Chapter 111: A Christmas Story in the Three World Wars (7)

January 7, 1947, prisoner of war camp outside the port of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, Soviet Union

When you think of Kamchatka in Russia, you think of bubbling hot springs, snow-capped volcanoes, clear rivers with leaping salmon, and brown bears that roam the water's edge...... In short, a wild place far from the civilized world. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the eyes of Europeans, it was a very desolate, very cold, very distant place...... Even more prohibitive than Siberia!!

How far away is it? The port of Petropavlovsk, the capital of Kamchatka, is closer to Seattle, where Silicon Valley is located, than Moscow. How cold is it? The lowest temperature in the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula in winter can reach minus 50 degrees Celsius every year, which is as cold as Antarctica. To what extent is it desolate? The Kamchatka Peninsula, with a total area of 370,000 square kilometers (exactly the size of Japan), began to be built by immigrants in the mid-18th century, roughly around the same time as the development of Australia. However, it was not until World War II that the entire peninsula had a population of less than 200,000, which was even more sparsely populated than Tibet.

If Siberia is a chilling place, then the name Kamchatka makes you feel like you're about to freeze.

Because Kamchatka has such a cold climate and is on the far border, the word "Kamchatka" was even more terrible than the Siberian penal colony during the Russian Empire. In the Russian schools of that era, many naughty students who were sent to the back seats of the classrooms were often called "Kamchatkas" - in fact, according to historical sources, the tsarist government never exiled any criminals to Kamchatka, because there was no dedicated guard who would accompany a group of prisoners to live in a cold, desolate and dangerous place in Kamchatka.

Even in the 21st century, Petropavlovsk, the capital of Kamchatka, remains the world's largest isolated city with neither road nor rail access, and the only way to access the city from the outside is by boat or plane. However, because the port is so high that it freezes for at least eight to nine months a year, the ships can sail for a pitifully short period of time, which makes the city even more isolated......

However, in this era of war that swept the world, it became the farthest place from war in the whole of Eurasia.

For those who have been torn apart by years of war, their wives have been separated, their families have been ruined, and life is worse than death, such a pure land far away from gunpowder and death is like a paradise like the legendary Shangri-La, which makes people flock to it.

Well, according to the Japanese, this is the last piece of Eurasia that has not yet been polluted by the smoke of war.

However, some Russians who lived here during the Great War did not like the peaceful atmosphere of this "Pure Land of Bliss" very much......

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In the bitter winter wind, 26-year-old Second Lieutenant Rezenov, carrying a rifle on his back, walked on the frozen snow outside the barbed wire fence of the prisoner of war camp to carry out routine patrol duties. The winter in Kamchatka was indescribably cold, and even though he was wrapped in a thick fur coat, long leather boots comparable to a bucket, and the ear protectors of his cold hat had long been removed, he couldn't help but shake his teeth and even his eyelashes were frosted.

In the eyes of Second Lieutenant Rezenov, he was one of the farthest and most unlucky people in the entire Soviet Red Army.

After graduating from military school, exactly a month before the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, he was sent to Kamchatka as a platoon commander in a short platoon that had never reached 50 percent fullness, and unfortunately missed the entire Second World War from start to finish.

As a result, while Second Lieutenant Rezenov's classmates in the military academy, singing war songs and international anthems, walked through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, crossed the Rhine, crossed the Alps, and planted red flags on the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Second Lieutenant Reznov could only squat in the barracks of Petropavlovsk Port, drinking vodka boredly all day long, looking at the vast snow-covered wilderness in a daze.

-- According to Second Lieutenant Rezenov's speculation, if this situation continues, I am afraid that there will not be even a single military medal on his chest until he retires...... This was not the military career he wanted at all!!

Think about it, when many, many years later, when the old man left the army and returned home, sitting in a rocking chair next to the fireplace, pestered by his grandchildren and asking about the war stories of the past, would he be very ashamed to say: I'm sorry to disappoint you, grandpa didn't even fight a single battle at that time, and he squatted in the barracks of the Kamchatka Peninsula during the whole war, and his whole battle record was probably a few bears......

-- What a great shame and shame for a soldier! It's a rhythm that you have to regret for life!

