天空之战

历史频道原创播客。

The History Channel Original Podcast.

1942年到1943年，数十万美国人涌入英国东部，驻扎下来，投入战斗，甚至可能牺牲，只为协同空袭击败纳粹德国。

In 1942 and into 1943, hundreds of thousands of Americans descend on the East Of England to live, fight, and maybe die in the joint effort to defeat Nazi Germany from the air.

在两万五千英尺高空、以每小时三百英里的速度作战，这在历史上前所未有。

Combat at 25,000 feet and 300 miles per hour has never been attempted before.

身体、心理和情感上的考验都将前所未有。

The physical, mental, and emotional challenges will be unique.

二战的胜负，很大程度上取决于谁掌握制空权。

Victory in World War II will be largely determined by who controls the skies.

是德国空军，还是盟军航空部队？

The German Luftwaffe or the Allied Air Forces?

这是汤姆·汉克斯讲述的第二次世界大战。

This is World War two with Tom Hanks.

第十二集：制空权之战。

Episode 12, battle for the skies.

1942年。

1942.

第三帝国正在欧洲沿海修建严密的防御工事。

The Third Reich is building elaborate coastal defenses in Europe.

当德国人在东线继续与苏联作战时，他们清楚，英美从西线发动进攻只是时间问题。

As they continue to battle the Soviets in the East, the Germans know that it's only a matter of time before Britain and America attack from the West.

从英吉利海峡到俄罗斯平原，德国控制了欧洲的大部分地区。

From the English Channel to the plains of Russia, Germany controls most of Europe.

希特勒把欧洲变成了一座看似固若金汤的堡垒。

Hitler has turned Europe into an apparently impregnable fortress.

但当时有人说过，没错，但他忘了给这座堡垒盖个顶。

But as people said at the time, yes, but he forgot to put a roof over it.

而盟军的轰炸机正是要利用这一点。

And the Allied bombers are going to take advantage of that.

第一次世界大战时，双方都互相轰炸，但效果微乎其微。

In the First World War, both sides bombed each other to little effect.

但随着航空技术的发展，20世纪20到30年代出现了一种新的作战理念——战略轰炸。

But as aviation evolves, a new concept of warfare develops in the 1920s and 30s, strategic bombing.

支持这一理念的是一群来自美国陆军航空队战术学校的军官。

Its proponents are a group of officers from the U.

美国。

S.

陆军航空队战术学校。

Air Corps Tactical School.

他们后来被称为‘轰炸机派’。

They come to be known as the bomber barons.

他们的理论是，要用这种新型武器以全新方式作战，不是去打敌人的军队，而是直接打击敌人的本土。

The theory is we'll use this novel weapon in a novel way, not to attack the enemy's armies, to attack the enemy's homeland.

炸毁他们的工厂，摧毁他们的基础设施，瘫痪他们的经济，让敌人根本无力继续打仗。

His factories, his infrastructure, infrastructure destroying his economy, and thus making it impossible for the enemy to make war.

这些主张空中力量的人认为，这才是更有效的战争方式。

These air power advocates say this is a better way to fight war.

再也不用像一战那样陷入可怕的堑壕僵局了。

No need for that horrible trench deadlock, of World War I.

那是老办法。

That's the old way.

新办法就是战略轰炸。

The new way is strategic bombing.

东英吉利地区原本有着英国特有的小教堂、树篱、田野和中世纪建筑，现在却变成了一艘巨大的航空母舰。

East Anglia is the England of little churches, hedges, fields, medieval buildings, and it's turned into one gigantic aircraft carrier.

一九四二年春天，美国第八航空队开始建造几十座空军基地，

In the spring of nineteen forty two, the U.

美国

S.

把英格兰东部一个安静的角落变成了整个二战中最关键的战场之一。

Eighth Air Force begins construction on dozens of air bases, transforming a quiet corner of East England into one of the most vital fronts of the entire Second World War.

