War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1623 Poison Mist

On the river bank, Wei Ran, the acting deputy company commander, was hiding in a trench, guarding a basket of carefully selected red dates and studying the grenades that Zhao Jinyu had just sent.

There were nearly ninety grenades in the full bag, and the worst thing was that almost 30 of them were deadly poison gas bombs!

“Why is this one different?”

Zhao Jinyu, who had delivered the grenades, squatted aside, holding a few large red dates and eating them while pointing at the poison gas bombs and asked curiously.

"I don't know. Let's wait until the Japanese come and ask them." Wei Ran answered as he glanced at the Japanese gas mask at his feet.

This gas mask was naturally also seized together with these poison gas bombs. He could even identify them from the markings on these poison gas bombs. They were basically filled with corrosive agents such as mustard gas and Lewis gas.

However, there was no need to explain all this at this time. He would rather not know so that he could be surprised when using it.

"Too"

Zhao Jinyu nodded, sat down against the wet trench and said, "Old Bai and Guardian Han left just now."

"Um"

Wei Ran nodded, took out a camera from his arms, and took a picture of the grenades and grenade launchers.

"Why are you doing this?" Zhao Jinyu asked in confusion.

"it works"

As Wei Ran spoke, he raised his camera and pressed the shutter again towards the soldiers in the trench on one side.

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu didn't ask any more questions. He stood up and walked away along the trench. After all, he was the acting company commander and was responsible for this section of the defense line.

"Take that gas mask"

Wei Ran pointed to the two gas masks that the other party had just sent and reminded, "I just taught you how to use them. Keep them with you."

Zhao Jinyu was quite obedient. She picked up the roll that belonged to her and stuffed it into the gap between the Nine Dragon Belt and her body.

After pressing the shutter button towards the other person's back, Wei Ran put away the camera and looked towards the other side again.

This flooded river channel is not very deep, less than one meter at most, but its width is almost one hundred meters.

In particular, the mud and sand contained in it and even the silt at the bottom of the river are enough to block wheeled trucks. It is a pity that although the river is wide, its depth and flow rate are still insufficient.

Wei Ran even couldn't help thinking that if its flow rate was faster or deeper, it might be able to block the Japanese tanks.

  but

It can stop cars, tanks, and infantry, but can it stop planes, cannons, and poison gas bombs?

If he could figure it out, who among the soldiers around him couldn't figure it out? But even so, these cavalrymen who were about to start trench warfare were still making serious preparations for the war.

Retracting his gaze, Wei Ran, who held the rank of deputy company commander, sat down against the trench, picked up the Japanese carbine placed next to him and the gun oil bottle that he had just seized not long ago, and began to wipe and maintain them carefully, while also waiting for the Japanese who were probably already starting to kill them.

However, what no one expected was that the wait lasted until the morning of the third day.

During these three days, the trenches were deepened, widened and lengthened, and even the idle cavalrymen took the time to dig long and narrow shelters for their beloved horses.

"The devils are coming!"

In the morning mist, one of the sentries on guard was the first to issue an early warning.

For a moment, accompanied by various noises, the people who were originally sleeping soundly in the trenches slowly stood up with their rifles in hand, and looked across the river outside the trenches.

However, because of the morning mist, Wei Ran was unable to see the enemy on the opposite side for a while.

"In the reed nest across the street!"

The sentry not far from Wei Ran whispered, "Just now I saw someone running from Erdao Dike to the back there with my own eyes!"

"Hide well and be on guard against the enemy's artillery fire."

Wei Ran said this as he bent down, picked up a grenade launcher, and picked up a bag of four instant-explosive bombs.

Long before, he had received instructions from Ma Jintao that he could open fire at any time when he spotted the enemy. What's more, this was a trench war, not a raid. Since the enemy was spotted, he had to notify the surrounding friendly forces no matter what.

He crouched down and ran along the communication trench to a trench specially used for grenade throwing. After Wei Ran set up the grenade launcher, he aimed at the distance, decisively stuffed a grenade into the grenade launcher and pulled the trigger.

"Tom!"

The moment the first grenade was fired, Wei Ran immediately stuffed the second one into the grenade launcher.

"boom!"

When the first grenade exploded right next to the reed marsh, Wei Ran had already fired the second one.

Without waiting for the shell to explode, he immediately crouched down and ran away with the two remaining grenades in his hand.

