正文翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：wolface 轉載請註明出處
What was the single most critical mistake that led to Germany''s defeat during World War II?
導致德國輸掉二戰的關鍵失誤是什麼？（上）
評論翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：wolface 轉載請註明出處
Kelly La Rue, Veteran
Germany lost for the same reason Germany started the war, because Hitler was in charge. Speer described Hitler as an incompetent, unprofessional, self-taught layman: "Without any sense of the complexities of any great task, he boldly assumed one function after another." Inside the Third Reich
德國戰敗的原因，與德國發動戰爭的原因是一樣的，那就是——希特勒的掌權。阿爾伯特·斯佩爾（裝備部長以及帝國經濟領導人，譯者注）曾認為，希特勒不過是一位不稱職、不專業並自學成才的門外漢罷了，而且在第三帝國內“希特勒在沒有意識到那些重大任務複雜性的情況下，就大膽地承擔起一個又一個職責。”
Invading Russia might be Hitler''s biggest mistake but there are other important miscalculations. Some are possibly more egregious than Operation Barbarossa.
入侵蘇聯可能是希特勒犯下的最大錯誤，但是，他也存在其它重要的誤判，其中，很多誤判甚至比“巴巴羅薩行動”行動的後果還要嚴重。
He declared war on the United States, the single greatest industrial power in the world. The decision borders on the stupid. One historian says Hitler made this decision in a moment of absent mindedness. It is ironic that Churchill''s greatest Christmas present came from Hitler. Churchill said once the US was on board he knew Hitler was finished. Germany declares war on the United States — History.com This Day in History — 12/11/1941 The entire population of the United States, under threat from the Japanese as well, became single minded in their pursuit of victory over both aggressors. For the first time ever women entered the workforce in huge numbers and proved once and for all they could do a man''s work and do it well.
希特勒向這世界上工業能力最強的國家——美國宣戰，這一決定是十分愚蠢的。記得有一位歷史學家曾說過，希特勒在做出這個決定時是心不在焉的。令人感到諷刺的是，正是希特勒的錯誤，成為了丘吉爾最為珍貴的聖誕節禮物。丘吉爾曾說過，當美國也參與其中的時候，他知道，希特勒玩蛋了。在歷史上的今天，1941年12月11日，德國對美國宣戰，於是，仍然面臨日本威脅的美國，全國人民都同心協力要戰勝這兩個入侵者。大量的女性湧入勞動力市場，這還是有史以來第一次，她們證明，女性完全可以勝任男人的工作，而且表現地很好。
Isolationism was a thing of the past as men enisted en masse.
孤立主義已經成為過去，因為人們都開始團結起來。
While the men fought the women built the war machines.
當男人們在前線作戰時，女人們就去建造戰爭機器。
Failing to finish the British and French in 1940 at Dunkirk. Hitler''s decision to halt the advance of armor at Goring''s urging who wanted to prove the Luftwatte''s mettle. The decision was mysterious to German high command. Then Britain surprised the Germans with the most successful sea evacuation in history. A disaster was averted by Hitler''s decision. 215,000 British and 140,000 French, Polish, and Belgians were rescued over a nine day period under heavy aerial assault. As a result of the inspired rescue British morale soared and the nation was united in a belief they could prevail against the Nazis. If this wasn''t enough the American public was galvanized by the example of British pluck and courage as public opinion swung towards support of Britain. A solid majority now backed a peacetime draft and rearmament and Roosevelt finally had the public support necessary for the Lend-Lease act. This was to be the first of many of Hitler''s blunders and a far more important one than anyone could have foreseen as two nations, not one, together prepared for war. Hitler was proving himself to be his own worst enemy and it happened here, at Dunkirk. Battle of Dunkirk
德國在1940年未能在敦刻爾克殲滅英國和法國軍隊。戈林急著想要測試德國空軍的勇氣，於是希特勒決定停止裝甲部隊的前進步伐。對於德國高官而言，這個決定實在是太不可思議了。然後，英國發動了歷史上最成功的海上撤離行動，這讓德國人著實大吃一驚。受到這次撤退行動的鼓舞，英國人士氣高漲，整個國家都團結起來，他們相信自己能夠戰勝納粹德國。如果這一點還不夠，接下來，美國的輿論也開始轉向支持英國，而美國人民都被英國人的勇氣所激勵。於是，大多數人都支持在和平時期進行徵兵和重整軍備，而羅斯福也最終獲得了通過《租借法案》所需的公眾支持。這只是希特勒眾多錯誤中的一個，但卻是一個可預見而且更為嚴重的錯誤，因為，從現在開始，有兩個國家（而非一個）同時開始備戰對抗德國。希特勒的種種行為證明，他就是德國最大的敵人，而這一切就發生在敦刻爾克戰役中。
Brits rallied using any boat available to bring home their boys.