As a result, Second Lieutenant Rezenov, who did not want to sit back and watch the end of the war in the wilderness, wrote a large number of war petitions to his superiors in the past few years, resolutely requesting to be transferred to the combat units on the European front, but unfortunately these war petitions were all lost in the sea, without any reaction.

As time passed, in the end, he had to resign himself to his fate, preparing to spend the war years in the over-peaceful Kamchatka Peninsula.

However, although there is no hope of going to the battlefield to make meritorious deeds and receive medals, the winter in this place is really ...... It's so boring!!!

In winter, in the port of Petropavlovsk, the capital of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the temperature drops to minus 30 degrees, but because it is located by the sea, there is a lot of moisture in the air, so the snowfall is particularly large, and the ice and snow are still ice and snow at a glance. The seas and ports are frozen and frozen, even bears burrow into their burrows to hibernate, the streets of the city are covered with a thick layer of snow, and most of the shops and movie theaters are closed.

To make matters worse, due to the high latitude of the Kamchatka Peninsula and its proximity to the Arctic Circle, although there is no polar night, in January in the port of Petropavlovsk, the day has become very short, and the sun always turns around the horizon and sets. Moreover, even during such a short day, it is always cloudy, the sky is dim and groggy, and it is rare to see a few precious rays of sunshine.

In such a dark and bitterly cold wind and snow weather, even the old Russian Maozi, who is known for his hardiness, did not dare to go out if he had nothing to do, so the farms and pastures of Kamchatka were long deserted, the factories and docks in the port of Petropavlovsk were closed, and the fishermen's boats were frozen. The whole city is now huddled in their houses to roast the fire cat, passing the time by smoking, drinking, bragging, and playing cards.

-- And this is the way of life of the Russian people in winter since the Middle Ages...... However, as the caretaker of this prisoner of war camp, Second Lieutenant Rezenov had to get out of a warm house and patrol around the camp in the terrible winter of the Arctic Ocean.

In fact, in the opinion of Second Lieutenant Rezenov, there was no need for this prisoner of war camp on the outskirts of the port of Petropavlovsk to be guarded and patrolled at all. Because harsh nature is the best natural jailer. Only a madman would try to escape from prison and run into the wild in the winter of Kamchatka, and if anyone dared to do so, they would be quickly frozen into a popsicle, which would then thaw after the beginning of spring and become food for bears who had just woken up from hibernation...... And the Yankees in the prisoner of war camp don't look like fools, and they shouldn't do such a stupid thing.

Not to mention that there is a barbed wire fence outside the prisoner of war camp, and even if there is no barbed wire, where can these Yankees run? Walking thousands of kilometers of tundra and pine forests on two legs in temperatures of minus thirty or forty degrees, and then swimming across the Bering Strait to Alaska in the United States?

-- The only Yankees in the world who can do this kind of thing, and who have not died halfway, are probably only Captain America or Superman......

So, Second Lieutenant Rezenov thought that his patrol work was still easy - because it was impossible for anyone to abscond! On the other hand, it is impossible for the Yankees to send an elite commando team to the Kamchatka Peninsula to rescue such a few prisoners of war in Kamchatka despite such bad weather and thousands of kilometers of ice and snow -- not to mention how many people will freeze to death along the way, and even if they break through the prisoner of war camp, how will they get them back?

However, despite this, due to discipline and rules and regulations, he still had to patrol every day according to the schedule, and ran outside to suffer from the cold.

Loneliness and boredom are more uncomfortable than the cold - every winter, the port of Petropavlovsk falls into isolation from the rest of the world amid snowstorms and sea ice. Ships can't get in, and planes have a hard time landing. Magazines and newspapers from other places were naturally mentioned, and even the radio often had no signal, and it was difficult for news from the outside world to reach the ears of Second Lieutenant Rezenov.

Moreover, with the outbreak of World War III, the originally lax discipline in the army was also tightened a lot. Except for a few days off, he had to stay on duty in the prisoner of war camp, and could no longer sneak out of the garrison to the city to find fun, or go out hunting—but in such a cold winter, there was no decent game to hunt in the forest—which naturally made the second lieutenant's life more and more boring.

