Chapter 131 The wounded fished out of the fishing net
At eight o'clock in the evening on April 28th, the Soviet artillery fire that had been raging for a full hour finally died down. Before the smoke cleared, the 765th Regiment of the 150th Division of the 79th Infantry Division of the Soviet Red Army was under the cover of numerous firepower.
, began the attack on the Moltke Bridge again.
At the same time, in the basement of the clinic, which only relied on flashlights to provide lighting, Wei Ran and others also dusted off the dust that fell on their bodies, with a look of fear on their faces as if they were surviving a disaster.
"The artillery has stopped, I'll go up and have a look," said Father Hans as he got up.
"I'll go!" Marco was the first to stand up, "I'll go take a look."
"I'd better go, I can speak Russian."
Wei Ran pulled Marco back and said, "Marco, guard the entrance with a gun."
Hearing this, Marco looked at Father Hans, who hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "Marco, give him the pistol."
"No need." Wei Ran waved his hand, "I have weapons, please turn off the flashlight first."
Without waiting for the others to say anything, Wei Ran climbed up the ladder to the top of the cave entrance. After Hans' father turned off the flashlight, he pushed the bathtub above his head and pushed it up with great effort.
A gap only as big as a fist was exposed.
Looking out through the gap, Wei Ran continued to use force to open it, and then climbed up carefully.
After an hour of artillery fire, both sides of this not-so-wide alley have been reduced to ruins. You can even see the location of the cinema not far away. However, it has now become a blaze of flames.
The ruins of...
Wei Ran silently withdrew his gaze and focused his attention closer. The bathroom that served as the entrance to the basement had only two walls connected to the vents and a lower wall less than one meter high.
Halfway through, even the surrounding collapsed ruins were pushed aside by the air waves generated by the explosion.
Even in the open space less than 20 meters away from the basement, there is an additional bomb crater with smoke. Look at the crater where the medical tent was originally set up, but now it has turned into a pile of three or four meters high.
Building ruins.
Are these idiots using Stalin's hammer here?
Wei Ran swallowed, carefully climbed up the rubble, took out the telescope from the leather book and pointed it in the direction of the Moltke Bridge. With the help of flares that rose from time to time, he could even barely see the machine guns on the bridge.
Shooting down the Soviet Red Army who fell to the ground like wheat!
Climbing down from the ruins carefully, Wei Ran put away his telescope, bent down and picked up a pair of hemostatic forceps that reflected the light of the fire. Unfortunately, all the medicines and supplies that had not had time to be transported into the basement were destroyed by the explosion.
After walking back to the bathtub one step at a time, Wei Ran lay down on the vent that was only half a meter above the ground and shouted, "It's me, I'm going down, don't shoot."
"I've put the gun away" Marco responded from the other end of the vent.
Hearing this, Wei Ran looked around again, and after making sure it was safe, he lifted the bathtub, lay down at the dark hole and said, "The Soviets are still fighting for the Moltke Bridge, but everything around us has been blown up.
"
"Where is the cinema? How is it over there?" Father Hans came up and asked nervously.
Wei Ran was silent for a moment and shook his head slightly, but he didn't know how to answer this question.
Soon after, Father Hans, Dr. Lodge, and Marco climbed up from the basement one after another. After seeing the miserable scene of ruined walls around them, they all fell silent.
"Should we continue to hide in the basement?" Marco asked, hiding his body in the shadows. "We have enough food and various medicines to last for a long time."
"But we didn't prepare much water." Wei Ran couldn't help but remind him. Counting the four of them, there were almost 20 people in the basement. Just drinking water every day was not a small amount.
"The Soviets will be coming soon," Dr. Lodge reminded, "Maybe..."
"Do you really expect them to be angels coming to save us?"
Father Hans was extremely sober at this time, "Before they come, we need to get enough water from the river quickly. I have a hunch that even if the war is over, the women in the basement will be dead in a short time."
It's better not to come out."
Dr. Lodge looked at the direction of the Moltke Bridge in surprise, then nodded, "Everyone, go look around for containers that can hold water. In half an hour, we will go to the river to fetch water."
