War Photographer's Notebook

Under the guidance of Orkan, a group of people, plus the two girls who were accidentally rescued, headed towards Belgium in the dark in the depths of the Hürtgen Forest.

At [-]:[-] in the middle of the night, Wei Ran, who was walking in the front, signaled the team to stop again.

At this time, in the silent forest, the continuous sound of metal knocking like wind chimes could be vaguely heard.

"There's a barbed wire fence ahead"

Okan explained in a low voice, "This was also our position before, but it was abandoned after Klein Howe was occupied by the Americans."

"Are there any landmines?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"At least this part doesn't"

Okan explained confidently, "This piece of barbed wire is almost two kilometers long. I can only be sure that there are no landmines in this short section. I am not sure if there are landmines on the farther sides."

"Houst, the three of us will go first, and the rest will wait." Wei Ran said, crawling to follow Okan who was leading the way.

Almost at the same time as the three of them set off to open the passage, the replaced Dominique immediately raised his unloaded submachine gun and pointed it at Captain Timov, who was also replaced without carrying a stretcher.

"take it easy"

As Timov said, he gently pulled out his pistol with two fingers, and slowly handed it to Dominique, while reminding in a low voice, "My gun is not loaded, please put it away for me first."

"I won't help you, hold it by yourself." Although Dominic said so, he unloaded the magazine of the pistol and put it in his pocket without slowing down.

Seeing this, Timov smiled and put the pistol with no magazine back into the holster.

At the same time, the three of Wei Ran crawled to the edge of the barbed wire.With the little moonlight shining in from the cracks in the canopy above their heads, the three of them could vaguely see that on the other end of the barbed wire fence was a stretch of trenches that had long been occupied by no one.

"Pick the cans first," Okan reminded with experience, "I'm responsible for holding the cans with my hands, and you are responsible for cutting."

"it is good"

Wei Ran and Horst responded in low voices in no particular order, and then each pulled out their wire cutters, and carefully hooked the iron wire on a tin can held by Okan's left and right hands respectively.

Pressing the handle wrapped in bakelite with both hands, the rusty iron wire was easily cut without any effort at all.

Carefully removing the unbound cans, Okan pulled out his engineering shovel, dug up a piece of moss and buried it underneath, and then grabbed two more cans again, signaling Wei Ran and Horst to do it.

With the cooperation of the three of them, the tin cans were taken down one by one and buried under the moss, and the barbed wire fence gradually became quiet.

About ten minutes later, as Wei Ran and Horst cut through the rusty barbed wire with barbs, they finally opened a passage less than two meters wide.

While Orkan moved the barbed wire aside, Wei Ran and Horst waved their engineering shovels at the fastest speed to dig up the soil to cover the cans, and also covered the slippery ground with some soil, and Cover stubble of barbed wire on both sides with blankets.

Under the leadership of the three of Wei Ran, a group of people lined up and carefully passed through the barbed wire gap, crossed the abandoned trench, and finally left this worthless position completely.

"Ahead is a minefield"

Without waiting for everyone to relax, Okan, who was in charge of leading the way, reminded, "But this minefield was planted half a month ago. Although I remember the safe passage, I don't know if it has changed."

"Wait, let me go ahead," Host said proactively, "Okan needs to guide the way, and Victor needs to protect everyone, so let me go ahead."

"No hurry, let's talk about the situation in the minefield over there first." Wei Ran stopped and said in a low voice.

"It's just a defensive minefield. It's not wide, but it's very long. As long as we pass through this minefield, even if there are barbed wire and minefields behind, as long as we are careful, we don't have to worry."

Orkan pointed to a lying pine looming in front of him.

Shu said, "Those landmines are all placed near the felled pine trees and near the roots of the trees. According to what Uncle Otto told me before, as long as you keep a distance of more than one meter from them, you are safe."

Without waiting for Wei Ran or Horst to speak, Okan pointed to another direction and said in a low voice, "But that direction is Kleinhorn, and the distance is very close. If the mine here explodes, maybe there Americans will react."

