War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1743 The Triangle Star on the Tricolor Flag

Wei Ran's hearing had only recovered a little, but he still saw the soldiers rushing out of the trenches on both sides, and even the tanks in the front.

"Follow me! Don't shoot!"

Wei Ran grabbed Yu Yanlin and shouted to remind him, and at the same time, fearing that the other party couldn't hear clearly, he pointed behind him.

"Okay! I'll follow you!"

Yu Yanlin, who was about to rush out subconsciously, nodded and followed Wei Ran.

Wei Ran deliberately took the enemy and hid behind one of the Soviet tanks. He came out almost empty-handed, bent down and picked up a Spanish Mauser with a bayonet from beside a corpse. He took two quick steps, knelt on one knee, aimed at an enemy who was busy retreating, and pulled the trigger.

He stood up and took a few quick steps to catch up with the tank while pushing the bullet. Wei Ran knelt on one knee again. This time he aimed at a machine gun group and pulled the trigger.

After another gunshot, the machine gun that was firing at the tank stopped moving. Before the assistant gunner next to him could push the body away, another bullet from somewhere penetrated his body.

There were still some veterans in this team. Almost all of them, like Wei Ran, pulled their comrades around them and hid behind the advancing tanks.

There were even two soldiers who restarted the small tank whose crew members were killed by Wei Ran, turned the car around and drove back.

Not only that, those who were charging along, and even the commander at the front, was controlling the pace of advance and coordination through the sound of the whistle.

Compared to these new recruits who have little combat experience, this commander is undoubtedly an experienced veteran.

Under his command, many recruits advanced steadily under the cover of several tanks and various machine guns, and they were getting closer and closer to the opposite trench.

At the same time, behind them, the mortars that had not fired before also began to fire, throwing shells around the enemy's position and extending little by little towards the rear of their position.

"Throw a grenade!"

The commander held up a large loudspeaker made of iron sheets and shouted orders after the tank used by Wei Ran and others for cover was destroyed.

Obviously, many soldiers here had received orders in advance. For a moment, most of them picked up stones and even mud balls on the ground and threw them over. Among them, of course, there were all kinds of homemade grenades, some of which needed to be ignited.

Although this method is exactly the same as the one Wei Ran used not long ago, the effect is significant.

For a moment, the enemy soldiers in the trenches were so panicked that they had no time to tell whether the things thrown in were stones or grenades.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Amid a series of explosions, the commander blew his whistle, raised a revolver and led everyone to charge!

"go!"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he dropped the Mauser rifle in his hand and rushed forward with Yu Yanlin, who was holding a submachine gun but had not fired at his request.

"Bang! Bang!"

Using a box gun, they pulled the trigger at two enemies who had just crawled up. Wei Ran, Yu Yanlin, and more and more international brigade soldiers jumped into the trench together.

At the same time, although the mortars from their own positions behind them no longer fired, the last few remaining tanks also stopped cautiously at the edge of the trench and began to suppress the remaining machine gun positions and even mortar positions in the trench with artillery and machine guns.

"boom!"

After killing an enemy with a rifle and bayonet with another shot, Wei Ran, under the cover of Yu Yanlin who was holding a submachine gun behind him, replaced the last 20-round magazine in the box gun in his hand, and then reached out to pick up an engineer shovel sticking out from the edge of the trench.

Scooping up a shovel of loose soil and throwing it to the other side of the corner of the trench, Wei Ran suddenly leaned forward and used the box gun in his hand to kill a soldier who was holding a rifle and rubbing his eyes subconsciously on his shoulder.

Without even waiting for the shell to hit the ground, he threw the engineer shovel in his right hand out, which spun and hit an enemy's face.

"Da da da!"

Yu Yanlin, who had been standing behind Wei Ran, also pulled the trigger at this time and fired a string of bullets towards a corner in front.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately pulled a Breda 35 grenade from the enemy's body in front of him, pulled out the safety and threw it over with force.

Wei Ran rushed forward without even waiting for the grenade to explode.

"boom!"

Almost as soon as the grenade exploded and the smoke had not yet dissipated, Wei Ran had already leaned forward with his gun raised to take a look, and then an engineering shovel appeared in his hand.

After easily killing several wounded soldiers who were still breathing, Wei Ran immediately retreated to the original trench line, joined up with Yu Yanlin who was chasing him from behind, and continued to advance towards the rear of the position.

At this time, some soldiers from the International Brigade had left the relatively low trenches and began to infiltrate directly from the surface.

Amid the occasional sounds of gunfire and explosions, they easily took over this not-so-large position.

However, before they could celebrate their victory, artillery shells came from a farther direction, covering the position.

"come over!"

The moment Wei Ran heard the whistle of the artillery shells cutting through the air, he dragged Yu Yanlin into a narrow communication trench, then crouched with him as they moved forward, and finally found a hole used to store supplies and hid in it.

