As night fell, Wei Ran, who was riding on a tree branch, once again used a rope to tie the Schneider telescope taken out of the metal book to the trunk of the tree to monitor the northwest direction.
From time to time, he would put on the hand-held telescope Yuri left for him to see what was happening in other directions.
Although it was dark, he could still clearly see Vasily cutting firewood near the camp through the reflection of the snow on the ground.
At present, this child, who is only about ten years old, is the only "idle labor force", and he is the only one who has time to carry out the crucial work of collecting firewood.
As for fried fish...
It was no longer important, because those companions had died continuously in battle, and because of Vlada's busy cooking before she was alive, they now had enough food reserves to last for several days.
Turning his gaze to look in the direction of the artillery position, the artillery crew members commanded by Zonya were still conducting busy drills.
The direction machine of this artillery has been completely damaged, so Ruslan, who is responsible for aiming, only needs to shake the height machine. The horizontal movement is left to old Ivan, who is responsible for firing the gun. He has to push the gun to rotate to assist aiming.
, and press the fire pedal with your hand to fire at the appropriate time.
This will undoubtedly make them busy during the battle, and this is why they need to practice over and over again before the enemy planes come.
In fact, Wei Ran knew, or everyone knew, that if Vasily came to help and was only responsible for firing cannons, then old Ivan's work would be much easier, but everyone subconsciously gave up this option.
Everyone knew that someone must survive in this position, and that person could only be Vasily.
The drills over and over again were interrupted by the sudden whistle of Wei Ran, and soon everyone heard the shouts of Wei Ran from the top of the treetops.
"West by north! Two planes! Attention! West by north! Two planes!"
After a short pause, Weiran continued to shout, "It's two He111s. There is a high probability of dropping bombs at high altitude! Be careful to avoid bombs! There is a high probability of dropping bombs at high altitude! Be careful to avoid bombs!"
While loudly reminding his companions, Wei Ran also took the time to turn around and look in Vasily's direction with his binoculars.
Fortunately, he had already run into Wei Ran's shack, which was the farthest place from the battlefield and the relatively safest place.
Using the large telescope tied to the tree to look at the direction of the enemy plane's attack, Wei Ran blew the whistle again and continued to remind loudly.
As he kept shouting, the enemy planes got closer and closer, and he even saw the accompanying fighter jets for the first time!
But whether they are bombers or fighter jets, their altitude is too high, so high that their artillery cannot hit them at all!
As he watched helplessly, the two bombers flew directly above the winding red lifeline on the ice in the distance, dropping a series of bombs in the night.
Even the few accompanying fighter jets seemed to be arrogantly firing machine guns at the ground.
But at this time, everyone on the island could do nothing. Their artillery could not reach such a high altitude!
As everyone looked up in despair, the German bombers swaggered in a circle and left the airspace, and the fighter jets also disappeared into the night sky after clearing their bullets.
He turned the telescope tied to the tree again to look in the direction of the ice road. During Wei Ran's painful wait, the red signal lights lit up one after another, eventually reconnecting to form a red lifeline.
The German planes will come again...
After Wei Ran pulled the trigger of his gun camera towards the flashing red light in the distance, he couldn't help but look to the northwest. He was convinced that the Germans would not give up this good opportunity.
While he was waiting, and while the gun crew members headed by Zonya were waiting, Wei Ran once again saw the incoming enemy plane in the night!
"North by west!"
Weiran blew the whistle vigorously, "West by north! It seems that a plane is coming! Pay attention! West by north!"
Following the whistle, Zonya and others immediately got ready. Even Vasily hid in the operating room shack closest to the position. He seemed to be ready to go and help at any time.
After a short wait, the Stuka's unique roar reached everyone's ears clearly, and Weiran tensed up his nerves. The Stuka was a dive bomber, and he would definitely lower his altitude in order to ensure accurate bombing!
He was even certain that these Stukas were most likely heading for the crawler tractors responsible for repairing the ice highway!
Suddenly, the anti-aircraft artillery commanded by Zonya opened fire. The tracer bullets mixed with it clearly drew a line in the night sky, and the Stukas that had just begun to prepare for the dive also began to pull up violently.