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During the patrol, the snow fell again after a few hours of rest, and with the strong wind on the seaside, the snowflakes seemed to fly on the wings of a frenzy, which should have been quite a beautiful scenery for those with rich literary and artistic cells, but for Ensign Rezenov, it was just a very numb sight to see - in this ghost place of Kamchatka, it snows for at least half of the year!!

Facing the snowflakes flying in the sky, he only felt that the skin on his face was blown to a tingling pain, and the bones in his body were about to be frozen and stiff. Finally, he walked around the prisoner of war camp tremblingly, the whole person was already cold from head to toe, the sky was dark, and the snow field outside the prisoner of war camp was already gray and black, so Ensign Rezenov had no choice but to turn on his flashlight and move forward in the snow one foot at a time.

Fortunately, the outpost as the destination was evident and there was no danger of getting lost - in the middle of the snow, the bright electric lights of the outpost reflected the dark night sky, and the light was reflected off by the snow in the wilderness, more conspicuous than the lighthouse on the sea in the middle of the night.

Rao was so exhausted that by the time Ensign Rezenov stumbled back to the cabin at the outpost.

As soon as he walked into the house, he took the copper kettle from the stove, poured himself a cup of hot tea, blew a little, and drank the hot tea in a few sips, which suddenly made him feel that his frozen internal organs were awakened by the hot tea, and a warm current then slowly flowed through his limbs, and he couldn't help but exhale with satisfaction.

Just as Ensign Rezenov put down his teacup and was about to find something to fill his stomach with, the door of the wooden house was pushed open again, and Viktor, a young soldier who was on duty with him today, broke in with a bag of hemp, along with the cold wind wrapped in snowflakes outside the house. Like Ensign Rezenov, Viktor's eyebrows, brim and pulled up collar also had a layer of white frost, and his first reaction after entering the room was to pour a cup of hot tea into his stomach, and then let out a long breath and muttered in a low voice: "...... Damn, it's cold today! ”

“…… It's supposed to be a little colder, who made this Kamchatka, and it's Christmas today? Ensign Rezenov said disapprehantly, "...... Have you received your special ration for Christmas? I heard that it seems to be very rich. I went late yesterday and didn't get it, but I should have it today! ”

“…… All of them have been brought here, here for you, as well as the newspapers of the last few days, and the letters from your home. ”

Viktor replied as he took out all sorts of things from the sack and spread them out on the long table in front of Ensign Rezenov.

- Wait, Christmas? Make no mistake! Isn't it January 7 today?

In fact, it is true that although it is January 7, for Russians, it is still Christmas, because unlike Western European and American countries, modern Russians have always had two Christmas.

The reason for this situation is that before the Gregorian calendar was completely implemented throughout the world, the Orthodox Church and the Catholic and Protestant forces used a different calendar, which was simply a few days at night. As a result, Christmas on the 25th day of the twelfth month of the Russian calendar became the seventh day of January according to the Gregorian calendar. Similarly, the October Revolution, which broke out on October 25 in the Russian calendar, was pushed back to November according to the Gregorian calendar......

Although since the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin leaders have announced that they will be in line with international standards, abolishing the old Orthodox calendar and replacing it with the Gregorian calendar. But the power of tradition is very strong, just as the modern Chinese have not completely abolished the lunar calendar, and the Soviets have not completely abolished the old Orthodox calendar. In the end, it had to be made into a dual-track system - if the old Russian calendar is compared to the Chinese lunar calendar, then the first Christmas on December 25 is equivalent to the New Year's Day in the Chinese concept; And the second Christmas on January 7 is equivalent to the Spring Festival in the Chinese concept......

So, theoretically, Russians set up a Christmas tree twice a year, eat two Christmas dinners, and send two Christmas presents...... Of course, in practice, ordinary Russians may not have such luxury and abundance, and can only choose one of them to spend Christmas.

Second Lieutenant Rezenov first opened the letter sent from home, found his mother's homemade Christmas card, as well as photos of his family, and couldn't help but smile knowingly. Then he looked at his Christmas ration on the table, and found that it was as rich as the legend says, with two cans of beef, a large box of chocolate, two boxes of toffee, a box of tea, four packs of cigarettes, and two bottles of Japanese sake of unknown brand—to the surprise of Second Lieutenant Rezenov, all of them were printed on the packaging in lines of Japanese that he did not recognize!

