1
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:15,560
第二次世界大战是一场机械时代的最终较量
The Second World War was the ultimate conflict of the machine age.

2
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,920
这个机械（坦克）是它的标志符号
And this machine was its iconic symbol,

3
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,240
陆地战争胜负的决定性武器
the decisive weapon of the war on land.

4
00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:27,440
从北非到前苏联以东的战场都由坦克主宰着
From north Africa to the Russian front, tanks ruled the battlefield.

5
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,920
如果你在装甲部队上吃亏 在战场上就面临着被消灭的危险
And if you didn't master armoured warfare, you faced annihilation.

6
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,800
它真的非常恐怖
It's quite terrifying, really,

7
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,080
因为你可以看到敌军的枪喷出的火舌
because you could see these flashes of the enemy's guns

8
00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,640
即使离得很远 然后你会想 其中一只枪随时会打中我
in the distance, and you think,"Any minute, one of them is going to hit me."

9
00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,360
坦克在二战中从始至终
Tanks were there at the beginning of the war,

10
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,400
都活跃在战场上
and tanks were there at the end.

11
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,240
在坦克里的士兵
The men who fought inside them

12
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,960
对整个战争也有着独特的见解
had an exceptional view of the entire conflict...

13
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,760
从法国沦陷到非洲沙漠的战役
..from the fall of France,to the deserts of Africa.

14
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,200
自诺曼底登陆到最终战胜纳粹德国
From D-Day to the final victory in Germany.

15
00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,120
作为皇家坦克军团的一员
As a young officer training in the Royal Tank Regiment,

16
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,960
他们用前辈的英勇事迹教导我
I was indoctrinated in their exploits.

17
00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:19,200
我们可能已经无法感受到
And who could fail to have been awe-inspired by the way those men

18
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:24,520
他们在这些铁壳怪物里一次又一次面临着死亡
faced death time and time again,in these iron-clad monsters?

19
00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:32,360
当我第一次爬进坦克时 我想这会很有趣，仅此而已
When I first went in, I thought it was going to be great fun, and all that.

20
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,680
但后来我意识到 根本不是这样
But I realised it wasn't.

21
00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,040
我看到一辆离我不远的坦克冒着浓烟被炸成了碎片
There was a tank near me, I saw just blown to bits.

22
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,560
好几个兄弟在里面 那种感觉真的很糟糕
A couple of my mates were in that. It was terrible.

23
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,360
坦克里兄弟们的团结
The bond you established in Tank,

24
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:51,560
不仅仅是一种友谊
was not a normal relationships of friends.

25
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,960
那是生死搭档 比友谊浓多了
You were a partnership, it was closer than friendship.

26
00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,520
这几个搭档是一辈子的朋友
That crew were friends for life.

27
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:04,120
这就是六个坦克兵不寻常的故事 他们来自同一支部队
This is the story of six remarkable men from one armoured unit,

28
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,600
第五皇家坦克团
The 5th Royal Tank Regiment,5 RTR.

29
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:12,320
对于那些非常了解他们的人来说 也叫 邋遢第五团
Or to those who really knew them,the Filthy 5th.

30
00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,040
坦克战为人知晓并不仅仅是幸存的老兵们的贡献
Their war is brought to life not only by the few surviving veterans,

31
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,120
从一些之前没有发现的一些信件和日记中也能略知一二
but also by previously unseen letters and diaries

32
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,240
而这些使我们对坦克战的了解更加深入
that give us a real insight of the visceral reality of tank warfare.

33
00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,480
他们每个人都是有故事的男人
Each of these men has his own story.

34
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,000
受伤 被俘 被杀 这些分别降临在他们头上
Some were wounded, some captured and some were killed.

35
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,760
只有非常幸运的极少数的人安全度过
A few, the lucky few, went all the way through.

36
00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,920
他们在一起构成了战争中一幅独特的画面
Together their accounts form a unique picture of the war.

37
00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,960
五团也给他们留下了太多的回忆
And they weren't called the Filthy 5th for nothing.

38
00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:01,080
战争的一开始 五团就开始了自己的冒险
The Filthy 5th's odyssey began at the very beginning of the war.

39
00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,640
但并非伴随着枪响开始 而是啜泣
Not with a bang...but a whimper.

40
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:11,040
一九四零年的六月 五团被困在法国的瑟堡 等待回家的船只
In June 1940, men from the 5th Tanks are stuck at Cherbourg, waiting for a ship home.

41
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,600
在法国损失惨重的战斗给了五团沉重的打击
Having been bloodied in the disastrous battle for France,

42
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,640
士兵们被打散了
the unit was scattered.

43
00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,880
他们的幻想破灭 苦不堪言
Its men bitter and disillusioned.

44
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,360
毕竟他们才只来了几周
It had, after all,only arrived a few weeks earlier.

45
00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,520
他们的使命已经足够简单
Their mission had been straightforward enough...

46
00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,560
来稳固英国远征军在法国的防守
to reinforce the British expeditionary force in France,

47
00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,560
以遏制德国在北欧的猛烈攻势
and halt the German onslaught across northern Europe.

48
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,520
但就当第五团驾驶着速度很快却已经快淘汰的坦克
But as they approached the River Somme, in tanks that were fast

49
00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:52,000
抵达索姆河时 
but poorly armoured and already obsolete, the 5th Tanks

50
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,320
他们被德军的精锐装甲部队狠狠的教训了一顿
were given the sledgehammer treatment by superior German Panzers.

51
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,240
到一九四零年 坦克就已经成为陆军的主要作战力量
By 1940, the tank was the essential component of warfare on the ground.

52
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,680
但英国却在这方面落后了很多
Yet Britain simply didn't have what was needed.

53
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,320
战争开始的前几年 很长一段时间里
In the years before the war, they'd left it too late

54
00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,560
英国都没有改良军备 没有一直装甲部队遭受过像英国皇家坦克团
to start their rearmament and there was nobody for whom that failure

55
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,200
一样难堪的失败
was more galling than the Royal Tank Regiment.

56
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,800
第五团在德军精锐部队的打击之下溃不成军
Pursued by the German Panzer divisions, the 5th Tanks went to pieces,

57
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:34,760
称他们连上级的命令都收不到 更别说食物
claiming they never got any orders,let alone food.

58
00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,640
他们和法国盟军仓皇撤退时
As they retreated along with their French allies,

59
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,280
丢弃了大量装备
they left most of their equipment behind.

60
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,200
撤离的路线上一片狼藉
It was a shambles on a grand scale.

61
00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,120
在法国的几周内 他们的坦克损失殆尽
During those few weeks in France, they'd lost most of their tanks.

62
00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,960
他们战斗力低下
They could only claim a single, knocked out German one,

63
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,160
很多士兵坦白 说他们事实上很多时候都醉醺醺的
and many of the soldiers confessed they'd spent much of the time drunk.

64
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:06,920
五团的第一次出击使他们蒙羞
The 5th Tanks' first experience of the war had been an exercise in humiliation.

65
00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,440
下士Harry Finlayson 二十五岁 职业军人
Corporal Harry Finlayson, 25, a regular,

66
00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,600
曾在印度服役
had already seen service in India.

67
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,920
但在法国对坦克的指挥却是一团糟
But commanding a tank in France was bewildering.

68
00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,360
难以置信我们被打退了
Couldn't believe we'd be pushed back.

69
00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,200
我从没这样想过 我以为我们会直捣黄龙打进德国
It never entered my head. I thought we'd go straight into Germany,

70
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,840
我们非常自信
was so sure about it.

71
00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:34,120
当我们开始撤退时 我都不太相信
When we started getting pushed back, I couldn't believe it.

72
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,880
当你将我军的坦克装备和德军对比时 你会发现德军完胜
When you think of the tanks the Germans had and the tanks we had, they were all over us.

73
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,000
我们毫无胜算
We didn't have a chance.

74
00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,480
好像四面八方都是德军
There were Germans everywhere, like.

75
00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,360
第五团在法国的闹剧使很多人沮丧 哈利只是其中之一
Harry wasn't the only one dismayed by the 5th's French farce.

