War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 98

"Is the commander of the 163rd Infantry Division here?"

After seeing the unusually familiar flag, Wei Ran did not rush to shoot, but pulled Mika to bend down and hide in the trench.

"What's the matter?" Mika, who was busy pushing and loading the bomb, looked at Wei Ran strangely.

"Have you noticed the flag behind the trench line on the opposite side?" Wei Ran handed over the binoculars, "It seems to be the division flag of the 163rd Infantry Division."

Upon hearing this, Mika took the binoculars, quickly got up to take a look, and squatted down, "I saw it, but how did you know?"

"Those prisoners told me." Wei Ran casually said, "Mika, don't just focus on ordinary Soviet Red Army soldiers, let's look for people wearing officer uniforms."

"no problem!"

Mikamao bent down and changed positions in the trench, and said while searching for the target, "Victor, use the binoculars to help me find out who is their commander."

Be your watcher?
Wei Ran immediately understood what he was doing, and holding up the binoculars, carefully observed the battlefield on the shore of the lake outside the forest along the shooting holes.

The Soviet Red Army on this battlefield is not far from Suomusalmi, which is also besieged, but the heavy firepower that Finland can support to these two encirclements is only the eight gates on the small high ground behind them. The caliber is not a large artillery.

On the other hand, on the Soviet side that was surrounded, only Wei Ran and Mika could see the Soviet army position, with more than a dozen artillery pieces and almost as many tanks.As for the situation on the other side of the lake, I am afraid it is even more severe than here.

To put it simply, although Finland has a geographical advantage, its firepower is not strong. Although the Soviet Union has sufficient firepower, their fighting morale has dropped after days of attrition and low temperatures that can freeze them to death. valley bottom.

In the stalemate between the two sides, time passed by every minute and every second, and in the short daylight of less than five hours, Mi Ka, with the help of Wei Ran, pulled the trigger again and again to kill the enemy suspected of being the commander.

Finally, when the temperatureless sun was completely covered by the horizon, the two who had failed in vain joined the old hunter Ino who was waiting behind.

"Have you found that teacher?" Ino asked after the two tired young men climbed onto the sled, shaking the reins.

"No." Wei Ran, whose eyes were bloodshot, shook his head, "We only found the flag of the 163rd division, but we didn't find their division commander at all, let alone whether their division commander is here."

"But today we killed at least five Soviets who were commanding the battle with pistols and a dozen Soviet artillerymen." Mika reported the results of the past few hours as if claiming credit.

The old hunter Ino comforted him while operating the sled car, "Don't worry, I met Captain Korpi a few hours ago, and he told me that the Soviets are basically surrounded now, so As long as our encirclement doesn't go wrong, they won't be able to escape at all."

"All surrounded?" Mika asked in surprise.

Ino pointed to the artillery that was still firing on the high ground not far away and said, "The Soviets stationed around have been cut into six pieces. Today, the focus is on the enemies here and Suomusalmi. They are also As long as the two parts with the strongest combat effectiveness are dealt with, the Soviets in the remaining four encirclement circles will soon be able to deal with them."

Wei Ran looked puzzled, "Is everyone from Division 163 here?"

The old hunter Yinuo shook his head, "In addition to the four small encirclement circles around, I heard that there is at least one regiment of Soviet infantry surrounded by about five or six kilometers to the east along the lake. We can only solve the problem here." Only on the battlefield can we go to support them."

No wonder.
Wei Ran muttered to himself, he was almost certain that the regiment surrounded six kilometers away was the 163nd regiment of the 662rd division, and not surprisingly, Sharov, the commander of the 662nd regiment, would soon be forced to flee because he wanted to be a deserter. Died at the gunpoint of his own people.

But compared to these, where is the commander of the 163rd Division, but he still teases Wei Ran and Mika, and the old hunter Yinuo who seems to be concentrating on driving.

Without waiting for Wei Ran to analyze a rough possibility, the sleigh detoured around the small high ground where the artillery was mounted, got into the depths of the dense forest far away from the battlefield, and finally stopped in a camp with a rather large area.

Compared with the Soviet Red Army in the encirclement who risked being killed by snipers even if they had a bonfire, the treatment of the Finns was much better.

Not only are there hot soup and hot meals, but even the sauna tents here are bigger and more numerous than those in the camp that Wei Ran has been to before.

Under the supervision of Wei Ran and Mika, the old hunter Ino, who had been transporting all day long, was sent to the medical tent to re-treat the wound on his leg, and then the three had a hearty meal each. Entering a warm and sweaty tent, each found an empty bed and sat down, gobbling to fill their stomachs.

After eating and drinking enough, Wei Ran was dragged by Mikala, and lined up to go to the sauna, and the old hunter Yinuo, who had to stay in the dormitory because of a wound on his leg, was not idle, limping from The tools were brought from the sleigh cart, and the weapons of Wei Ran and Mika were carefully maintained.

When the steamed rosy Wei Ran and Mika came back, their skis were rubbed with bear oil by the old hunter Ino.

Lying on the bed covered with thick animal skins, Wei Ran, who hadn't closed his eyes all day, didn't even listen to what Ino and Mika said, and fell into a deep sleep, despite the cannons on the high ground outside the forest. The intermittent roar did not wake him up.But even so, he didn't have a chance to sleep until dawn, so he was woken up by the old hunter Ino.

Subconsciously grabbing the submachine gun that was placed by the bed before going to bed, Wei Ran sat up and looked around, then asked sleepily, "Is it time?"

"There's something wrong with the encirclement." Father Ino said hurriedly, "You two quickly get your things, maybe that teacher is about to run away!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Mika regained consciousness immediately, took their respective weapons and equipment and skis as quickly as possible under the light of the flashlight, helped Father Ino out of the tent, and sat with a few unknown Finnish soldiers On the sleigh.

And behind this sleigh car, there were more than a dozen Finnish soldiers on skis, grasping the rope tied to the sleigh car, and pulling themselves towards the precarious battlefield.

It wasn't until the latter shouted at the reindeer and ran up that Wei Ran asked, "Father Yinuo, what's going on?"

"Half an hour ago, several groups of Soviets ran out in a counterattack." It was not Father Yinuo who answered Wei Ran, but a middle-aged soldier sitting next to him, but his familiar voice immediately Let Wei Ran and Mika recognize that this person is exactly the company commander Korpi who issued the sniper mission to them.

　Thanks to Mu Se Cang Mang for rewarding 500 points

　　Thanks to Feiwushou and book friends 20200512095807754 for rewarding 100 points respectively

　　
　
(End of this chapter)