War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1762 Finally I became a star on that flag

From January 1th until late at night, Wei Ran, who was a postman by job, was almost always by Joseph's side, busy with treating the wounded and saving lives.

“I should have saved some coffee.”

In the barn full of damage, Joseph opened the silver hammer-patterned jar that was originally used to hold coffee powder and said regretfully that there was no coffee powder left in it, not even a single drop. Only a coffee spoon made of the same material was left.

“You should take a break.”

Wei Ran reminded, "There will be more fighting after daybreak, and there will be casualties in fighting. At that time, we will need an energetic Doctor Joseph even more."

Joseph opened his mouth to say something, but Wei Ran said, "Leave the rest to me. Go get some sleep, even if it's just for a little while."

After a slight hesitation, Joseph nodded and put a letter into the empty coffee can. After a slight hesitation, he took off the three-pointed star on his collar and put it in. "I heard you have a flag?"

"Yes" Wei Ran nodded.

"Oh"

Joseph responded dryly, fastened the jar and put it into the horsehair bag that Wei Ran was originally carrying. He stuffed it into the gap between two hay bales, lay on it with his clothes on, and began to snore after just a few seconds.

“It’s going to be a tough battle.”

Wei Ran leaned against the hay bale and muttered something in his native language. He lit a cigarette and smoked it in three or two puffs. He struggled to get up and started inspecting the wounded. With the light of the kerosene lamp, he took a photo of the barn that was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

In the last moments of the night, he found a relatively warm corner, curled up on the hay bale and took a nap.

"boom!"

A deafening cannon shot woke up everyone who was sleeping. When Wei Ran stood up vigilantly, more and more intensive explosions were heard outside, as well as screams that were drowned out by the explosions.

"Stretcher! Stretcher bearers!" Wei Ran and Joseph started shouting almost at the same time, only one in German and the other in French.

"boom!"

There was another explosion, and the cotton curtain of the barn was blown open by the shock wave, and the two stretcher bearers who had just run out were pushed back.

"Transfer the wounded!"

Wei Ran and Joseph once again issued the same order almost at the same time.

Soon, the wounded in the barn were either supporting each other or being carried out by stretcher bearers who had not had time to leave.

In just a short while, the shelling outside had become more and more intense, and the number of wounded people in this increasingly dangerous barn was decreasing.

"Victor! Let's go to the front!"

Joseph shouted, and the latter immediately helped him carry a medical bag. The two of them left the barn in the thick fog and rushed to the front-line trench that had just been ravaged by artillery shells together with the surrounding soldiers and stretcher bearers.

"I guess it's at least more than 100 mm shells," Joseph shouted, pointing at a huge crater, "We are in trouble!"

As if to prove his guess, accompanied by a creaking noise, a number of small tanks of various styles drove over with infantry hidden in the thick fog behind them. This was another foreseeable trouble - the coordination of infantry, tanks and artillery.

Almost when Wei Ran and Joseph finally found a wounded soldier worthy of treatment near one of the bomb craters next to another, some of the surviving soldiers in the trenches and the soldiers who rushed to the trenches urgently seemed to have forgotten to think about the gains and losses of life and death. They rushed out of the trenches without hesitation, clutching a few grenades, and rushed towards the small tanks that were squeaking towards them in the thick fog.

A moment later, rumbling explosions and the sounds of tank machine guns firing were heard one after another. The thick fog was dispersed by the shock wave, creating a brief vacuum zone, but it was soon filled up again by the ubiquitous thick fog.

"Carry him away!" Joseph's shout made Wei Ran subconsciously drag the second wounded man into the bomb crater.

"listen!"

Joseph shouted as he roughly stopped the wounded from bleeding. "There is a Red Cross armband in your bag! Wear it on your left arm! Don't get it mixed up! It's the left arm!"

"What are you worried about?!" While speaking, Wei Ran had already taken out a Red Cross armband from the shoulder bag he was helping to carry.

"I'm praying they won't shoot at the medical unit! Bring it on quickly!" Joseph shouted and urged.

"I'm not a medical professional!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he grabbed the other person's sleeve, then passed his hand holding the hemostat through the armband, and ignoring his struggle, he directly lifted it to his left arm and pinned it with a pin.

"We don't have to fail! I'll go find the wounded for you!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he turned around and ran out of the crater. He pulled over a wounded man, took a look at him, untied his belt and strangled his severed calf, then pushed him directly into the crater.