76
00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,080
另一个是伞兵Jake Wardrop 二十五岁 一个精明的格拉斯哥人
A canny 25-year-old Glaswegian, Trooper Jake Wardrop,

77
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,760
提供了最重要的资料之一 他的袖珍日记
provided one of the most perceptive accounts, written in a pocket diary.

78
00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,640
以我们的军队去攻击德军
"It was all as inadequate as would have been an effort

79
00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,080
就好比螳臂当车
"to tie down a mad bull with white cotton.

80
00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,320
我们的坦克又差又少
"We had a ridiculously small amount of material,

81
00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,000
部队组织涣散
"and an even smaller amount of organisation.

82
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,760
我个人觉得 进军索姆河
"My own opinion of the Somme episode

83
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,520
是个愚蠢的决定
"was that it was a very silly place to be."

84
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,760
Jake Wardrop是五团的一座宝藏
Jake Waldrop was a great treasure to the 5th Tanks.

85
00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,400
他很清醒 因此对局势认识的
He was no fool, he was able to assess the situation very...

86
00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,240
很透彻
..adequately for his own satisfaction.

87
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,040
所以才有了他的日记
Hence the diaries he wrote.

88
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,400
当然 他不该写的
Which, of course, he shouldn't have been writing.

89
00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:57,240
因为一旦他们被俘虏 德军将得到他的日记
Because if the tank was captured and the diary was in it,

90
00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,880
那里面有部队的位置和其他信息
positions and the details of the unit would be available.

91
00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:07,200
但五团对这些纪律却并不重视
But 5th Tanks had regard to those rules which...

92
00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,440
没有严格恪守
they liked to abide by, and not those they didn't.

93
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,160
撤回英国后 五团在萨里重组
Back in England, the 5th Tanks regrouped at an army base in Surrey.

94
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,600
在这里 一些新兵和
Here, the old regulars were joined by new recruits,

95
00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,240
民兵加入 二十四岁的Gerry Solomon就是一个
citizen soldiers, like 24-year-old Gerry Solomon.

96
00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:33,800
当我抵达这里 感觉就好像是鱼儿离开了水 因为在这里我们经常
When I arrived, I felt like a fish out of water, because there were we,more or less rookies,

97
00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:38,080
被叫做菜鸟 那些人也是刚从法国前线回来
as they called them, and all these other people

98
00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,960
不过他们的遭遇更加坎坷
had just come back from France and they were more hardened soldiers.

99
00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,360
他们谈话的时候不会让我们加入
They didn't sort of include you in their conversations.

100
00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:52,480
他是个新兵蛋子 他懂什么
"He's a new boy,so he wouldn't understand it."

101
00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,320
但是最终 我被他们接纳了
But, eventually, I was accepted.

102
00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,000
就当伞兵所罗门来了后
And just as Trooper Solomon was settling in,

103
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,440
五团被命令做好海外作战的准备
5th Tanks was told to make ready for active service abroad.

104
00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:05,880
（人群欢呼）
CROWDS CHEER

105
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,600
一九四零年六月 意大利的独裁者墨索里尼
In June 1940, the Italian dictator,Benito Mussolini,

106
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,000
对英宣战
declared war on Britain.

107
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,440
（意大利语）
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

108
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:26,560
（群众欢呼）
CROWDS CHEER

109
00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,240
他野心勃勃地要吞并英属埃及
His ambition was to conquer British-occupied Egypt

110
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,640
和战略要地苏伊士运河
and the strategically vital Suez Canal.

111
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:41,840
利比亚作为意大利的殖民地 为这次入侵提供了一个跳板
Libya, an Italian colony, provided the launching pad for this invasion.

112
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,600
一九四零年秋 第五军团的士兵开赴中东
By the autumn of 1940, the men of 5th Tanks were on their way

113
00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,000
和原驻军汇合保卫埃及
to the Middle East to the Allied garrison, protecting Egypt.

114
00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,480
对一些士兵来说 这一切像是一次探险
For some, it all seemed like an adventure.

115
00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,160
我倒是很兴奋 因为可以出去看看中东
Well, I was excited about going abroad and seeing the Middle East.

116
00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,520
我把这次行动当做了一次观光 并没想太多
I was regarding it as a sort of sightseeing tour, more than anything.

117
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,800
一九四零年圣诞前一天的上午 经过将近两个月的航行
On the morning of Christmas Eve,1940, after almost two months at sea,

118
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:25,200
第五坦克团在埃及的亚历山大港集结
the 5th Tanks gathered in the Egyptian port of Alexandria.

119
00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,880
航行了很远 每个人都对远远抛在后面的家乡无比思念
Far from home, each man thought of those they'd left behind.

120
00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,280
因为我要出征 我的妈妈非常伤心
My mother, she was very upset because I was going.

121
00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,920
她告诉我 答应我Harry 一定要回来
She said to me, "Promise me, Harry, that you'll come back."

122
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,640
我说 我答应你我一定会回来 后来她哭了
I said, "Yeah, I promise you, I'll come back." And she was crying.

123
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,160
我安慰她说 别哭妈妈 别担心 那儿没人能杀掉我
I told her, "No, don't worry, nobody there is going to kill me,

124
00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:56,440
我会平安回来
"I'll come back."

125
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,760
前线的一小部分守军给了来犯的意大利侵略者
At the front, a small force of Allied troops was giving

126
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,120
当头一棒
the Italian invaders a beating.

127
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:25,040
由于以小代价给了敌方大打击 英军扭转了被动局面 开始进军利比亚
For the loss of only 500, British forces had turned the tide and advanced into Libya.

128
00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,240
这次胜利鼓舞了五团
News that cheered the newly landed 5th Tanks.

129
00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:36,160
当我们抵达时听说了他们的战报 大量的侵略者被歼灭
When we arrived we'd heard they had taken no end of Italian prisoners.

130
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,120
每个人都很高兴
Everybody was very, sort of, jubilant about it all,

131
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,360
因为我觉得可能不需要我们上战场了
because I think it was possible we weren't going to be needed.

132
00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,800
但如果Gerry Solomon认为他们对于残酷的实际战斗是多余的
But if Gerry Solomon thought they might be spared the unpleasantness

133
00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,280
那么他可要重新想想了
of actual fighting, they were about to think again.

134
00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,960
一九四一年二月 一支难缠的德军
In February 1941, a battle-hardened German force

135
00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,880
抵达了北非 来援救他们的意大利盟友
arrived in North Africa to rescue their Italian allies.

136
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,000
德意志非洲军团
The Afrika Korps.

137
00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,120
带领这支装备优良的装甲部队的
Armed with better tanks than the British, the Afrika Korps

138
00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,600
就是彻底改变了沙漠战的
was led by a man who would change the dynamic of desert warfare...

139
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:19,920
埃尔文·隆美尔
..Erwin Rommel.

140
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,960
Jake Wardrop把他描述成一个大胆邪恶的宪兵
Jake Wardrop described him as the bold, bad policeman.

141
00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,880
但他通常被人们称为沙漠之狐
But he was more commonly known as the Desert Fox.

142
00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:36,240
五团在法国就已经遭遇过隆美尔
The 5th Tanks had already encountered Rommel in France.

143
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:42,440
但在这片沙漠 这位德国名将的才华大放异彩
But it was out here that the German general's talents found a perfect arena.

144
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,880
他写道 机动部队和坦克战的作战方式可以
It was, he wrote, "The only theatre where the principles

145
00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,520
在这个地方发挥到极致
of motorised and tank warfare could be applied to the full."

146
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,360
他对德意志非洲军抱有极大野心
And he had big plans for the Afrika Korps -

147
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:59,040
他想占领英属埃及后直取阿拉伯的油田
to conquer British Egypt and drive onwards to the Arabian oil fields.

148
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,240
一九四一年三月二十四日 隆美尔发动一波攻势
On 24th March, 1941, Rommel launched an offensive.

149
00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,240
英军司令部坚信他并未做好长期作战准备
British headquarters had believed he wouldn't be ready for months.

150
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,880
因此当愚人节五团遭到攻击时
So when, on April Fools' Day, the 5th Tanks were attacked,

151
00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,880
他们的上司告诉他们那只是倒霉的意大利人在放空炮
they had been told by their commanders it could only be the hapless Italians.

