In the dense birch forest, Wei Ran, who was covered with various weapons, followed four young men dragging a small sledge and walked quickly along an animal path deep into the forest.
Through the conversation between the other four people, Wei Ran, who remained silent, also remembered their names.
The young man who once set up a machine gun ambush on the other side of the dirt road in the field with political commissar Vinya was called Fras.
The anti-tank gunner Vavila, who was killed by a German machine gun, had a partner named Yeremey. This young man was also the one who wanted to follow him to bury his companion. There were also the two partners who used Simonov anti-tank guns. They were respectively
It's Alyosha and David.
Following the four young men, they walked about four to five hundred meters into the forest, and a winding stream appeared directly in front of them. This clear stream was only three meters wide, and its depth was only enough to submerge the ankles.
The stream is also full of fine pebbles.
On the edge of the stream, there was an old man with a gray beard and a "standardized" iron and steel frame four-wheel carriage.
This four-wheeled carriage pulled by two mules also has a well-known name - the gun jam.
It can indeed be called a standard gun truck. Not only the base for mounting the Maxim machine gun still remains at the rear of the vehicle, but there are also several railing racks for storing ammunition boxes.
However, looking at the mottled rust of this gun truck and the repairs made with wooden boards everywhere, Wei Ran suspected that it might have participated in the early Soviet battles against the White Bandits and Black Army.
"Papa Doferro"
The young man named Yeremey said with a cry, "Sergey and...Vavila..."
"I see"
The father known as Doferro sighed before Gennady could finish speaking, "Hurry up and load the loot into the car. We need to leave here as soon as possible."
"I'm going to bury them with Commissar Vinya and Sasha," Yeremei said, having already put several weapons he was carrying on the carriage, and took another one from the four-wheeled carriage.
Engineer shovel.
"I'm with you..."
Before Wei Ran could finish his words, he only had time to put down the weapons hanging on his body, and then he felt the world spinning and felt the indescribable but extremely disgusting feeling of brain shutdown.
Fortunately, this uncomfortable movement came and went quickly, so he just staggered as if he couldn't stand still, and then he stood still with the help of the young man named Alyosha.
"I missed the mark." Wei Ran made an excuse and subconsciously touched his nose. There was no nosebleed this time.
"Be careful," Alyosha reminded kindly.
"I'm fine." Wei Ran waved his hand, "Yeremei, I'll go with you. If there are more people, go faster."
"You two, please be safe," Father Dofero said worriedly, and then came over to help load the trophies from the small sledge onto the carriage.
After looking at Dofilo's unsharp legs, Wei Ran took an ax from the carriage and followed Sasha back along the original animal trail.
It didn't take long for them to see Commissar Vinia and the young man named Sasha, each carrying a body on his back and walking deep into the forest.
Seeing Wei Ran and Yeremei coming over, Vinya put down the body he was carrying, looked around, pointed to a beech tree mixed in the birch forest and said, "Just bury it here."
"Then let's go here"
Before Yereme could finish his words, he was already waving the engineer shovel he brought and started digging vigorously. Immediately afterwards, Sasha and Vinya, who put down the body, also joined the excavation work.
Wei Ran, on the other hand, casually chopped the ax he brought on the trunk of a birch tree and squatted beside the two corpses.
The two corpses didn't look very old. One of the arms had been damaged by machine gun fire and only some flesh and skin remained. The other corpse was even more miserable. His abdominal cavity had been torn apart.
, the internal organs inside were kept from completely leaking out by being held by the outer clothes, and the body was covered with stubble and wounds.
Taking off the Budyonni hat on his head and using it as a towel, Wei Ran carefully wiped off the blood on the faces of the two corpses and cleaned up the foreign objects embedded in them. Then, he borrowed the German soldier's backpack
He took out his camera from cover and took a photo of each of the two corpses.
Immediately afterwards, he took another photo of the three people digging the grave pit, then put away the camera, picked up the ax, and helped cut through the tangled roots in the grave pit.
The soil layer was not dug at all, not even the humus layer was dug out. With the movement of the Germans outside the forest, the four people had to hurriedly carry the two corpses into the grave pit and remove the dug out humus.
Pushed it back, and then grabbed some fallen leaves from the surroundings to cover it.
After a while, a group of German soldiers appeared outside the forest, and several small teams even began to search into the forest through the burned fields.
The four of them looked at each other. Political Commissar Vinia pulled out a wooden-handled grenade that he had just captured from his waist, hid it under the fallen leaves, and then used a leather rope to set up a trap.