英國人利用任何可用的船隻將他們的孩子們帶回家。
Night became the preferred time to cross the channel.
夜晚成為了英軍穿越海峽的最佳時機。
Hitler ignored staff advice that the invasion of Russia would be an economic disaster for Germany.
德國官員認為，入侵蘇聯對德國而言將會是一場經濟災難，而希特勒卻對此並不理會。
Hitler along with his staff grossly underestimated the Soviet unx''s industrial might, its ability to mobilize troops, and its weaponry. The Germans were stunned when the Soviets rolled out a capable tank that could outgun their tanks. The PPD40 submachine gun followed by the inexpensive PPSh with its high rate of fire and large magazine turned the Soviet soldier into an aggressive and deadly fighting machine. Because the weapon was only suitable for close quarter fighting it brought the Soviet soldier out from behind their barriers to engage the enemy while snipers took out German soldiers from a distance.
希特勒和他的下屬官員們都嚴重低估了蘇聯的工業能力、軍隊動員能力和武器設備。當蘇聯人生產出火力竟然超過德國的坦克時，德國人都驚呆了。PPD-40衝鋒槍及廉價的波波莎衝鋒槍具有極高的射擊速度和超大彈鼓，它們把蘇聯紅軍打造成為了可怕且致命的戰鬥機器。由於這種武器只適用於近距離作戰，蘇聯紅軍不得不從掩體裡衝出來攻擊敵人，而這時，蘇聯狙擊手就能夠趁機在遠距離上攻擊德國士兵。
At a thousand rounds per minute the PPSh41 was deadly leading Germans to pick it up for their own use. It was so popular with German troops the German high command developed a program to modify abandoned PPSh41 guns to use German ammunition and reissued it to their troops as the MP41
擁有每分鐘一千發子彈射速的PPSh41衝鋒槍成為了致命武器，結果，很多德國士兵都在戰場上撿起這種槍供自己使用。這種武器在德軍中十分受歡迎，以至於，德國高官成立一個項目來改進這些被拋棄的PPSh41衝鋒槍，從而德軍可以使用德國的彈藥，並將這些槍支作為MP41重新分發給他們的軍隊。
The stick magazine differentiated the German MP41 from the Russian version and helped prevent panicked Germans from firing on their own troops.
通過採用長條形彈夾，德軍將德國版MP41和蘇聯版槍支區分開來，從而避免戰場上驚慌失措的德國士兵誤傷自己人。
The innovative T-34 completely surprised the Germans who assumed subhumans couldn''t design anything better than what they had. The design influenced all future tanks. Even the Nazis incorporated T-34 improvements such as the sloped armor.
德國人曾認為蘇聯人這種低等民族根本就設計不出更好的武器，但是創新性的T-34坦克讓德國人大吃一驚。這種坦克設計影響了未來所有的坦克，甚至納粹德國在改進坦克時也參考了T-34坦克，比如傾斜裝甲。
Invaded Russia with an order to exercise "maximum cruelty". Corpses swung from lampposts, mass graves were filled, houses burned, towns leveled. Given who he was it''s unlikely Hitler could have done anything else but the result is the Russians, who greeted the Germans as liberators and might have joined or at least offered no resistance to the German invasion, decided Stalin wasn''t the worst thing around but instead fought him with all the ferocity and commitment they had. Some people disagree with this assessment saying the population didn''t understand Stalin was bad news but whatever the case Hitler turned his invasion into something so horrifying the country was easily mobilized against him.