152
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,760
我们进入战壕 看到一些坦克过来了
We'd got in this ditch and we saw some tanks coming,

153
00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,040
坦克上有很大的黑色十字符号
huge great tanks with big, black crosses on them.

154
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,280
我惊呼 该死的德国人 我们并不知道德国人到了
I said, "Bloody Germans!" We didn't have any Germans there.

155
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,840
接着我们看到了卡车载着德国士兵过来
And then we see lorries coming with Germans in them.

156
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,040
我立刻跑回去报告 可他们不肯相信我
So I went back and reported and they wouldn't believe me.

157
00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,240
连长不肯相信我 那儿没德国军队
Company commander wouldn't believe me. "There's no Germans there."

158
00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,840
我说 你自己看 第二天早晨 我们看到了德军
I said, "Well, they are." The next morning, we knew they were there.

159
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,320
以我们的坦克不可能战胜他们
The tanks we had against theirs was impossible.

160
00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,160
士兵们都知道从以往战绩来看
They knew from bitter experience

161
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,240
曾在法国的战斗中表现的很差劲
that British tanks such as the A-13,

162
00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,280
的这种A-13的英式坦克
which had performed so poorly in the battle for France,

163
00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,040
不可能是德国装甲部队的对手
were simply no match for the German Panzers.

164
00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:14,600
这一辆就是传说中的A-13 一辆能集中体现英国在
So, here it is - the A-13, a tank that embodies everything

165
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,080
二战中所装备的装甲车辆的拙劣设计
that was worst about British inter-war armoured vehicle design.

166
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,920
它由于对技术过于狂热地追求
It was overly ambitious in its technology

167
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,560
而使它在制造中显得粗制滥造
and shoddily executed in the way it was manufactured.

168
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,280
A-13对五团来说就像个死亡陷阱
But the A-13 was also a death-trap to the men of the 5th.

169
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,760
进入其中的一个是相当的难 
Get inside one of these and you'll see how hard that was to do.

170
00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:47,360
或者 更切中要害地说 要很快出来也是很难的
Or, more to the point, how hard it was to get out of them in a hurry.

171
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,920
然后装备着很薄的装甲
And that, combined with the thin armour,

172
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,920
你们可能期待的坦克兵的安全系数
deprived the crew inside of the sense of security

173
00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,520
已经荡然无存了
that you might have expected them to have.

174
00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,880
五团正面临前所未有的挑战
The 5th were now facing an enemy they simply weren't prepared for.

175
00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,680
德军击毁他们那差劲的坦克
Their poorer tanks were struck down by German shot.

176
00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,920
他们被德军的斯图卡式和多尼尔轰炸机从空中进行打击
They were assailed from the skies by Stukas and Dorniers.

177
00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,440
英军的指挥系统陷于瘫痪
The British command structure went to pieces.

178
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,640
对一些五团士兵来说 这是他们第一次尝到战争的滋味
And, for some in the 5th, it was their first taste of action.

179
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,920
当你加入战斗时 你会想 不是你死就是我亡 这就是战争
Once you get into battle, you think, "Well, this is it. It's me or them."

180
00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,640
每个人都很害怕 每个人都战战兢兢有些神经质
Everybody was scared. Everybody was sort of jittery and jumpy.

181
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,920
当你在坦克里的时候你就成了敌人的靶子
When you're in a tank and you're being fired at,

182
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,560
真的很吓人
it's quite frightening.

183
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:48,680
因为你确定在你击中他之前他会先击中你
Because you're sure that he's going to hit you before you hit him.

184
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,960
我在沙漠里从未祈祷过
I don't think I ever prayed in the desert.

185
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,120
连我都疑惑我为什么不那样做
I often wondered afterwards why I didn't.

186
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,080
Gerry Solomon和其他五团士兵面临的是德军的精锐坦克
What Gerry Solomon and the others in 5th Tank were up against again was

187
00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,280
上面标着三 那就是德军的三号坦克
the superiority of the German mark three, the Panzerkampfwagen III.

188
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,440
它在好几个方面超越英军坦克
It had several advantages over British tanks.

189
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,560
它是英式坦克的两倍重 而大部分是装甲的重量
It weighed nearly twice as much and most of that was armour.

190
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,240
这使士兵生命更加有所保障
And it was more reliable.

191
00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,160
三号坦克的设计非常的人性化
The mark three is very well designed from the human perspective.

192
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:40,280
坐在这个位置的指挥官有着极佳的视野
The commander, who sat in this position, had fantastic all-round visibility -

193
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,560
事实上 我曾经坐过的另一辆坦克的同样位置 视野也没有三号坦克好 那是叫做酋长的在冷战时期的一款坦克
better, in fact, than I did in the same slot on a Chieftain back on Cold War exercises in the 1980s.

194
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,520
指挥官也可以很方便地跟别的成员交谈
He could also talk to other members of the crew very easily.

195
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:53,440
举个例子 坐在我这个位置的炮手 可以很方便地跟其他人眼神交流 其他人也可以
The gunner, for example, who sits where I am. They've got very easy eye contact and all the rest of it.

196
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,360
还有 如果战事不利 他们可以从我身后这个安全门逃走
And, if it does all go horribly wrong, they've got escape hatches there, behind me and in the hull.

197
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,400
他们出来的速度比英国坦克兵快多了
They can get out much faster than the British crew could.

198
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,520
在德军装甲部队驰骋在英军战线上时
As the German Panzers overran the British lines,

199
00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,960
混乱如野火般迅速传递
chaos and confusion spread like wildfire.

200
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,840
有趣的是 我并不害怕
The funny thing was I don't think I felt scared.

201
00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:22,720
我觉得我更担心我的搭档们
I think I was more worried about my crew.

202
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,800
我当时告诉驾驶员该往哪儿走
And I was telling the driver where to go.

203
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,840
我们并没有能力给予德国人以打击
And I felt disappointed because we didn't have the power

204
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,880
这令我很沮丧
to knock Jerry tanks out.

205
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,560
在这时 
In the midst of this

206
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,840
一个经验丰富的指挥官 只有二十六岁
was a veteran officer aged just 26.

207
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,720
中尉Arthur Crickmay
Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay.

208
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,400
Arthur Crickmay比很多人都清楚这个画面
Arthur Crickmay understood this landscape better than most.

209
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:56,000
战争以前 他曾和他最好的朋友Ted来过 当时只是学生来探索而已
Before the war, he'd been out here with his best friend, Ted, as students exploring.

210
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,560
接着他被召到并非五团的另外一支部队
Then he'd been posted ahead of 5th Tanks to another battalion

211
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,160
那个部队已经消失了，就像这片荒野一样
that was already "up the blue", as the army called this wilderness.

212
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,320
但是他对这些在役的人的失败感到沮丧
But he was dismayed at the failure of those in charge,

213
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,480
在他富于表现力的信件写道
as his letters home show so eloquently.

214
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:20,520
对于正在发生的事情没有一丝消息 传言构筑了整日的生活
"There was no information about what was happening. Rumour was rife.

215
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,280
那是四月一日 确实是
"It was April 1 and no mistake.

216
00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:28,200
像每日邮报会说到的 让我们用宽容的心态面对
"As the Daily Mail would say, 'Let us draw a merciful feel

217
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,560
接下来六天回到来的糊涂和困惑
" 'over the next six days of muddle and confusion,

218
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,560
秩序和混乱
" 'order and counter-order.'

219
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,120
我们的一辆坦克爆炸的画面一直在我脑海里
"My most vivid memory is one of our tanks exploding.

220
00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,800
一定坦克里的所有弹药一起爆炸了
"All the ammo inside must have gone up at once.

221
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,440
我曾见到很多的坦克着火
"I've seen many tanks on fire,

222
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,040
但以前从未见过像这样爆炸的
"but have never seen one go off like that before or since.

223
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,240
接下来的几天可能是我所能记得的最令人讨厌的日子
"The next few days were among some of the most unpleasant I can remember."

