二战全史（1973）

The World At War S01E06

Part 5 June 6, 2022, 8:33 a.m.

而我们不会打破中立,
and we would not break the neutrality,
所以我们从一开始就处于不利
and so we were at a disadvantage
from the start.
日本人的人数被以2:1的比例超过
The Japanese were outnumbered two to one.
他们只有最破的地图,通常是
从学校的地图册上撕下来的几页,
They had only the poorest of maps,
usually pages torn from school atlases,
但他们(紧追不放)让英国人不断逃跑,
从不停下巩固或重组
but they kept the British on the run,
not stopping to consolidate or regroup.
我们被迫转入防御的一个原因是，
(Smyth) One reason
we were thrown onto the defensive,
日本人动用了300辆坦克
the Japanese employed 300 tanks.
我们根本没有任何坦克
We hadn't any tanks at all.
英国战略家们裁定坦克不适合丛林战
British strategists had decreed that
armour was not suited to jungle warfare.
在白厅,英国人认为丛林是不可穿越的,
Back in Whitehall, the British
thought the jungle impenetrable,
然而在一些地方它被清理了,
在其他地方又不那么茂密,
whereas in some places it was cleared,
in others not so dense,
而且不管怎么说,那些真正茂密的
小块丛林总能被从海上绕过...
and, anyway, the really dense patches
could always be bypassed by sea...
而这正是日本人做的
which was precisely
what the Japanese did.
丛林不是一个那么可怕的地方
(Okada) The jungle is
not such a terrible place.
我们能靠米饭,盐,芝麻种和腌鱼度日,你瞧
We can live on rice, salt and
sesame seeds, and salted fish, you see.
这能让一个士兵走很长时间
This can keep a soldier going
a long time.
丛林带给我们的恐惧不象
它似乎带给一些盟军士兵(的恐惧)那么大
The jungle did not have the fear for us that it
seems to have had for some of the Allied soldiers.
日本人已在偷袭珍珠港的
同一个早晨轰炸了新加坡
The Japanese had bombed Singapore
the same morning as Pearl Harbour.
这个伟大港口的灯光引导他们飞进来
并在空袭过程中一直亮着
The lights of the great port had guided
them in and remained on during the raid
因为没人知道如何把它们关掉
because no one knew
how to switch them off.
这样的混乱将成为新加坡
对日本人猛攻的反应的典型
Such confusion was to typify Singapore's
reaction to the Japanese onslaught.
我记得一家英国全国性报纸
登过这样一篇报道
(Bush) I remember a British
national newspaper ran a story
里面表达了这么个观点那就是
日本人永远也不会成为好飞行员
in which the opinion was expressed that
the Japanese would never be good flyers
因为他们没有平衡感这是由于他们
小时候被他们的母亲背在背上造成的
because they had no sense of balance through being
carried on the backs of their mothers as children.
日本人在马来亚的秘密武器是...自行车
The Japanese secret weapon
in Malaya was... the bicycle.
当他们的轮胎被戳破了,
日本士兵就骑他们的轮圈
When their tyres punctured, the Japanese
soldiers simply rode on their rims.
对撤退的英国人来说,(自行车轮圈)
在石路上发出的咔哒声听起来就象坦克,
To the retreating British, the clatter
on the stony road sounded like tanks,
更增加了他们的恐惧
and added to their fear.
我想我们在马来亚失败的根本原因
I think the fundamental reason
why we failed in Malaya
是我们那时在我们与德国和意大利的战争中
战线拉得过长过紧到了极限
was that we were stretched to the limit
at that time in our war with Germany and ltaly
实在拿不出我们应该提供的,用来打败
日本人进攻的受过训练的军人,空军和船
and there simply were not the trained men, air forces and ships
that we should have supplied to beat the Japanese attack.
当时为马来亚提供武器装备
的优先度非常低
The priority of arms and equipment
for Malaya at that time was very low.
他们只排在第四位,
They were only number four,
在英国本土,中东和俄♥国♥之后
after Great Britain,
the Middle East and Russia.
还有,至于人员,第一优先的是中东,
Also, with regard to men,
the first priority was the Middle East,
而马来亚只排在第二
and Malaya only came second.
一些到达马来亚的澳大利亚人甚至从未开过一枪
Some of the Australians that arrived
in Malaya had never even fired a rifle.
所以我们基本上就是以替补(十一人)阵容来打
受过非常良好训练的和得到非常强支援的日本人
So we did field very much a second eleven against
the very highly trained and strongly supported Japanese.
就象在珍珠港的美国人,