那里地势平坦。

It's flat.

这里特别适合建机场。

It's perfect for airfields.

于是，成群结队的美国轰炸机涌进来，搭载着有史以来最具破坏力的武器。

So you get this massive, massive influx of American bombers carrying the most destructive weapons ever produced.

更引人注目的是，一群年轻的美国飞行员。

And just as strikingly, young American airmen.

他们从小梦想着飞上云层，时速超过三百公里，这是他们父母和祖父母根本无法想象的事。

They all had grown up dreaming of flying above the clouds at over 300 miles per hour, Something their parents and grandparents could never imagine.

突然间，这样的机会摆在了眼前。

And all of a sudden, here's this opportunity.

英国人以前总爱抱怨。

The English used to complain.

他们性欲旺盛。

They're oversexed.

他们薪水太高。

They're overpaid.

而且他们还在这儿。

And they're over here.

英国皇家空军已经对德国本土发动了两年的空袭。

The Royal Air Force has been striking the German homeland for two years.

起飞。

Take off.

去吧。

Off you go.

去吧。

Off you go.

过去了。

Over.

首相温斯顿·丘吉尔深知这类空袭对英国士气有多么重要。

Prime minister Winston Churchill understands how important such raids are for British morale.

但皇家空军付出了惨重的代价。

But the RAF pays a grievous cost.

战争初期的那几个月，执行任务的飞机几乎没几架能活着回来。

In these early months of the war, there were raids with hardly any aircraft coming back.

他们从中得出的最重要教训是，白天轰炸风险太高了。

And the most important lesson they took away from it is that daytime bombing, was a very hazardous thing to undertake.

亚瑟·哈里斯被任命为英国轰炸机司令部的负责人，他提出改用夜间轰炸，利用黑夜作为掩护，让轰炸机群在投完炸弹后能有更大机会安全返航。

Arthur Harris is the man put in charge of Britain's bomber command, and it's his idea to switch to night bombing, to use night as a cloak to protect these bomber forces so they can drop their bombs and they have a better chance of making it home.

他们现在做的，其实就是无差别轰炸。

So what they're doing is merely area bombing.

夜间飞越德国城市，把炸弹一股脑儿倾泻下去。

They're flying over German cities at night and letting loose their bomb loads.

这必然会造成大量平民伤亡。

And that means civilian casualties.

这种英国战略背后，有着强烈的报复情绪。

There's a lot of retribution in this British strategy.

一九四〇到四一年的冬天，德国的空袭曾把英国的城市和工厂炸得一片狼藉。

The Blitz had smashed British cities and factories in the winter of nineteen forty, forty one.

英国人计划把德国社会打得粉碎，好迫使他们退出战争。

And the Brits planned to smash German society so badly that it knocks them out of the war.

他们种下了风，现在就要收获风暴。

They sailed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.

在卡萨布兰卡会议上，罗斯福总统、丘吉尔首相和他们的团队商讨如何继续对第三帝国发动进攻。

Meeting in Casablanca, president Roosevelt, prime minister Churchill, and their staffs strategize how to continue the Allied assault on the Third Reich.

其中

One

一项

of the

卡萨布兰卡会议的重要成果，是盟军宣布了无条件投降作为战争目标。

major outcomes of the Casablanca conference is the Allies declared unconditional surrender as their war aim.

但卡萨布兰卡会议上还发生了另一件事——英美双方在空袭策略上发生了争执。

But something else happens at Casablanca as as well, an argument on air strategy between the British and Americans.

美

The U.

陆军航空队

S.

尤其是它的指挥官亨利·哈普·阿诺德将军，他坚持认为，对关键战时工业进行白天精确轰炸会更有效。

Army Air Force, particularly its commander, General Henry Hap Arnold, insists that daylight precision bombing on critical wartime industries will be more effective.

就像二战中经常发生的那样，美国的期望碰上了英国的经验。

And as so often in World War II, American expectations come up against British experience.

