exploded in the air.

Could it be that Dominique and his uncle were actually members of the mortar team at the time?
After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran finally put the tin ammunition box back into the original position in the inner trailer.

If it is really as I guessed, then there should be two Germans at that time, because this type of mortar required four people to operate at that time.But here came a problem, a half-track motorcycle obviously couldn't fit four people.

And an ace sniper who can get a pistol as a gift from Himmler will never manipulate a mortar, and so on!

Wei Ran was stunned suddenly. If Dominic's uncle was really an ace sniper, why did he choose the semi-automatic G43 rifle?

Hidden castles, inconsistent weapons, and employers who don't want to reveal the past but want to find their family members. Sure enough, the two hundred and seven hundred thousand dollars is not so easy to get, why is this matter getting more and more complicated.
Wei Ran muttered to himself, and began to think about the clues he had so far, and which item he should use to return to that war in order to help Dominic find his heir.
-
to view more