"Are you injured?"

Wei Ran asked while looking at the not-so-big hole.

There were just a few wooden boxes inside, which were obviously used to store ammunition.

"It's okay, I'm not hurt." Yu Yanlin replied quickly.

Hearing this, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to carefully open an ammunition box.

However, when he saw what was inside, he couldn't help but tense up again. This box was full of Italian red grenades!

Praying silently that the shells that were hitting the position would stay away from the pit, Wei Ran opened the second box.

What is loaded inside are still grenades, which are more powerful Polish-made defensive grenades.

Continuing to open the third box, Wei Ran already felt that he couldn't stay in this damn place anymore. This box contained mortar shells!

"boom!"

At this moment, a shell hit almost directly above the tunnel. Suddenly, the soil fell down with a crash.

Wei Ran casually took a few Polish-made defensive grenades and put them in his pocket. He brushed off the dirt on his body and asked Yu Yanlin to sit down at the deepest part of the pit.

"I don't know what happened to Clement," Yu Yanlin said worriedly.

“It should be fine.”

Wei Ran said a comforting word, then took out cigarettes and matches from his pocket.

He lit a cigarette and handed the cigarette box and matchbox to the other party. By the way, he also asked, "Were you scared just now?"

"I'm afraid. How can I not be afraid?"

Yu Yanlin sighed, lit a cigarette and said, "You were walking in front and didn't know it, but a soldier behind me suddenly fell down. He was shot in the forehead. I was so scared that I hurriedly walked forward a few steps. But fortunately, no matter what, we finally took down this place."

"Where is this?"

Wei Ran shook his head. "This can only be regarded as the enemy's forward position at most. Their base camp is still further back. I'm afraid there is still a long way to go in this battle."

Yu Yanlin took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Just fight me, how can you be afraid of them?"

"When the time comes, you should just follow me and don't rush forward."

When Wei Ran finished saying this, a huge explosion suddenly came from a direction outside the pit.

Following the explosion, the mortar shells fired in this direction became noticeably sparser, and they also heard the whistle signaling an assembly.

After the two of them got out of the pit one after another, a new commander also issued an order, "Be prepared to meet the enemy!"

At once, everyone rushed to the back of the position.

This was the last line of defense for this position, but at this moment, a huge crater appeared here. This could not have been caused by a shell, but rather by a secondary explosion.

I risked my head and looked outside. Sure enough, this was the enemy's forward position. There was a large trench about three or four hundred meters away, and the shells had just been fired from there.

Lying on the edge of the trench, Wei Ran was waiting, holding the weapon he had just picked up from a corpse.

In this stalemate, time passed by minute by minute, and teams of reinforcements from the International Brigade came and began to take over their work.

Those who were lucky enough to survive the charge received a benefit exclusive to survivors - cleaning the battlefield and returning to their original positions to eat breakfast.

Cleaning up a battlefield is nothing more than searching for corpses.

Compared with those dispensable yellow and white things, Wei Ran's purpose is much clearer.

Along the way, he also picked up two helmets and put them on his and Yu Yanlin's heads. In addition, he also picked up a piece of waterproof canvas, a wool blanket, and a lunch box similar to the one used by the German army.

And Yu Yanlin

He was extremely lucky and picked up an Astra 400 pistol - the one that Wei Ran had seen later and that already belonged to him.

In addition, they found some bullets that they could use from the corpses they passed by. When they returned to the original trench and the door of the original bunker, they found that except for the corpse and the things inside, Clement had not come back.

"Will he?"

"probably not"

Wei Ran shook his head. "Wait here for a moment. I'll go look for him."

"I and you"

"We have to leave someone behind. If we all go find him, we won't know if he comes back."

Wei Ran said this and left the shelter again. Fortunately, it was already bright at this time and the sun had already risen above the horizon.

Taking advantage of the morning sun and the cover of the wreckage of small tanks, he wandered around the battlefield for more than half an hour. Apart from a few more packs of cigarettes in his pocket and filling all three magazines of his box gun with bullets, he gained nothing at all. He neither found Clermont alive nor his body.

It's better than finding a dead body.

Wei Ran muttered to himself as he hid beside a homemade tank that was still on fire and took a picture of the trench they had just captured.

Putting the camera around his neck, Wei Ran turned around and walked back to the rear trench which had become relatively safer, and found the bunker he had dug with his own hands.

Fortunately, Clemont had returned and was holding up his camera, taking pictures of the body that had been pulled out of the bunker.

"Fortunately, you are still alive." Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you’re still alive.”

Clemont said as he looked at the body that had been pulled out, "I know him."

"Do you know him?" Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, "Who is he?"

"This is Pierre, he used to work in Gerard's clinic"

Clermont said, "And he's Gerard's partner. In short, he's a very good person."

"Not long after you left, a shell hit the opposite side, and he was killed while trying to rescue the wounded."