At the same time, the artillery on another island also opened fire - with single shots, hitting the bombers again and again in the direction of the bombers flying over the three islands.
This almost provocative counterattack also successfully angered two of the Stukas. Soon, Wei Ran could clearly see and hear an explosion coming from another island.
At the same time, several other Stukas also began to swoop towards Joniya and others, strafing, and even dropped an aerial bomb!
When the single-shot anti-aircraft artillery and the artillery in charge of Zonya stopped roaring, those Stukas also streaked across the night sky above the guards.
Fortunately, because of the desperate firefight warning here, the lifeline that had just been lit in the distance was also extinguished, buying enough people a short but precious time to hide and escape.
"Attention! They're here again!"
On the treetop, Wei Ran, who was hugging the trunk with one hand and holding a telescope in the other hand, turned his head and shouted a reminder, "Coming towards us!"
Before he could finish his words, Wei Ran saw a flash of red light coming from the muzzle of the anti-aircraft artillery commanded by Jonja.
"How could I see the muzzle flash?"
Before Wei Ran could react to this problem, the shells flew through the treetops and flew into the night sky from a position no more than two meters away from him!
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Fuck!"
Wei Ran hid behind the tree trunk without realizing it, and at the same time looked at the night sky behind him.
There was a Stuka there, and a Stuka that had already started firing towards the camp!
Just a momentary glance, but he clearly saw rounds of artillery shells covering the root of the Stuka's wings and the side of the cabin in the night sky. He saw the black smoke rising in the night sky, and he even felt
I even smelled the special smell of aerosol jet fuel!
"call--"
In the fierce wind and waves, he could very clearly see the Stuka, which had lost all its bombs, sliding with one of its wings tilted over the head, then over the head of the artillery position, and finally plunged into the distance.
The shore is only one or two hundred meters on the ice!
"boom!"
With a huge slap, the Stuka spun around, smashing through the thick ice like a dart thrown by a ninja, and finally sank into the cold lake water.
But the battle was not over. Even before the Stuka hit the ground, several others had already begun to lick the ground and dropped bombs one after another!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Amidst the sound of successive explosions, aerial bombs exploded one after another in the open space on the edge of the island and even on the ice. The smoke, snowflakes and soil raised by the shock wave also enveloped Wei Ran's already blurry vision, making him unable to see anything.
The specific conditions of the artillery positions cannot be seen.
But there is no doubt that their artillery has also misfired. The artillery crew... life or death is unknown!
As he blew the warning whistle again and again, one of the Stukas arrogantly launched a beautiful dive and strafed again to check the results of the battle.
But what made Wei Ran feel sad was that the artillery didn't respond at all this time.
Finally, the Stuka also flew away, and Wei Ran couldn't wait to grab the rope and slide down, stumbling towards the artillery position.
As the distance got closer, the craters one after another made his heart sink to the bottom, and he subconsciously speeded up.
When he finally came to the edge of the artillery position, he found that most of the bunker that everyone had spent most of the day building with a large amount of ice and snow had been blown down, and the base of the artillery was even buried.
He also saw the body of old Ivan beaten into two sections, Ruslan who was missing half of his arm and was being bandaged urgently by Olga, and even saw the best protected Jonia.
"The artillery can still be used"
When Zionya saw Wei Ran, she said feebly, "We still have artillery shells, but Comrade Victor, I lack a gunner."
"I'll do it," Wei Ran said without thinking.
"We need a sentry more," Olga said, "and a doctor, Victor, come and help Ruslan, one of his arms..."
“No need to bother”
Ruslan interrupted Olga's request, "The German plane will arrive soon. Please tie it up for me." Wait until we hold on..."
"I will be a sentry, and I can be a good sentry."
Vasily's voice came from outside the broken artillery bunker. His childish voice was full of seriousness and earnestness, "Please believe me, I can be a good sentry, I know how to be a sentry, Yuri taught me
of!"
"Then, you become a sentinel."
Jonya said, "We don't have anti-aircraft searchlights, so we really need a sentry. Vasily, this job is left to you."
"yes!"