224
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,440
中尉Arthur·Crickmay清楚的了解
Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay understood only too well

225
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,240
当一枚炮弹击中坦克会发生什么
what happened when a shell struck a tank.

226
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,440
这是这里大多数人的命运
It was the fate that befell so many of the men here.

227
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,440
炮弹穿透坦克一侧后
The projectile penetrating one side

228
00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:18,320
就无力再穿透另一侧装甲
would lack the energy to exit through the other,

229
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:22,360
然后就会在坦克里反弹 把坦克兵撕成碎片
ricocheting about inside, tearing people to pieces.

230
00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:27,240
如果炮弹击中的是弹药箱或者燃料箱 坦克会立刻着火
If it struck ammunition or fuel, a fire could soon take hold.

231
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:32,080
浓烟和火焰会在坦克里翻腾 不出三十秒
Smoke and flames would billow from the turret and, within 30 seconds,

232
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,760
坦克里的温度就会像一座小火炉一样高
the temperature inside could match that of a furnace.

233
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,800
坦克兵会被烧成灰烬
The crew would be incinerated.

234
00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:48,760
德装甲军团被Wardrop称为隆美尔的蓝眼宠儿 他们在一周多的时间内
Rommel's blue-eyed boys, as Wardrop called them, had in just over a week

235
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,600
使英军的命运颠倒过来
reversed British fortunes

236
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,240
重新占领了所有意大利失去的地区
and regained all the territory the Italians had lost.

237
00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,120
隆美尔确实优秀
Rommel was good, of course he was,

238
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,760
但在这次攻击中他有些不明智 接下来给你解释
but in this attack he hardly had to be brilliant. And here's why.

239
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:09,080
五团的五十二辆坦克 九辆被德军击毁
Of 5 RTR's 52 tanks, nine had been destroyed by the Germans,

240
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,400
两辆勉强撤到托布鲁克港
two had limped into Tobruk,

241
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,800
剩下的四十一辆 全部自己坏在了沙漠里
and the rest - 41 of them - had broken down in the desert.

242
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,440
德意志非洲军能有多强大呢
How good did the Afrika Korps have to be

243
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,080
当遇上只有这些坦克的英军
when the British had tanks like that?

244
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:29,240
我们已经对德军坦克足够了解了
We were quite aware of the specifications of the German tanks.

245
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,000
他们所有的坦克都有更长的枪筒
All their tanks had longer barrels

246
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,280
意味着他们对空军打击效率很高
which meant higher velocity for AP rounds.

247
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,760
而我们直到战争末期才抓住这一点
And we never really caught up until late in the war.

248
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,840
在火力和策略上的失败使五团
Outgunned and outmanoeuvred, the 5th retreated

249
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,280
撤退到利比亚东部的一个唯一没有被占领的城镇
to the only town in eastern Libya that Rommel hadn't taken.

250
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,160
托布鲁克
Tobruk.

251
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,440
失去了他们的坦克 Finlayson下士和他的队友们
Bereft of their tanks, Corporal Finlayson and his crew

252
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,480
被打发到步兵团的战壕里
were packed off to the trenches as infantry.

253
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,720
当时我们被包围了
We were surrounded at Tobruk at the time.

254
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,640
我写信给我的妻子
And I was writing a letter to my wife.

255
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:17,120
我的一个战友 应该说是兄弟 也在写信
And a mate of mine was writing  -one of the chaps was writing -

256
00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,160
写给他的妈妈
a letter to his mother.

257
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:23,280
他对我说 如果我死在这里 你会帮我把信寄出去吧
And he said to me, "If I don't come out of this, will you post this letter for me?"

258
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,280
我说 当然 如果我死了 你也帮我寄 他答应了
I said, "Yeah. If I don't come out, post this letter." He said yes.

259
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,040
于是我们各自写信
So we wrote these letters.

260
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,240
在战壕里写
And we were in a trench.

261
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,400
我们坐在那里写
We sat down there in the trench writing,

262
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,840
我写完后转过来看他
and when I had finished I turned around and looked at him.

263
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,680
他躺在那里已经死了 头上有个弹孔
He was lying there dead with a bullet through his head.

264
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,840
他躺在那里 鲜血从头里流出 他已经死了
He was lying there, blood coming out of his head there, he was dead.

265
00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,440
我非常难受
Oh, it was terrible.

266
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,280
他的信才写了一半
And he'd only half done this letter.

267
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,240
我当时根本不知道怎么办 要不要把信送出去
I didn't know what the devil to do, whether to send it or not.

268
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,120
我心想 算了吧不寄了 寄了反而更糟 可怕的事情啊
I thought, "No, I'd better not. It wouldn't be nice." Horrible thing.

269
00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:04,480
他写信的时候死了 所以我想还是不寄了
He was writing that and died, so I thought I'd better not.

270
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,280
后来我就没寄
So I didn't send it.

271
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,320
再后来我跟他的妈妈联系了
I did get in touch with the mother

272
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:10,520
告诉她在她儿子死的时候我们在一块
and told them I was with him when he died.

273
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,200
我说他直接被击中 没遭什么罪
I said he didn't suffer, he was killed outright.

274
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,760
被困在托布鲁克港几周后
After weeks of being trapped in Tobruk,

275
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:29,200
五团被皇家海军从地狱里往出救
the 5th Tanks were delivered from that hell by the Royal Navy,

276
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,880
从俯冲式轰炸机群的攻击下寻找逃生机会
taking their chances with the dive bombers

277
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,920
港口的防守交给了澳大利亚人
and leaving the port to be defended by the Australians.

278
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,400
等他们撤离亚历山大港外的比较
By the time they returned to the comparative sanity

279
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,880
完善的基地时 已经是春末夏初了
of their base outside Alexandria, it was the end of spring.

280
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,080
到了圣诞节
Having arrived at Christmas,

281
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,000
他们要经历埃及夏天的炙热的夏天了
they'd yet to experience the roasting heat of an Egyptian summer.

282
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,400
水在这总是个问题
Water was always an issue.

283
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,880
在沙漠里被定量供给
Water was rationed in the desert.

284
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,160
每个士兵二十四小时内用这么一瓶
Each man got about this much to last 24 hours.

285
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,120
如果水的供给充足—当然这种情况很少发生
That's if supplies got through - that was often a big if -

286
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,440
而且如果他们的坦克里没有漏水的散热器
and if they didn't have a leaking radiator on their tank

287
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,280
那么他们需要倒一些水进去
that they had to pour some in.

288
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,120
在他们穿越沙漠的第一次行军中
On their first march
through the desert,

289
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:18,160
五团的一些人已经极度缺水
some of the men in 5th Tanks
became so desperately thirsty

290
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,440
他们将车辆的坐垫撕开
that they tore the seat cushions
from their vehicles,

291
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,880
夜里把它们放在沙漠中收集露水
left them in the desert overnight
to collect dew

292
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,240
早晨塞进嘴里拧出水
and wrung them out into their mouths
in the morning.

293
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,600
那种味道很恶心，但是他们有什么办法呢
It tasted disgusting,
but what choice did they have?

294
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,680
当五团被调往亚历山大时
Some reprieve from the hardships of the desert

295
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,240
情况才得到缓解
came when the 5th were given leave in Alexandria.

296
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:47,440
这使他们有些沉湎于一些爱好中
This allowed them to indulge in a little of what they fancied.

297
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:52,560
Jake Wardrop 去了他最喜欢去的地方 金色酒吧
Jake Wardrop headed to one of his favourite haunts, The Golden Bar.

298
00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,960
早上9点我们到了那个地方
"At 9am, we hit the place.

299
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:01,040
并在第二天早上五点我们决定收工
"And at 5am the following morning, we decided to call it a day.

300
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,800
多么美好的时光 难忘的时间
"What a time. A notable session."

301
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,000
Jake Wardrop居然从那次金色酒吧之旅
Well, Jake Wardrop survived that particular visit

302
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,440
毫发无损的回来了
to The Golden Bar without a scrap.

303
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,080
在他的日记里，在他略显腼腆的记述中
In his diary, he's rather coy about how many beatings

304
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,560
他多次在战争中幸存
he did in fact hand out.

