War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1745: Unknown Soldier

The flares raised from time to time by both sides illuminated the center of the battlefield. At this time, those who launched the charge from the International Brigade’s position were trapped here.

Their only choice now is to keep rushing forward, which is also their only chance to survive!

Amid the killing spree of flares and mortar shells, Wei Ran no longer cared about the lives of Yu Yanlin and Clement. The only thing he could do now was to crawl forward one or two steps from time to time at an extremely slow speed.

It was also with the help of the flares that rose from time to time that he saw a bomb crater about ten meters ahead. He could even see that there was a person lying in the bomb crater.

Taking advantage of the moment when the two flares intersected, Wei Ran crawled forward again and stopped again.

"boom!"

Just at this moment, another mortar shell hit from a distance, and the shrapnel that exploded easily tore the bodies of the two soldiers apart as it flew everywhere, leaving the still warm flesh and blood all over him.

Carefully tearing off the half of his hand that had hit the back of his head, Wei Ran tried to keep his body close to the ground, trying not to be too conspicuous in case of being targeted by the roaring machine gun on the opposite side.

During this agonizing wait, time passed by minute by minute. The chill from the ground had already soaked through his thin clothes, and even caused his body to shiver.

Finally, the enemy stopped firing flares and mortar shells, and the battlefield fell into darkness and silence again.

He stood up and ran a few steps quickly into the bomb crater he had been eyeing for a long time. The people who had been hiding there were also startled.

"One of our own," Wei Ran said in French.

"What did you say? I don't understand." The man, whose face Wei Ran couldn't see clearly, whispered in Italian.

“I said I was one of our own.”

Wei Ran responded in a low voice in Italian. At the same time, the two of them subconsciously grabbed each other and shouted in unison, "Don't move."

Before they could finish their words, a flare suddenly rose up from the opposite position. Immediately, machine guns began to ruthlessly fire at the soldiers who also stood up and charged. Mortar shells also came one after another.

It was also with the help of the flare that appeared again above his head that Wei Ran could see clearly the person lying next to him.

He looked to be about forty years old, with bits of grass on his neatly groomed beard and a beret on his head. In one hand he held a Spanish-made submachine gun, and next to the other hand there was an engineer shovel.

"What's your name?" the man asked in a low voice.

"Victor, what about you?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Dylan," the middle-aged man answered succinctly.

"Are you a veteran?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

"You're not bad, young man." Dylan whispered, "Wait a little longer, their ammunition won't last much longer."

"Okay," Wei Ran responded to the other party's suggestion in a low voice and waited patiently.

Sure enough, after another 10-minute mortar attack, the opposite position became quiet again, and the two men immediately climbed out of the crater and continued to crawl quickly forward.

This battlefield had undoubtedly been the scene of repeated tugs of war. After crawling about sixty or seventy meters, they once again crawled into a bomb crater where there were several corpses, some of which were facing the direction of the enemy's position.

They tacitly searched the bodies. Wei Ran took a submachine gun and Dylan took two grenades.

After waiting for a while, they could hear the rustling sounds of other soldiers crawling around.

However, at this moment, another flare was fired into the night sky from the opposite position.

Seeing this, Wei Ran and Dylan reacted very quickly and each pulled out a grenade. As the flare lit up, they threw it at the opposite position with all their strength.

Almost at the moment when the flare lit up, the surrounding soldiers did not dodge this time, but rushed forward together tacitly!

They were so close to each other that they would be discovered even if they didn't move!

"Boom boom boom boom——"

Amid the sound of successive grenade explosions, Wei Ran also picked up a submachine gun and began suppressing fire at the opposite trench while running.

In the end, this short distance of just a few dozen meters was like a meat grinder. Under the enemy's fire in the trenches, soldiers fell to the ground one by one. At the same time, bullets and grenades hit the enemy's positions.

This time, the machine gun positions on the opposite side fell silent one after another at the cost of huge casualties, and more and more fearless soldiers rushed to the front of the enemy's trenches.

He threw all the grenades on his body one after another, then threw away the submachine gun that was out of bullets, held the box gun in one hand and pulled out the trench stick with the other. He immediately got up after the grenades exploded, and rushed into the enemy's trench through the broken barbed wire.

"Oh!"

After killing an enemy holding a rifle with a hammer, Wei Ran raised his box gun and fired a series of bursts at the winding, jagged trench, easily eliminating several other enemies.

At the same time, more and more soldiers jumped into the trenches and began to clear the trenches with the help of overhead flares.

"call out--!"

Just at this moment, a soldier who rushed up fired a flare overhead.

Before the two flares reached their highest point, the International Brigade fired two flares from their positions.

With the blinding light of the fire overhead, Wei Ran and the unknown soldier beside him covered each other and began a bloody advance along the trench.