Wei Ran said, and he also raised the twin-lens reflex camera hanging around his neck and took a photo of this Pierre. "Also, he seems to have a letter that needs us to deliver."

Wei Ran put down the camera and said, "It's inside the bunker. It's a letter sent to Marseille. The recipient is called Jeanne."

“That’s his mother.”

As Clemont spoke, he had already taken the canvas bag that Yu Yanlin had taken out of the bunker.

“I’ve seen this flag.”

Clermont pulled out the tricolor flag from his canvas pocket and unfolded it, saying, "Gerard told me that a soldier from the Aude camp was injured in the night raid last night. The soldier was seriously injured and they were unable to save him."

Clemont pointed to the three-pointed star on the flag and said, "This is what the soldier left behind."

As he spoke, Clermont took a three-pointed star that was originally pinned on the collar of Pierre's uniform and pinned it on the back of the flag. Then he took out a pen from his pocket and wrote the words "Fight for your freedom and our freedom" on the flag in Spanish, which only he could understand.

"If I die, put my star on it," said Clemont.

"That includes me."

As Yu Yanlin spoke, he also took out a pen and wrote a line of traditional Chinese characters on the flag: "Fight for your and our freedom."

"And me," Wei Ran said, but he didn't start writing - there was already a line of traditional Chinese characters on it.

"You are the one who keeps this flag."

Clemont said, "By the way, where did you get your camera?"

"It was found on a body over there," Wei Ran replied, pointing in a direction.

"You're lucky, it's a good camera."

Clemont said, raising his camera again, "How about I take a photo of you guys, right next to the field post office?"

"no problem"

Wei Ran readily agreed, and asked Yu Yanlin, who still had a weapon in his hand, to stand side by side with him at the door of the bunker, allowing Clement to take a group photo for them.

"Okay, I'll find a way to wash it out as soon as possible."

Clemont said, "Victor, if it's convenient, please help bury Pierre. I plan to go to the front position to take some photos, and I might be needed there."

“Your stuff.”

"Just put it here, you can just hold it for me."

As he spoke, Clemont had already climbed out of the trench, but he didn't even have time to eat breakfast before running towards the position he had just captured.

"Help me lift it"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already grabbed Pierre's arm, and with the help of Yu Yanlin, he carried him out of the trench, to the edge of the forest at the back door of the trench, and sent him to the collective cemetery for the fallen soldiers of the International Brigade - it was just a communication trench that was not intended to be used.

"If I were killed in battle, would I be buried like this with the people who died with me?" Yu Yanlin asked.

"I guess so"

Wei Ran walked back and said, "Are you scared?"

Yu Yanlin just shook his head, "I'm just wondering, after the Faxusi here are driven away, will the people here remember those who sacrificed their lives?"

"What if you don't remember?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Don't remember? If you don't remember, then don't remember!" Yu Yanlin said in a very casual manner, "As long as I can drive away the Faxusi, it'll be fine."

"What if it is our Chinese land?"

Wei Ran asked, "What if the Chinese forgot after they drove Faxusi away?"

"If it's our China, then I wouldn't care even more."

When Yu Yanlin said this, his whole body seemed to be emitting vigorous vitality. "Don't say that no one remembers me. It doesn't matter even if no one knows that I existed."

"Where's Chuncai?" Wei Ran asked deliberately, "Is it okay if she forgets you?"

"It's ok"

Yu Yanlin smiled even more brightly, "If she can live a life without being invaded and humiliated, she can forget about me. She will definitely marry a good family, raise children and have many children and grandchildren."

"She will never forget you," Wei Ran sighed, "not even for the rest of her life."

"Why are you talking about this?" Yu Yanlin's face showed a trace of panic and uneasiness.

"nothing"

Wei Ran shook his head and just quickened his pace back.

In a short while, three German lunch boxes placed side by side and a wooden ammunition box were placed at the door of the field post office bunker. There was also a sealed envelope in the ammunition box.

"It seems that our post office has started business," Wei Ran said as he picked up the envelope, which was a German letter sent to Vienna.

"And we may also need a decent mailbox," said Yu Yanlin, picking up a lunch box.

"When it comes to being postmen, we both seem to be more serious about it than Clement." Wei Ran said with a smile.

"I don't know if the letters we write here can be sent back to China."

Yu Yanlin sighed worriedly, sat down at the edge of the bunker entrance, and began to eat the simple breakfast in the lunch box.

"I'm more curious about when Clermont will deliver the letters here."

Wei Ran hinted, "Don't wait until he sends the letter away before you finish writing your letter."

"It's almost done. I'll be able to finish it tonight." Yu Yanlin responded vaguely, but subconsciously pressed his chest.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who was secretly looking at him, sighed. He had roughly guessed that perhaps the other party had finished writing the letter home, but... probably had not made up his mind to send it out.