War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1917 The Empty-Handed Fly

"Attention! 300 meters to the right, to the left of that broken tree!"

"boom!"

Wei Ran pulled the trigger first, killing the enemy who had just set up a machine gun at the location Dragan had indicated.

"350 meters to the left, the rock is to the right!"

"boom!"

Before Dragan could finish speaking, Milos pulled the trigger in the direction he indicated, killing another enemy who had just repositioned his machine gun.

"boom!"

Wei Ran aimed at the machine gun he had been watching and pulled the trigger again. He then reloaded the gun, moved the muzzle to the right, aimed at the machine gun under the tree on the right, and fired again, killing the enemy who had just touched the machine gun.

Under the combined suppressive fire of the three men's machine guns, the guerrillas who launched the attack finally jumped into the German trenches after suffering heavy casualties.

"rush!"

Only after all four machine guns were captured did Dragan get up, grab his submachine gun, and, with a roar, lead Wei Ran and Milos toward the German position.

"Can the two of you run?"

Wei Ran asked as he ran. He himself did not have any symptoms of discomfort, but Dragan and Milos were obviously unsteady on their feet.

"I'm fine!" Dragan and the other man shouted in unison.

Seeing this, Wei Ran stopped asking questions, took a step past the two, and took the position between them as the tip of the knife. He also attached the bayonet that was originally hanging on his waist to the Mauser sniper rifle in his hand.

Within a few hundred meters, a bloody battle began, with the two sides fighting over a rock and a tree.

In terms of bayonet fighting, Wei Ran has accumulated enough experience. And objectively speaking, whether it is these Balkan people, Yugoslavs or Germans, their bayonet fighting skills can only be summarized as brute force.

They thrust their rifles forward and stabbed a young German soldier to death. The three men then jumped into the enemy's trench in unison.

"Here you go!" Wei Ran said, already picking up a submachine gun and handing it to Milos.

Upon seeing this, the latter quickly slung the sniper rifle he was holding over his shoulder and took the submachine gun, skillfully inspecting the chamber.

Without rushing to move, Wei Ran bent down and rummaged through the enemy's corpses for several magazines, handing them to the two men before they began their assault along the trenches.

Under the cover of alternating fire from two submachine guns, Wei Ran picked up one grenade after another and threw them into the corner of the trench time and time again.

Amidst the deafening explosions, the three men steadily advanced along the trench. Meanwhile, more guerrilla fighters leaped over their heads, charging towards the heart of the enemy trenches.

This is why the soldiers who launched the attack suffered huge casualties.

Often, they were shot down by submachine guns before they even encountered the enemy, and they fell unwillingly into the enemy's trenches.

Even so, the guerrilla fighters, one after another, never stopped or gave up.

"Ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta!"

Just then, as more and more guerrillas rushed in, the roar of machine guns echoed from the very back of these enemy trenches!
"Fire the machine gun!"

Before Dragan could finish speaking, he had already raised his submachine gun and suppressed the enemy at the corner of the trench.

After throwing another grenade, Wei Ran quickly raised his sniper rifle, leaned out from under the trench foothold, aimed at a machine gunner, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

A swift and decisive shot silenced the machine gun. Wei Ran confidently handed over the suppression work to Dragan and Milos, while he stood in place, chambered a round, and pulled the trigger on another machine gun.

Taking advantage of this brief opening, the guerrillas who were lying prone on the ground launched another fearless charge and threw grenades before the two machine guns could fire again.

As more and more guerrillas jumped into the last trench, the position was finally captured with great difficulty.

But the guerrillas paid a heavy price for this. Even Wei Ran was hit in the shoulder by a bullet, and Milos was cut on the head by shrapnel from a grenade and bled profusely.

But the three men didn't bother to bandage their wounds at all. They just covered them haphazardly with their hands and rushed to the back of the trench, where they set up their sniper rifles as quickly as possible.

"Are you two alright?" Dragan asked as he pulled a first-aid kit from the body of a German soldier.

"It's not a big problem, the bullet is stuck in the bone."

Wei Ran looked down at the wound. "It didn't damage any blood vessels. Let's bandage it first."

“I’m fine too,” Milos said, holding a gun.

"come over"

Dragan dragged Milos into the trench, pressed him down onto the buttocks of an enemy corpse, and then deftly used his missing right hand in conjunction with his intact left hand to open the first aid kit and temporarily bandage Milos with gauze.

As for whether the lack of wound cleaning will lead to infection, that's a stupid question that can only be considered when they leave here alive.

Although they had captured the position, they had no time to rest before the enemy launched a counterattack.

Their enemies were more numerous, had more weapons and ammunition, and were in better physical condition than they were.