入侵蘇聯並下令執行“最殘忍的暴行”。屍體在燈柱下晃盪，亂葬崗填滿了屍體，房屋被燒燬，城鎮被夷為平地。出於自身身份的原因，希特勒對待蘇聯人只有一種態度，而結果就是，那些迎接德國人，將其視為解放者、可能會加入德軍或者不進行抵抗的蘇聯人，最終都意識到，斯大林並不是世界上最壞的統治者，然後和斯大林一起抱著最大的決心，兇猛地和德國人血戰。有些人並不同意這種評價，認為，蘇聯人不理解斯大林是一個壞事，不管怎麼，希特勒把自己對蘇聯的入侵變成了一件可怕的事情，以至於，這個國家能夠輕易地動員人民來反抗德軍。
Burn everything, murder everyone.
燒光一切，殺死所有人。
The Russians responded with a scorched earth policy in order to deprive the advancing Germans food and shelter. This is the same policy used against Napoleon.
於是，蘇聯人執行焦土政策來回應德軍，奪走了德軍的食物補給和住所。這也是他們對付拿破崙的政策。
Albert Speer said Hitler had a heat-seeking missile that could have turned back the Allied air invasion. Multiple sources confirm this. Instead of okaying development of this potential game changer Hitler squandered valuable resources (estimates range from half to twice the cost of the Manhattan project. One estimate is, inflation adjusted, $50 billion vs $25 billion for the Manhattan project) developing the V-2 rocket, a nearly useless tactical weapon that delivered a warhead only 15% larger than the V-1''s for far greater cost.
斯佩爾曾說過，希特勒當時擁有可以擊退盟國空軍的熱追蹤導彈。有多個消息來源可以證實這一點。然而，希特勒並沒有批准研發這種可能會改變遊戲規則的武器，反而浪費了大量寶貴資源（估計是“曼哈頓計劃”的一半到兩倍不等）。根據通貨膨脹調整後的估計，“曼哈頓計劃”和研發V2導彈的費用分別是500億美元和250億美元，而V2導彈幾乎就是一種毫無用處的戰術武器，雖然它的彈頭只比V1大15%，可成本卻高得多。
The first cruise missile, the V1, was slow enough to be shot down but it was inexpensive with a large warhead.
世界首款巡航導彈V1，飛行速度太慢，可以被擊落，安裝有較大彈頭但費用不高。
The V2 was the first ballistic missile and an incredible technological feat. It carried a large warhead and because of its supersonic speed it fell without warning making it a true terror weapon. Over 500 fell on London killing 9000.
V2導彈是世界上首款彈道導彈，同時也是不可思議的技術壯舉。它攜帶了一枚超大彈頭，藉助自己的超音速，它可以在毫無預警的情況下就實現打擊，使得它成為了一款真正恐怖的武器。
According to Speer, Hitler delayed the launching his jet plane for a year because he insisted it be developed as a bomber. It took an additional year to convert it into what it was best suited for, a fighter. It was introduced too late to be an important factor in the air war. One reader says the plane was delayed because of developmental problems with the engine but I have found limited support sources for that. Since Hitler already had successful jet bombers including the capable Ar 234 the rationale behind his thinking escapes me. It is little known that the British had also developed a successful Jet fighter. It deployed too late to help.
據斯佩爾說，希特勒把噴氣式飛機項目推遲了一年，因為他堅持把它當作轟炸機來研製。而德國又花了一年的時間，才最終把它改造成為了最合適的戰鬥機。它的研發太晚，所以並沒有在空戰中派上大用場。曾有一位讀者說，飛機的發展是因為引擎問題而延誤的，但我能夠找到的支持信息很有限。然而，當時希特勒早已擁有了較為成功的轟炸機，包括Ar-234轟炸機，我搞不懂希特勒這種想法的背後是什麼。很少有人知道，當時英國人也成功地研發除了噴氣式戰鬥機，但是它們部署時間太晚，根本無法提供幫助。
In the hands of experienced pilots the German Me-262 might have severely impacted the Allied air campaign but it was deployed too late.
在經驗豐富的飛行員手中，德國Me-262戰機可能會對盟軍空襲帶來極大的影響，可惜它部署時間太晚了。
Ar 234 was very fast and the Luftwatte wanted as many as it could get. It got 200 and was the last bomber to fly over Britain. Although used primarily as a reconnaissance plane it was also used as a bomber.