After hearing this, everyone immediately dispersed and looked for containers that could be used to hold water in the ruins. Soon, large and small buckets, soup pots and several 20-liter gasoline drums originally used to hold kerosene were collected.
Pile on the edge of the bathtub.
"Two buckets per person, let's run more times."
After Hans finished speaking, he picked up the only two gasoline barrels and walked towards the Spree River. The kerosene in these two oil barrels had been used up and had been brought in as early as the day before yesterday.
After being filled with water, they have been kept in the storage room next to the bathroom. Weifang dug them out just now.
"Marco, just grab a bucket, and grab an extra submachine gun." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he picked up two buckets and followed Father Hans and Dr. Rocky who were walking at the front.
Upon hearing this, Marco quickly loaded the submachine gun on his shoulder with bullets, and then followed him carrying a metal bucket that was deformed by bricks.
Amidst the frightening exchange of fire, a group of four people took advantage of the cover of a large number of ruins around them and cautiously approached the direction of the Spree River.
As the distance got closer, everyone in the darkness could more and more clearly see the intertwined fire snakes on the Moltke Bridge, as well as the falling soldiers and even explosions happening everywhere.
"Stop looking and move faster! Maybe the Soviets will attack later." Father Hans urged, carrying two buckets, and crawled across the river bank with Wei Ran in no particular order.
on the street.
"You guys fetch water first, and I'll go see if there are any fish in the fishing nets." Dr. Lodge said in a low voice after crawling over.
"Let me help you!" Wei Ran recalled the experience of picking up a body yesterday, and quickly handed the bucket that had just been tied with a rope to Marco beside him.
Following the location in their memory, the two climbed more than ten meters closer to the Moltke Bridge, and then found a rope tied to half of a street light pole.
However, within two pulls, they felt an unusual weight and even heard a muffled groan coming from under the river embankment.
"Someone!" Dr. Lodge couldn't help but exclaimed.
"It seems he's still alive this time!" Wei Ran said, tightening his helmet and carefully extending his head under the river embankment. Then he saw a black, wet muzzle pointed at the tip of his nose.
However, before he could escape, the arm holding the pistol hung down feebly, and the Nagant revolver originally held in his hand fell into the muddy river with a "pop".
"He's a Soviet man, he seems to be still alive!"
Wei Ran subconsciously reached out and grabbed the other person's arm, and then said, "There is another one, two Soviets!"
With almost no hesitation, Dr. Lodge made a decision, "Hans! Marco, come here quickly to help save people!"
Hearing this, Father Hans and Marco ran over quickly. After learning that there were two Soviets below, they immediately pulled out a scalpel and tried to cut the rope connecting the fishing net.
"Save them!" Dr. Lodge grabbed Father Hans's wrist and said extremely seriously, "I mean save them!"
"But they are Soviets, they will..."
Before Marko finished speaking, Dr. Lodge said seriously, "Except for chained dogs who must die in my clinic, regardless of whether he is a Soviet, German or Jew, as long as he is not dead, we must provide medical assistance!"
"Stupid work ethic..."
Father Hans reluctantly put away the scalpel, called on Marco to help, and pulled up the two people hanging on the fishing net.
It wasn't until the two men were pulled up the river embankment that everyone could see clearly through the flares that flew up from time to time. The Soviet Red Army soldier who had just pointed his gun at the guard had only a muscle attached to his left leg from the knee down.
Break.
I don't know if he did it actively or unintentionally, but the rope connecting the fishing net tightly wrapped around the knee socket of this leg, and he used his own gravity to tighten the rope to stop the bleeding.
The other person was even worse. His abdomen was stained red with blood. He relied on the belt connected with the previous person to strangle the wound, and his lower body was completely soaked in the turbid river water.
There even seemed to be a piece of shrapnel the size of a lighter embedded in his back!
Dr. Lodge and Father Hans tested their breathing respectively. The former even took off the stethoscope he carried with him and listened to their heartbeats. After confirming that they were still alive, he quickly said, "Take them back first!"