"Who has grenades?"

Wei Ran shouted in French, but when no one paid attention to him, he immediately switched to Italian and German and asked again.

"I have!"

A soldier who was not very tall responded loudly in German.

"Throw it towards the fork in the trench ahead!" Wei Ran shouted immediately, and the others stopped!

Hearing this, several soldiers in front and behind stopped one after another, and the soldier speaking German immediately took out a grenade and threw it towards the fork in the road in the distance.

"boom!"

After the dull explosion, everyone immediately continued to advance.

However, the soldier in front was hit by dense bullets and fell to the ground as soon as he reached the fork in the road.

"Grenade"

Wei Ran extended his hand to the short soldier, who immediately gave him a grenade.

Taking the grenade and pulling out the ring, Wei Ran climbed up the walls on both sides of the trench, then crawled forward a few steps, raised his hand and threw it over.

"boom!"

After another explosion, he immediately got up, took out his 1911 pistol, squatted at the edge of the trench, and pulled the trigger repeatedly at several enemies hiding there. At the same time, he slid down.

Almost at the same time, the machine gun in the distance began firing at the place where he had just squatted.

"Oh!"

While Wei Ran was emptying his pistol magazine, he swung his trench stick with his right hand and hit an enemy who was struggling to raise his rifle.

However, at this critical moment, before he could raise his trench baton again, he felt his brain crash, and his eyes went dark as he fell beside the enemy he had just killed with a hammer. Enduring the unspeakable dizziness and nausea, he tremblingly put away his empty 1911 pistol, replaced it with a Nagant revolver, and with difficulty pressed down the heavy hammer.

At the same time, the soldiers who had just formed a team with him also rushed up and continued to advance along the trench.

They had to advance to the enemy's artillery positions as quickly as possible, eliminate the mortars and direct-fire artillery that were still firing, and allow more soldiers from the rear positions to rush up.

The enemy was obviously aware of the crisis at the moment. Amid the sound of machine gun fire, a large number of soldiers rushed up along the communication trench, turning the trench into a bloody melee like a World War I battlefield.

In order to push them out of the trenches, several thin-skinned tanks drove up from the rear positions and began to fire machine guns.

When Wei Ran finally stood up again after a daze, he saw with his own eyes a soldier from the International Brigade jump out of the trench, put his submachine gun into the observation hole of a tank and pulled the trigger.

"Crack! Crack!"

He raised his hand and slapped himself twice to make his brain regain clarity as soon as possible. Wei Ran quickly replaced the last 20-round magazine for the box gun, and then fumbled among the enemy's bodies next to him and took out a large grenade that almost killed him before.

After looking around, he quickly ran forward a few steps along the trench, pulled out the ring of the grenade, threw the large grenade weighing one pound onto the track of a German Type 1 tank, and ran away.

"boom!"

Amid the deafening explosion, the tank suddenly stopped moving. Wei Ran finally caught up with the soldier in front and joined the battle again with his gun raised.

This position was much larger than the previous forward position, and there were more enemies. Gradually, as they advanced, the bullets in Wei Ran's three pistols were all used up. All he had left was the rifle he had just picked up from a corpse.

In fact, at this moment, he and the short German-speaking soldier were the only ones around him, but at the corner in front of him, there were as many as five or six gun muzzles just at a quick glance.

"Hurry! Go collect the grenades." Wei Ran urged, and at the same time he stretched out the rifle in his hand, hid his body and pulled the trigger.

The short soldier immediately ran back upon hearing this. At the same time, Wei Ran also saw the grenade thrown from the opposite side!

Hey!

Wei Ran dropped the rifle in his hand without thinking, picked up the smoking grenade and threw it back!

"boom!"

Amid the dull explosions, a series of screams came from the opposite side, but at the same time, more grenades were thrown over.

Wei Ran didn't care about anything else at this moment. He turned around and ran two quick steps to the corner he had just captured.

Before the fall stopped, a series of explosions were heard behind him, and the short German-speaking soldier ran back with two grenades.

Taking the grenade and pulling off the pull ring, Wei Ran swung his arm and threw it onto the slope of the trench in front, letting it roll into the trench by itself, thus avoiding the possibility of it being picked up and thrown back.

After throwing three or four grenades in succession, Wei Ran and the short soldier were about to pick up their weapons and rush over again, but an enemy holding a pistol appeared on the trench!

"careful!"

The short soldier almost subconsciously used his narrow body to block Wei Ran!

"boom!"

With a gunshot, the short soldier was shot in the chest, and Wei Ran also felt the pain in his chest.

"boom!"

Another gunshot was heard, and the enemy who was about to fire the second bullet suddenly fell limp into the trench. Immediately afterwards, Yu Yanlin also ran over holding the cigar gun that he had seized earlier.

