War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1443 Photographer and Animal Tamer

On the edge of this unknown village, only a dozen thatched huts had been set on fire with flamethrowers. However, at the edge of the village, the soldiers with sticks in their pants who had half taken off their pants still did not stop their brutal behavior.

Similarly, the three Weiran people also did not stop their shooting.

Wei Ran, who was especially good at talking with sticks, suppressed the murderous intention in his heart, got close and took a close-up of each soldier, and kept saying that when he returned to Da Nang, he would develop the photos for them and send them to them. Souvenir.

However, what made the three of them regretful but fortunate was that from the beginning to the end, until the soldiers who had finished venting their animalistic desires lifted up their pants and grabbed their weapons again, there was still no sign of "Charlie" outside the small village.

"Take away the ones that can be sold at a high price!"

While putting on his belt, the platoon leader kicked away the woman he had insulted, and then snatched her child away. Amidst the desperate screams of the woman and the cheers of the surrounding soldiers, Like playing football, he kicked the little baby into the paddy field in the distance!

Amidst the wanton and crazy laughter, and the sound of the shutter that was easily covered up by the laughter but never ended, the mother who was almost collapsed staggered and stumbled towards her child.

"boom!"

The crisp sound of gunfire came from the hands of the platoon leader. The young mother whose pants were torn off was also shot in the back and fell into the ditch less than one meter away from her child with a "pop".

Under the strong firepower advantage, the remaining villagers who could only beg and beg and would be shot even if they stood up could only watch these people brutally drag away their wives, sisters, daughters and even sons. Their hands and feet were tied and their mouths were gagged, and then they were driven into a truck.

"Da da da!"

The sound of machine gun fire that rang out without warning made Wei Ran, who had just finished shooting a film, pick up the Nikon half-frame hanging around his neck without even thinking about it, and pointed it at the villagers who were massacred by the machine gun, because bullets were fired one after another. Hitting the steaming blood mist, he tried his best to keep his hands steady and pressed the shutter, taking continuous shots again and again.

"call!"

At this moment, the soldier carrying the flamethrower also pulled the trigger, skillfully spraying clusters of fire snakes on the roofs of those thatched houses.

"boom!"

Before the old godmother on the roof of the armored vehicle stopped firing, a faint sound of gunfire came from the dense forest in the distance.

The platoon leader who had just lit a cigarette also trembled with the sound of the gunfire. He looked down at the chest of the gun in disbelief. The lighter in his hand and even the cigarette in his mouth also fell out. Then he fell to the ground with a "plop".

"boom"

After the almost immediate second and third gunshots, the machine gunner fell on his weapon, and the soldier controlling the flamethrower also fell on his back, spraying the last cluster of flames into the air, and Amidst the screams and screams, it fell on the bodies of its companions around it.

"Enemy attack! Take cover quickly!"

A soldier with a stick who was also holding an M16 yelled in panic and lay down in the ditch, roaring, "Call for support! Call for support quickly! Let the helicopter from the bullpen come over!"

"boom!"

Before he could finish his words, an RPG hit another armored vehicle that was firing - this RPG actually came from outside the village behind them!

About to be surrounded!

Wei Ran was shocked and quickly fell to the ground. Looking at Zach who was also lying down, he had already handed the camera in his hand to Li Youfu, then picked up the camera hanging around his neck and started rewinding the film frantically.

"Come with me, it's too dangerous here!"

Wei Ran patted the helmets of the two men and shouted for them to prepare to climb into the ditch not far away.

"Rewind! Hurry up and rewind!"

Zach did not move, but reminded loudly and more anxiously, "Hurry up and rewind the film! Otherwise, those people will die worthless!"

Gritting his teeth, Wei Ran quickly picked up the two cameras hanging around his neck. At the forefront of the firefight, he lay down next to the armored vehicle that could be hit at any time. Taking the risk of being sniped at any time, he started to collect the film in the camera. .

Before, he had never found these mechanical cameras so troublesome, but now, he wished he could equip both cameras with engines from Formula 1 cars to help him roll back the film!

"boom!"

Another RPG shot came over, hitting another armored vehicle some distance away from them, and successfully ignited its flammable aluminum-magnesium alloy armor plates - now only Weiran and the others were left. The armored vehicle next to him had not been hit yet.

Seeing a soldier with a stick getting into the car, Lao Ganma controlled the roof of the car and began to fight back in the direction of the RPG. Wei Ran took out the film as quickly as possible and put it into the sealed cylinder and tightened it. Then, one by one, they dragged Zach and Li Youfu to the roadside, and rolled into the irrigation canal that was already stained red with the blood of the young mother.