305
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,640
但是我们从其他人那知道 这种概率很小
But we know from others there were quite a few.

306
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,840
Wardrop说他忍不住拧权威的鼻子（挑衅权威）
Wardrop himself said he couldn't resist tweaking the noses of those in authority.

307
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,120
在他去埃及之后
And soon after he'd got to Egypt,

308
00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,560
他因为在自己帐篷里喝酒 喧哗被军法审判
he was court martialled for a noisy drinking session in his tent.

309
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:37,680
军官意识到
Officers came to the view that

310
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,240
Wardrop是战场上的幸存者之一
Wardrop was one of those men best kept in the field.

311
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,800
Jake Wardrop是一个很好的伙伴
Jake Wardrop was a very nice fellow.

312
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,200
他不太好打交道 如果你知道我什么意思
But he was a bit rough, if you know what I mean.

313
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,760
而且据我听说
And, according to what I'd heard,

314
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,720
他是麻烦的源头
he was nothing but a source of trouble.

315
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,360
你知道 有一天他可能是一等兵
You know, he would be lance corporal one day

316
00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:06,440
一周或两周后 他可能出去喝酒
and a week or two later, he'd go out and get drunk

317
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,480
然后哪被撞伤了 他回到一个士兵的角色
and sort of smash places up and he'd be back to a trooper.

318
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,440
但是 当然 他相当无畏
But, of course, he was quite fearless.

319
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,400
但是当Jake和他的伙伴们沉溺于亚历山大的酒精中时
But while Jake and the boys enjoyed the drinking dives of Alexandria,

320
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,160
每个人都明白为了打败非洲的军队
everyone understood that in order to beat the Afrika Korps,

321
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,800
五团和其余的英国军队
the 5th and the rest of the British forces

322
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,120
需要一些新的武器装备
were going to need some new hardware.

323
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:39,000
在七月2号，五团收到一些美国制造的新武器
On 22 July, the 5th Tanks received some new American-made armour.

324
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,480
M3斯图尔特，更广为人知的名字，蜂蜜
The M3 Stuart - or, more commonly, the Honey.

325
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,520
旧的汗水瞟了一眼新的美国进口装备—蜂蜜
The old sweats cast a hard eye over this new American import, the Honey.

326
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,360
在某些方面，它同英国过去的坦克很像
And in some ways it was quite similar to the British tanks

327
00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:55,760
同样的重量 大约十二吨
they were used to. Same sort of weight, about 12 tonnes,

328
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,040
同样三十七毫米的枪
37mm gun also similar.

329
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,080
但是最核心的不同在于
But the really key difference

330
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,440
美国人用了现成的技术
was that the Americans used off-the-shelf technology

331
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,760
这使它更加可靠
and that made it much more reliable.

332
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,560
悬架 看看这个
The suspension - look at this -

333
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,680
来自美国在30年代制造的拖拉机
came from a tractor that had been built in America in the '30s.

334
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,840
发动机来自一个歼击机 它是径向活塞
And the engine was from a fighter plane. It was a radial piston.

335
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:17,480
现在，所有这些意味着
Now, what all of that meant was

336
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,560
它将会持续走的更远，而且问题更少
it would keep going for far longer and far less trouble.

337
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,120
气冷式发动机一个好的作用在于
And a nice side effect of the air-cooled engine,

338
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,240
你不需要水 在沙漠里很珍贵的水
you didn't need water - very precious in the desert -

339
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:32,560
他通过人员舱-空调-来吸气
and it sucked its air through the crew compartment - air conditioning.

340
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,920
对五团的人来说，蜂蜜将要受到
For the men of the 5th Tanks, the Honey was to be tested to the limit

341
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,320
他们目前为止最关键的战斗的考验
in one of the most visceral battles of their war so far.

342
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,960
十字军坦克
Operation Crusader.

343
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:55,200
一九四一年十一月十八日，在四个月的长期准备后
On 18 November 1941, after four long months of preparation,

344
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,920
五团穿过进入利比亚的边界
the 5th Tanks crossed the border into Libya.

345
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,000
作为第七装甲师的一部分
As part of the 7th Armoured Division,

346
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,640
他们在由七百五十辆坦克组成的部队里
they were in a 750-tank army,

347
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,320
是轴心国所有军队的2倍
twice that of the Axis Forces put together.

348
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,760
他们也有充足的空中支援
They also had generous air support.

349
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:15,000
他们的任务是雄心勃勃的—
Their mission was ambitious -

350
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,120
夺回利比亚东部
to retake eastern Libya,

351
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,320
缓解托布鲁克,破坏非洲军团
relieve Tobruk,
and destroy the Afrika Korps.

352
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:26,440
为了做到这一点,他们希望沿着边境包围轴心国军队
To do this, they hoped to envelop the Axis Forces along the frontier

353
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,960
用左侧装备精良的包围圈
with a great left armoured hook.

354
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,160
这将使他们接近托布鲁克驻军
This would bring them up close to the Tobruk garrison

355
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,120
他们将会分开迎击他们
which would then break out to meet them.

356
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,960
非洲军团将被困在
The Afrika Korps would be trapped

357
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,200
托布鲁克和埃及边境
between Tobruk and the Egyptian border.

358
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,080
丘吉尔表示重要的战斗即将来临。
Churchill signalled the importance of the battle to come.

359
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,520
他说：首次，
He said, "For the first time,

360
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:52,320
德国人将会遇到英帝国军队的现代化武器。
"British and Empire troops will meet the Germans with modern weapons.

361
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,280
战斗将会影响整个战争。
"The battle will affect the whole course of the war.

362
00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,320
沙漠的军队将会书写历史
"The desert army may be able to write a page in history

363
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,760
这将与布伦海姆和滑铁卢并列。
"that will rank with Blenheim and Waterloo.

364
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,600
所有人的心和你一起
"All of our hearts go with you."

365
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,520
在穿越边境的两天中
Within two days of crossing the border, the 5th Tanks had

366
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:20,760
第五坦克团已经绕过他们的敌人的前线和前进了惊人的150英里
bypassed their enemy's frontline and advanced an extraordinary 150 miles.

367
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,920
当我们得到了蜂蜜坦克
When we got the Honeys,

368
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,240
这是我们真正参与战斗的开始
that was when we really started to get involved in the fighting.

369
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,200
蜂蜜坦克的机动性极佳
The Honey was a very manoeuvrable tank,

370
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,960
它可以到达别人无法到达的地方
it could get in places where
others could not get.

371
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,480
蜂蜜坦克的速度和可靠性
The Honey's speed and reliability helped the 5th rush ahead

372
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,760
使第五坦克提前到托布鲁克附近的 Rezegh Sidi机场
to the airfield of Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk.

373
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,280
英国突袭并占领了它
The British seized it with a surprise attack,

374
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,160
但很快 胜利让英军将领失望
but soon that success turned sour as British commanders

375
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,120
他们决定袭击的国人的策略
decided that the tactic of rushing the Germans,

376
00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:59,200
就像轻骑队之战歌一样,可能会继续起作用
rather like the charge of the Light Brigade, might keep working.

377
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,360
巴拉克拉瓦命令突袭敌军 这也成为
Balaclava charges, rushing towards the enemy, were a tactic

378
00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,560
英国坦克兵在沙漠里经常使用的策略
frequently used by British tank regiments in the desert.

379
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,120
对Jake Wardrop和他的伙伴那是绝对的疯狂
To Jake Wardrop and his mates, that was absolute madness.

380
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:21,240
首先 因为它没作用 其次  因为它牺牲太大
A - because it did not work, and B - because it cost lives.

381
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,240
决定故技重施
"It was decided to give them the good old charge again.

382
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,720
坦白的说,对于这个任务我没有足够的力量
"Quite frankly, I was not so strong for this charging business,

383
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,200
但我们仍要继续
"although we continued to do it.

384
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:39,440
我们出发了。我们冲向这些坦克 边走边开火
"Off we went. We went storming right into these tanks, firing as we went."

385
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:48,600
隆美尔不得不摆脱英国的包围或面临失败
Rommel had to break out of the British encirclement or face defeat.