Almost when he returned to the trench where he had been hiding through the communication trench, the Japanese on the opposite side did not fight back.

Through the morning mist that was pushed away by the shock wave, Wei Ran could see relatively clearly that in the reed marsh, there seemed to be a broken unfortunate person lying in pieces.

"These two shots were amazing!"

A cavalryman raised his thumb and exclaimed, "I just saw it with my own eyes. The second round hit the reed marsh. I could even hear the Japanese screaming in there."

"Shh-"

Wei Ran made a silent gesture and warned in a low voice, "Except for the sentry, everyone else should hide. The Japanese are probably about to start artillery attacks."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the trench immediately hid themselves, huddled up with their weapons in hand, and got ready.

Sure enough, less than five minutes later, accompanied by the rumbling of artillery fire, the mortar shells fired by the Japanese hit the trench line one after another, especially on the grenade launcher position specially prepared by Wei Ran.

The big guys in the trench were hiding well so the losses were not that great, and there was no need to worry about the grenade launcher position.

That was a piece of vacant land specially selected by Wei Ran. It was quite far away from the trenches, the cavalrymen's horses and even the command post.

In other words, as long as the Japanese don't mind wasting artillery shells, let them bomb.

After a brief artillery bombardment, Captain Ma in the distance immediately blew the whistle, and the people who had been hiding in the trenches immediately shook off the sand on their bodies, picked up their weapons and aimed at the enemies who were beginning to emerge on the opposite bank of the river.

At the same time, Wei Ran once again picked up a bag of grenades and ran along the communication trench to another grenade launcher position that had been prepared in advance.

"Has it shown up?" Wei Ran asked loudly after stuffing a quick-explosive bomb into the grenade launcher.

"It's coming! Hit him quickly!" shouted Zhao Jinyu, who was about dozens of meters away from him.

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran immediately pulled the trigger.

"Tom!"

Accompanied by a loud bang, the instant-explosive grenade flew out instantly, and Wei Ran, just like before, stuffed the second grenade into the grenade launcher.

After firing four grenades in succession, Wei Ran glanced at a few reeds randomly planted not far away and did not rush to use the poison gas bombs.

Amid the successive explosions, Wei Ran ran and returned to his original place along the communication trench.

Because of the series of artillery shells just now, the Japanese soldiers who were preparing to charge were blown to pieces and began to retreat. However, the Japanese tanks waded over alone.

At the same time, the Japanese artillery also began to fire.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, the Japanese tanks were getting closer and closer. Seeing that there was no way to continue deceiving the enemy's targeted artillery attack, Wei Ran simply hid in the communication trench, called over a random soldier and prepared to throw grenades.

"Old Liu! Why are you here?" Wei Ran didn't expect that the soldier he casually grabbed was actually Old Liu from the kitchen squad.

"I can't ride a horse and kill people, so where else can I be if not here?"

Old Liu answered as a matter of course, holding in his arms a Liao Type 13 rifle that he had obtained from somewhere.

"Come and help me"

Wei Ran handed the bags of grenades in his hand to the other party without saying a word.

"What should we do?" Old Liu said as he put the gun aside, spat into his hands and rubbed them, ready to go.

"Pull this out and put it into the enemy's grenade launcher, with the pointed end facing outwards. Don't put it upside down."

Wei Ran covered it up for the other party, then carefully looked through it, squatted down again and instructed, "When I tell you to run, run immediately without delay." "Hey!"

Old Liu responded excitedly, and followed Wei Ran's instructions to hide aside, readying himself with a grenade with the safety pin removed.

"Tom!"

As soon as the first grenade was fired, Lao Liu stuffed the second one in without any command. Wei Ran also immediately lowered the grenade launcher slightly and pulled the trigger again.

"Tom!"

Less than a second later, the second grenade flew out almost at the same time as the first one exploded.

At the same time, Zhao Jinyu, the acting company commander, was also hiding in the communication trench, pulling a soldier who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old to help, and using a grenade launcher to pour the captured shells on the opposite side.

This was something they had discussed before the war started. For both Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu, it was a pipe dream to use grenades to knock down a moving tank, but there was no problem in taking advantage of the enemy's firing to kill as many Japanese infantry as possible.

As the two of them worked intensively and generously, although the Japanese tanks were about to drive ashore by cutting across the slow-flowing flood water, the Japanese following behind, especially the section that Wei Ran and his regiment were responsible for, had a very difficult time crossing the river under the attack of only two grenades.

