War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1966: The war will continue for another ten years or so

In the ambush area under the snowy night, the two sides were locked in a stalemate across the mountain road.

Wei Ran knew perfectly well that this ambush was to buy time for Luo Wenyu's position to be deployed.

Therefore, as long as the vanguard cavalry force of the Japanese can be contained, the objective will be achieved.

On the other hand, the Japanese were also aware of the other side's plans, so the stalemate did not last long before the other side launched a counterattack.

The moment the grenade launcher on the other side fired its flare, Wen Laoga, who was next to Wei Ran, opened fire.

The soldier, whose appearance Wei Ran hadn't even clearly seen, still raised his gun and fired without aiming.

With a burst of extremely rapid fire, the machine guns more than a hundred meters away fell silent one after another, and then the grenade launcher squads were also lying on the ground.

monster
Wei Ran couldn't help but mutter to himself again. He was 100% confident of hitting the target with a rifle at this distance, but even with a Mauser C96, or even just a Mauser C96 with a stock, it would be difficult for him to do it as easily as his opponent in a short period of time.

"Wen Laoga, is that you firing?"

Just then, someone behind Wei Ran asked a question.

“It’s me,” Wen Laoga said. “Give me some bullets.”

"Wait"

The sound behind him disappeared for only a dozen seconds before an officer with a slanted leather belt came over and brought several packs of Mauser pistol bullets and Yusaka rifle bullets.

"Brother Wei, hold on for a bit."

As Wen Laoga spoke, he returned the rifle bullets, along with the Mauser pistol and spare magazines that Wei Ran had lent him.

"Why don't you keep it for yourself?"

Wei Ran took the rifle cartridge, loaded it into the rifle, and with the help of the flare that was already emitting light overhead, pulled the trigger at a Japanese soldier who seemed to be holding a command sword.

"I'm used to using my own."

As Wen Laoga spoke, he carefully unloaded a bullet from the magazine, tested the muzzle of his two side-opening Mauser pistols, and then loaded both guns with bullets.

"boom!"

As Wei Ran fired his third bullet and successfully hit a lightly armed machine gun that had just been fired, Wen Laoga had already raised his upper body with both hands and fired a burst of fire at the other side, almost like a rapid-fire shot.

"Snapped--!"

Amidst the continuous barrage of gunfire, and to Wei Ran's astonished gaze, the Japanese soldiers opposite him responded with a series of screams.

Injure but not kill?
Wei Ran raised an eyebrow. He was now 15% certain that this Wen Laoga was definitely a seasoned veteran.

If only one or two people hadn't been killed by that burst of fire, it would be understandable, but the continuous screams were enough to prove that his shots had at most killed one or two.

In other words, this Wen Laoga was creating wounded soldiers for the Japanese!
After this round of dazzling dual-gun bursts, the two sides finally entered a true stalemate.

However, their good fortune was short-lived. The traitors and puppet troops on the other side reluctantly launched an attack under the cover of Japanese machine gun fire.

This time, neither Wei Ran nor Wen Laoga rushed to fire their guns.

The previous display of skill was meant to intimidate the Japanese, with the aim of getting them to send out their puppet troops and traitors to charge.

"Big Swordsmen, prepare!"

In the woods, Commander Qi, who spoke with a Henan accent, gave the order: "Feed them a round of grenades first, then the riflemen will control the dogs on the other side! Save the pistols for the real Japanese soldiers."

Amidst the clattering of preparations, the members of the broadsword squad, hiding in their bunkers, untied their broadswords and wrapped the handles around their hands with wiping cloths.

This is why they forced the Japanese to send out their traitors to launch an attack—to seize weapons and ammunition from them!

"They'll be firing flares later."

Wen Laoga reminded Wei Ran, "Once the flares go off, the Japanese machine guns will start firing. You just keep an eye on their grenade launchers, I'll take care of the machine guns."

"Okay, should we change locations?" Wei Ran asked.

"No need, I reckon the Japanese won't be targeting us until the next round."

"Wen Laoga said confidently, while simultaneously reloading his side-opening box with bullets."

As the two men spoke in hushed tones, the forced traitors and puppet troops, having been compelled to charge, slowly made their way across the mountain path and began climbing up the slope.

Gradually, these traitors entered the grenade's range, but Commander Qi still did not give the order to fire. Instead, the soldiers of the Big Sword Team picked up the grenades with their left hands and wrapped the fuses around them.