"Avoid the cannon fire!"

Upon hearing the whistle, Wei Ran shouted a warning and simultaneously grabbed Dragan with his unaffected arm, nearly knocking them both down into the trench.

"boom!"

Before the three men's heads even hit the ground, a mortar shell struck behind the trench where they were located.

With a deafening explosion, large amounts of dirt and bits of corpses mixed in with it crashed down.

"Are you alright?" Milos and Dragan asked anxiously.

"No, it's okay."

Wei Ran, whose blood was churning from the shock, shook his head with difficulty, while also clutching the two sniper rifles in his arms tightly.

The shelling was just the beginning. With each explosion, mortar shells rained down on the German positions that had just fallen, causing heavy casualties once again to the partisans who were busy rescuing the wounded.

Once the shelling stopped and Dragan had hastily bandaged Wei Ran's wounds, the Germans began their charge in an attempt to retake the position.

"Can you still fight?" Dragan asked as he got up.

“Not a big problem”

As Wei Ran spoke, he switched to shoulder-mounted rifle and, after a brief aiming, accurately hit a German man holding a rifle.

Before long, Milos, whose head was wrapped in gauze, also picked up a gun and began shooting.

"Left, there's a machine gun ready behind the rock!" Dragan began guiding the torrent through his binoculars. "Middle."

"boom!"

After the gunfire subsided, Milos, forcing himself to stay alert, replied, "The left flank is dead!"

"boom!"

Wei Ran also pulled the trigger, killing an enemy who was hiding behind the tree directly in front of him and had just raised his sniper rifle.

"Watch out on the left! Horizontal anti-aircraft gun!"

Before Dragan could finish speaking, Wei Ran and Milos had already located their targets and pulled the triggers simultaneously.

"boom!"

Amidst the almost overlapping gunfire, the mule dragging the Flak 38 and a soldier waving a whip were both hit, and the anti-aircraft gun tilted to the side on the slope.

"boom!"

With another burst of gunfire, two soldiers around the cannon were hit in the chest or face.

Wei Ran gave Milos a strange look, then quickly loaded a new bullet. He had just noticed that the other man seemed to really enjoy shooting himself in the head.

In movies, this would be a cool and good habit—a fatal blow with no repercussions, ideally even penetrating the opponent's binoculars or scope.

But on a real battlefield, this is definitely not a good thing.

"Miloš!" Thinking of this, Wei Ran shouted as he raised his gun again, "You have a bad habit!"

"What bad habit?!"

Milos shouted in response, and each fired their own shots, killing either a machine gunner or an enemy still lingering near the Flak 38.

"Don't always think about hitting the first one!"

Wei Ran shouted, "Shoot in the chest! It covers a larger area! It lets you aim faster! And the result is the same!"

"I warned him a long time ago!"

Dragan shouted, "But the right! Machine gun!"

"boom!"

Milos fired the first shot and then hit the gunman, Ergen, who had already opened his machine gun, with another shot.

"boom!"

Wei Ran's second shot hit the assistant gunner in the chest, and the two of them fell onto the machine gun, one in front of the other.

"Left side! Machine gun!"

After shouting, Dragan continued, "I warned him a long time ago! But he's already made it a habit!"

"I'm confident I can aim just as fast and accurately!"

Milos finished speaking and pulled the trigger again, hitting an enemy who was trying to sever the link between the mule carcass and the Flak 38.

Almost simultaneously, Wei Ran also fired a bullet, hitting the machine gunner who was hiding behind a rock on the left.

"As long as you are sure!"

Wei Ran said no more. Unlike Milos, he was not talented in shooting. His current shooting skills and speed were all developed by shooting bullet by bullet.

However, he neither rejects nor denies the existence of geniuses, so for him, it is enough to give a reminder. He believes that the other party is more confident than he is.

Amidst the intermittent gunfire, the mortars that originally belonged to the Germans behind them began to fire, and the machine guns were also brought over to provide suppressive fire.

Correspondingly, Dragan's guide now includes many more targets "holding sniper rifles".

In this seemingly tireless standoff and stalemate, less than a kilometer behind Wei Ran and his group, a large force gradually appeared and began to cross the valley.

With the appearance of this large force, the enemy's firepower became even more ferocious, and the pressure on Wei Ran and the others increased dramatically.

"boom!"

After hitting another enemy who was trying to set up a machine gun, Wei Ran heard a terrifying whistle mixed in with the sounds of gunfire.

"Lie down!"

This time, he didn't even have time to put away his gun before he turned around and tackled Dragan and Milos again.

"Boom!" In the explosion that was right next to him, Wei Ran's rifle was blown away, and a terrifying crater was blown into the spot less than two meters in front of him.

