War Photographer's Notebook

Dense forests, freezing rain, slippery moss, enemies who don't know when and where, as well as overly nervous teammates and the corpses of American soldiers everywhere.

This was Wei Ran's first impression of the Hürtgen Forest in 1944, but compared to these, the M9 bazooka in his hand disturbed him even more.

Because he knew that whenever there were German snipers hiding around, he and the soldier Hunter with the BAR machine gun would definitely be the first to be attacked.

It is precisely for this reason that he is looking for hiding places and possible enemies almost every step of the way.

"Captain Wright, where is our enemy?"

At the front of the team of only nine, a soldier with a Garand rifle in his hand couldn't help asking.

"Don't care where they are"

Another soldier closest to him whispered back, "They're in this forest, we'll see them all the time."

"Be vigilant and keep quiet!" Corporal Wright, who was in charge of leading the team, reminded in a low voice, "Pay attention to your feet and surroundings, and"

"boom!"

A sudden explosion in front interrupted everyone's conversation. Immediately afterwards, they heard screams coming from the front, and it seemed that the sergeant named Timov was calling for medical soldiers.

"Go up and help!"

Before Corporal Wright could finish his sentence, he was the first to rush over. The people behind saw this and naturally wanted to follow.

As the distance between the two sides narrowed, Wei Ran finally saw that right in front of him, the soldier named Kevin had one of his legs blown off. The soldier named Buck dragged back, while the sergeant named Timov looked around vigilantly with his gun raised.

"There is a minefield ahead!" Timov immediately reminded Wei Ran and others loudly when he saw Wei Ran and others coming.

However, before the medical soldiers ran over, everyone in the dense forest heard the unique whistle of the mortar!
"Get down!" The corporal who seemed to be named Wright reminded the surrounding soldiers hoarsely.

Almost at the same time as the whistle sounded, Wei Ran dashed to the back of the waist-thick pine tree he had been eyeing for a long time, threw the bazooka away, and curled up.

"boom!"

A deafening explosion came from the crown of the tree above his head, and Wei Ran immediately heard the aggressive sound of the shrapnel passing through the crown of the tree at high speed and when it hit the trunk, as well as screams from almost all directions around him. .

"Hide behind the tree! Hide behind the tree! Stick to the trunk!" Wei Ran and Sergeant Timov shouted in no particular order.

However, before the soldiers subconsciously lying on the ground looking for cover stood up, whistles came from above their heads one after another, and within a very short time, the whistles turned into dense airbursts, mixed with them, It sounded like a woodpecker hitting a tree trunk.

Accompanied by the explosions, the surrounding screams became one piece, but the screams did not last long, and became less and less.

Finally, the two-minute shelling came to an end, and the forest with no end in sight regained its tranquility. Only the pine needles fell from the top of the head, fell on the helmet net, and fell on the shoulders. Landing on wounds torn open by shrapnel. …

"Wright! Is Wright still alive?" Timov's voice came from the front after a while.

"Buck!"

"Alive!" Buck of the investigation team responded immediately, "Kevin died, his neck was slashed by shrapnel."

"Jack! Jack! Nathan! Dibbet! Henry!"

Timov was counting names one by one, but Wei Ran took this opportunity to take off the thin and thin boots on his feet, carefully wrapped his feet with thick and soft foot wraps, and then stepped on the Pair of German boots.

When he kicked the boots he was wearing aside, Captain Timov just called his name.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Wei Ran quickly responded, and at the same time
He came out from behind the pine tree, bent down and picked up the bazooka that he had just thrown aside. Fortunately, there was no damage to the bazooka.

"Where did you get the boots?" Captain Timov was taken aback, and almost raised the M3 submachine gun in his hand.

"I just picked it up there," Wei Ran said nonsense while pointing behind him, "It's always warmer than our boots."

"It looks very warm," Buck said enviously.

"Hunter, is Hunter still alive?" Captain Timov pointed out the last name. "alive"

The soldier holding the BAR in his arms quickly responded, "Captain Timov, there are only five of us, shall we withdraw?"

"keep going"

While Captain Timov was speaking, he had already cooperated with Buck to pull out the dog tags from the necks of the dead soldiers, pulled one of them off, and stuffed them into the mouths of the dead soldiers.

"This is sending you to death," Hunter muttered dissatisfiedly, but he still walked out of the hiding place holding his weapon.

Looking around, Wei Ran found that seven of the 12-member team were directly killed in the round of shelling just now, and one of the remaining five was hit in the buttocks by shrapnel. Although he was alive, he obviously had no way to participate in the action.But here, it's not even two hundred meters away from the camp they just left.