In just a short while, more soldiers carrying cluster grenades jumped out of the trenches under the cover of machine guns and rifles and rushed into the thick fog that was stirred up by the shock waves.

Similarly, in just a short while, six T-6 tanks drove through the trenches and rushed into the battlefield.

Finally, after both sides paid a sufficient price, the two sides actually collided in the line of fire outside the trench.

But at this time, Wei Ran had no time to take out his camera to take pictures, and the thick fog did not give him a chance to take pictures.

Helping Joseph find the wounded and directing the stretcher bearers around him to carry the wounded away was the only and most important thing he could do before the enemy rushed into the trenches.

Finally, just when he could already hear the enemy's screams in the trenches, as more and more soldiers joined the battle, the attacking soldiers were finally driven back in a narrow escape.

"Avoid the cannon! Be careful to avoid the cannon!"

Before the sound of gunfire completely stopped, several people in the thick fog began to give warnings in English, German, French and Spanish.

"Carry it away!"

Joseph yelled, "Stretcher bearers! Stretcher!"

"I come!"

Before he finished speaking, Wei Ran had already run over. He took only one look at the wounded man, then immediately carried him up and ran along the communication trench to the relatively safe rear area.

"boom!"

Almost at the moment when a shell hit the trench, Wei Ran subconsciously squatted down, pressed the wounded he was carrying into the corner of the wall and protected him with his body.

"Wow!"

The flying mud hit him on the head, and a steel helmet that belonged to no one knew who it was hit on Wei Ran's shoulder with a "bang".

Looking at the blood and scalp remaining on the corners of the broken helmet, Wei Ran rubbed his shoulders, picked up the helmet and put it on his head, then dragged the wounded man, crouched over and moved with difficulty in the trench.

"Leave it to us!"

Just at this moment, two stretcher bearers came running over and squatted beside him. They were two young girls.

"You are"

“We are from this town!”

The two girls said in unison, then pushed Wei Ran aside, knelt beside the wounded man, and with a unified cry, forcefully flipped him onto the stretcher.

“Put this on!”

As Wei Ran spoke, he put the helmet he had just received on the head of the girl closest to him, and without waiting for the other party to say anything, he turned around and ran back.

At this time, the shelling had not stopped. Wei Ran, who was risking his life by shuttling through the communication trench, inexplicably thought of the original owner of the flag. He thought of the brief conversation he had with the flag after he was pulled in from the same shelling while hiding in the dug bunker.

"What are you running around for?"

"Injured! Someone is injured! I have to save them!"

What's his name?

Pierre?

I think that's the name. I'm also moving through the trenches you once moved through amid the artillery fire. Wei Ran was crouching in the communication trench, moving forward quickly while thinking wildly.

"boom!"

Another cannon shot was heard, large chunks of dirt splashed everywhere, and Wei Ran subconsciously squatted down.

"pat"

A broken limb hit him. Wei Ran just took a look and stood up again, crouching and continuing to run. Finally, he found Joseph in a bomb crater who was still stopping the bleeding of the wounded.

"Just in time, give me the other medical kit!" Joseph shouted.

“There aren’t many doctors here!”

Wei Ran reminded loudly, "So you'd better go to a safer place, otherwise..."

"boom!"

Another explosion was heard nearby, and the two men reacted quickly to protect the two wounded soldiers who had accumulated here.

"crash"

The dirt, rocks, and broken limbs and flesh that were swept up by the shock wave fell down, but the two men did not care about themselves, and instead tried their best to cover the exposed wounds of the wounded.

"Nowhere is safe now!" Joseph said, straightened up and continued to treat the wound.

"he died"

Wei Ran reminded loudly and pulled out the half-broken rifle that was stuck in the chest of the corpse, which was not there just now.

Joseph just looked up and didn't even stand up. He knelt and moved to the side of another wounded person to continue treating the new wound.

Seeing this, Wei Ran said no more, rushed out of the bomb crater and returned to the trench to continue searching, then dragged a wounded soldier whose arm was blown off back into the bomb crater.

After the two wounded were carried away by the stretcher bearers who had arrived with great difficulty, the bombardment finally stopped, but the enemy on the opposite side did not launch another attack. This was undoubtedly good news. Joseph and Wei Ran each carried a wounded soldier and ran directly from the surface to the barn in the distance.