The shockwave struck, sending a barrage of dirt and debris crashing down, and he lost consciousness as everything went black.

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Ran was suddenly awakened by the coldness of his fingertips, and then saw that he was lying on a stretcher.

At his toes, Dragan was carrying the stretcher. Looking up at the other person, thankfully, it was Milos.

Looking around, they were crossing the river, but the fighting in the direction they had come from had not stopped.

"I"

"You saved us."

As Dragan spoke, he used his good hand to lift the Robert camera hanging around his neck and pressed the shutter.

"Click"

With an unusually crisp shutter sound, everything in Wei Ran's eyes was once again enveloped in white light, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief. In any case, it seemed that Dragan and Milos had escaped this encirclement.

When the white light faded again, Wei Ran found himself standing on the edge of a small town.

Looking around, he first noticed a road sign not far away, with a name painted in white that made him look up at the sky—Dewaer Town.

Is Comrade Tie in this town right now?
Wei Ran couldn't help but shiver. What time was it? The grass by the roadside was still wet with dew, and the sun in the distance had only just risen above the horizon.
Oh no! An air raid is coming!

While pondering this crucial question, he also subconsciously glanced at his own "outfit".

This time, he was wearing an exceptionally formal uniform, German marching boots, and a Soviet cloak.

No need to ask, these are all props from the metal notebook.

In addition to his Mauser sniper rifle equipped with a scope, he also carried a P38 pistol on his waist.

Almost as he pulled back the bolt to check if there were any bullets inside, the roar of an airplane engine came from the sky.

When he looked up following the sound, he immediately saw the distinctive silhouettes of the Stuka dive bomber and the FW190 fighter jet in the sky!

Wei Ran touched the bullets inside the magazine with his fingers that were already inside, quickly looked around, and then ran to the roadside.

At the same time, he drew the pistol from his waist, pulled back the slide, and repeatedly pulled the trigger towards his head.

Amidst the clattering gunshots, Wei Ran tucked the empty pistol back into his waistband, then hid in the shade of a large tree, lying on his back and bracing the butt of the gun against his shoulder, ready to take aim.

Can you shoot down a plane with a gun?
Of course he could, it's just that the success rate isn't high, but he wouldn't mind giving it a try.

While he waited, FW190 entered first. Fortunately, they did not notice Wei Ran hiding in the shade of the roadside trees, but headed straight for the town of Deval behind him!

Almost as soon as the fighter jets began spraying machine gun fire, the Stukas also began their dive.

With a distinctive shriek, the Stukas drew ever closer, and Wei Ran, lying on the ground, quickly estimated the lead and decisively pulled the trigger.

He was fairly certain that the bullet had hit the Stuka, but it was clear that while the bullet might have pierced the skin, it seemed to have had no effect on the aircraft.

Wei Ran was not discouraged. After loading the gun as quickly as possible, he pulled the trigger ahead of time for the last Stuka that was flying in.

This time, he even clearly saw a fleeting spark on the Stuka's propeller.

But it was still no use. The dive bomber still screeched as it rushed toward the air defense positions near the town of Deval and began its dive bombing run.

Where is Milos? And where is Dragan the Special One?
After reloading, Wei Ran immediately hid under a tree trunk.

In just a short while, the air defense forces around Deval were cleared out. Almost simultaneously, one Junkers plane after another flew in formation to the vicinity of the town, dropping a large number of paratroopers like a swarm of sardines, and also releasing a batch of gliders.

"Paratroopers before landing are targets."

Wei Ran, who had just failed to shoot down a plane with two shots, muttered to himself as he moved the muzzle of his gun and pulled the trigger toward the moving target that had begun to fall.

"boom!"

After the crisp gunshot, a line of blood rained down from the sky. Wei Ran, after reloading, moved the muzzle, aimed at the second live target, and pulled the trigger.

When the second line of blood appeared in the sky, the roar of an MP40 submachine gun and the sound of rifle fire suddenly came from not far away.

Following the sound, Wei Ran breathed a slight sigh of relief. He saw Dragan holding a submachine gun, Milos holding a rifle, and a donkey with some luggage hanging between them.

"Rob their weapons crates!"

Wei Ran shouted as he moved toward the two of them. Their window of opportunity was limited; if they could seize the weapon crates, they could leave some of them unarmed.

Paratroopers without weapons are worse than dogs!

After Wei Ran reminded him, Dragan immediately urged Milos to get on his donkey and run toward the nearest airdropped weapon crate.

At the same time, Wei Ran and Dragan moved in that direction, firing their weapons at the approaching enemy.

"what 's wrong?!"

Dragan shouted, "Weren't we transferred here to receive awards? Where did these flies come from?!"