Not daring to delay at all, everyone immediately ran into the depths of the forest along the animal trail, and then waded all the way downstream through the stream, setting several more booby traps along the way to pretend they were ashore.
"boom!"
Hearing the sudden explosion behind them, the four people looked at each other and accelerated their pace in unison.
He ran quickly along the stream. When this stream merged with another stream, Commissar Vinia, who was walking at the front, immediately turned around and walked upstream along the other stream.
This time, they walked for nearly an hour before they caught up with the four-wheeled carriage that was still creaking forward in the stream, as well as the remaining people who were pushing the carriage hard to provide extra power.
There was still no communication. Everyone, including Wei Ran, also joined the push cart, and the speed of the cart also increased slightly.
After continuing to walk for more than half an hour, the old man named Dofero finally ordered the carriage to go ashore, turning left and right around the birch trees, and finally stopped next to a few well-hidden dens.
"We are missing two more boys"
Dofero shouted to the two mules to stop and sighed, and the other young men, who were not as old as Wei Ran, also lowered their heads.
"We are indeed missing two young men"
Vinya took off his boat hat and said, "But today we destroyed three French tanks and blew up four full trucks of ammunition. I believe that the sacrifices of Sergey and Vavila were worth it. We
What you do will definitely help your comrades on the front line!"
"Vinya is right."
Father Dofero wiped his face vigorously in the dim sky, "Boys, cheer up. All the ammunition is moved to the shack behind the big rock, and the broken weapons are moved to Victor and I's shack.
Here, let’s share the rest of the things seized! Fras, is there anything to eat or drink that was seized today?”
"have!"
The machine gunner named Flass said immediately, "We seized several packs of cigarettes, several boxes of butter and several cans! Most importantly, we also found two large bottles of vodka and several pieces of white bread."
"A few more sausages!"
The young man named David reminded, "The bread and sausages are placed in the same box, and there is also a can of milk!"
"It looks like we can have a good meal tonight," said Father Dofero, who had already untied the two mules and tied them to the trunk of a birch tree.
As these people were busy moving the seized things into different shacks, Wei Ran also took the opportunity to take a look at the shacks of himself and Father Doferro.
The shack was not that big, with two log beds placed against the wall and a wooden table in the middle. On the table were a wooden box containing various tools and a rare AVS36 semi-automatic rifle.
In addition to such weapons, there is also a row of wooden boxes placed against the innermost wall of the shack, which also contain various types of pistols and submachine guns equipped by the Soviet Union and Germany.
At the same time, he also noticed that the only things that could provide warmth in the room were the kerosene lamp on the table and two unlit carbide lamps, but the crucial fireplace was not found at all. From this, he could also
It can be seen that they probably built this place hastily in the past few months.
He personally brought in the broken anti-tank gun that still had blood stains on it. Wei Ran found a rag and wiped the blood and soil off the gun and gave it a rough inspection.
Compared with the barrel that later generations saw and thought was a forgery, the barrel of this broken Degtyaryov anti-tank gun had not 12 stars but 7 stars.
Of course, its degree of damage is better than that of later generations. It's just that the bottom plate of the butt and the cheek rest are gone, and a section of the spring used to buffer the recoil has popped out.
But looking at the few crude tools in this shack, it is obvious that if you want to repair this gun, you need to think of a way.
It was only at this time that Wei Ran realized that the skill he had learned was probably firearms maintenance.
However, thanks to his hard study at the Hongqi Forest Farm, he already knows enough about firearms, so the side effects this time are not that big, and his feelings about the new skills are not as strong as when he learned bone setting.
.
"Victor, don't work at night. We don't have much fuel. The two barrels of gasoline you seized today are still being kept to make Molotov cocktails."
At the door of the shack, Doferro lit a seized cigarette and urged, "So hurry up and put out the oil lamp, we should go to eat."
"coming"
Wei Ran responded, blew out the oil lamp, left the shack in the dark, and followed Doferro into another shack about 50 meters away.
This shack is slightly larger in area, and it also has a small fireplace that can be used for heating, cooking, and providing limited lighting.
However, there are no bunks in this shack. The only furnishings are a broken table with some pots and pans, and a long table that can seat ten people. Even the long table is spliced with wooden boards around it.
stool.
At this time, not only were two bottles of vodka, several cans and a 10-liter German water jug seized on the table, but there were also several pairs of captured marching boots, belts, trousers, and other items such as lunch boxes and kettles.
Forks and even small items such as watches, flashlights, cigarettes, and lighters.
"Everyone can share one point according to their needs."
Vinia, who was busy making dinner, said, "This time we seized enough boots that everyone can get a pair."