"Wow!"

In the splashing water, before Wei Ran had time to lie down, he saw the swaddled baby next to him with his neck twisted to an abnormal angle, and the blood overflowing from the edge of his small mouth.

Next to him, Li Youfu, who had already laid down, looked into the eyes of the young mother who was less than half a meter away, still filled with tears.

"Get down!"

Wei Ran shouted and put his hands on the helmets of Li Youfu and Zach, forcing them and himself to lower their heads at the same time and press against the edge of the ditch.

At most, only a tenth of a second later than their evasive action, the machine gun fire from the jungle flew over, grazing the soil ridge, and even grazing the edge of their helmets and hitting the paddy field.

Some of the bullets inevitably hit the young mother's body, causing her already lifeless body to tremble, causing more dark red blood to overflow from the corners of her mouth, and making her shake off the blood hanging from the corners of her eyes. the last teardrop.

But even at this time, Zach didn't give up taking pictures. He lay on the slope of the canal, which was less than one meter deep but half a meter full of water. He took the Nikonos diving camera handed over by Li Youfu and greedily I used the viewfinder to frame the body of the young mother, the baby with a bent neck not far away, and the last M113 armored vehicle that was fighting back further away, and pressed the shutter.

He was not the only one taking pictures. In just a few moments, Li Youfu had also broken away from Wei Ran, raised his half-frame camera, crawled forward for a while, and risked his camera to focus on those who had not yet been killed after being massacred. The corpses of the villagers who had time to burn them also aimed at the thatched houses behind the group of corpses that were already bursting into flames, and pressed the shutter again and again.

"Camera! I'm almost out of film!" Zach shouted without looking back.

"I"

"I'll do it," Wei Ran said before Li Youfu, who was about to put down his camera, accepted the relatively safe task of changing the film.

"If I really want to be a war photographer, I will be a dog with eight legs!"

While cursing, Wei Ran took off the two cameras hanging around his neck and installed new ones as quickly as possible, handing the Minolta to Zach, and then handed the half-frame camera to Li Youfu.

Wei Ran quickly rewinded their cameras and took out the film and replaced it with a new one. Wei Ran placed the camera on the ridge, then passed Li Youfu and crawled along the edge of the ditch to the two men who were also hiding in the ditch not far away. , at this time, the soldiers with sticks were using their M3 submachine guns and M16 rifles to fire wildly.

Objectively speaking, these soldiers belonging to the White Horse Troops fought in a methodical manner even when they were attacked from two sides.

Of course, the premise is that they are facing guerrillas who have little advantage in terms of firepower or numbers.

If it were their "old friend", this white horse might be beaten directly into donkey meat and donkey offal soup.

"Hey, hit over there! There's an enemy there!"

Wei Ran approached the soldier with the stick who had just emptied his bullets and was changing the magazine. He lay on his side on the slope next to him, patted the soldier on the shoulder and pointed at the soldier who had just fired at the three of them. direction.

Hearing this, the soldier subconsciously looked over. Unexpectedly, he had already noticed that no one around him was paying attention to Wei Ran. However, at this moment, he supported Wei Ran's body with his hands and knees and lifted his upper body up. Less than 20cm in height.

"what"

As soon as the soldier exclaimed a syllable, a bullet was fired from the jungle in the distance, accurately grazing the lower edge of his helmet, hitting his shoulder and neck, and drilling directly into his chest.

"boom!"

Wei Ran pulled the trigger of the 1911 pistol that suddenly appeared in his hand, and another soldier who subconsciously looked over also had a bullet hole between his eyebrows.

"I told you there are enemies here and you still don't believe it."

Wei Ran put the pistol back into the metal book and muttered something in stick language, then looked left and right, grabbed the collar of a corpse that was still twitching due to the remaining bioelectric signals, and continued to crawl along the ditch to the edge. After a while, we finally climbed to the edge of a ditch connected to a canal.

Perhaps because it is the dry season, the water in this ditch, which is at an angle of 30 degrees to the irrigation canal, is not actually abundant. The water level inside is only enough to cover the knees.

Wei Ran turned over the corpse in his hand and exposed the back of his head. Then he smeared a handful of blood on his face. He looked towards a soldier with a stick hiding under the bridge in the river ditch and used it anxiously. Korean shouted loudly, "I have a wounded person here! Do you have a medic or a medical kit? Even a bottle of morphine will do!"

"cover me!"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, a soldier hiding under the bridge shouted. The two or three companions beside him immediately raised their guns and opened fire to suppress them. Holding the M14 without a scope in his hand, he rushed over on the gravel by the river.