"Brother Wei?!"

Yu Yanlin immediately noticed Wei Ran, "You're still alive!"

"Keep your eyes on the surroundings!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he helped the short soldier who was blocking his way to sit down against the trench.

"I am a postman, comrade. What's your name? Do you have any message for anyone?" Wei Ran asked in the ear of the short soldier.

"Cough" The short soldier coughed up a mouthful of blood, and a smile appeared on his overly young face, "For... for you... and our freedom, I told you."

Before he could finish his words, the short soldier fell silent.

"I don't know your name yet"

Wei Ran helped the other person close his eyes and said, "If I can survive, I will take you back."

As he said that, he finally stood up, picked up a submachine gun that belonged to someone unknown, removed the magazine and took a look at it, then handed it to Yu Yanlin, who seemed to have only a pistol. He walked to the side of the dead body and took out a PP pistol from Germany and a spare magazine from his hands and pocket.

"Where's Clemont?"

Wei Ran asked as he searched for a few grenades as quickly as possible.

"I don't know. I got separated from him."

Yu Yanlin followed Wei Ran with a gun in hand and said, it has only been a few hours, but he already looks like a veteran.

“Follow me”

Wei Ran quickened his pace as he spoke, ran to the corner of the trench they had just attacked, quickly looked around, then crouched over and pulled out a submachine gun and a spare magazine from a corpse.

After a while, several soldiers caught up with him. Some of them spoke German, some spoke Italian, and some spoke Russian and Spanish, which Wei Ran could already understand.

They were all what Wei Ran called "rookie" recruits, but at this moment they showed fearlessness and courage.

With the cooperation and mutual cover of these soldiers and comrades, everyone advanced forward along this seemingly endless trench.

From time to time, someone would fall down, and from time to time, the soldiers who had run out of bullets would need to bend down to pick up various usable weapons and continue fighting.

"boom!"

After emptying the gun's bullets again, Wei Ran threw it to the opposite side with force, then moved sideways to make way. He also bent down and picked up a lever-action rifle from a corpse and continued to fight.

At the same time, more and more Republican soldiers and soldiers of the International Brigade rushed into the enemy's positions, and the speed of advancement was getting faster and faster amid heavy casualties.

Gradually, the roar of machine guns and the roar of tanks were heard behind Wei Ran and others. The enemies in this position also left more and more corpses and began to retreat.

Finally, Wei Ran, Yu Yanlin and the surrounding soldiers saw the enemy's artillery position.

All at once, various pistols, submachine guns, and rifles opened fire, and the artillerymen fell to the ground one after another.

"call out!"

Along with the sound of the air being cut by his ears, Wei Ran felt his cheeks getting hot.

Reaching out and feeling the warmth on his temples, Wei Ran raised the lever-action rifle he had just picked up, aimed at the communication trench and pulled the trigger again.

"Grenade!"

Wei Ran shouted in German, and Yu Yanlin followed suit in French. Immediately, several grenades were thrown into the communication trench and exploded one after another.

"Machine gun, there seems to be a machine gun there!" Yu Yanlin reminded loudly, while raising his hand and pointing in a direction.

After turning his head to take a look, Wei Ran immediately dropped the lever-action rifle in his hand and ran over, calling Yu Yanlin to help him, picked up the Maxim rifle and its water tank, placed them at the fork in the traffic trench, and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da da——"

Amid the dense gunfire, the enemies in the communication trench were suppressed and Wei Ran shouted "grenade" again.

Following his reminder, two soldiers climbed up the trench and threw the grenades in their hands deep into the communication trench, out of reach of machine guns.

"Boom! Boom!"

After two consecutive explosions, Wei Ran immediately called on Yu Yanlin to carry the machine gun and move forward together, but the two soldiers who risked throwing grenades were hit by bullets and left outside the trench.

Fortunately, more soldiers came running behind them at this time. They immediately filled the vacant manpower and, under the cover of Wei Ran's machine gun, continued to advance along the communication trench towards deeper into the enemy position.

After emptying the ammunition box of the Maxim, Wei Ran didn't even bother to care about Yu Yanlin, who had gone somewhere. He quickly ran to the occupied mortar position, turned a mortar to the maximum elevation angle, and then stuffed a mortar shell into it.

"boom!"

As the randomly picked up mortar shell exploded, this bloody positional battle seemed to have reached a turning point.

Amid the sounds of fighting coming from all directions, someone began to sing the Internationale in Russian.

Driven by this faint singing, the Internationale, sung loudly in German, French, Italian and even Spanish, gradually rang out across the battlefield.

In the increasingly clear and uniform singing, he also heard the same song sung by Yu Yanlin in Chinese.

Feeling a little relieved, Wei Ran lowered the elevation of the mortar, loaded another shell and fired it.