As soon as these words were spoken, these young men immediately began to try on shoes. Under the cover of the uncertain firelight and the slightly chaotic scene, Wei Ran quietly took out the boots from the metal book and wrapped them in matching shoes.
Foot wraps were worn on the feet, replacing the oilcloth boots that still poured out water.
By the way, he also picked up a watch to determine the accurate time, and made corresponding adjustments to the flyback watch in the metal book.
After everyone had been assigned new boots and divided up other small items, Vinia, with the help of Fras, gave everyone an equal amount of hot milk and butter-fried sausages, and only fists.
A large piece of white bread and a small glass of vodka. Of course, there is also a large pot of red cabbage soup in the center of the table.
"It's time for us to change places."
After political commissar Vinya sat down, he said in the flickering firelight, "The Germans have begun to use tanks to escort supplies to the front line, and there have been more and more search teams outside the forest recently. We must change our position to fight.
Otherwise they will find here sooner or later."
"Where are you going?"
As Doferro spoke, he had already picked up the cup and took a stingy sip of vodka, "Are we going to move out after staying here for less than a month?"
“Must move”
Vinia said without any doubt, "Dad Dofero, please move to the red pine forest. At least you and Victor, our material reserves and weapons must be moved there. All of us can be sacrificed, but you and
Victor, no, without you, all the guerrilla weapons in this forest will not have anyone to maintain them."
"Then let's move to the red pine forest. When do you plan to move?"
Dofero poked a piece of fried sausage with his fork and smelled it vigorously, then threw it into his mouth and chewed hard. His gray beard also trembled hard as he chewed.
"tonight"
Winia's unexpected answer made everyone stop eating.
"Tonight?" the young man named Alyosha asked in surprise, "Are we in such a hurry?"
"Should we wait until the Germans knock on the door and ask if we can come in for a drink?"
Father Dofero swallowed the sausage in his mouth and made a final decision, "Tonight is the night. Victor, Alyosha, Yeremey, and David, the four of you will follow me.
Bring some of the weapons over first."
Obviously, Father Dofero seemed to have more prestige in this small group than Political Commissar Vinya. After he spoke, not only the people named immediately responded, but the remaining few also immediately lost any opinions.
In the ensuing chat among everyone, Wei Ran finally learned the identity, current location and time of these people.
It was the end of September and the beginning of October of 1941. Whether it was still lingering at the end of September or already entering October, these people could not remember clearly.
Fortunately, they knew clearly that not far outside the forest where they were hiding was the city of Bryansk.
From this information alone, Wei Ran already knew that this should be the end of the Battle of Bryansk and the beginning of the Battle of Vyazma-Bryansk.
In the previous battle, the Soviet Red Army pushed the invaders back nearly 300 kilometers westward on a battlefield nearly two hundred kilometers wide. However, in the battle that followed, the Germans captured
Nearly 700,000 prisoners.
What made him feel even worse was that although the few remaining people could not remember the exact time, they knew that they were currently fighting guerrillas in the "enemy-occupied area", and they also knew that there were many Germans outside the forest who had been arresting people.
them.
Knowing the time and place, Weiran also extracted information about these people.
Political Commissar Vinha is indeed a political commissar, a frontline political commissar from the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. He was knocked unconscious by a shell in a previous battle and was saved by Father Doferro.
Father Dofero was originally just a watchmaker, and Wei Ran was his apprentice. As for the rest, most of them were villagers from a small village outside the forest - Dofero's son was there.
He works as a doctor in that village.
The reason why these people gathered here is undoubtedly because the German troops who fought back reoccupied the village where Doferro took Vinia to his son's home to recover from his injuries.
As a last resort, the dozen or so people who survived fled into the forest under the command of Vigna and the Doferro father and son, and fired with an anti-tank gun and a German machine gun picked up from the battlefield.
A guerrilla started.
In the past half month, they have ambushed German transport teams several times, seized a lot of weapons, equipment and supplies, and even provided a lot of weapons to several other surrounding guerrilla groups, and exchanged them for other
Two anti-tank guns and plenty of ammunition.
But correspondingly, they also paid the price of more than half of their casualties, including Father Dofilo's doctor son.
As all the food and drink in their lunch boxes went into their stomachs, everyone's chatting came to an end.
The young man named Sasha filled up the German kettle that had just been assigned to him with hot water, but everyone immediately started busy without rest at all.
Under the command of Father Doferro and Political Commissar Vigna, boxes of seized pistols and submachine guns were first loaded onto the carriage, followed by matching ammunition and several barrels of seized oil.
"We can't keep pretending, let's go."