"Cheating and killing should also count."

While Wei Ran muttered secretly, he already tightened his grip on the submachine gun he had just borrowed from the corpse. He pulled the trigger and saw that there was no bullet in the chamber, so he immediately raised it and got ready.

Under the intense suppression of firepower, the soldier carrying the gun crouched and risked his life and rushed toward Wei Ran, who was more than 20 meters away.

However, before he could rush into the irrigation canal, he suddenly saw Wei Ran holding a submachine gun and smiling wantonly at him! He even saw Weiyan pull the trigger!

"Da da da!" Wei Ran himself added a piece of "music" full of surprises to the submachine gun that had no bullets.

This unexpected fright immediately caused the soldier who rushed towards him to move out of shape, almost subconsciously trying to avoid it.

"boom!"

Accompanied by an inconspicuous gunshot, a cloud of blood mist erupted from the soldier's chest, and his whole body was splashed into the water connecting the canal and the river with a "crash".

"The third"

Wei Ran threw away the submachine gun while muttering, and shouted in panic, "Are you okay! Are you okay! Someone help me! The one next to me is dying! Why are there so many more now?" Got one!”

Unfortunately, under the threat of life and death, none of the few soldiers with sticks hiding under the bridge in the river ditch were willing to continue taking risks.

"Hey! There's no sense of friendship at all."

Wei Ran snorted dissatisfied, and while exclaiming God in English, he walked backwards and crawled back behind Zach and Li Youfu who were still pressing the shutter. "I just saw it all"

Zach retreated into the ditch and said happily while changing the film, "Victor, it's a pity that you are a reporter and photographer, you should be an actor."

“You didn’t take a picture of it?”

Wei Ran said, lying on his back on the slope of the canal next to the other party, and asked as he fumbled in his pocket and took out a pack of Xiangyan that had not been wetted.

“Film is very precious”

Zach said, taking out the film he had just taken, put it into a waterproof sealing tube, tightened it, and then stuffed it into the pocket of his grenadier vest.

Almost as he finished speaking and was replacing new film on the Leica camera in his hand, the roar of a helicopter could be heard in the distance, as well as the roar of the machine gun mounted on the helicopter firing.

"Our support has arrived." Zach looked up at the helicopter in the distance, raised his camera and took a photo.

"Do you think the photos we took today and the images you took will be taken away?" Weiran asked in a puff of smoke.

Hearing this, Zach was startled, and then said calmly, "If these are confiscated, it will just confirm the news that the medic told me before he died in battle."

At this point, several helicopters flew directly above them, and the roar of propellers and the roar of machine guns forced them to interrupt their conversation.

Under the ferocious fire suppression of those helicopters that were constantly circling, the guerrillas who had never shown up were easily defeated. Immediately afterwards, one of the helicopters landed not far from Wei Yan and the others.

However, this was not over yet. Several helicopters that followed flew over the jungle and began to spray out streams of white smoke.

"It's Agent Orange"

Wei Ran was suddenly startled. At this moment, with a breeze blowing in his face, he also smelled the unique but dangerous fragrance of Agent Orange.

Subconsciously pulling up the tropical scarf wrapped around his neck to cover his mouth and nose, Wei Ran grabbed the Minolta camera that belonged to him, quickly adjusted the lens and started taking pictures.

This time, his viewfinder not only included the helicopters spraying Agent Orange and the helicopters firing, but also left some space for the corpses, the houses that had not yet been burned, and even the nearest, the young mother's dull eyes. space.

When he finished shooting the film in the camera and put it into the sealed tube, a Huey helicopter landed not far from them.

"let's go!"

Zac paid no attention to the soldiers with sticks in the distance and the wounded who were being carried by them to board the plane. He greeted Wei Ran and Li Youfu and boarded the cabin among the first batch with the press card still hanging around his neck.

"Good guy Zach!"

In the cabin, Angus, who was wearing a medical cross helmet, greeted him warmly, "I just saw you guys, how was your game?"

"Too exciting!"

Zach yelled back, "Is there a place for us here?"

"Of course!"

Angus said, even giving up the position closest to the cabin door on one side to the three of them.

"Brad and the others aren't here, are they?" the helicopter pilot asked loudly.

"Not here!" Zach answered loudly.

"Trainer! Just load up the two wounded and let's leave quickly!" the helicopter pilot shouted and reminded.

"Roger that!"

Angus made an OK gesture, waited for the soldiers with sticks to jump up and looked at the two most seriously injured wounded, and immediately waved their hands to see if there was any room, and then greeted the driver to take off and leave.