Ar234 轟炸機飛行速度非常高，當時德國空軍想要儘可能多的這種飛機，最終，有200架轟炸機被交付，同時，它也是最後飛越英國上空的轟炸機。
Hitler did not develop a long range bomber that he could have used to bomb Stalin''s factories deep behind the front lines.
希特勒沒能研製出一種遠程轟炸機，他本可以用它來轟炸斯大林在前線和後方的工廠的。
Hitler''s obsession with "super weapons" led to him pouring resources into developing weapons that were basically useless and ignoring production of needed materials such as trucks. His much vaunted Tiger Tank, a formidable weapon indeed, was expensive and unreliable. He could have manufactured many less expensive tanks for the same money, five or ten times as many. Instead of learning the lesson inherent in what happened he went on to produce the King Tiger—a nearly invulnerable tank with unimaginable firepower but underpowered, unreliable, and ultimately almost useless. Speer was alarmed by this wasteful research and concerned the tanks would get so heavy they would break through the Earth''s crust. Another tank in development was ironically name the Mouse. Large and powerful only two were built. One of Hitler''s proposed tanks was 40'' tall.
希特勒對“超級武器”的痴迷導致他把大量資源都用於開發那些基本沒什麼用處的武器上，而忽略了生產卡車等基本物資。他所大肆吹噓的虎式坦克，的確是一種可怕的武器，但是它非常昂貴而且還不可靠。他本可以用同樣多的錢製造出更多便宜的坦克，數量是虎式坦克的五到十倍。希特勒非但沒有從中吸取教訓，反而生產了更多的虎式坦克——這種坦克幾乎無懈可擊，擁有難以想象的火力，然而它動力不足，可靠性低，幾乎沒有什麼作用。斯佩爾對這種浪費資源的研究感到震驚，他甚至擔心，這些過重的坦克會壓垮地面。另外一種正在研發的坦克非常巨大，諷刺的是，它們的名字叫做“鼠式坦克”，最終只有兩輛坦克被建造出來。而且，希特勒提出的坦克方案足足有40英尺長。
The King Tiger, while virtually unstoppable, failed to live up to its promise. Note the T-34 inspired sloped armor and the 20'' long cannon.
“虎王”坦克雖然幾乎勢不可擋，但是，它卻並未實現自己的承諾。請注意T-34坦克的傾斜裝甲和20英尺長的加農炮。
Hitler''s dream Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte
希特勒的夢想：P-1000超級坦克
Hitler was fooled by "Operation Fortitude", one of the most sophisticated and successful military deceptions in history. A phony army was created complete with fake military equipment and radio chatter under the command of General Patton to fool the Germans into believing the D-Day invasion would take place in Northern France and that the Normandy landing was a diversion. Hitler was completely taken in and delayed moving reinforcements to Normandy until two months after D-Day. The diversion was a success in large part because of a brilliant Spanish spy who worked for the Allies as a double agent feeding false information to the Nazis that D-Day was a diversion. It is likely the invasion would have failed without Operation Fortitude. The D-Day operation was delayed because of the unexpected difficulty in penetrating centuries old hedgerows so the Allies, having not broken out, would have had difficulty resisting a German counterattack.
Hitler''s racism drove some great minds out of Germany, most notably Einstein. Ultimately Hitler''s driving out Germany''s particle physics community might have been his greatest error. Before the war Germany led the world in quantum physicists and many, including Einstein, were Jews hence the Nazi''s dismissive attitude toward "Jewish science". But it was not only Jewish physicists that left in droves. Many highly competent Gentile physicists, for instance Erwin Schroedinger Erwin Schrödinger - Biographical, left because of their distaste for Hitler''s racism. This left Germany with arguably only one giant in the field, Werner Heisenberg, who went on to unsuccessfully run Hitler''s atomic bomb program. Page on wikipedia.org. Einstein, on the other hand, blew the whistle on Germany''s atomic bomb aspirations leading directly to the Manhattan project.