In just a short while, the fireplace chimney of the barn had collapsed, and most of the wall next to the chimney had also collapsed.

Fortunately, the building did not collapse, and there were also some doctors inside busy treating the wounded.

"You do triage!"

Before Joseph finished his words, he had pulled over a table and placed the wounded man he was carrying on it.

“I hate this job”

Wei Ran mumbled something incoherently, took out his camera, hurriedly pressed the shutter button towards Joseph, and then immediately began to "sentence" the wounded.

That morning, the enemy did not launch a charge and the shelling also stopped temporarily. The soldiers even worked together to find ways to get the destroyed enemy tanks back to use as machine gun fortresses.

However, as the sun rose higher and higher, the morning mist gradually dissipated, and Wei Ran, who was still busy in the barn, heard the roar of propellers coming from the sky!

"Air strike!"

Wei Ran picked up a wounded man who could still be treated, and ran towards the trench while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Get down! Get out of the building and lie down!"

Less than two or three seconds later, the same reminders in various languages ​​were heard one after another, and people on the battlefield began to hide. However, Wei Ran, who jumped back into the trench carrying the wounded, found that Joseph and several doctors were still in the barn, still treating the wounded lying on the table!

It’s great to have fought a war!

Wei Ran cursed inwardly, but he couldn't jump out at this moment. Enemy planes had already appeared in the sky. If he returned to the barn at this time, he would not only be unable to help, but might even attract the attention of the planes and kill Joseph!

At this moment, the only thing he could do was to raise his camera and use the viewfinder to frame the barn with a collapsed wall, the doctors who were performing surgery, and the enemy planes that were flying low in the distance, dropping bombs, and even strafing with machine guns.

As he pressed the shutter again and again, bullets fired by several enemy planes made a series of bullet holes in the roof of the barn. One of the doctors was hit along with the wounded he was responsible for and even the table that served as an operating table during the operation, and then fell to the ground.

"Boom boom boom!"

Without the cover of thick fog, the aerial bombs caused huge damage to the immobile trenches and buildings that might have been valuable.

Especially when some machine guns were set up artificially and started to fire back at the air, these enemy planes also began to use machine guns to carry out targeted killings.

This position is about to end.

Wei Ran secretly sighed, he had already seen the people who started to run away. But he had no reason to blame them.

Without complete training, sufficient weapons and ammunition, or even corresponding air defense weapons, let alone air superiority, this was purely a one-sided massacre.

Running away is just an almost subconscious choice made by these ordinary people who are doing the most romantic career. After all, they are human beings.

Almost at the same time as the plane flew away, the enemy's artillery once again began to explode on the battlefield that had just been ravaged by aerial bombs. Even behind the artillery barrage, more tanks rushed up with the infantry behind them!

But at this time, Wei Ran and his men had no reinforcements, and even ammunition was beginning to run short.

Amidst such huge casualties, the battlefield finally began to collapse under the enemy's artillery fire.

"boom!"

Just at this moment, an explosion was heard from the direction of the barn. Wei Ran, who had just carried the wounded out of the trench, subconsciously lay down on the ground and protected the wounded.

However, when he looked up again, the barn had completely collapsed!

"Joseph!"

Wei Ran's heart trembled, but after hesitating for only a second, he picked up the wounded man again and ran towards another doctor with a red cross on his arm.

Leaving the wounded to the other side, he rushed over as fast as he could, took out an engineer shovel and used it as a crowbar, smashed open the wooden boards that served as the roof, and opened a window that was barely big enough for him to get in.

After struggling to pass through the rafters and enter the collapsed barn, Wei Ran finally saw Joseph.

At this time, a broken wooden pole had passed through his hips and was pressing against the floor. The fallen beam seemed to have fractured and deformed one of his shoulders, and pressed down on his calf on the same side.

But even so, he still protected the wounded man who seemed to have been hastily pulled off the table by him, and even put one of his hands on the wound on the wounded man's shoulder.

"Joseph! Are you still alive? Joseph?" Wei Ran quickly crawled over and shouted.

"Victor"

Joseph looked at Wei Ran with difficulty, "I don't have time to sew her up. Bandage her. Bandage her. Do you know how to do it?"

"meeting!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he reached out and took out a roll of gauze from the medical bag that was scattered not far away, and wrapped it tightly around the wound where the main blood vessel was still clamped with hemostat.

"Drag her out." Joseph switched to the Russian language he was more accustomed to.