Like the Americans at Pearl Harbour,
在马来亚的英国人错误地相信日本空军很差,
the British in Malaya wrongly believed
the Japanese air force was poor,
但现在英国空中支援减弱了并最终消失了
but now British air cover waned
and eventually disappeared.
没有在陆地上阻止日本人的有效计划
There was no effective plan
to stop the Japanese by land
而抵抗的决心也太小
and too little determination to resist.
(杉田一次参谋本部第二部欧美课课长)
你们的部队不像我们预计的那样有攻击性
Your forces are not so
aggressive as we expected.
英国的计划人员以为,
在最糟糕的情况下,
The British planners
had thought that, at worst,
北马来亚能支撑最少三个月,
northern Malaya could hold out
for at least three months,
这点时间足够使大量增援被派往新加坡
enough time to enable substantial
reinforcements to be sent to Singapore.
但在山下(奉文)将军指挥下
的日本人只花了七个星期
But it took the Japanese, under
General Yamashita, just seven weeks
就在马来亚半岛推进了600英里
to advance the 600 miles
down the Malayan peninsula.
1942年2月8日,
On February 8, 1942,
他们跨越了数千英尺宽的
柔佛海峡到了新加坡岛上
they crossed the thousands yards of the Straits
of Johor onto the island of Singapore.
在岛的北岸没有造防御工事,
No defences had been built
on the northern shore of the island,
所以日本人能相对没有麻烦地登陆
so the Japanese were able to land
relatively unmolested.
更重要的是,他们能轻松的夺取
新加坡的大多数自来水水源
What is more,they were able to capture most
of Singapore's water supplies with ease.
现在,日本轰炸机随意空袭新加坡,
By now, the Japanese bombers
raided Singapore at will,
因为完全没有空中防御
for there was virtually no air defence.
日本人,事实上,也几乎用完弹♥药♥
The Japanese, in fact,
were almost out of ammunition
并正考虑撤回内陆(马来半岛),
and were considering
withdrawing to the mainland,
但是,他们不知道的是,
英国人的士气已经崩溃了
but, unknown to them,
British morale had collapsed.
山下将军没有准备过任何关于
如果英国人投降(如何应对)的计划
General Yamashita had not prepared any plans
in the event of a British surrender.
所以在2月15日,当瓦尔德少校,
帕西瓦尔将军的使者，
And so when, on February 15,
Major Wild, General Percival's emissary,
在下午3点到达我们的前沿司令部,
arrived at our forward headquarters at 3pm,
那里没人相信他
no one there believed him.
我被命令与他讨论他关于帕西瓦尔
将军和山下将军会面的建议
I was ordered to discuss with him his suggestion of
a meeting between General Percival and General Yamashita.
瓦尔德少校要山下将军去总督府,
Major Wild wanted General Yamashita to
go to the governor general's residence,
但没有提到投降
but did not mention surrender.
我告诉他山下将军去哪儿都是不可能的
I told him it was out of the question
for General Yamashita to go anywhere
他的将军一定要到我们这里来
and that his general must come to us.
最后瓦尔德少校同意了这个(主张)
并说他会在下午6点把他带来,
Eventually Major Wild agreed to this
and said he would bring him at 6pm,
但再一次没有提到投降
but again made no mention of surrender.
当我把这个情况汇报给我的上级时,
他们很怀疑而且不太相信
When I reported this to my superiors,
they were suspicious and unbelieving.
然而,我在6点回去与帕西瓦尔
将军和瓦尔德少校见面
However, I returned at six
to meet General Percival and Major Wild.
我把他们带到了福特工厂,
I guided them to the Ford factory,
在那里将举♥行♥与山下将军的会谈
where the meeting with General Yamashita
was to take place.
由于日方对此的不相信,
Because of this disbelief
on the Japanese side,
当我们到达时他们仍在准备桌子
they were still setting up tables
when we arrived.
山下将军立刻问帕西瓦尔将军
Straight away General Yamashita
asked General Percival
他是否要投降
whether he was surrendering.
但英国将军仅仅谈到想保留1500名士兵
But the British general merely talked
about wanting to keep 1,500 soldiers
来维持新加坡的和平和秩序
to maintain peace and order
in Singapore.
山下将军再次问到了投降,
General Yamashita again asked
about surrender,
但帕西瓦尔将军继续谈论这1500人的部队
but General Percival went on
talking about these 1,500 troops.
所以这两个话题平行地继续着
And so these two conversations
continued in parallel