希特勒的種族主義迫使一些著名人物逃離德國，最出名的就是愛因斯坦。最後，希特勒驅逐德國的粒子物理團體可能是他犯過最大的錯誤。在二戰爆發前，德國的量子物理學家都處於世界領先地位，而且很多科學家，包括愛因斯坦，都是猶太人。於是，納粹德國對“猶太科學”都抱有一種不屑一顧的態度。然而，成群結隊離開德國的，並不只有猶太物理學家。許多有能力的非猶太人物理學家——比如薛定諤，都是以為厭惡希特勒的種族主義而選擇離開德國。結果，在這一科學領域，只有一位科學巨人仍然留在德國——那就是維爾納·海森堡，可他未能成功實現希特勒的原子彈計劃。另一方面，愛因斯坦揭發了德國的原子彈野心，這直接導致了美國執行“曼哈頓計劃”。
The list could go on but the upshot is Hitler, a talented politician, was an incompetent administrator and military leader. He was so bad that the Allies, who had an assassination plan in place, were unable to resolve the dilemma whether it was better to leave Hitler in office where his incompetence was an asset or to take the chance he might be replaced with someone who, instead of surrendering, was better able to prosecute the war. As a result the decision was never made to give the plan the go ahead. In addition the Allies wanted to totally discredit Nazism and if Hitler wasn''t at the helm when Germany went under there might be German postwar speculation that had Hitler been in charge the Nazis would have prevailed.
這樣的例子不勝枚舉，但結論就是，希特勒是一位有才的政治家，卻是一位無能的管理者和軍事領袖。希特勒的表現如此糟糕，以至於制定了刺殺計劃的盟軍無法解決一個難題，究竟是應該讓希特勒繼續掌權呢（因為他的無能對盟軍而言是一種財富），還是冒著風險刺殺他，然後代替他的元首拒絕投降，而且更擅長戰爭呢？結果，盟軍並未達成結論來執行這種計劃。
Musah Ismael, SHS University of Birmingham & University of Northern Iowa (2017)
In his prison cell at Nuremberg, Hitler''s foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, wrote a brief memoir in the course of which he explored the reasons for Germany''s defeat. He picked out three factors that he thought were critical: the unexpected ''power of resistance'' of the Red Army; the vast supply of American armaments; and the success of Allied air power.
在紐倫堡的監獄裡，希特勒的外交部長約阿希姆·馮·裡賓特洛甫寫了一本簡短的回憶錄，來討論德國戰敗的原因。他指出了三點認為至關重要的因素：蘇聯紅軍出人意料的“抵抗力量”；大量的美國軍備供應；盟軍空軍的成功。
This last was Hitler''s explanation too. When Ribbentrop spoke with him a week before the suicide in the bunker, Hitler told him that, ''the real military cause of defeat'' was the failure of the German Air Force.
其中，最後一點原因也是希特勒所認可的。當希特勒在地堡裡自殺的一週前，錨點裡賓特洛甫曾和希特勒有過交談，希特勒告訴他“德國空軍的失敗，才是真正導致軍事失敗的原因”。
For all his many failings Ribbentrop was closer to the truth than he might have realised. For the Allies in World War Two, the defeat of Germany was their priority. Italy and Japan never posed the same kind of threat as the European superpower they fought alongside. Their defeat, costly though it was, became irresistible. The key to ending the world crisis was the defeat of Hitler''s Germany.
儘管裡賓特洛甫的結論裡存在很多的缺點，但是他的觀點比自己想象的更接近事實。因為，對於第二次世界大戰中的同盟國而言，擊敗德國才是他們的首要任務。意大利和日本所構成的威脅，遠遠比不上那些結盟的歐洲大國。因此，軸心國的失敗是不可避免的，雖然代價有些高昂。結束這場世界級危機的關鍵一點，就是擊敗希特勒掌控的德國。
This situation seemed beyond remedy. Yet within a year Soviet factories were out-producing their richly-endowed German counterparts - the Red Army had embarked on a thorough transformation of the technical and organisational base of Soviet forces, and a stiffening of morale, from Stalin downwards, produced the first serious reverse for the German armed forces when Operation Uranus in November 1942 led to the encirclement of Stalingrad and the loss of the German Sixth Army.
這種情況似乎沒有辦法改善。然而，不到一年的時間，蘇聯工廠的產量就超過了德國工廠，蘇聯紅軍對軍隊的技術和組織進行了徹底的改造升級。上至斯大林，下至軍隊士兵，人們的士氣不斷高漲，結果，德國在1942年11月的“天王星行動”中遭遇到了重挫，在斯大林格勒被包圍，而德國第六軍遭受損失。
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