[烛光生存狂]-【卫国战争老兵回忆】瓦西里·费多罗维奇·寇托夫

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Kotov, Vasiliy Fedorovitch, Private. By the end of the war, he held the rank of Sergeant. Awarded three "For Bravery" medals, two Orders of the Red Star, and one Order of the Patriotic War, First Degree. Was wounded five times, three seriously. Credited with destroying four tanks.

瓦西里.费多罗维奇.寇托夫(Kotov,Vasiliy Fedorovitch),列兵(Private).战争结束时为中士(Sergeant).获3枚"勇敢"勋章,2枚"红星"勋章,1枚一级"卫国战争"勋章.五次受伤,三次为重伤.击毁四辆坦克.

That Was the Beginning of the War

How did the war begin? You'd better read books about it and get a smoother picture. What can I tell you? In general-bad impressions. It was a mess. Stupidity. Everybody was waiting for orders and scared of everything. I guess we weren't scared of the Germans so much as of our own authorities.

战争的开始

战争是怎么开始的呢?你最好去读几本有关的书好有个更平顺的印象.我给你说什么呢?总的来说是糟糕的印象.一团糟!愚蠢!每个人都在等待命令,都怕这怕那!我想我们怕德国人还没有怕自己的长官那么厉害.

苦难的1941年.遭破坏的苏军车辆

First, we were got up on the 22nd when it was still dark, but nobody said a word abut the war. We were living in training camps at that time and thought the alarm was the beginning of ordinary training. Our platoon of the battalion's ordnance received an order to march somewhere. Dig trenches and defend a road. That's all. And we went on marching. The battalion went on foot, our officers rode horses, we followed horses which were pulling the cannons. Our first sergeant traveled by cart.

首先我们在22日那天天还没亮就起来了,可是没有任何人提及战争的一个字.当时我们在训练营地,大家都以为警报是普通训练的开始.我们营的炮兵排接到命令开往某处,挖战壕,守卫一条道路.就这些!于是我们就开拔.全营步行,军官们骑马,我们跟在拉炮的马后面.我们的上士坐马车上.

There is a lot of talk about bombing, the casualties caused by the German aircraft. That they were overhead all the time. I don't remember that. We didn't see much of their aircraft on the 22nd of June. Nor ours, by the way. We weren't bombed. They might have flown somewhere over the high roads or to the big cities. We were marching to the border and found out about the war only in the evening, by the time we took our positions. But we don't have shells. And the infantry had only a small number of cartridges. Don't ask me about the grenades: nothing of the kind!

有许多谈及德国人的轰炸,德军飞机带来的伤亡以及德军飞机无时无刻不在.我自己不记得有这些.在22日那天我们没见着多少他们的飞机.当然也没多少我们的飞机,我们并未遭轰炸.他们也许是飞到那些大路或是大城市上空去了.我们向边境开拔,直到傍晚我们进入阵地时才弄清楚战争的情况.可是我们没有炮弹.当时步兵只有为数不多的几个弹夹.您别跟我提手榴弹:什么都没有!

苏军反坦克枪手

flat and crawled back. That's it. And then a "football game" began as we were receiving orders and each order was more weird than the previous one. First, run there! Then, all at once, halt! Then, go anyway, but in the other direction! Then, leave the cannons with the tanks and go dig trenches with the infantry! Then, take the cannons back! It was three days of this, perhaps more.

简言之,在德军坦克把我们压扁后又慢慢腾腾退回去后半个小时我们才得到炮弹！就是这样！于是当我们收到一个比一个更莫名其妙的命令时，一场“足球比赛”开始了。一开始是跑向那里。然后，突然之间，停下！然后是去反方向的任何地方！然后是留下火炮给坦克(兵)，去和步兵一齐挖战壕！然后是去取回火炮！这样大概有三天，或是更长的时间！

German aviation became more active by that time. Every day their kukuruzniks (corn sowers) flew over with "gifts." Either dropped a bomb or fired machine guns. We fired bach with rifles-without much sense, of course. Then they began to show up in groups. Dive bombers. They switch on a loud siren and fall from the sky, and this howling tears your guts out! And you know what? They used to come right when our air force wasn't available. Like they knew it beforehand. At first one aircraft comes flying just above the treetops. Sometimes it drops smoke screen. And at once the other aircraft start wailing with different voices. They caused more mess than casualties. They made our horses run astray and they burned many trucks.