Just at this time, the medical soldiers who were called before the shelling finally arrived late.It's just that the medical soldier also failed. One of his shoulders was already stained dark red by the oozing blood.

"Let me help you"

Wei Ran involuntarily handed the bazooka in his hand to Buck, squatted beside the wounded and helped tear off the clothes around the wound, and at the same time walked on the wounded's legs to help keep him from moving.

The medical soldier "Orlando" took off a medical bag and opened it while speaking. "Victor"

At the same time Wei Ran responded, he took out a piece of morphine from the opponent's medical bag and stuck it around the wound, then slapped the opponent's hand away, picked up a hemostatic forceps, and directly gave the shrapnel still stuck in the wound to the wound. Pulled it out and threw it away.

Slapping the opponent's hand away again, Wei Ran picked up the suture tool and started the extremely rough suture work.

"You know how to suture?" Orlando, whose palms were slapped away twice in a row, asked in surprise. "I am a tailor"

Wei Ran responded jokingly, and after cutting off the suture, he asked, "Would you like to help you repair your shoulder?"...

"give it to you"

Orlando had extra trust in Wei Ran, grabbed a bag of sulfa powder from the medical kit, tore it open, and sprinkled it on the stitched wound of the wounded in the same rough way.At the same time, Wei Ran had already started to clean up the wound on the opponent's shoulder.

While the two of them were busy, Timov and Buck had each picked up a Garand rifle, hiding behind a pine tree and observing the surroundings vigilantly, and the soldier named Hunter had also hid Behind a pine tree, he set up the unqualified machine gun.

"stretcher!"

Orlando yelled in the direction behind him, and at the same time, he and Wei Ran left the wounded who had finished bandaging.

"Your workmanship is not bad!"

Orlando glanced at his wound, reached out and took off another medical kit from his waist and handed it to Wei Ran, "Keep it for use.

"Thank you." Wei Ran was polite on the mouth, but kept helping the other party to bandage the wound that had been shaved by shrapnel, and then took the medical kit.

"Why didn't I find out that you still have this skill?"

Captain Timov didn't ask Wei Ran until the stretcher carried away the wounded soldier.

"My family used to run a clinic." Wei Ran casually made an excuse while fastening the medical kit on his waist.

"Actually, I know a little too." Buck grinned and said jokingly, "I'm from Montana, and I castrated all my cows and horses by myself. To tell you the truth, those things are really big!"

"When we catch
Maybe you can try your craft after a German

Hunt took out a pack of cigarettes from the jacket pocket of his companion's dead body and put it in his pocket, as if he wanted to make fun of the sadness in his companion's hands, but at the same time he said very seriously, "If you want me to say, you should put All men in this country are castrated."

"boom!"

Before Hunter could finish his words, there was a sharp gunshot from the forest directly in front of him. In this crisp gunshot, a cloud of blood sprayed from Hunter's neck immediately, and he himself Then his body froze, and he fell straight on the pine needles all over the ground.

"Enemy attack!"

While Timov shouted, he and Buck pulled the trigger in the direction of the gunfire, and Wei Ran, who was just about to pick up the bazooka again, rolled forward and hid behind the pine tree.

"Ding!"

Amidst the dense gunfire, Wei Ran saw with his own eyes that the bazooka he hadn't had time to pick up was hit by a bullet in the rear half of the barrel.An impact mark the size of a peanut was left behind.

Subconsciously withdrew the hand that was about to reach out, and Wei Ran felt a layer of cold sweat on his forehead in an instant. If he hadn't reacted fast enough just now, the shot would have definitely hit his neck!

"Suppression of firepower! We need suppression of firepower!" Buck shouted loudly, but what he got in exchange was the dense firepower that suppressed him so much that he didn't even dare to show his head.

He ventured to look at the German firepower point across a minefield from them. Wei Ran couldn't help grinning when he retracted his gaze. He had to admit that the firepower point was really hidden. It was impossible to discover that there was a firing point behind the canopy of the lying pine tree. …

Looking back to the left, Wei Ran stood up, tiptoed to pull off a broken branch above his head, and then used it to hook back the bazooka that had just been hit.

After a little inspection to make sure it was still usable, Wei Ran didn't dare to show his head at all. He just poked the launch port out of the pine tree where he was hiding, pointed it in the general direction, and immediately pulled the trigger!
"call out!"