386
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,640
Sidi Rezegh成为他所有工作的焦点
Sidi Rezegh became the focus of his efforts.

387
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,160
反坦克炮和坦克猛烈厮杀
Anti-tank guns and tanks slugged it out.

388
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,000
它就像一个启示录里的场景
It was like a scene from the Apocalypse.

389
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,000
我的坦克被击中
My tank was hit.

390
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,160
它立刻起火了
It immediately went up into flames.

391
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,880
一个伙伴爬出坦克，然后他...
One of the crew scrambled out of the tank, and he was...

392
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:24,320
他留下的衣服还燃烧着
What little bit of clothing he had left was still flaming.

393
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,680
而且 
And, er...

394
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:32,560
当我们找到他 接近他的时候
he, when we managed to get to him and tend to him,

395
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:39,040
他的皮肤都卷了起来 收缩着翻卷
his skin had all rolled off, curled up and rolled off.

396
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,400
我们想应该去看下着火的坦克 我们向下看
We thought we'd go and look in the burnt-out tank, and we looked down

397
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:52,400
那里有一个漂白骨架 就在坦克下的地面上
and there was a bleached skeleton, right across the floor of the tank.

398
00:29:52,400 --> 00:30:00,080
头盖骨上只剩下一副银边眼镜
There was just these steel-rimmed glasses on the skull.

399
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:01,080
在那里
There.

400
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,840
Gerry Solomon得到一个有益的教训
Gerry Solomon had received a salutary lesson

401
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,680
in the limitations
of the popgun, as he and the others

402
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:16,520
started calling the 37mm cannon
mounted on their Honey tanks.

403
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:17,760
It fired one of these,

404
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,200
and in order to have a decent chance
of knocking out a German

405
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,400
armoured vehicle, you had to get to
within about 800 yards of it.

406
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,560
All the time you were trying to do
that, you could be under

407
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:33,680
fire from an 88mm German gun
with a range of two miles.

408
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,640
It fired one of these.

409
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,600
Desperate to avoid defeat, the Axis
troops attacked again and again.

410
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:53,080
It became a grim slugging match,
a battle of attrition in which

411
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:57,600
superior German guns and armour
began to tell.

412
00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:02,480
As regards firepower, the Honey was
inadequate against the German
armour,

413
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:07,320
which was three
or four inches thick.

414
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,120
The shells would just bounce off.

415
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,280
By the evening of the 21st November,
5th Tanks had been

416
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,400
sucked into the desperate fighting
on Sidi Rezegh airfield.

417
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,360
One of the commanders there,
Brigadier Jock Campbell,

418
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,600
took matters into his own hands.

419
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,000
At the height of the battle,
Brigadier Jock Campbell

420
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,080
appeared through a hail of shot
and shell in an open-top staff car

421
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,720
and urged the 5th Tanks' Honeys
to follow him forward.

422
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,000
It was an act of courage bordering
on madness, for which he won the VC.

423
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,880
But an officer from the 5th Tanks
tried to stop him,

424
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,280
and Brigadier Campbell
drew his revolver,

425
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,360
telling the officer that the tank
men had been sent there

426
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,000
to die anyway, and if he got in
the way he would shoot him.

427
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,600
The price of this attack was heavy.

428
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,600
When Harry Finlayson's tank was
knocked out that night,

429
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,360
he joined the list of those
missing in action.

430
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,640
They just put a shell on my engine
and blew it up.

431
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,400
That was it, we were right
in the middle of the German lines,

432
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:33,680
we couldn't do anything else.

433
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,400
I stood on the top of the tank,
put my hands out,

434
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,640
when they came round surrounding us,
I got my crew out

435
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:47,080
and the German officer said,
for you, the war is over.

436
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,000
After weeks of fighting,
Rommel battered his way

437
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,640
out of the Allied trap, saving
the Afrika Korps from destruction.

438
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,480
In early December,
the British relieved Tobruk

439
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,320
and completed the reconquest
of eastern Libya.

440
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,160
The 8th Army had
succeeded in two out of three aims,

441
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,680
but Rommel's escape
and the scale of the slaughter

442
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:18,560
meant its soldiers were hardly
in a mood to celebrate.

443
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,160
Arthur Crickmay had lost
his best friend.

444
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,840
The operation as a whole can only be
described as a gigantic cock-up.

445
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,160
We won in the end, but at what cost?

446
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,920
Returning from the front,
the men of 5 RTR lost themselves

447
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,320
in the bars and brothels
of Alexandria and Cairo.

448
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,440
Having garrisoned
the country for 60 years,

449
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,680
the British Army knew
plenty about Egypt's brothels.

450
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,320
They gave the men condoms

451
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,960
and brought doctors to inspect
the prostitutes for VD.

452
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,680
In the 1930s, a certain lieutenant
colonel, Bernard Montgomery,

453
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,480
who we will meet again soon,

454
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,120
had insisted on medical inspections
of this kind, because he said

455
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,400
his men absolutely required
their horizontal refreshment.

456
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:23,920
Horizontal R&R and heavy drinking
provided short-lived catharsis

457
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,320
for those in 5 RTR,

458
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,440
who'd come through the meat grinder
of Operation Crusader.

459
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:31,800
For many in the 5th Tanks,

460
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:37,000
Sidi Rezegh marked their first real
taste of the bitter reality of war.

461
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:41,840
For anyone still with the Battalion
who thought the war was

462
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,560
a bit of a lark,
illusions had been shattered.

463
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:47,720
They now wanted vengeance.

464
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:57,440
Vengeance for the 5th came
in early 1942 in the form

465
00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,000
of new tanks from Uncle Sam.

466
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,040
There's nothing quite like a bit
of American overkill,

467
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,280
and this is a monster.

468
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,360
It weighs in at 26 tonnes,
and look at the height of it.

469
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,400
But the most important feature
was the arsenal of weapons.

470
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,720
It's got the same
37mm popgun up there

471
00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:24,960
in the turret that the Honey had,

472
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,560
but the key thing is that it mounts
this 75mm cannon here.

473
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,960
This, for the first time, allowed
the British tank crews to knock

474
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:38,240
out not just Panzers, but anti-tank
guns using high explosive shells.

475
00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:42,160
It also has machine guns in the hull
and on the turret.

476
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,960
One British commander
described its arrival in the desert

477
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:48,840
as being like the shift
from sail to steel.

478
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,920
Men were moving on, too -
Arthur Crickmay was sent to Burma

479
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,640
and Gerry Solomon, the former grocer
and one-time rookie,

480
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,080
was now a corporal
commanding a tank.

481
00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:12,600
Jake Wardrop, despite his longer
service, was still just a driver.

482
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,320
The Allied front was settled on the
Gazala line.

483
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,360
It stretched from Gazala
on the coast to the old

484
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,000
Turkish fortress of Bir Hacheim,
40-odd miles to the south.

485
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,320
But this was a risky position.

486
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:36,760
The Gazala line didn't extend all
the way to the impassable
sands of the Sahara.

487
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,720
This open flank had been left

488
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:40,840
to allow the British to resume

489
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:46,120
their advance, unless the Germans
went inland and used it first.

490
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:56,160
On the afternoon of 26 May, 1942,
Rommel attacked the Gazala line.

491
00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:00,600
His artillery pinned the Allied
troops close to the sea, while his

492
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,680
armoured divisions were sent south
of the Gazala line to attack their
flank.

493
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:16,400
On the morning of 27 May, 5 RTR
were told to pack up and get ready.

494
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:23,680
"The Bosch were not far away now,
and we had to keep an eye on them.

495
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:28,360
"I got up, had a wash,
shave, cleaned my teeth
and slicked my hair up.

496
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:32,240
"In fact, it used to be quite a
ritual with us to get queened up,

497
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:36,160
"as though we were going to the Plaza
when we had a date with Erwin."

498
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:45,280
Throughout the small hours,
reports had been flying around that

499
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:49,640
something very sizeable was going
on to the south of the Gazala line.

500
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:55,360
At 7.30pm, the order came through
to move to battle positions.

501
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,680
Five minutes later, the Honeys
and the new Grants lurched forward.