那时德国空军已变得越加活跃了。每天他们的“玉米播种机”都给我们带来“礼物”。不是投个炸弹就是用机炮开上几炮。我们漫无边际的用步枪还击。然后它们开始成群结队的来。是俯冲轰炸机。它们打开大声的警报器从天上冲下来。那嚎声直能把你的肠子给吼出来！您知道吗？它们常在我们的飞机不在的时候来！就像它们事先知道似的。一开始是架飞机紧贴树梢而来。有时会施放烟幕。然后立刻其他的飞机开始用其他各种各样的嚎声尖啸。它们造成的混乱远胜过伤亡。它们让我们的马匹跑散，许多卡车被烧毁。

Then there were rumors and orders about the Germans paratroops. Of course, the "paratroops" were equipped with tanks! And the authorities started sending us here and there against these " paratroops." Once our battalion began to fire on the battalion next to us, which had also been sent to liquidate these"paratroops". Before we identified each other, we had casualties and even fatalities, if I remember correctly. And there wasn't any enemy paratroops at all. There were rumors that German parachutists used Russian uniforms. I still don't understand why we didn't kill each other.

接着是有关德国伞兵的谣言和命令。当然，谣言里的德国伞兵是有坦克的。长官们开始打发我们去这里那里去对付这些伞兵。有一次我们真的开始向紧临的营开火！他们也是奉命来消灭这些伞兵的！如果我记得没错的话，在我们认出对方之前，双方已经有人受伤，甚至是阵亡。事实上，那一带根本就没有德国伞兵！有谣言说德国伞兵是着俄军装（原文如此， Russian uniforms）！我始终搞不明白我们怎么没把彼此给干掉！

We got enough stupidity. Once our mess got lost somewhere. We were hungry as wolves! And see, here is a camp kitchen approaching along the road. Well, we came up with our cans. They won't let us go hungry! But they happened to carry grenades inside, F-1. Can you imagine that? Could they think of another kind of transport for the grenades? Grenades inside a can!

我们真是蠢到家了！一次我们一伙人迷路了。我们饿得像狼一样！突然间，看啦！路上来了辆野战餐车！我们发现是罐头。他们是不会让我们挨饿的！可是他们发现里面装的是F-1手榴弹！您能够想到吗？他们难道不能想出用别的方法来运手榴弹吗？把手榴弹装罐头盒里！

In general, there was a bad situation with the trucks. You see, tanks and tractors and trucks and carts go along the roads in all directions. All the roads had been demolished to nothing in those three days, because none of them were paved. So after the very first rain, the tracks looked like anti-tank trenches. And there was nobody who knew other routes! Why other routes? A commander gives the order to go through such and such villages (and another one mentions only these villages), and don't try to make any other turn! Disobedience of the order! Everybody scared. We reported honestly what was real and what seemed to be real.

总的来说卡车的情况不妙。您看看，坦克，拖拉机，卡车和马车都在一条道上来回跑！那些路都不是铺过的，在那些日子里全给化为乌有！于是一场雨后，条条车辙看上去都成了反坦克壕沟！也没有任何人知道其他的道路！为什么要其他的道路？指挥员给的命令是通过这个那个村庄（另一个提到的也只有这些村庄），不要试图另寻他径！违抗命令? 谁都怕！我们诚实的汇报真实的以及看起来是真实的情况。

What seemed real? Hallucinations? I'd never believe it if it had happened to anybody else, but it was me! In the beginning of July my cannon was assigned to a tank destroyer and I was ordered to guard a small bridge. You know, not to let anybody cross the bridge. Our troops could not get there by any means. Well, I am standing at my post guarding. And in the evening I see three tanks coming across the bridge. I saw perfectly the white crosses on the turrets. I wasn't the only one who saw them. Matthew Zabrodin, the loader, is hollering, "Germans!" I fired at the head tank with my cannon. The tank driver was injured; the other two were all right and jumped out of the tank, thank God. The second tank injured two soldiers from my crew. But those tanks were ours. There weren't any crosses on the turrets! There was absolutely nothing of white color on the turrets! Hallucinations? I was fit to be tied. It passed me by. Then we were told to give our cannons back to the tankists (they didn't have tanks, though) and return to the infantry!