Vasily saluted solemnly, took the whistle handed over by Wei Ran, hung it around his neck, turned around and ran towards the direction of the guard tower.
"This is not a responsibility he should bear at his age," Olga said while tying up Ruslan's broken arm with the help of Wei Ran.
"I know"
Jonia stood up with difficulty as she spoke, "But we have no choice. Well, while we still have enough manpower, let's quickly change the position of the artillery."
Hearing this, Ruslan was the first to struggle up and let Olga help him inject a small amount of veterinary anesthetic, and skillfully lifted the hoe.
With the difficult dragging of the four people, the artillery finally left the bombed bunker and was pushed bit by bit into the last complete bunker.
"Dududu——!"
At this moment, Vasily, who had climbed to the top of the tree, blew his whistle, and then everyone heard his cry, "Southwest! There was a man on the lake who lit an oil lamp and then collapsed! Southwest! On the lake
Someone fell down after lighting the oil lamp! It seems to be Uncle Seryosha!"
"I'll go!" Wei Ran was the first to run out before he finished speaking.
He did not see, and could not see at all, that Vasily, who was sitting on a branch of a tree at this moment, was actually holding his kerosene gas lamp that was supposed to be placed in the operating room for surgical lighting.
He didn't even know that Vasily had already put enough pressure on the gas lamp, and that there was a box of matches stolen from the kitchen hidden in his gloves.
No one knew what this little boy, who was only about ten years old, was going to do. He was just directing the direction in which Wei Ran should run with a young but calm voice.
A hundred or ten meters after leaving the island, Wei Ran saw a white figure throwing himself to the ground.
He was wearing a white Mazari robe, and the oil lamp he was holding was leaning diagonally into the snow at hand.
His other hand had thrown off the thick mittens, and instead held a Nagant revolver, and even his commander pulled the trigger.
But he could no longer pull the trigger. His finger and the trigger were frozen together. The wound on his thigh where he was hit by the aircraft machine gun was also frozen with the edge of his robe and cotton pants.
But even so, he was still carrying a rope.
The other end of the rope was tied to a tattered gun shield, and there were only two boxes of ammunition placed on the gun shield.
He is Seryosha, the captain of this militia, a veteran left over from the First World War.
"Seryozha?"
Wei Ran turned him over and wiped the frozen snow and ice off his face with his gloves. Fortunately, he was still alive and breathing.
"for..."
"What did you say?" Wei Ran moved his ear closer to the other person's mouth.
"For...me...our...Lenin...Grad..."
Struggling to say this in the smallest volume, Wei Ran also noticed that the other party's breathing had stopped. When he turned around, Seryosha had stopped breathing, and the oil lamp in his hand also extinguished the last trace of fire.
.
"Seryozha? Seryozha?"
Wei Ran called softly twice, then with difficulty he picked up this almost weightless man, put him on the gun mantlet, picked up the rope and threw it over his shoulder, and walked towards the small house as quickly as possible.
The remaining anti-aircraft artillery positions on the island.
When he pulled Seryosha, pulled the ammunition, and pulled the gun shield to climb back onto the island, he saw the shadowy Vasily on the tree, and saw Zonya standing outside the artillery position not far away.
"Father Seryozha died"
Wei Ran stopped and said, "But he brought the artillery shield and two boxes of ammunition."
"Olga, go bury him."
Jonya glanced at the body of Father Seryosha and said almost numbly, "Victor, help me install the gun mantlet. This may allow us to shoot down a few more planes."
"good"
Wei Ran and Olga accepted Jonia's order in unison.
Helping Olga put Father Seryosha's body on a sleigh that had just been used to transport ammunition, Wei Ran and Ruslan, who looked a little depressed, struggled to lift the heavy gun shield with a wooden pole.
, put it on the artillery piece, and let Zionia use the screws or even wires screwed on the gun mantlet to install it on their artillery piece.
"I don't know if I'm pretending to be right, but it looks like I can at least stop some bullets."
After finishing her work, Jonia said with satisfaction, "Comrades, we must shoot down more planes before everyone dies!"
"Ula!" Ruslan was the first to respond, waving his only remaining arm.