502
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,720
In the confusion of a desert battle,
your enemy could be two miles away,

503
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:23,000
and you have to scan the horizon
with the utmost attention.

504
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,840
A kick of dust was a gun firing.

505
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,840
A second or two later,
a sound like ripping paper announced

506
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,160
a high-velocity round
flashing past you or overhead.

507
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,840
If the light burning in its tail
was red, it was British fire.

508
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,120
If it was green or yellow,
it was enemy.

509
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,320
Registering those fleeting sights

510
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:50,240
and sounds could make all the
difference between life and death.

511
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,240
The hot, dry wind, which was
so unpleasant that the Arabs

512
00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:11,400
claimed it was enough to excuse
murder, started to blow as well.

513
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,920
British commanders had been
caught by surprise.

514
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,880
In the unfolding mayhem of confused
close-range fights, the generals'

515
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:27,400
habit of keeping ordinary tank crews
in the dark cost them dear.

516
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,960
It was very confusing, you could not
get any definite information.

517
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,760
They didn't want you to have
information, in case

518
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,240
you got captured
and you gave it away.

519
00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:44,400
They kept information from you.

520
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,120
They only told you what
they wanted you to know.

521
00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:58,080
On the 2nd June, the 5th Tanks
suffered their worst day of the war.

522
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:02,680
Only eight Honeys
and one Grant returned from battle.

523
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:07,200
Some 51 officers and men of tank
crews were dead or missing.

524
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,520
The surviving officers decided to
fortify their men by a method

525
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,400
used since antiquity, a rum ration.

526
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,680
Alcohol might have numbed them
temporarily,

527
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,960
but the grim reality
got clearer by the day.

528
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,200
The Gazala line had collapsed.

529
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:42,560
On 21 June, 1942, Tobruk's garrison
of 30,000 surrendered.

530
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:48,240
After trying to take the city for
two years, Rommel was triumphant.

531
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:56,120
The British Army
was now in full retreat,

532
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,600
having been out-gunned,
out-manoeuvred, and out-generalled.

533
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,680
Those in charge called it
a strategic withdrawal,

534
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,680
but this was a disaster
by any other name.

535
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,240
Just a few weeks before,
the British had built up a huge

536
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:15,880
superiority in weapons,
and were poised to mount their own

537
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,640
offensive, yet now
they were in headlong retreat.

538
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:25,880
How had it happened? Many soldiers
had a one-word explanation, Rommel.

539
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,960
It's true the conduct
of his campaign had been brilliant.

540
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:33,160
In my view,
the only one in the desert war where

541
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,440
he really deserved
his stellar reputation.

542
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:40,120
But the real failure was that
of British military leadership.

543
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,640
While Rommel basked in glory,
Churchill was desperate.

544
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:53,440
He wrote, "Defeat is one thing,
disgrace is another."

545
00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,760
5 RTR had to be rebuilt -
and quickly.

546
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:04,600
Dozens of new recruits arrived,
like Bill Chorley

547
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:09,200
and fellow conscript Bob Lay,
both in their early 20s.

548
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,000
Bill and I were in the same tank.

549
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,600
I was the operator
and Bill was a gunner

550
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,800
and because of the loneliness

551
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,720
of the desert, your social life was

552
00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:27,360
limited to your crew every day.

553
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:28,800
You knew everything,

554
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,840
everything there was
to know about each other.

555
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,720
And you had a very,
very good bond with them.

556
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,040
"Bob Lay has been with me
since I joined up.

557
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:45,760
"We spent six weeks at base.

558
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,080
"Most of the time was taken up

559
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,560
"on wireless and driving courses.

560
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:55,000
"This was our introduction to the
desert. It was a rough do, there."

561
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:06,280
By 30th June 1942,
the British had fallen back to

562
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:11,240
the only defensible line between
the frontier and the Nile Delta,

563
00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:14,760
a railway halt just 60 miles
from Alexandria,

564
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:16,320
El Alamein.

565
00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,840
The geography of the North African
coast offers very few places

566
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,240
where you can make a stand.

567
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:28,920
If you put in a blocking position
on the coastal strip,

568
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:33,400
people can simply go round
on the inland side and bypass it

569
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,800
and that's what Rommel did
time and again.

570
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,880
This is one of the few places
that's different, Alamein.

571
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:41,320
Inland, there's the

572
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,760
Qattara Depression, an impassable

573
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:45,880
area of sand dunes that Rommel

574
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,120
simply couldn't get through.

575
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,880
This is where the British
chose to fight.

576
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:58,760
And Churchill decided that for
this battle the Desert Army needed

577
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,200
a clean sweep at the top.

578
00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:05,560
His senior generals had presided
over woeful failure.

579
00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,480
They hadn't delivered
the victory he so craved

580
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:10,040
and that Britain so needed.

581
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,680
On 20th August, he made
a personal appearance in the desert.

582
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,280
'We felt very proud and honoured
when Churchill came

583
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,040
'and he was all praise for us.'

584
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,800
We knew very well
the job wasn't done.

585
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:28,400
We had to go and make sure

586
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,080
the enemy was out of the desert.

587
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,160
Churchill was joined by

588
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,400
Lieutenant General
Bernard Montgomery.

589
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:39,800
The Times newspaper reported that,

590
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,320
"It may well be that historians will

591
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:46,400
"point to this date as decisive in
determining the course of the war."

592
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:54,760
The one great thing
that Montgomery did

593
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:57,080
was to ensure that

594
00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,320
everybody knew what
the opposition was,

595
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,000
what the objectives were,

596
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:08,040
so we had a concept of what
was expected of us.

597
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,880
He was the type of man who would
say, "You want me to beat the

598
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,560
"Germans in the desert,

599
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:19,440
"you must give me enough tanks
and men to do it.

600
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,040
"And they are not going to
do it until you do."

601
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:23,560
That was his attitude.

602
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:25,720
And so it was.

603
00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:28,640
We couldn't believe the amount
of stuff that was coming up there.

604
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,680
Monty also had a real
flair for publicity.

605
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:41,080
He took to wearing a black RTR beret
with the regimental tank badge

606
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,280
next to his general's one,

607
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:48,920
as a sort of sign of respect for men
like Gerry Solomon and Bob Lay.

608
00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:53,600
As to what they made of him,
that was a more complex issue.

609
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:57,200
Many relished the change in
atmosphere that his arrival brought,

610
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:00,880
but equally, they couldn't forget
that he might send them

611
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,600
to their deaths and he didn't
really understand tank warfare.

612
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:11,520
But what Montgomery did understand
was that Rommel could be

613
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,880
relied upon to try the tactics

614
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,560
he'd used so effectively before.

615
00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:18,520
And Monty had a plan.

616
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:23,000
He would secure his inland flank
south of Alamein at a ridge

617
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:24,600
called Alam Halfa.

618
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:33,160
During the early hours of
31st August,

619
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:35,760
the Germans were sighted
moving north.

620
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,840
British intelligence
had pinpointed the time

621
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:41,320
and place of this thrust
with precision.

622
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,040
Alam Halfa arose

623
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:49,800
because Rommel liked to make
surprise attacks in force

624
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:53,440
and at speed.

625
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:56,200
We had Enigma then

626
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,920
and we prepared for it.

627
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:05,560
Rommel assumed that he had
a clear desert ahead

628
00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:08,600
and that he could repeat
his Gazala success,

629
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:13,560
hardly imagining that it was now
his turn to waltz into an ambush.

630
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,880
Waiting for him were,
among others, 5 RTR.

631
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,040
And we waited

632
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,880
and he appeared.

633
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:37,120
We let him come on and when he was

634
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:38,960
in range, we let him have it.

635
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:47,320
It was at Alam Halfa that the

636
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,960
desert war reached
its real turning point.

637
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:54,400
The British brigade had been
deployed along this ridge,

638
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,360
slap bang in the path of
a German Panzer division,

639
00:47:57,360 --> 00:47:59,280
advancing from the south.

640
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,920
In a couple of hours, its integrated
defence of artillery,

641
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,480
anti-tank guns and
the Grants of 5th Tanks,

642
00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:14,400
took apart the Panzer division.