God, do you say...... These rations were collected from war-torn Japan?!! What did the comrades sent there do to loot Japan? How did you get so many things, even in a forgotten wasteland like Kamchatka?

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However, after a brief moment of surprise, Ensign Rezenov, who thought that it was none of his business, calmed down, opened the two bottles of Japanese sake that had been given to him by the logistics department, and invited Viktor to drink with him and taste what foreign sake tasted like - in general, Japanese sake was clearly not very suitable for the taste of Russian sake: the degree was not high enough, and the taste was too soft to look like a man's drink...... But for Russians who can drink even antifreeze, cologne, hairspray, varnish and shoe polish, no matter whether it tastes good or not, as long as it is wine, there is no reason not to drink it.

After a few glasses of wine, both of them felt faintly drunk, and at the same time couldn't help but open the conversation.

“…… Hiccup~~ Comrade platoon commander, now that the Third World War has broken out again, we are also at war with the Yankees, and our place is the closest place to the United States in the whole Soviet Union. You say, will the Americans fight from Alaska? If that's the case, we'll have a chance to make a meritorious service, right? Hiccup~~" Victor, who didn't drink much, said with some slurred words while burping.

“…… U.S. troops crossed the Bering Sea from Alaska and fought? How can it be?! ”

As a "man of culture" who had studied at a military academy, Second Lieutenant Rezenov was obviously much more knowledgeable than a local soldier like Viktor, and naturally scoffed at such stupid words," ...... Neither we, nor the Americans, would choose a place like Kamchatka as a battlefield! We're desolate enough here, right? How much more prosperous is Alaska in the United States than we are here? If the U.S. military were to attack Kamchatka from Alaska, every drop of gasoline and every piece of bread would have to be brought over from the mainland, and this logistical supply line alone would be able to bring them down!

What's more, even if they put in heavy troops and conquer the Kamchatka Peninsula, what can they do? Do they dare to continue to break through thousands of kilometers of no-man's land to attack Vladivostok? Besides, if it is fought in the summer, the Red Banner Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok will not be good-looking. If it is in winter, our warships will be frozen in the harbor and will not be able to get out, but how will their ships come over?

Of course, if it were us, the Red Army would not have set out from here to attack the Americas, because both sides of the Bering Sea are inaccessible and wild areas, and the natural conditions are extremely harsh, which people all over the world know. Not to mention how to completely crush the US Pacific Fleet and ensure the safety of the landing force, even if the Red Army proceeded smoothly and easily occupied large swaths of the wasteland in northern Alaska and Canada, what would happen next?

Occupying these inhospitable places does not pose a substantial threat to the hinterland of Canada and the United States, while supply lines stretching for thousands of kilometers can drag the bravest warriors to death and starve to death! No matter how brave the Red Army soldiers are, they can't go hungry and fight the Americans with empty guns! So even if World War III breaks out, our side will need to be vigilant at most, and the Yankees can send a few planes over to harass them when the weather is good! The real battlefield is still in Europe, in the Middle East, in the Central and South Pacific, where the main battlefield determines victory or defeat! ”

“…… So, won't there be a war on our side? At most, how many American planes will come? Alas, it's boring! ”

Victor said with a look of frustration, "...... Everyone must complain that we missed both World War II and World War III......"

“…… Where did you kid get so many weird words! Is it fun for you to be at war? ”

Ensign Rezenov laughed and slapped Viktor's head, "...... Military personnel take obedience to orders as their duty, and each of us has our own responsibilities! Only the state can decide whether or not we go to war! Seriously, the fact that you were able to complete the service in peace, instead of missing an arm or leg or going home in an urn, has already made many people envious! All right! Stop thinking! Merry Christmas! Cheers! ”

“…… Well...... Hiccup...... Cheers! ”

-- Outside the window of the outpost, the cold wind from the Arctic Ocean is still howling, and the smoke of war still seems to be very far away from Kamchatka...... (To be continued.) )