Doferro greeted and shouted to the two mules that Wei Ran had just helped to harness. Under the cold moonlight, only the weak light provided by the oil lamp carried by Davide who was walking in front was carried by a wooden stick.
Busy Light was moving slowly through the dense forest.
It was obvious that these young people were familiar with this forest, especially David, who was walking at the front carrying an oil lamp. It didn't take long for him to lead them to a hidden logging road.
After continuing along this logging road for half an hour, he led the carriage into a forest stream that barely covered the feet.
The group of people walked along this stream for nearly two hours. The surrounding birch forests were gradually replaced by taller pine forests, and even the stream gradually became wider and deeper.
Finally, when the moon reached its zenith, the carriage, which had already needed the help of everyone except David to push it forward, finally stopped.
“It’s right over there”
David raised his finger and pointed at the gentle slope on the side of the stream, "The carriage can't get up, so we have to move things over."
“Let’s start quickly”
Doferro urged, and everyone immediately untied the small sledge on the carriage. After each loaded some weapons, they hung up a few submachine guns on their bodies and followed David, dragging the small sledge with them.
Sledge, almost using hands and feet to climb up.
After struggling to climb over this small slope that was not too big but was covered with pine trees, David led everyone to find a lying pine tree after looking around.
This pine tree, which was cut down some time ago, is quite strong. The diameter of the remaining stump not far away exceeds 1.5 meters. The diameter at breast height of the middle section of the pine tree is about 1 meter, and the length is more than 30 meters.
What surprised Wei Ran even more was that under the moss-covered tree crown branches, when David opened an armful of withered pine needles, a white wooden board that was covered with iron sheet and was only one meter square was revealed.
When the wooden board was lifted, there was a dark hole underneath, which was carefully reinforced with wooden boards.
"Come in, this place was originally prepared for winter use. Although it has been dug, the tables and chairs have not been made yet."
As David spoke, he was the first to get in with an oil lamp. At the same time, he did not forget to add, "There is another room near the root of the tree. It is more spacious. Now that there are so few of us, it will definitely be enough to live in."
In the silence brought about by this unintentional sentence, Wei Ran followed him and got in at the end. Only when he really entered here did he realize that this underground tunnel seemed to be opened in a diatomaceous earth deposit, as far as the eye could see from the inside.
, except for a few pillars used to support the wooden boards above the head, the surrounding walls and the ground under the feet are all yellow-white diatomaceous earth.
In the innermost part of this extremely dry shack, there is a fireplace made of stones and mud. What is quite interesting is that the chimney of the fireplace is made of German gas mask cans and is covered with mud.
gaps and extend out.
Hanging the kerosene lamp he was carrying on a pillar, David casually threw the submachine guns he was carrying in the corner, and then, together with the others, non-stop loaded all the weapons and ammunition on the small sledge.
Removed.
After two trips to clear the carriage, everyone had time to hide in the unfinished shack, drink some water and smoke a cigarette before returning immediately.
That night, Wei Ran and others made three trips back and forth with the carriage, and finally transported all the things from the previous shack before dawn.
As the saying goes, a broken family is worth a fortune. After these three trips, Wei Ran and others were very tired. The unfinished shack was also filled to the brim with various supplies, weapons and ammunition - there were even two boxes of empty wine bottles and two strips of ammunition in it.
Semi car tires.
Everything was packed up, and when Alyosha led the two mules to the shack and tied them to the branches of a pine tree, and when Weiran and others worked together to hide the carriage, Vinya, Sasha and others who had disappeared all night
Fras finally came back.
"Have you all been notified?" Doferro saw the three people coming back one by one, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and asked them while greeting them and walking in the direction of the shack.
“Everyone has been notified”
Vinia looked up at the sky and replied, "They need more submachine guns and bullets, and they need them tonight."
"Still in the same place?" Dofero asked.
"Yes." Vinia nodded, "This time they plan to attack and suppress our Germans."
"I see"
Dofero responded, and everyone fell into silence again. However, Wei Ran couldn't help but become curious, wondering who the "they" in Vinia's mouth were.
In this confusion, David and Yeremey took away the withered pine needles accumulated at the base of the fallen pine tree, revealing another wooden board covered with iron sheets.
Lifting the wooden plank, Wei Ran also saw another larger shack.
Although there are no tables or chairs in this shack, there is also a fireplace, and the surrounding walls are reinforced with wooden sticks and planks.
The most important thing is that the space of this shack is large enough for all of them to lie down on the floor and still have almost half of the area left. When they built this shack, they probably hoped that more people could live in it.
Here, it's just those people... but they can never come back.