"Houst, you go and stare at those two Americans and don't allow them to make any noise."

As Wei Ran said, he took off the submachine gun and handed it to the other party, "Also, let everyone take a break."

"you…"

"Do as I say"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he took off the helmet on his head, then took out the flashlight, put the lamp head on the helmet, turned on the switch, and hid it in the cloak.

With the help of this little trick he learned from the Pacific battlefield, he managed to obtain a faint light that was enough to illuminate the area around his feet without worrying about attracting the attention of people in the distance.

"Okan, follow me." Wei Ran said, already taking steps cautiously.

Under the guidance of Okan, Wei Ran walked forward cautiously, while carefully observing the ground under his feet. From time to time, he would use the engineering shovel to carefully dig up some slightly raised or collapsed moss, or simply use the The steel needle used to untie the rope on the gravity knife poked lightly.He will not continue walking until he is sure that there is no danger under his feet. ,

Under his caution, when Okan pointed to a distant pine tree with an American steel helmet hanging on its trunk, indicating that he had passed through the minefield, Wei Ran also found it from under a piece of moss that looked ordinary. A booby trap made from a combination of mortar shells and American MK2 grenades and a mousetrap.

"You go back first"

Wei Ran said in a low voice without looking back, "Let everyone eat something and drink some coffee, but I don't allow anyone to come over."

Orkan opened his mouth, and finally turned around silently, bent his waist, and returned to Sophie and the others along the safe path that the two of them came out of.

It wasn't until there was no movement behind him that Wei Ran searched all the way along the accompanying hairline that had condensed a little frost, and at the same time paid attention to the ground under his feet.

After digging out two American grenades from under the moss, Wei Ran finally saw that on a pine trunk not far away, under the dry and cracked pine bark, which seemed to be stripped off by the wind at any time, Inside the hollowed out tree trunk were several long-handled grenades and two horseshoes that might fall at any time.

After some research, Wei Ran swallowed involuntarily. If he had just cut off the accompanying wire rashly, the two horseshoes would have fallen off in an instant, and by the way, with the help of gravity and acceleration, he would have pulled the trigger wire of the grenade.

But if you start demining from this side, the grenade at the other end of the accompanying line will also pull the pin of the grenade away with the help of the elastic mousetrap, and then detonate the mortar shell hidden there.

is a master...

Wei Ran muttered to himself, and after a little thought, he used the steel needle of the gravity knife to pass through the nail hole on the horseshoe, and firmly nailed it to the tree trunk.

Going back the same way to the side of the first landmine he found, Wei Ran took out a lighter and carefully burned the hemp rope connected to the safety pin of the grenade.

Then, he reached under the mortar shell, and after some groping, he took out a MK2 grenade with its pin removed.

After a final check to make sure there was nothing missing, he took out a pair of socks to firmly seal the grenade that might explode at any time, and put it in his pocket together with the one that was deactivated first.

Finally, the two mortar shells that were relieved of the threat were directly covered with moss. Wei Ran came to this end of the accompanying launch line again, pressed the horseshoe with his hand, and pulled out the gravity knife to cut off the gap between the launch line and the grenade launch line. connect.

Weighing the horseshoe in his hand, Wei Ran hung it on the crack of the bark, held the flashlight covered with a helmet and continued to explore for a certain distance, until he was sure that there should be no more landmines behind, then hurried back.
With Sophie and others who had had enough rest, they carefully walked through this dangerous minefield.

"We're going to speed up now"

Okan said in a low voice, "We've only gone about a third of the way now, but fortunately the most dangerous part has passed. The barbed wire and minefields we encountered behind are easy to deal with."

"Speed ​​up" Wei Ran took a sip of the still warm coffee, and followed Okan to speed up his pace.

Indeed, as Okan said, the road ahead is a lot easier. Although the frozen or slightly smelly corpses of American soldiers or German corpses encountered along the way made those children cover their mouths tightly, they are still on the way. It is the existence of these corpses, which proves that this place is safe enough.