"Ula!"
Wei Ran, Olga who ran back from the cemetery, and Vasily on the tree in the distance all shouted encouraging slogans together.
"Now that the journalist comrade has taken over Uncle Ivan's job, we need to continue practicing." Jonia said immediately.
"Please wait for me for a moment"
As Wei Ran spoke, he ran towards the cemetery between the camps. At the same time, he took out the camera, put the last film that was about to be filled into the sealed tube, and then took out the last film from the gun camera.
Installed in a sealed cylinder.
After he finished all this, he ran to the forked birch tree, climbed up on the stones left here, and threw the last two rolls of negatives into Vasily's mailbox as quickly as possible——
He also saw the slingshot he made here, which Vasily probably put in.
After placing the box containing the gun camera on the tree, Wei Ran ran back to the artillery position without any burden.
"Let's get started. There are no reporters now, only militiamen Victor." Wei Ran said seriously.
Jonia nodded and said concisely, "In addition to pressing the fire pedal to fire, your task is to follow Ruslan's command and turn the anti-aircraft artillery."
"I will use my left and right to command you. I will keep turning until I shout to stop," Ruslan added.
"Let's try it," Jonia said.
However, before everyone could respond and get ready, Vasily on the guard tower blew the whistle again and shouted in a young duck voice, "Attention! West by north! The plane is coming! West by north!"
Notice!"
"Move!"
Jonia first picked up the rangefinder she had been carrying and started to calculate, "Elevation 1500!"
"Elevation 1500!"
Olga and Ruslan responded together.
"Bearing 30!"
"Bearing 30! Turn right! Turn! Turn! Turn! Turn!"
Under Ruslan's shout, the guardsmen pushed the anti-aircraft artillery and started to rotate.
"Stop! Fire!"
Before Ruslan finished speaking, Wei Ran, who almost tripped over the artillery frame, immediately pressed the fire pedal!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Amidst the deafening sound of artillery, shells were fired into the night sky one after another, and Olga immediately stuffed the new magazine into it.
"Dodge!"
Zonia shouted and squatted down holding her rangefinder. At the same time, Olga also squatted down, leaving only Wei Ran hiding behind the artillery shield and Ruslan on the other side.
They did not leave their respective positions, nor did they stop the artillery.
In a moment of clanking sounds, dense bullets hit the artillery shield. Ruslan was still directing the guards to fire while turning the artillery.
Finally, they survived the first round of attacks, and the Stukas also lined up and shot into the night sky!
"Du! Du! Du! Du!"
Just at this moment, Vasily on the treetop blew his whistle, and Zonya looked over subconsciously!
But soon, she was stunned. On the big tree that served as a sentry tower, a kerosene gas lamp emitting dazzling light had been lit!
"Bearing 220!"
Zonya was stunned for just a moment before shouting an order, and Ruslan immediately urged Weiran to turn the cannon to the left.
"Stop!" Ruslan's sudden shout caused Wei Ran to stop immediately, and the artillery pointed above the dazzling flames of the guard tower!
"No! Zonya! No!" Ruslan shouted in panic.
"Prepare to fire! I order you to prepare to fire!"
"Fire!" Ruslan desperately ordered Wei Ran.
When Wei Ran, who was immersed in pushing the artillery, subconsciously pressed the fire pedal and looked in the direction of the muzzle, he was stunned. Only then did he realize that that was the direction of the sentry tower!
"Chug tug tug!"
In an instant, the 25mm shells from the artillery and the bullets from the aircraft machine guns from the other direction were simultaneously aimed at the treetop where the guard tower was located.
In less than half a second, the gas lantern emitting ice-blue light was shattered by an aircraft machine gun. The diving bomber also collided head-on with a shell that flew horizontally less than five meters ahead of the guard tower.
!
In the next half second, the Stuka rushed towards the frozen lake on the other side of the island, but while the other plane was diving, it dropped a bomb directly towards Wei Ran and others.
Another bomb!
"I'm going to die..."
Wei Ran only had time to murmur, and then he felt that he suddenly lost gravity, and then there was a rich white light that hit his face.