"The commendation will probably have to wait, and Comrade Tito's birthday will probably have to wait too!"

After pulling the trigger again, Wei Ran said, "Just the three of us."

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, Maxim's roar finally rang out from the direction of the town.

This is much better than the bolt-action rifle in Wei Ran's hands and the submachine gun in Dragan's hands.

However, correspondingly, the Maxim fighter jet, which had just begun to roar and cleared an area of ​​airspace, was also fatally attacked by fighter jets in a very short time.

In contrast, Wei Ran and the others, who were almost directly beneath the paratroopers, were temporarily safe.

In just a short while, Milos, riding his donkey, grabbed a parachute from an airdropped weapons crate that was about to fall and pulled it towards Wei Ran and Dragan.

"Well done!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he raised his gun again and pulled the trigger at a paratrooper who was about to land.

After he reloaded his gun, Milos, riding his donkey, also dragged the airdropped weapons crate over.

"cover me!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he decisively put down the rifle in his hand and expertly opened the airdrop crate.

"What's inside? A machine gun?! A submachine gun would be fine too!"

Dragan asked loudly as he changed the last magazine in his submachine gun.

"There's a crippled machine gun!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he pulled an FG42 paratrooper rifle from the airdrop crate, loaded it with a magazine, and handed it to Dragan.

"What an ugly thing is this?"

Even so, Dragan immediately took over the "crippled machine gun".

"The recoil is huge!"

As Wei Ran gave the warning, Dragan had already propped it up on a branch of a small tree by the roadside and started pulling the trigger at the paratroopers who had just landed.

"Is there anything else?" Milos asked, jumping off his donkey.

"Have"

Wei Ran looked at the contents of the airdrop crate with a strange expression. In the remaining space, there were five G43 semi-automatic rifles, all equipped with scopes.

In addition, spare ammunition and some medicines were also tucked into the space.

Without any hesitation, he immediately pulled out a submachine gun and a magazine pouch and handed them to the other person.

After receiving these items, Milos immediately loaded his gun, used the roadside ditch as cover, and pulled the trigger towards the paratroopers who had landed in the distance.

Taking this opportunity, Wei Ran also picked out a submachine gun for himself and haphazardly hung a magazine pouch around his neck.

"The recoil of this gun is indeed too great."

Dragan, who had just emptied a magazine, said disdainfully, "Give me some submachine gun magazines! This gun is no good!"

"Try this! The Germans' new gun!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he handed a G43 with a scope to the other party.

Immediately afterwards, he picked up his submachine gun and pulled the trigger at the German paratroopers in the distance who were firing at them with pistols.

"Now is not the time to try new things."

Dragan also picked up a submachine gun magazine, loaded it, and pulled the trigger on the paratroopers who were trying to grab the weapons.

They now occupy this weapon crate, which can equip at least a squad, so they can naturally use firepower to overwhelm the enemy regardless of cost.

This was undoubtedly the biggest weakness of the German paratroopers in World War II. Before they could seize weapons crates, these precious paratroopers were no match for even the guerrillas.

Fortunately, these paratroopers weren't stupid. Seeing that there was no hope of seizing the weapons, they decisively changed direction and began to gather in the direction where another weapons crate had fallen in the distance.

At the same time, several gliders flew low overhead and disappeared into the distance.

"We have to stop those gliders!"

"They're heading towards the command post!" Dragan exclaimed.

"Now is the time to try these new tricks."

As Wei Ran spoke, he threw the empty submachine gun into the airdrop crate, and then retrieved a G43 semi-automatic sniper rifle with a scope.

With a "click," he loaded the bullet, aimed at the airdrop crate that had just been opened a few hundred meters away, and pulled the trigger!
"boom!"

With a gunshot, a paratrooper who had just put his hand into an airdrop crate was shot through the chest, also accidentally hitting the soldier opposite him.

"It's a 100-meter dash to zero!"

As Wei Ran shouted, he moved his gun and repeatedly pulled the trigger around the airdrop crate, yelling, "We don't need to worry about that side, but we need to stop these swarming flies from rushing over there!"

"That makes sense!"

As Milos spoke, he also dropped his submachine gun, picked up a G43, ripped off the leather case from the scope, and pulled the trigger toward the airdrop crate in the distance.

"This gun looks pretty good."

As Dragan spoke, he also picked up a G43, chambered a round with his right hand (which only had his thumb left), then braced the butt of the rifle against his left shoulder and pulled the trigger toward the paratroopers in the distance.

This gun is really useful, especially for shooting these unarmed flies.

The three people lying by the ditch had the same thought in their minds.

Just wanted to give you an update. We should be able to dig up something around here. We've been working on the big hole for the past couple of days.