Especially when thick fog began to fill the forest. Under the cover of this fog, Wei Ran, who was walking in front, could turn on the flashlight covered with a layer of cloth and go on his way.

It was also under the cover of this dense fog that the group of them easily passed through two other barbed wire fences that had been ruined for an unknown period of time, and a trench full of dead German soldiers, plus two other A minefield marked by the small American flag.

"Victor... rest, take a rest"

Qiqi caught up and said out of breath, "The youngest children can't walk anymore, and Dominique and the others can't lift the stretcher either."

"What time is it?" Wei Ran stopped and turned off the flashlight at the same time.

"Four o'clock." Qiqi wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "It's still 15 minutes to four o'clock."

"How far away?" Wei Ran turned to Okan and asked.

"Soon, soon to cross the border."

Orkan sat down against a pine tree and whispered, "At the current pace, we will cross the border in an hour, and we will definitely be out of this forest before the fog clears."

"Take a break for 15 minutes, and take off the clothes and helmet of the labor regiment by the way."

Wei Ran finally let go, and the girls and children following him immediately collapsed to the ground.

Opening the lunch box in the dark, Wei Ran took out a smoked sausage and took a bite, then unscrewed the coconut pot, and took a big gulp of already cold coffee.

Hastily filling his stomach, Wei Ran took off his labor regiment uniform in the dark, revealing the civilian clothes he was wearing inside.

With the cover of the clothes he took off, he put the marching boots on his feet back into the metal book, and then put on the American M43 military boots that he took off from the corpse of an American soldier halfway.

Also doing this is Captain Timov, an American soldier next to him.However, compared to Wei Ran, he looks resentful towards the boots he also picked up.

"The shoes are too small?" While speaking, Wei Ran handed him a cigarette.

"No, these boots are just the right size."

Timov took the cigarette and put it in his mouth, let Wei Ran light it for him, and cursed in a low voice, "We should have changed into these high-waisted leather boots before we entered this damn forest. , the old-fashioned boots we wore before were neither warm nor waterproof. We could only pick up your German boots to wear. I didn’t expect that after I became your prisoner, I would have the opportunity to wear the boots I always needed before. To think that these boots were ripped off the feet of a dead man."

"You'll be sure to get a new pair of boots when you get back to your place."

While putting away the lighter, Wei Ran subconsciously moved away from Timov who was smoking a cigarette—even though he was the one who lit the cigarette for him.

"I don't need a pair of boots..."

Timov sighed, took another sip of the cigarette, and handed it to Buck who was lying beside him on the stretcher.

"Other things you want will be available," Wei Ran said perfunctorily, pouring the last few sips of coffee into his mouth.

"Victor, think about what's next..."

"Let's talk about this after we leave the forest." Wei Ran avoided the question again without waiting for the other party to finish speaking.

"Well, you have the final say."

Timov spread his hands indifferently, and wisely ended the topic.

After a short rest, the team set off again under the leadership of Okan. However, as the destination got closer, everyone's nerves inevitably relaxed a little. Even Dominic, who was not carrying a stretcher, He had already got close to his little girlfriend, and the two of them were walking hand in hand and chatting in whispers.

However, when they crossed a stream, Horst, who was walking in the front, didn't realize that when he stepped on the solid ice that was frozen in the stream, he also stepped on a strange tree buried under the water surface. thunder!
In less than four seconds, Wei Ran and Okan, who followed closely behind, crossed the stream less than one meter wide, and Sophie and Qiqi, carrying submachine guns on their backs, also jumped over.

However, at the same time as the two boys carrying the stretcher crossed the stream, at the same time Dominic was holding his little girlfriend Nadia in his arms and was about to cross the stream.

There was a dull explosion without warning, and a "boom" sound opened the frozen stream, overturned Buck lying on the stretcher, and caused the two young men carrying the stretcher to fall straight to the ground. Nick accidentally threw the girl in his arms to the other side of the creek!