"beep--!"

With the sound of a whistle, the soldiers of the Big Sword Squad immediately threw out their grenades!
"Tom!"

Just as the grenades exploded one after another, the other side also fired a series of flares!

"boom!"

The moment the many sword-wielding soldiers rushed out of the trenches, Wei Ran pulled the trigger, accurately hitting the grenade launcher gunner in the stomach—he also intended to inflict some wounds on the enemy.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Wen Laoga also opened fire at the same time.

The remaining pistol squad members in the distance also opened fire.

Their firepower density may not be as high as Wen Laoga's, but their accuracy is definitely not a problem.

Under their suppression, the Japanese grenade launchers only fired one round of illumination flares, and the machine guns only fired a few shots before falling silent.

For a moment, the battlefield across the road was filled only with the faint, interwoven sound of single shots from both sides.

Just as the flares began to dim, the long-awaited broadsword squad rushed out of their cover, launched a charge from their high vantage point, and began hacking and slashing at the traitors and puppet troops who were right next to them, braving the Japanese rifle fire.

Wei Ran didn't have time to observe the hand-to-hand combat on the slope. He barely dared to blink, staring intently at the grenade launcher team he was in charge of, pulling the trigger again and again.

Even so, after less than five minutes of darkness, several flares were still fired into the night sky from other locations.

These flares also served as a signal, and the members of the big knife squad immediately ran back to their bunkers with their spoils. At the same time, the pistol squad, including Wei Ran, also drew their Mauser pistols and began to suppress the enemy with fire.

When the flares began to fall again, Commander Qi gave a new order—retreat.

Under this order, the broadsword squad carried the spoils and left first, while the pistol squad continued to maintain control.

Soon, the pistol squad also began to retreat, quickly and quietly leaving the position, catching up with the broadsword squad and running across the snow.

However, they didn't actually leave. Instead, after crossing a mountain pass impassable to warhorses, they re-ambushed the enemy at another bend in the mountain road. After waiting for more than half an hour, the cavalry unit they had just ambushed finally arrived.

However, upon seeing the condition of this cavalry unit, Wei Ran couldn't help but smile.

This time, they clearly placed the traitors and puppet troops in front and kept their distance.

Moreover, because of the trick of shooting the horse before the rider, including Wei Ran and many other gunmen, they even saw two Japanese soldiers riding one horse together.

"The Big Sword Team is responsible for dealing with the traitors."

Commander Qi gave the order in a low voice, "The pistol squad should shoot their horses first!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers carrying broadswords immediately raised the Type 44 cavalry rifles and even the Golden Hook rifles that they had captured and distributed to second-line troops and auxiliary soldiers, and prepared themselves.

While they waited, the Japanese cavalry gradually passed the bend in the mountain road.

"beat!"

Before the commander, who was suspected to be Commander Qi, could finish speaking, he had already raised his gun and pulled the trigger!

"boom!"

Wei Ran also pulled the trigger, hitting the draft horse of the last supply wagon.

Before he could load new bullets, the horses or mules pulling the other supply wagons behind him were also shot and blocked their retreat.

At the same time, the first few horses of the cavalry were also hit by bullets and fell to the ground. Some of them were so reluctant to leave that they even pinned one of their masters' legs under their bodies.

From that moment on, as horses were shot one after another, the second night raid once again turned into a stalemate between infantry.

Judging from the terrain alone, Wei Ran could tell that these two ambushes were deliberately chosen locations.

Having established an ambush from a high vantage point, the Japanese cavalry were unable to ride up the mountain to pursue them.

Although this bend in the mountain road was not far from the first ambush, it was almost specifically designed to target the Japanese cavalry, or rather, their warhorses.

Of course, he didn't know that while he was once again pinning down this Japanese cavalry, another group of big sword soldiers circled back the way they came and charged into the pile of wounded Japanese soldiers left behind.

In this matter, the Japanese should never have trusted the collaborators and puppet troops too much, and at the very least, they should not have left them to take care of and protect the wounded.

That's why this counterattack was so easy and resulted in victory. Some of the puppet troops were even clever enough to stab the traitors in the back to prove that "I also fight against the Japanese."

Moments later, gunfire and shouts of battle erupted from behind the Japanese cavalry unit. They were effectively blocked on the mountain road just a few miles from the crossroads.