After looking at Joseph who was holding on, Wei Ran grabbed the wounded man's legs and pulled him out. Then he found that she seemed to be the female stretcher bearer from not long ago. He had even handed the helmet he had picked up to her.

"What's the situation outside?" Joseph asked.

“This trench.”

"boom!"

Before Wei Ran could finish his words, another explosion was heard, seemingly only through the wall.

Suddenly, the wall on the other side collapsed, and a wooden beam broke Wei Ran's leg with a "bang".

"what--!"

Amid Wei Ran's screams, Joseph sighed helplessly, and with difficulty pulled out a needle from the medical bag at hand, poked it around Wei Ran's wound, and pushed all the precious anesthetic inside into him.

"You shouldn't have come," Joseph said weakly.

"It's too late to say that."

Wei Ran, with a pale face, turned his head with difficulty to take a look at the calf that was almost smashed. Then he turned over, pulled out the belt and tied it around his knee with great effort.

"Do me a favor," said Joseph.

"What help?" Wei Ran asked while leaning against a wooden beam and breathing heavily.

"The Red Cross armband was put on her left arm."

Joseph said, injecting himself with an injection, "Maybe she can survive."

Sighing, Wei Ran moved closer to the other person with difficulty, took off the red cross armband from his uninjured left arm, and put it on the young girl's left arm.

"What's your full name?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he sat up straight again, picked up the camera and pressed the shutter button towards the other person.

"Joseph Dmitrievich Novikov." Joseph gave his full name. "What about you? What's your Chinese name?"

"Weiran"

After saying his name in fluent Chinese, Wei Ran switched back to Russian and said, "Comrade Joseph Dmitrievich Novikov, I am very honored to have the opportunity to fight with you in the most romantic battle in the history of war."

"I"

Joseph slowed down his strength, took out half a bottle of medical alcohol from the medical bag with his bloodstained hands, bit open the rubber stopper, took a sip and handed it to Wei Ran with difficulty, "I am also very honored to have the opportunity to fight alongside you, Comrade Wei Wei Ran. This glass of wine is an invitation for you to attend my son's wedding."

"Do you have any last wishes?"

Wei Ran took the infusion bottle, took a sip of high-concentration alcohol and asked, then he couldn't stop coughing.

He had never drunk anything so strong, nor had he ever had the pleasure of drinking anything so good.

"Louis"

Joseph took the infusion bottle and took another sip. "What's his name? His Chinese name."

"Yu Yanlin" Wei Ran took the infusion bottle, took a sip, and handed it back again.

"Comrade Yu Yanlin said"

Joseph smiled and said, "You play the harmonica very well, so I want to sing the Internationale."

"As you wish, comrade."

Wei Ran's tone became more excited as the medicine began to take effect. He reached out to take the infusion bottle and took another sip of medical alcohol, then took out the harmonica.

As the harmonica played, Joseph took the bottle and took a sip. He looked longingly at the horsehair backpack hidden not far away, and then sang in Russian the song that had been sung countless times on this battlefield:

Arise, you starving and cold slaves, arise, you suffering people of the world!

My blood is boiling and I want to fight for the truth!

The old world is in tatters. Slaves, rise up, rise up!

Don’t say we have nothing, we want to be the masters of the world!

This is the final fight, unite and fight till tomorrow.

Turnershone must be realized.

Looking at Joseph who had stopped moving, Wei Ran played the whole piece of music even more vigorously amid the increasingly clear sounds of gunfire and shouting outside.

"crash"

Just as the song ended, a Spanish Falangist soldier holding a Mauser rifle stood at the gap where Wei Ran had come in, looked down, and kicked down some dirt and stones.

Putting away the harmonica, Wei Ran picked up the infusion bottle and gestured to the other party while showing a bright smile.

"Hello! Spanish!"

Wei Ran used up all his strength to greet the boss in Chinese, then he tilted his head back and took a big gulp of medical alcohol. He threw the infusion bottle aside, raised the camera hanging around his neck, pointed it at the soldier who had pointed his gun at him, and pressed the shutter button at the same time the other party pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

Amid the sharp gunshots, Wei Ran felt a burning sensation in his chest. As he let go of the camera, he saw a thick white light rushing towards him from all directions, engulfing the Spanish soldier, Joseph, the female stretcher-bearer, and himself.

"Finally, I became a star on that flag."

(End of this chapter)