What Wei Ran and the other two people didn't expect was that Angus did not provide any treatment to the two injured people with sticks. He just helped them each to give them a dose of morphine, and then called Wei Ran for help and put the third one in. A man who had been shot in the stomach helped him up, then pulled out the pistol from his waist, pointed it at his wound and pulled the trigger!

"boom!"

After the gunshots, Angus waved his hand and motioned for Wei Ran to help drag the wounded man, whose treatment failed, back to the stretcher.

"How about I do this?"

Wei Ran asked, pointing to another soldier who was still conscious and struggling to get up with a frightened look on his face.

"Of course" Angus nodded indifferently, turned the handle of the gun and handed it to Wei Ran.

"boom!"

Wei Ran took the pistol, pressed it against the soldier's abdominal wound and pulled the trigger. Then he returned the pistol to Angus, and together with him, he sent the wounded soldier who failed to be treated back to the stretcher.

Seeing Zach and Li Youfu looking at him in astonishment, Angus shrugged, kicked the two shell casings out of the cabin, and explained loudly as a matter of course, "The injuries are too serious and it would be too troublesome to treat them. This way they can reduce their pain. I don’t need to change my clothes. It’s you, Victor, what are you doing?”

"We were friends"

Wei Ran patted the other party's shoulder as a matter of course, "Now we are better friends. Besides, your medical skills are beyond my expectations!"

"Thank you for the compliment, my good friend!"

Angus showed a bright smile with one front tooth missing, and pretended to do a hat-off salute without taking off his helmet. Then he straightened his waist back and forth and asked, "How was your game yesterday?"

"The two of them were terrified!"

Zach laughed and mocked Wei Ran and Li Youfu, and then recounted what happened last night with a showy face, and by the way also mentioned that Brad and others were still in the camp of the stickmen.

"If I had known, I would have gone with him last night," Angus shouted regretfully.

"Stop pretending Angus!"

Zach raised his middle finger in dissatisfaction, "We already know the origin of your nickname!"

"That's my job"

Angus said shamelessly, "It's fun to play with you! But there will be opportunities in the future!"

"Should we pick up Brad and the others?" Zach asked, changing the subject.

"Need not!"

Angus waved his hand and shouted seriously, "Let's send the wounded back first, they are dying!"

"I'll fly faster!"

The pilot responded in a particularly appropriate manner, and at the same time increased the speed of the helicopter.

"Look there!" At this moment, Li Youfu pointed outside the cabin and exclaimed.

Subconsciously turning their heads to look over, Wei Ran and Zach couldn't help but be startled. On the surface that could be seen at a glance outside the cabin, there was a small village surrounded by dry paddy fields.

They had been there, they had followed the T team there yesterday to capture the Viet Cong, and they even took a lot of disgusting fake photos in conjunction with the performance.

But at this time, even looking down from the helicopter, they could clearly see that all that was left of the village was a ruined wall that was still smoking!

Seeing Wei Ran and the other three looking at him, Angus spread his hands and said, "Don't look at me. I don't know. Maybe it was the people with sticks who did it. Yesterday I was busy interrogating the prisoners, and only Bu was out of the T team. Ladd a few of them.”

Hearing this, Zach and Wei Ran looked at each other, and then turned to look at Li Youfu on the other side. At this moment, they could almost imagine that the village might have suffered what they had just witnessed not long ago - —Perhaps the only difference is that the people who do these things come from different countries.

"When can we return to Da Nang?" Zach asked a new question.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to wait two days.”

Angus replied, "There are no missions flying to Da Nang recently, and there are no supply convoys going back and forth."

It seems that those films can no longer be saved.

Wei Ran sighed secretly. In contrast, Zach didn't seem too worried about these things.

After a short flight, the five-pointed star-shaped cowshed camp gradually became clearer. By the time the helicopter landed, Wei Ran had already seen the wooden house that temporarily belonged to the three of them in the cowshed camp.

Fortunately, no one greeted them outside the cabin, especially Platoon Commander George, the wild boar that Weiyan least wanted to encounter.

After bidding farewell to Angus who was busy arranging the corpse, the three Wei Ran returned to their wooden house with great success.

"Troye!" Zach snapped his fingers as he spoke.

"give it to me!"

As Li Youfu spoke, he took out a waterproof rubber bag filled with film sealing tubes and camera film boxes from his bag. He took out each film and a dozen film boxes from it, and together with Zach, put They are hidden in every corner of this room.

Are you preparing for Li Dai Tao Zang?

Wei Ran immediately understood the operations of these two people. Obviously, the films and negatives that Li Youfu took out were probably all meant to fool people.

But is this useful? Wei Ran frowned and thought about it.