After firing two bags of grenades in succession, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu, at the same time as the Japanese artillery stopped, each took their helpers and left the communication trench in no particular order.

"Lao Liu, just hold this for me!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he handed the grenade launcher to Lao Liu, and he picked up the Japanese Type 44 carbine and aimed at the Japanese Type 97 tank that was about to land through the firing hole.

However, he did not pull the trigger. He turned the gun helplessly, passed by the Japanese soldiers who were crossing the river with guns in hand behind the tank, aimed at the Japanese machine gun that was firing on the opposite bank, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

After the gunshot that attracted no attention at all, the machine gun on the other side of the river suddenly went silent. Wei Ran immediately loaded the bullet, aimed at the same position, waited for a second or two, and pulled the trigger again.

After the gunshot, the Japanese soldier who had just pushed away his companion's body and lay behind the machine gun without having time to touch the trigger was shot in the collarbone and lay on the machine gun, spitting blood.

  At the same time, several Japanese tanks had already driven ashore!

Almost at the moment when these tanks rolled over the trenches, several brave cavalrymen either stuffed the stones they had prepared long ago into the gaps between the road wheels, or threw smoking cluster grenades wrapped in rags at the tanks.

At the same time, the numerous machine gun fire points that had been holding back opened fire in unison as Ma Jintao blew his whistle hard, quickly harvesting the Japanese infantry who had already crossed the center of the river and had nowhere to hide!

“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep—!”

There was another whistle sound mixed with grenade explosions. The machine gun team that had just been firing immediately stopped shooting and changed positions to avoid the enemy's grenade launcher attacks.

Also under the command of this whistle, the cavalry regiment's only few artillery pieces of different calibers fired almost directly at the remaining Japanese tanks that were about to land.

  This was the only way they, including Wei Ran, could think of to fight back.

Even if they could find clay jars to replace wine bottles, they would not be able to gather enough fuel to make Molotov cocktails.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

After a while, the Japanese grenade launchers really started to work. Seeing this, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu in the distance immediately took their helpers and hid in the grenade launcher positions that had been blown up by the Japanese. They fired grenades at the enemy, completely ignoring the fact that there were still a few Japanese tanks that had not been destroyed.

While firing one grenade after another, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and watched the soldiers who were rushing towards the remaining Japanese tanks with cluster grenades, and even stones and logs!

It was a tragic collision of flesh and steel. Some of the grenades fell down before they could be thrown onto the tanks. Some of the stones and wooden bars fell down when the soldiers who were charging with them could not be stuffed into the gaps between the tank tracks.

But almost at the same time, some survivors picked up the blood-stained crude weapons and continued to rush towards the tanks.

  until

Until cluster grenades blew through the tank's fragile armor, until hard stones and tough wooden bars jammed the tracks.

Until one soldier after another fearlessly climbed onto the tank, or pressed the smoking grenades on the tank with wet blankets, and some soldiers who had been shot simply pressed the grenades with their bodies.

Until those grenades exploded the not-so-thick armor one after another.

With such a reckless fighting style, the first round of attack ended hastily. After leaving behind a few tanks, the Japanese soldiers hid behind the river bank.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wei Ran, who had already run back, quickly commanded the soldiers in the trenches to change positions quickly to avoid the bombardment. He also pulled Lao Liu, who wanted to go see the tanks, and hid.

"I brought you some more dates."

Old Liu took this opportunity to speak, and at the same time reached into his pocket and took out a handful of large red dates and handed them to Wei Ran, "Take them and eat them. I have picked them one by one, and I guarantee that there won't be a bad one."

After taking the handful of red dates and putting them in his pocket, Wei Ran thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Liu, you should go back now and get some food and drinks for everyone at the base."

"No, you want to drive me away."

  Before Lao Liu could finish his words, accompanied by the rumbling sound of artillery, the Japanese on the other side of the river opened fire again, firing shells one after another. This time, they aimed at the few artillery pieces that the cavalry regiment already had!

"It's not the right time yet."

Wei Ran muttered to himself, anxiously waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to maximize the effect of those poison gas bombs.

After a much longer bombardment than the last time, a new round of attack by the Japanese began. This time, the Japanese obviously chose to "bet everything" on a push.

All of a sudden, more than a dozen tanks began to charge while covering the infantry behind them. Machine guns and grenade launchers on the other side also began to suppress the fire, making it impossible for the cavalry in the trenches to raise their heads.