Whether or not you can hit someone is not important at this point, but the exploding mortar is enough to destroy the enemy's psychological defenses.

Gradually, amid the singing of songs in various languages ​​that resounded throughout the battlefield, the one-kilometer-long position was gradually occupied. More and more soldiers and tanks rushed over, and the sky above gradually brightened.

At this time, Wei Ran no longer dared to continue firing the mortar indiscriminately. After searching for a while, he picked up a rifle, jumped out of the trench and chased after him.

When he returned to the front line, the enemy had already begun to retreat under the cover of artillery and tanks. Wei Ran also breathed a sigh of relief and hid in a depression to quickly check his injuries.

The battle just now left him with a not-so-serious wound on his temple caused by a stray bullet. Besides that, he also noticed that there was a bullet embedded in the wooden handle of the trench stick attached to his waist, and there was a pool of blood around it.

Is it the little German guy who saved me?

Wei Ran suddenly realized something, and at that moment, a whistle to stop the pursuit came from behind him.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Wei Ran looked up at the rising sun that was about to jump out of the horizon in the distance, struggled to stand up, and staggered towards the direction he came from.

Along the way, he bent down from time to time to collect some weapons and ammunition from the enemy's corpses to replenish his own consumption.

However, when he pushed away a corpse that was pressing on a soldier, he was stunned.

The person pinned down was the old soldier named Dylan whom he had met not long ago. He was still alive, but there was a bayonet stuck in his stomach with only the handle still exposed.

"We. We meet again." The old soldier smiled with difficulty.

"Don't move. Save your energy. You might still survive."

Wei Ran said, but after being deprived of his medical skills, he had no idea how to help the other party.

"No, no thanks."

The old soldier said, "Got any cigarettes?"

"Yes, yes, wait a minute."

Wei Ran hurriedly took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out two and put them in his mouth, leaned over and lit a fire on a charred corpse next to him, and then stuffed one of the cigarettes into Dylan's mouth.

“I am from Rome, Italy”

Dylan said, shaking his head, he took out an old-fashioned razor and an envelope rolled up on the razor from his arms, "Help me. Help me take it home. I am a barber. My wife and daughter are still waiting for me."

"Let me. Let me take a picture of you."

Wei Ran did not pick up the letter. Instead, he took out his camera, framed the other person, and pressed the shutter.

"pat"

Almost at the same time he put away the camera, the letter and old razor in Dylan's hand fell onto the battlefield covered with dead grass and scorched earth.

"I'll take you home."

Wei Ran picked up the old-fashioned razor and the letter with a sigh, then took off the red scarf from Dylan's neck, wrapped them together and stuffed them into his pocket.

Slowly pulling out the bayonet that had pierced Dylan's abdomen, Wei Ran carried it on his shoulder with difficulty and continued walking in the direction he came from.

By the time he jumped back into the captured trench, the sun had already completely jumped out of the horizon. However, the only benefit brought by the light was that it allowed him to see the cruel scene in the trench more clearly.

Along the way, he saw wounded soldiers who were not dead, corpses all over the ground, medical staff such as Gerard who were busy treating the wounded not far away, captured enemies, and Clermont who was limping.

After stopping and putting Dylan's body down, Wei Ran walked over and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Victor!"

When Clemont saw Wei Ran, he called out his name in surprise, then limped forward a step and gave him a warm hug, "Great, you're still alive! Have you seen Louis?"

“We saw them before daybreak, but they got separated again.”

Wei Ran helped the other person sit down and asked, "What happened to your foot?"

"Twist it a bit"

Clemont said in annoyance, "I stepped on an enemy's neck when I jumped down the trench. Ouch!"

Amid Clemont's scream and a crisp "crack", Wei Ran straightened his dislocated ankle and said, "Take two steps and try it."

"what?"

Clemont was stunned for a moment, then he stood up carefully and tried to use the dislocated foot as the center of gravity. Then a look of joy appeared on his face.

"What are you doing? Victor, where are you going?" Clement saw Wei Ran had stood up and immediately chased after him.

"Go take a picture of a soldier"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already picked up Dylan's body again and walked along the long, winding trench that seemed to have no end towards the direction of the short German-speaking soldier.

Hearing this, Clermont was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at the busy Gerard and a female nurse beside him, then gritted his teeth and followed.

Following his memory and searching for a while, Wei Ran finally returned to the soldier whose name he didn't even know after taking the wrong path several times.

"He saved me, but I didn't even have time to ask him his name."

As Wei Ran spoke, he put Dylan's body down again, then searched the German-speaking soldier's arms, and finally found a cross necklace around his neck and a letter sent to Nuremberg.

“Then take a picture of him.”

As Clemont spoke, he raised his camera. Wei Ran also sighed, took out his camera and aimed it at the young, short soldier.