什么是看起来是真实的呢？幻觉？我情愿这是发生在其他任何人身上，可偏偏是我！在七月初，我的火炮给派给辆坦克歼击车奉命守卫一座小桥。您知道的，就是不任何人通过那桥。我们的部队怎么也不会到那里去的。我站在自己的岗位放哨。傍晚时见有三辆坦克来要过桥。我清清楚楚的看到炮塔上的十字。也不仅仅是我一个人看见了。装弹手，马太.扎步罗丁（Matthew Zabrodin）喊叫着“德国人！” 我用我的炮向打头的坦克开火。驾驶员受伤了，其他两人没事，跳了出来！感谢神！第二辆坦克回击，伤了我这炮组的二人。可是那些坦克是我们的！炮塔上根本就没什么十字！上面也没什么白色的东东！幻觉？我真该给绑起来！可是我没事。然后我们奉命把火炮交给坦克兵（反正他们也没坦克了），回步兵那里！

We made a line of defense along the bank of a river. We gathered strength there. We had tanks, cannons and ammunition. We had been preparing a counterattack. But the next day we learned that we were standing in the Germans' rear. We received neither the order to withdraw nor the one to counterattack. First we were waiting for the order, then the communications broke down. And we waited there for five days. We'd been waiting for help or an order, any order. But we received nothing. Germans didn't attack us. Their aircraft appeared now and then and dropped a few bombs at a time. They guessed rightly that we'd die of hunger anyway. On the fourth day our food supplies came to an end. We still didn't have communication with our command, although we had sent a delegation by tank. What to do? Our officers were afraid to sneeze without an order from Headquarters.

我们依河岸建起了条防线。把队伍收集起来。我们有坦克，火炮和弹药。我们一直在准备反击。可是到第二天我们发现我们是在德军的后方！我们既没收到命令撤退也没人命我们反击。我们先是等候命令，然后通讯断掉了。我们在那里等了五天。我们一直在等待援助和命令，任何的命令！可是我们什么也没等到！德国人也不攻击我们。他们的飞机不时的出现，扔几个炸弹。他们猜的没错！我们早晚会给饿死！第四天，我们的给养没啦。尽管我们曾打发人开坦克去送信，可是我们仍然未能与上级建立起通讯联系。该咱办？我们的军官们没有司令部（Headquarters）的命令连个嚏分都不敢打！

On the sixth day we somehow decided to go towards our troops, perhaps we had received such an order. The tankists had little petrol. Two tanks were sent to guard. We are going along the road. We made thirty kilometers that day and approached a small town. In the town we found some grub and petrol. We also took four trucks in good condition. Beside that, we found an abundant fabric storehouse . Our commander ordered me to blow up the store because I had learned mining before the war and knew, though only in theory, how to blow things up.

第六天我们总算决定向我们自己的部队靠拢。没准儿是我们收到了这样的命令。坦克没什么油了。两辆坦克被打发去做警戒。我们沿着道路走。那天我们走了三十公里，到了一个小镇。在小镇里我们找到些食物和油料。还有四辆状况良好的卡车。另外还找到一个巨大的纺织品仓库。指挥员要我把这仓库给炸了。因为在战前我曾学过采矿，知道怎么炸毁东东，虽然只是理论上知道。

I was given a truck with a driver, a detonator, a backpack full of explosives, and two soldiers to help me. As we were setting the stuff and fixing the wire, look, some women are approaching! They say, "Here, commander, are you going to blow up this fabric store?" I respond that I am going to do what I have been ordered to do. They started talking me into letting them take something out of the store, so all the good things wouldn't be destroyed for nothing. They said they had nothing to wear. Well, I let them! But only for ten minutes. Then I shouted, "Everybody out!"

我给派来一卡车及司机，一爆破手，一满背包的炸药，还有俩士兵帮忙。正当我们在安置炸药布线的时候，看啦！几个妇女走过来！她们说道：“长官，您要炸掉这仓库吗？” 我回答我是在奉命行事。她们就开始给我说要我许可她们从仓库里拿点东西走，免得这么好的东东就给白白炸掉了。她们说自己没衣服穿。好啦！我让她们拿！可只有十分钟的时间！时间一到，我大喝：“都给我出来！”

Where did all of those people come from? They flooded the store and carried off bolts of cloth. There was heavy cloth and linen, and whatnot. Everybody is hurrying, dropping things, everything is a mess. And here comes my soldier, running up. He reports that the Germans have been seen at the opposite edge of the town, riding on motorbikes! I shouted at the top of my voice. The women ran away. I waited a little and touched the button. It blew like hell! The walls fell inside. We climbed on the truck and went to catch up with our unit. That was the first time I can recall when we blew up something before withdrawing.

这些人从哪里来的呢？她们冲进仓库抱出一卷一卷的布料。都是些厚布（Heavy Cloth），亚麻布及难以描述的布料。每个人都急冲冲的，扔下返回再拿! 整个一团糟！这当口我的士兵跑过来。报告说德国人已经出现在镇子的另一头，骑着二轮摩托车！我用最大的声音大喝！妇女们跑开了。我等了片刻，然后按下按钮。仓库像地狱般爆炸！我们爬上卡车去追赶自己的队伍。那是我第一次给叫上在撤退前搞爆炸。

在战斗中（炮兵）掩护步兵

By the time we joined the main force, our own troops were diminished. First, or tanks and trucks started to break down. At first we repaired them. And we waited for them. Then we started to take the broken trucks in tow. But that led to the other trucks breaking down, so we decided to leave them "out of order." We take the cartridges, machine guns, and gunlocks out of the tanks. The petrol is syphoned to the gas tanks of other trucks and tanks. Then we pour some petrol on the turret and set it on fire!. We fired six of our own tanks that way.