643
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,000
Rommel had tried his old trick,

644
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:24,440
out-flanking from
the inland side, and failed.

645
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:26,320
He'd been beaten at his own game.

646
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,000
One endeavoured to get as close
to the enemy as possible,

647
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,200
so that your gun was in range

648
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,480
and could knock him out.

649
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:49,440
The Battle Of Alam Halfa
lasted just over a week.

650
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:54,120
Alam Halfa was a significant battle

651
00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,400
for the 5th RTR, because we'd

652
00:48:57,400 --> 00:48:59,920
adopted new tactics

653
00:48:59,920 --> 00:49:04,280
and we'd given the Panzer division
a good hiding.

654
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,880
With his supply situation precarious

655
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,320
and superior Allied firepower,

656
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:16,480
Rommel fell back to regroup.

657
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:29,600
While the Afrika Korps
licked its wounds,

658
00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:33,960
British forces rehearsed every
detail for the battle ahead.

659
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:38,360
5th Tanks, exhausted after
two years of fighting,

660
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:40,840
were asked whether
they were still up for it.

661
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:43,320
"A parade was called

662
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:45,960
"and we were given the choice
of going to Cairo

663
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:47,600
"and missing the push,

664
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:50,160
"or staying on the blue
and taking part in it.

665
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,840
"At the end of his speech,
we were asked to step forward

666
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:56,080
"if we wanted to stay...

667
00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,920
"..and the whole battalion
took a pace forward."

668
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:06,640
Having rededicated
themselves to the fight,

669
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,520
the 5th Tanks came back out
to the Alamein position.

670
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:14,200
Montgomery had received vital
strategic intelligence from

671
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:17,600
intercepted German communications -
Ultra.

672
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,480
He also had hundreds of new tanks,

673
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:22,000
ample supplies

674
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,760
and substantial RAF support.

675
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:28,760
It was time for the 8th Army
to take the offensive.

676
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:38,720
At 1900 hours, on 23 October 1942,

677
00:50:38,720 --> 00:50:45,120
220,000 men and over 1,000 Allied
tanks lined up along the front.

678
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:52,600
The long-awaited British assault
to smash Axis forces

679
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:57,600
and then drive them out of Africa
altogether was about to start.

680
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,920
To achieve this, the enemy needed

681
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:06,600
a bit of softening up.

682
00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:13,280
EXPLOSIONS

683
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:22,800
The sky was illuminated by
continuous flashes of light.

684
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:26,040
The whole horizon was covered.

685
00:51:28,080 --> 00:51:30,920
Not good for your ears. Hearing aids.

686
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,640
The barrage lasted for six hours.

687
00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:41,920
It could be heard all the way
to Alexandria, over 60 miles away.

688
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,880
Once guns had been fired,
German morale pummelled

689
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,360
and minefields breached,

690
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:59,360
it was time for Monty
to let the armour loose.

691
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:05,240
British tanks,
including the 5th Tank Regiment,

692
00:52:05,240 --> 00:52:06,880
cut through the enemy lines.

693
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:12,760
The biggest tank battle of the
Desert Campaign had begun.

694
00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:22,920
We knew that this was going
to be a God Almighty fight.

695
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:29,440
I think after about a week
we did start to get through.

696
00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:34,920
And I could see this monumental task
that lay ahead of us.

697
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:40,480
Losses were heavy.

698
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:45,000
200 British tanks
in the first 48 hours,

699
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:48,320
as many as the Germans had
started the battle with.

700
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,600
But the 8th Army
pressed on regardless.

701
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:58,760
They had overall superiority
and they knew it.

702
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:06,600
GUNS FIRE

703
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,760
It became quite apparent,
very quickly,

704
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:21,040
that they were making a run for it.

705
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,480
There were tanks burning
all over the place.

706
00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:29,480
And we were collecting prisoners,
particularly the Italians, of course,

707
00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,040
cos they were left behind.

708
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:35,640
"There were thousands

709
00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:37,680
"and thousands of prisoners.

710
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,920
"If we happened to stop beside any,

711
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:42,360
"we nipped out, pinched
their watches,

712
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:44,040
"binoculars, or anything else

713
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,000
"they had and carried on."

714
00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:56,480
By the end of October,

715
00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,360
the situation was critical
for Rommel.

716
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:02,520
Having lost a vast quantity
of his armour,

717
00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:05,080
his position was hopeless.

718
00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,640
On 4th November, the Afrika Korps

719
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:14,440
began a full retreat.

720
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,520
BELLS RING

721
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,960
In Britain,
as the news came through,

722
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,120
Churchill ordered
the church bells to be rung.

723
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:29,000
It was the first time that this
had been allowed since Dunkirk.

724
00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:36,520
On November 13th,
Tobruk was retaken.

725
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:42,960
In mid January 1943, Tripoli fell.

726
00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:48,640
Four months later, the Axis forces

727
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:51,360
had been overwhelmed in North Africa

728
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,600
and more than a quarter of
a million prisoners taken.

729
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:59,120
Churchill sensed
a turning point in the war.

730
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,000
CHURCHILL: 'Ah, this is not the end.

731
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,680
'This is not even the beginning
of the end.

732
00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:10,920
'But it is, perhaps,

733
00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:12,360
'the end of the beginning.'

734
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,720
Churchill added, "When any man
is asked what he did in the war,

735
00:55:19,720 --> 00:55:24,520
it will be sufficient for him
to say, 'I fought
in the Desert Army.' "

736
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:28,800
Well, many in 5th Tanks took that
as a hint that, in future,

737
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:30,400
others would be called upon.

738
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:35,400
No such luck.

739
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:38,560
As the 5th shared the
Desert Army's triumph, they were

740
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:42,400
greeted by the news that they were
now to be engaged in the fight

741
00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:45,640
for Italy, piercing
what Churchill called,

742
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:47,880
"Europe's soft underbelly."

743
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,400
GUN FIRES

744
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:52,760
After the desert,

745
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:55,400
the close-range fighting
in southern Italy

746
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:57,320
came as a strain for everyone.

747
00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:03,600
We thought we'd had enough.

748
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:05,440
Let somebody else have a go.

749
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:09,880
But, you see, they wanted
seasoned troops

750
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,200
and there weren't
many seasoned troops.

751
00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:18,560
On 7th January 1944,

752
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:20,960
the 5th returned home at last.

753
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:24,840
They'd been away for
three years and 69 days.

754
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,680
Most couldn't wait to get home,

755
00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:31,920
but leave, like much else,
was being rationed.

756
00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:35,840
Men who'd been fighting overseas

757
00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:37,960
for more than three years were

758
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:41,200
then given barely two weeks' leave.

759
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:44,680
That felt like an insult, because
they knew that soldiers who'd

760
00:56:44,680 --> 00:56:47,400
been sitting back in Britain
throughout that period

761
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:50,120
got two weeks' leave
every three months.

762
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:55,880
The 5th's new home was
a secret military camp in Norfolk,

763
00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:57,520
known as Shakers Wood.

764
00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,560
Damp, grotty, and bitterly cold,

765
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:03,440
many of the 5th's veterans felt

766
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:07,480
they'd been dumped by an ungrateful
government in the middle of nowhere.

767
00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:12,800
But they'd been recalled
for a reason.

768
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,360
Experienced, trusted and
battle-hardened, they were part of

769
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:20,920
the famous Desert Rats, too valuable
to sit out the rest of the war.

770
00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:24,160
The fighting far from over,

771
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:28,400
who better than the 5th
to spearhead a second front?

772
00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:33,920
That's the way it was.

773
00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:36,960
If you've ever witnessed
a green regiment...

774
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:41,040
..going in for the first time,

775
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,360
you would understand how
completely unprepared they are.

776
00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:48,360
The experience of going into battle

777
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:52,400
is absolutely necessary
to become competent.

778
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:57,600
And so, our heroes
would fight again,

779
00:57:57,600 --> 00:58:01,640
in some of the biggest battles
of the Second World War.

780
00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:10,040
Next episode, the 5th
face D-Day...

781
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:15,720
..the battle for Normandy and
the eventual defeat of the Nazis.

782
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:27,760
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd