"Is this the end?"
Wei Ran was stunned for a moment. When he saw Vanya looking at him, he immediately picked up the shovel stuck in the mud and continued to dig hard, which was filled with shrapnel, shell casings and Drainage ditch with body parts.
While everyone was busy, the trenches at Position 19 were re-reinforced. During this period, Wei Ran even risked stepping on the ladder to take a look outside the trenches.
The battle last night was far more difficult than he thought. The nearest wreckage of a German tank was less than 10 meters away from the barbed wire fence directly in front of the trench line.
There are almost everywhere such tank wrecks on this scorched earth battlefield, but there are more tank wrecks than tank wrecks, except for the large and small shell craters that are still smoking. , are German soldiers who died in different ways.
Even on some corpses, there are a few particularly plump crows that fill their stomachs by bending and bowing again and again.
But what is bolder than these crows are a few soldiers who also ask for benefits from the corpses, whether it is a gold ring on their finger or some German coins, as long as these things can be sent home, they will It can be exchanged for food to feed the family, and the cigarettes that the other party had not finished smoking before his death were the most popular German souvenirs in the trenches. Of course, more often than not, what we get in exchange are bullets fired by German snipers on the opposite side.
But there is no way to ban this kind of thing. Not only will it not be banned, but it will also be supported openly and covertly by the commander of the position. Compared with those things outside the body, perhaps life here is really the cheapest and least worth caring about.
"Aleutian, the statistics are over." Taking advantage of the break, Vanya approached the temporary commander of position 19, and Wei Ran, who intentionally came over, immediately straightened his ears.
"Not counting you and me, there are 57 people alive, including 6 children, the youngest is 13 years old. They used to be Mehri's postman."
Vanya Seeing that Aleut remained silent, he paused and continued, "Not counting those children and you and me, there are 11 literate people among these people, including a veterinarian, a postman of the army group, a correspondent, and two others. A man like me. The remaining six are the gunner and deputy gunner of the anti-tank gun." "Why haven't the additional troops arrived yet?" Alyushin asked Vani. Ya asked as he handed over the notebook.
Aleutian shook his head, "Except for the eight surviving soldiers who came over from Position 18, there will be no additional troops in the short term, and we also have to shoulder the counterattack mission of Position 18."
p>Aleutian frowned when he heard this, and after being silent for a full minute, he said calmly, "Let the three gun commanders take five people each to position 18 to control the two anti-tank guns. The extra gunner squad will use other weapons first, and once the two cannons are reduced, they will be replaced immediately! Remind them to seize all the time to restore the combat effectiveness of the two cannons before the battle starts again! "
" Understood!" Vanya agreed immediately.
"Let those two people go over to supervise them, and let the three remaining deputy gunners immediately form a new gunner squad. Also remind them that they must form combat effectiveness before the battle starts again."
Aliu Captain Shen flicked the cigarette butt and finally added, "That's it. Call all the other literate people over."
Wanya nodded, immediately took off the tin speaker hanging from her waist, and compared They started gathering based on the names on the book.
In less than five minutes, the three gunners, each assigned five experienced veterans, left Position 19 under the leadership of two soldiers with fierce faces. Wei Ran, along with two other people, were called away from the Aleutian Captain by Vanya.
"Let's introduce each other first."
As Captain Aleutian spoke, he diffused a circle of cigarettes. This time, even Wei Ran, who had never smoked, took a cigarette. He took a deep breath, then coughed uncontrollably.
"Let's start first."
Aleutian didn't care about Wei Ran's gaffe and pointed at a man who looked to be at least forty years old.
The middle-aged man said awkwardly, "I am Cyril, a local veterinarian in Karachi. I was recruited to serve as a doctor, but I don't have any medicines at all, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help."< /p>
"I am the communications soldier Beshev from position 18," the young soldier next to the veterinarian Cyril introduced himself, "Currently, the phone line between us and the rear has been disconnected. Please reconnect the phone line. Before, we could only contact through manpower."
"Victor" Wei Ran, who was still coughing, said with great effort, "The field postman of the 64th Army."
p>"Don't waste these good things if you don't know how to smoke."
Aleutian took a puff of the cigarette from Wei Ran's hand and put it into his mouth. After taking a big puff, He asked nonchalantly, "Beshev, how long will it take for the phone line to be connected? And do we have a wireless station?"
The young communications soldier Beshev thought for a moment and then replied, "If the rear It will take at least two hours to repair it at the same time as me. As for the radio, Position 18 had received one before, but it was damaged by a collapsed pillar before dawn. I haven't found the command post of Position 19 yet... "
"The command post on No. 19 is gone."
Aleutian waved his hand and turned to look at Wei Ran, "Are you familiar with the trench lines here?"
Wei Ran shook his head and said with the same disappointment in the other party's disappointed eyes, "I'm not familiar with it. I should have returned to the other side with the letter from the Don River position last night."
"Oh! I remembered."
Aleutian suddenly realized, "Are you the postman who offered to help at the post office in Mehli last night?"
Wei Ran nodded immediately. , "Yes, yes! It's me!"
"What else can you do?" Aleutian asked patiently.
"I can take pictures"
Want to findThe person holding the camera subconsciously came up with an answer, and then rushed to say before the other person spoke, "I can also read maps and topographic maps!"
"It's somewhat useful"
p>Vanya's voice, which had always been standing at the edge, was neither loud nor quiet, but it was just enough for Wei Ran and the Aleutian Captain in front of him to hear clearly.
As if he hadn’t heard anything, the Aleutian captain turned to look at the veterinarian Cyril, “Are you familiar with the trenches here?”
“Familiar!”
Veterinarian Cyril replied with extra confidence, "I have also participated in the excavation work of these trenches. Even if I close my eyes, I will not get lost."
"In this case, fix the phone in Beshev Before, you and the six children were responsible for communicating with the rear to convey combat orders, and by the way, you helped us bring ammunition and supplies back. If we can find useful medicines, we will definitely bring them back."
"No. Question! No problem! Leave it to me!" Vet Cyril replied excitedly.
"Captain Aleutian, me, where am I?" Wei Ran asked after him.
Aleut pondered for a moment and then asked, "Do you still have any letter paper? Blank letter paper."
"Yes! Yes!"
Wei Ran hurriedly Opening the canvas messenger bag, this messenger bag may not look ugly, but its waterproof performance is pretty good, and because Wei Ran has been wearing a raincoat, the contents inside the bag did not get wet.
Captain Aleutian looked at the letter paper Wei Ran took out, flicked the cigarette butt away and walked away, saying, "Let's organize everyone to write a letter home during the break!"
"No problem!"
As Wei Ran spoke, he had already separated out a few cards and was about to hand them to Captain Aleutian and the strong man named Vanya, but he was ignored. Cyril, the veterinarian, held down the wrist he just raised, and then shook his head vaguely towards Wei Ran.
Seeing the latter looking at him with a puzzled face, the veterinarian Cyril did not let go at all. It was not until the Aleutian Captain and the Vanya had gone far that he explained in a low voice, "They No letter paper is needed, and don’t give them letter paper in the future.”
“Why?” Wei Ran asked in confusion.
"Both of them are Sukkas, Sukkas who came out of the labor correction camp to join the army."
Cyril said almost close to Wei Ran's ear, "They no longer have any Relatives can be contacted, but even if they do, their letters cannot be sent to the correction camp."