Accompanied by the flames and smoke spouting backwards, the rocket fired by Wei Ran rushed through the minefield impatiently, but in the end it just hit the back of a pine tree, which was still more than ten meters away from the firepower fortress. the distance.

"This shit really doesn't work"
Wei Ran muttered cursingly, and threw the launcher far away to another tree beside him.

Before the bazooka hit the ground, the German machine guns had already chased after it, but Wei Ran jumped hard in the opposite direction. At the moment of landing, he grabbed the BAR machine gun that Hunter threw aside before he died in battle, and fired again. He rolled and hid behind another pine tree not more than five meters away from Timov.

"Da da da!" Wei Ran didn't even have time to get up, so he aimed at the German firepower point and pulled the trigger.

"Nice job!"

While Timov praised Wei Ran, he and Buck jumped out of the bunker holding the submachine gun, aiming at the fire point of the machine gun and started shooting.

At the same time, a team with the same incomplete organization also came from a distance to provide support for them.

With the joining of these people, the firepower suddenly became denser, and the firepower point of the machine gun hiding behind the canopy of the pine tree finally stopped showing up, and even the sniper who hadn't been found all this time seemed to be silent.

"No! Spread out! Spread out! Mortars! Get behind a tree! Don't lie down!"

Captain Timov was the first to react, and while calling for the helpers who came over to cease fire and retreat, he gestured towards Wei Ran and Buck.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately stopped shooting without even thinking about it. He didn't even bother to take away the empty BAR machine gun. He just bent down and picked up the M3 submachine gun that was still stained with Kevin's blood.

As soon as the three of them moved, the incomplete team that came to help also reacted, and immediately retreated according to Timov's reminder!
"boom!"

Just at this time, the sniper who had obviously disappeared pulled the trigger again. Amidst the crisp gunshots, a man carrying a gun like Wei Ran
Before the soldier with the bazooka could turn around, he fell to the ground clutching his shot neck.

The difference was less than five seconds before and after, above the canopy above the head, the unique whistle of the mortar came again!

"Fuck!"

Wei Ran cursed secretly, and immediately hid behind a pine tree, squatted down and curled up, wishing to hide himself completely inside the steel helmet.

Amidst the sparse mortar shell explosions, screams and curses rang out again and again, and desperate pine needles floated above the head again.But this time, the battle didn't last as long as the intensive shelling just now. It seemed that they wouldn't stop until every one of them was killed.

After everyone's tormented waiting, five minutes later, the forest filled with gunpowder smoke and blood finally fell silent—if those screams were ignored. "Retreat! Return to the camp first!"...

In the forest, Timov yelled loudly, and immediately, six or seven surviving soldiers rushed out of the bunker, covered each other and began to retreat towards the camp.

Wei Ran, who was about to get up and follow, noticed that behind another pine tree not too far away from him, Timov was gesturing towards him, and in his hand was actually holding the Originally his bazooka!

Seeing this, Wei Ran slowly made an OK gesture towards the other party, took advantage of the opportunity to dip his hand from the wound of a corpse beside him, and wiped the blood on his face and clothes.

Gradually, only he, Captain Timov, and soldier Buck, who was lying on his back in a puddle with a submachine gun, were left in the forest.

At the same time, among the soldiers who retreated first, a corporal also quietly called to his companions, motioned them to stop, and hid behind the thick pine tree.

While everyone waited patiently, the forest fell completely silent, and soon, a wolfhound with shiny fur ran over from the front.

After a while, the dog got close to Wei Ran, touched Wei Ran's hand with his wet nose, and then licked the back of his hand.

However, what he didn't expect was that this bastard raised a leg and urinated towards his thigh, then shook his hair vigorously, and smelled Timo who was not far away. Captain Husband, then ran towards the direction it came from.

After a while, a team of five walked over cautiously.

Thanks to the good position he had just chosen, Wei Ran could clearly see that among the five men, two were holding MP40 submachine guns in their hands, while the remaining three were carrying engineering shovels and hanging on their waists. With a roll of rope, he was busy rearranging the minefield.

It's just that the location of these people's mines is under the still warm corpses, in the minefields that have just been checked, and even in the discarded rocket launcher tubes!
Squinting his eyes slightly, Wei Ran glanced at the two Germans who held up their weapons and stood guard while looking for spoils, and then at Timov who was not far away.

Seeing that the other party was ready, he didn't hesitate any longer. While one of the two men holding a submachine gun was bending over to take something out of a corpse's pocket, he sat up abruptly and aimed at the gun. They pulled the trigger!
"Da da da!"