From a purely military standpoint, this Japanese unit certainly deserves recognition; despite the dire situation, they withstood the night raid by the broadsword squad.

Of course, they did have a firepower advantage, especially since they had deployed their mountain guns on this small position, risking casualties.

When the booming sound of artillery fire rang out, Commander Qi once again gave the order to retreat, leading everyone back up the mountain to hide.

However, after this round of surprise attacks, the Japanese soldiers only had puppet troops and traitors left to use as mounts and livestock, just as Wei Ran had said.

Regardless of their inner thoughts, retreating at this point is certainly not realistic.

Soon, the mountain guns fell silent, and the puppet troops and traitors pushed them forward together.

This time, due to the surprise attack from behind, they also had to face the dilemma of whether to take the wounded with them or leave some people behind to protect them.

Without a doubt, if too few people stay, they'll be easy prey for the Big Swords Brigade; if too many people stay, they'll be easy prey for the Luowenyu position.

Even if they were to carry it along, it wouldn't be practical, as that would severely slow down their journey and achieve the same goal of delaying their battle.

Commander Qi, who was directing the battle, didn't care about any of that. As soon as the Japanese started to move, he led his men back to continue the ambush. At the same time, as soon as the gunfire rang out, another team that had also taken cover launched another attack on the rear of the Japanese column.

In the midst of this protracted struggle where the Japanese had to defend themselves at all costs, time passed little by little. Whenever the Japanese mountain guns, which were being pushed around, fired, the soldiers of the 29th Army would immediately retreat. But as soon as their mountain guns started firing, sniper rifles would immediately come flying at them.

After four or five hours of this entanglement, the heavily damaged Japanese troops finally stopped their stubbornness and chose to retreat—by then it was already dawn.

There were no cheers or celebrations. The men, who had also suffered heavy losses, rushed onto the battlefield, either looting the spoils or hacking at the horses to get meat to eat and hides to keep warm.

This time, Wei Ran not only filled the bullet box at his waist with ammunition, but also put three extra bullet boxes on his belt.

In addition, he also captured a grenade launcher and more than twenty grenades that filled a small Japanese soldier's satchel.

Of course, compared to the things he captured, the biggest gain this time was the few mountain guns left behind by the Japanese and the shells they didn't take.

"retreat!"

In the cold, lifeless morning sun, Commander Qi issued the order, "Let's go back and hold the crossroads to the death!"

"Brother Wei, you know how to use a grenade launcher?" Wen Laoga asked Wei Ran, handing him a captured Japanese cigarette.

I've used it a few times before.

Wei Ran took the cigarettes, successfully retrieved the lighter from the metal notebook, and lit them for the two of them.

It was only at this moment that he could see Wen Laoga's appearance clearly.

This old man, Wen Laoga, wasn't particularly tall, and with his sideburns, he looked to be around thirty-two or thirty-three years old.

However, when this age, which would be considered "in the prime of life" in later generations, was applied to Wen Laoga, it filled his exceptionally bright eyes with unconcealable sorrow and aging.

"Are you from Northeast China?" Wei Ran asked an obvious question.

"Fengtian"

As Wen Laoga spoke, he exhaled a puff of smoke. "During the September 18 Incident, I was on duty at the Nanling Camp. When the Japanese occupied Xidu, we ignored the orders of the young master Zhang and fought a battle with the Japanese. In the end, the Nanling Camp was still lost. Sigh!"

After letting out a heavy sigh, Wen Laoga looked at the Great Wall in the distance and said, "Later, I first fled to Rehe, and then to the interior of the pass. Along the way, I inquired and found my partner, who was a cook in the 29th Army. That's how I had the opportunity to come here to fight the Japanese. I don't know."

"What?" Wei Ran asked almost subconsciously when the other party didn't continue.

"When will this ever end?"

Wen Laoga sighed, "First we lost Fengtian, then Xidu and Jinzhou. That young master of the Zhang family really doesn't care about selling his family's land."

Now that Ice City is lost, and Rehe is lost too, does that mean the Japanese are so greedy that they want to invade the interior of China as well?

"Big, he has a big appetite."

Wei Ran sighed. It was only early spring of 1933. These people, who had no end in sight and no light at the end of the tunnel, would have to fight for more than a decade.