"Don't worry"
Father Hans and Wei Ran said in unison, and then they started to take off all the weapons from the two unconscious wounded men.
Four people worked in pairs, carrying the two wounded people who might die at any time, and trudged back to the edge of the ruins of the clinic. After some searching, they carried the two wounded people to a small house with only three sides less than one meter left.
In the remains of a room with high walls.
"Victor, go to the basement and get the first aid kit and gas lamp."
Dr. Lodge used the surgical scissors he carried to cut open the clothes around the wound and continued, "Victor, go get some water yourself!"
"Okay! Okay!" Marco said and ran towards the river and disappeared.
At the same time, Wei Ran also moved the bathtub again, and with the help of the women inside, he brought up three first aid kits with iron seals and two kerosene lamps.
By the time he lit the gas lamp, Father Hans and Dr. Lodge had already opened all three unused first-aid kits and tied horsetails on each of the two wounded men.
These three first aid boxes were specially sent to the basement by Dr. Lodge in advance. In his words, after the war is over, the three of them can rely on the medical equipment in these three boxes and other medicines stored in the basement to re-enter the hospital.
Put the clinic into operation. But now it seems that the clinic that was destroyed less than half an hour ago will obviously open before the end of the war.
"Victor, you come for the amputation."
Dr. Lodge allowed Wei Ran to hang the kerosene gas lamp on the remaining clothes hook on the wall, and commanded very quickly, "Leave this one with an abdominal injury to us. His injury is a bit serious. I don't know if he can survive."
.”
"Do you want to call Nurse Leni up to help?" Wei Ran asked, holding up a high-backed chair and hanging the second lit kerosene lamp on it.
"There are no nurses here. There have never been any. Not even women, whether adults or minors." Father Hans raised his head and said to Wei Ran with great seriousness.
"I see"
Wei Ran nodded, put on rubber gloves silently, and began to perform amputation surgery step by step on the Soviet Red Army soldier who once pointed a gun at him.
In the past few days, there were a large number of injured people practicing, so he had performed such amputation operations countless times. Even during the operation, he was distracted and glanced at the epaulettes of the unconscious Red Army soldier.
"Is he a captain? He seems to be an instructor?" Wei Ran muttered to himself, then put aside his distracting thoughts and began the bloody work of cutting flesh and sawing bones.
With the busy work of the three of them, the intense rescue work was carried out in an orderly manner, and Marco also went back and forth among the ruins, filling all the containers they had collected not long ago with cold river water.
Even after asking Father Hans, Marco lit a bonfire in the remaining fireplace in a room not far from them. While boiling and disinfecting the unclean river water, Marco untied the fish that had just been pulled from the fishing net.
The few fish were processed and thrown into separate helmets and German lunch boxes that served as soup pots to prepare fish soup.
When the vague aroma jumped over the broken wall and floated into the temporary operating room, Wei Ran basically completed the work roughly. After finishing dressing the wound, he casually covered him with a blanket and immediately put him on the bed.
The high-backed chair with a kerosene lamp hanging on it moved to Father Hans's side, and then he put on new gloves and prepared to help.
"For the first time, I feel that Victor's rough suturing method may be the correct operation," Dr. Lodge joked while working.
"He is more suitable for saving lives on the battlefield, not for your shabby clinic. Rocky, just give up." Hans' father teased Dr. Rocky, who has been making offers to Wei Ran in the past two days, and accepted it tacitly.
Wei Ran handed over the hemostatic forceps and began to explain in detail as usual.
As time passed, more and more bloody gauze was discarded around the table that served as the operating table, but the expressions of the three became more and more relaxed.
Leaving the final suturing work to Dr. Lodge, Father Hans took off his gloves and threw them directly outside the wall. As Wei Ran walked to the next door, he said, "Fortunately, I only injured the useless appendix. Can I do it next?"
It's up to him to survive, and as long as he can survive the abdominal infection, he might have a chance to survive."
"Penicillin in this era is a miracle drug. It shouldn't be fatal..." Wei Ran muttered to himself and picked up the things he had dug out from the body of the Soviet Red Army soldier who had his leg amputated before the operation started.