Compared with the rate of fire of Bobosha or MP40, the M3 submachine gun is indeed much slower, but it can still easily bring down the person holding the submachine gun, and by the way, add some metal to the German who just dug out a pack of cigarettes. element.

Without waiting for the two of them to fall to the ground, Wei Ran took a quick step back and started rolling, narrowly dodging a bullet that came from somewhere farther away.

Almost at the same time that he hit the two men, Buck, who was farther away from him, also sat up, aimed at the three men who were laying mines and pulled the trigger.

A little later, at most one second, Captain Timov, who was carrying the bazooka, also pulled the trigger!
"Phew!" The rocket flew out of the launch tube, and Timov let go and hid behind the pine tree.

"boom!"

After a dull explosion, the three of them, including Wei Ran, all jumped out from the hiding place, their guns…

In unison, they pulled the trigger in the direction where the sniper might be.

In less than 20 seconds, the soldiers who had just withdrawn also ran back under the leadership of the corporal, and also poured intensive firepower over them.

These people took over the suppression work. Timov took a rocket from Wei Ran and loaded it. He and another soldier who also carried the bazooka shot the rockets in no particular order.

"boom!"

Amidst the almost overlapping explosions, Buck was already one step ahead, holding a submachine gun, and successfully circumvented the minefield along the path that the three Germans who laid the mines just walked through!
"Safety!"

While Buck was yelling, he had already pulled out a grenade, swung his arms and threw it at the fire point of the German machine gun he had discovered before.

"boom!"

At the same time as the grenade exploded, Wei Ran and Timov ran along the path where the other party risked their lives. The three of them covered each other and rushed towards the German machine gun fortress.

However, when Wei Ran ventured over the lying pine tree, he discovered that there was indeed a not-so-big trench here.

Even, the trench was reinforced with logs and a roof was added, and sandbags were used as shelters. However, there were no German corpses in it at all.

They didn't even find mortars and shells. Instead, they found a well-hidden companion line at the entrance of the bunker!
Stretching out his hand to stop Buck, Wei Ran observed cautiously, and then carefully dug out a mine made of animal clips and grenades in the soil at the other end of the accompanying line.

This is not over yet, after some research, he carefully stepped over the accompanying wire, and along the wire, pulled out two rough-handled long-handled grenades from the gap in the rafters above his head.

Only then did he tear off the tripwire, wrap it around the grenade and set it aside.

"Find that damn sniper." Timov issued a new order with a gloomy face.

Putting the dismantled long-handled grenade on the table, Wei Ran picked up the weapon again, and together with Buck, jumped out of the simple trench behind Timov, and covered each other at the fastest speed towards the target just hit by the rocket. ran in the direction.

It's a pity that until they found the location where the rocket exploded, the only thing they found was a corpse wearing a German helmet and a US military uniform.

"I know him. He's from Company A." Buck gritted his teeth and said sullenly. "He still owes me $20 in gambling money."

"I can bet you an extra $20," Timov said with the same gloomy face, "There must be a landmine under his body."

"Don't let me catch them!"

Buck gritted his teeth, changed the subject and asked, "Captain, what should we do now? Our team seems to be only three of us."

Let’s go back first, I’m going to discuss it with Vice Captain Tom from Class E.”

Captain Timov said as he walked back, "If they'll help, we'll go after the mortar team."

Buck and Wei Ran, who looked indifferent, looked at each other, and followed Timov towards the direction he came from.

While Captain Timov was going to class E to discuss the battle plan, Wei Ran also took a gun and went to the bodies of the Germans who had just been killed to observe one by one.

I don't know if it was expected or not, but the three Germans responsible for planting the mines were all old people over half a century old, and even one of them still had a big red 9-box gun hanging from his waist.

And the two guards with submachine guns looked about sixteen or seventeen, and even they were wearing the uniform of the Youth League that Wei Ran was very familiar with.

There are old and young, so what about those who escaped?

Wei Ran once again looked at the trench that was captured at a huge price. He was extremely sure at this time that the machine gun fire team that suppressed them might have retreated long before these five people came out.

"The more you look at it, the more it looks like a trap."

Wei Ran, who calmed down, muttered to himself, if this is not a trap, those Germans don't need it at all
Abandon this position.If it wasn't for the trap, there should have been mortar shells falling from the top of the head with the sound of whistle.But since it's a trap, it's broken!

Wei Ran subconsciously looked towards the direction of the camp when he came. At this time, there was already billowing smoke in that direction!