当我们赶上大部队时，我们的队伍已经缩小了。先是坦克和卡车开始发生故障。我们先是修复它们，等它们给修好。后来我们开始把抛锚的卡车给拖在后面。可是这又导致其他卡车抛锚。于是我们决定抛弃它们！我们把弹夹，机枪，炮闩从坦克从拿出来。油料也给吸出来装进其他坦克卡车的油箱。然后往炮塔浇点油，点火！我们这样点了六辆自己的坦克。

Then we heard the sound of fighting and decided that our main force was nearby. So we rushed in that direction. Suddenly, we were shelled by heavy guns. I ran like a hare, without looking where I was running. But those who fired were also ours. I don't know how I managed to get to the right place. We had been shelled because the Germans had made a reconnaissance with "coffins" [armored cars] and motorbikes along the same road shortly before our appearance. We had somehow crossed the Germans without seeing them. That was how I was in surrender, but never saw the Germans and came out of it without a fight. God saved me.

我们听到战斗的声音，判定自己的大部队就在附近。于是我们冲向声音的方向。突然之间，我们给重炮覆盖！我跑的像野兔那样快，根本就没看自己在往哪里跑！可是那开炮的是自己人！我不知道自己是怎么跑对方向的！我们之所以被炮火覆盖是因为就在我们出现之前不久德国人曾沿同一条路用“棺材”(装甲汽车）及两轮摩托车作过侦查！我们不知怎么和那伙德国交错而过却没发现他们! 那就是为什么我投降了，却没见着一个德国人，也未曾干上一架。神救了我！

It was good that I went through it and got a German rifle. Lucky boy! A gun! As I was an ordnance man, I shouldn't have had a rifle. But I had broken through the line and gotten an enemy gun. That was very nice. Who could say that I didn't get it in battle? Nobody. And I surely confirmed this statement. Actually, I received the rifle in exchange for our cannon that was taken from us by order of our command. That was how I was promoted and became a commander of a cannon of our regiment's ordnance. Soon afterwards, though, I was wounded and didn't take part in the battles until autumn.

很不错的是我经历了这些，并且弄到了支德国步枪！幸运小子！要知道做为炮兵，我是没有步枪的。可是我却穿越了战线，还弄了杆敌人的枪！真带劲！谁会说我与战斗无关呢？没人！我自己确实是用行动证实了这个声明。事实上，我是用奉命从我手里交出的火炮交换来的这把枪。因为这我得以晋升，做了团里炮兵的一名炮长。可是不久我就受伤，直到秋天都没再参加战斗。

You keep asking me about our failure in the summer of 1941? It wasn't a failure. It was misfortune, that's all. What do you want, then? What the war seemed to be? Not the least as we had expected. The war was fast and tough. We had no time to cope with the details. We were impressed by all the military cars that the Germans had, but we didn't. Mobility was their "joker." Then, they had been trained much better. A German unit went into battle and worked like a Swiss watch. We had, you might say, all the parts, but didn't work as a whole. What can I say about the level of our training, when we only started learning how to fire guns in May '41?

你一直问我我们1941年夏天的失败？那不是失败。那时不幸！就是不幸！您还要啥？战争看起来像什么？一点也不是我们所曾想象的那样。战争快而艰难。我们根本没时间来应付细节。德国人的军用车辆给我们深深的印象，可是我们没有。机动性是他们的王牌！另外，他们的训练也远胜我们。德国部队投入战斗就像架瑞士手表那样工作！我们呢，您也许会说，有所有的部件，可是不能一起协同工作啊！我们在41年的五月才开始训练怎么开炮。您让我怎么说我们的训练水准？

How could we know how to fight? We had been building our military base instead of training in the year since I was drafted. We did all the brick and wood work, installed electric wire, just like real builders. If we hadn't, we would have had to pass the winter in tents. Then, we worked in the fields and helped the peasants from the western Ukraine with the harvest. In winter we started field training, too. Once in winter, we had a march along the roads. At last! The older soldiers said that before the war against Finland, they were taught more about how to march and recite slogans than how to shoot. Perhaps after that war, the high command understood that independence of the units in battle was badly needed, as well as communication and rational initiative on the lowest level. They decided to develop all of these. They were late. How could they manage it; they had only started in the spring?