Listening to the roar of the engine and the creaking noise of the tracks getting closer and closer, Wei Ran calmly lit a cigarette and took a deep puff, then picked up a pack of cluster grenades.

Almost at the moment when the tank emerged from the trench above his head, he pulled the trigger and gently threw the bag of grenades onto the engine grille.

Taking advantage of the slope caused by the front of the tank rolling over the trench, the pack of grenades slid into the gap under the turret.

At the same time, Wei Ran had already thrown the other two ignited grenades out of the trench, and he himself rolled to the corner connected to the communication trench.

"boom!"

In a dull explosion, the tank's turret was overturned and the tank chassis also stalled.

"Boom!"

Under the cover of the grenades that exploded one after another, Wei Ran had already held a box gun with a 20-round magazine in one hand and pulled the trigger at the Japanese who had run to the edge of the trench.

At the same time, the machine gun fire that had been suppressed just now risked being hit by the grenade launcher, and opened fire again at the sound of Ma Jintao's whistle, reaping the lives of the Japanese infantry behind the tanks.

"Tum! Tum! Tum!"

Sure enough, before the machine gun positions could replace their empty magazines with new ones, the Japanese on the opposite side fired grenade after grenade!

"It's poison gas! It's poison gas!"

  Just when Wei Ran noticed that the noise from the grenades exploding did not seem to be very loud, someone not far away let out a terrified roar. Almost at the same time, Wei Ran also saw the poisonous fog rising!

"Wear a mask! Wear a mask! Those without a mask, run!"

Ma Jintao who was not far away, Zhao Jinyu who was a little further away, and Wei Ran all gave orders at the first moment, and then put on gas masks as quickly as possible.

"Run! Run!"

Wei Ran roared at Lao Liu. He didn't have a gas mask.

Hearing this, Lao Liu stood up in a panic and ran away along the communication trench.

However, before he could run far away, a poison gas bomb hit him. Immediately afterwards, Lao Liu began to cough violently, then he strangled his neck with his hands and stumbled to his knees.

Wei Ran, who had already put on a gas mask, clenched his fists tightly but did not leave. He came to Lao Liu with a bag of poison gas bombs, patted him on the shoulder, adjusted the range according to the distance determined in advance, and fired back the poison gas bombs one by one with an expressionless face.

Soon, the roar of machine guns was heard from behind him. The Japanese soldiers who were wearing masks and preparing to occupy the position were knocked to the ground by the firepower of the second line of defense. Like the cavalry around them who did not have time to run, they began to cough violently, gasp for breath, and vomit uncontrollably.

Wei Ran, who was busy firing poison gas bombs, knew without looking closely that the bombs fired from the opposite side were red bombs known as "Red No. 1", the main poison in which was diphenyl cyanamide, which could cause continuous sneezing, tears and vomiting.

Its toxicity is slightly weaker than mustard gas or Lewis gas, but even so, it only takes thirty seconds at most to make a person lose their combat effectiveness.

After firing half of the poison gas grenades at the other side of the river, when Wei Ran finally stopped, Lao Liu, who was lying beside him in the kitchen, had stopped breathing.

"Lao Liu, thank you Dazaoer, I helped you get revenge."

Wei Ran muttered through the gas mask while helping the other person close his bloodshot and swollen eyes. Then he carefully stood up and went to a shooting hole to look at the other side of the river. He looked at the yellow poisonous fog that he had created with his own hands, which carried a warning and revenge, and the Japanese soldiers struggling in pain in the fog.

This sudden gas war caused a stalemate between the two sides of the firefight. The cavalrymen who had already retreated did not know what had happened. They only knew that their acting deputy company commander had not withdrawn from the trench and his life or death was unknown.

The Japanese on the opposite side also had no idea what the intensive poison gas bombs had just been firing at them. This was the first time for them to be attacked by poison gas.

The poisonous fog formed by the explosion of fifteen or sixteen mustard gas bombs spread over a large area under the influence of the wind. In the ditch behind the second dike where they were hiding, a large number of screams and painful wails were heard the moment the poisonous gas passed by.

"So you bastards also feel pain"

As Wei Ran spoke, he stuffed another poison gas bomb into the grenade launcher in his hand and prepared himself. These poison gas bombs were seized from the Japanese, and he had to return them all to them.