我们怎么能够知道如何作战？至我入伍以来，那一年里我们一直在忙于建造我们的军事基地而不是训练。所有的砖木活，电线的铺设，都是我们自己做的。就像真正的建筑工人。如果我们不去做，那我们就得在帐篷里过冬。然后我们下地干活，帮助西乌克兰的农人收割。在冬天我们也开始训练。有次在冬天我们终于有了次沿着道路的长行军！老兵们告诉我们，在苏芬战争之前，他们更多的受训怎样行军，背诵怎么射击的口诀。也许在那场战争之后，上面认识到在战斗中是何等需要各部队单位的独立性，还有通讯，以及最底层的合理的独创性。他们决定要把这些都建立起来。可是晚了。春天才开始行动起来，此时您让他们如何能够驾御这一切？

一个45毫米反坦克炮炮组正准备击退敌人的进攻

In 1943 I was sure in my defense. And I was sure of my commanders, too. Even the weakest lieutenant in '43 knew much more than a lieutenant before the war. Before the war the command put everything right into your mouth, ready to digest. Just swallow it! Don't try to think or invent something by yourself! And suddenly you got to know that a war is a real thing, not a picture. You know, they usually kill in war. What now? At first, we used to ask headquarters how to deal with every detail. Couldn't do a thing without an order. But headquarters doesn't know itself which way to turn. It is a war! And any break in communication with the high command means the end for an officer. Officers were often desperate. So we used to guess: would they come to the right decision or not?

1943年我当然是在保卫自己。当然也是做自己的长官（of my commanders）。 43年的最衰的中尉都比战前的中尉懂得多的多！战前，命令是直接送到你嘴里，让你直接消化的。只要吞下去！不要去想，也不要去自作主张！突然间你发现战争是实实在在的，不再是幅图画！您知道的，他们通常是在战斗中作决定的。那现在呢？一开始，我们常向上面询问怎么处理所有的细节。没有命令就不能做任何事。可是上面自己也不知道该怎么做啊！这是战争！任何与上面联络的中断都意味着指挥官的末路！指挥员们常常绝望。所以我们经常在猜：他们会做出正确的决定吗？

That is why so many soldiers surrendered. Look, a unit like ours is left by itself for several days. The officers are scared to sneeze without a special order. There is neither an order to withdraw nor a food supply. And besides, they are running out of ammunition. Silly gossip circulates through the unit. The unit becomes demoralized. And at that very moment the Germans are approaching in armored cars. Bitte-dritte, welcome to surrender! And we don't even have a gun to shoot at them. Some units were taken prisoners like this. My brother-in-law survived it. The worst and most frightening thing was, he said, that it was so well arranged. There was something unnatural about it. It was a shame. They could have run and escaped, but it seemed, well, unconventional. Their battalion was escorted by only two Germans. Our soldiers were so desperate that they obeyed them like commanders. We had been trained to obey too much. Later we started to learn how to think. Well...

那就是为什么那么多士兵投降。看看吧！一支像我们部队那样的队伍给扔在那里自生自灭好几天。指挥官们没有特定的命令连个喷嚏都不敢放。既无撤退的命令，也没食品补给。另外，弹药也在用光。愚蠢的流言在队伍中流转。部队的士气顿失。正在那当口，德国人坐武装汽车逼近。欢迎投降！我们甚至都没有枪来冲德国人射击。有些部队就是这样被俘的。我的姐（妹？）夫被俘后活了下来。他说，最糟糕，最可怕的是，被俘是给安排的那么好。这可不正常。这是耻辱！他们完全可以开跑，逃脱的。可是这反倒成了不正常。他们的营只由两个德国兵押送。我们的士兵们是如此的绝望无助，他们服从德国兵如同服从自己的长官。长期以来，我们一直太多的受教来服从！后来我们开始学习怎么思考。然而。。。。

We weren't defeated in 1941. The Germans couldn't manage to win in a couple of months as they planned. They failed with all their European military training and machinery. What are you saying? They didn't fulfill their plans! It was their defeat, not ours. And when we understood that, we started to beat them. Then we fought as we could. They did better, but complained of problems on the Eastern Front.

1941年我们是给击败了。德国人没能够如愿在数月里赢得战争。纵然有他们的欧洲军事训练与机械，他们还是失败了。您说啥？他们未能达成他们的目的。这就是他们的失败，不是我们的。等我们明白过来，我们开始揍他们。然后我们竭尽全力战斗。他们做的更好，可是抱怨东线的问题。

That's how the war began.

战争这就是这样开始的。

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