丘吉尔会去找罗斯福，告诉他，你看，你们那种白天精确轰炸的办法，行不通。

Churchill is gonna go to FDR and tell him that, look, your daylight precision stuff, it's not gonna work.

我们试过了。

We tried it.

没起作用。

It didn't work.

所以我们才改成夜间轰炸，这才是正路。

That's why we are doing bombing operations at night, and that is the way forward.

那要是阿诺德知道了怎么办？

Well, how about Arnold gets wind of this?

阿诺德是航空领域的先驱，曾由莱特兄弟亲自教导飞行，他深信战略空中力量的重要性。

Arnold's a pioneer in aviation, taught by the Wright brothers how to fly, and he is a believer in strategic air power.

当英国人说，嘿，你们也该像我们一样夜间轰炸时，

And when the British say, Hey, you guys should bomb at night just like we do.

他却坚决反对，说：不，空中力量有更高效的应用方式。

And he says, No, no, air power could be used in a better way.

美国的计划依赖一项尖端设备——诺德隆瞄准具。

The American plan rests on a cutting edge device, the Norden bombsight.

诺德隆瞄准具其实是一台机械计算机。

The Norden bombsight is an analog computer.

你输入各种数据：风速、高度、风向、气压，

You punch in various data: wind speed, altitude, wind direction, air pressure.

它会把这些因素综合计算，精确告诉你投弹的最佳时机。

And it correlates all those things together and tells you exactly when to drop the bomb.

根据当时的宣传口号，这设备能在一万八千英尺高空，把炸弹扔进一个腌菜桶里。

According to the advertising slogans, it can drop a bomb in a pickle barrel at 18,000

他们声称，诺德伦瞄准具需要白天和晴朗天气，但能实现更高的精度，从而减少平民伤亡。

claim the Norden bombsite, which requires daylight and clear weather, promises greater precision, and therefore fewer civilian casualties.

于是，亨利·阿诺德和他的顾问们制定了这个计划——联合轰炸行动，也就是英国夜间轰炸，美国白天精确打击目标。

So Henry Arnold and his advisors come up with this plan, the combined bomber offensive, which means the British bombing at night and the Americans bombing precision targets during the day.

美国人会把这种昼夜不停轰炸宣传成一种常态。

The Americans are gonna sell it as this round the clock bombing.

这种让敌人连喘口气的机会都没有的想法，深深打动了丘吉尔。

And this utterly appeals to Churchill with the idea that his adversary will never catch a break.

从两万五千英尺的高空攻击敌人，面临着独特的挑战。

Attacking an enemy from 25,000 feet presents unique challenges.

气温会降到零下50华氏度以下。

Temperatures dip below minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

如果飞行员的氧气供应中断超过一分钟，就会丧命。

If an airman's supply of oxygen is cut off for more than sixty seconds, he will die.

作为B-17机组成员，你从窗户往外看，开始看到一团团黑色的烟雾。

You look out the window as a crewman on a b 17, and you begin to see black puffs.

它们看起来可能没那么危险，直到真正撞上为止。

And they might not look too dangerous until one actually makes contact.

其中最臭名昭著的德国武器是88毫米高射炮。

The most infamous German weapon of them all was the Flak 88 millimeter gun.

它能将重达29磅的爆炸弹丸射到近三万英尺的高空。

It's capable of sending 29 pound explosive projectiles to altitudes approaching 30,000 feet.

面对高射炮，你根本没法闪避。

The dilemma with FLAC is you can't maneuver to avoid it.

你只能硬撑着，咬紧牙关挺过去。

So the best you can do is sit tight and grit your teeth.

高射炮一停，四周就安静下来。

Once the flak stops, there's silence.

那种死一般的寂静，因为他们都知道接下来会发生什么。

It's a deathly silence because they know what's coming.

四架敌机，一点钟方向，高空，正在逼近。

There's four of them, 01:00 high, and coming around.

德国战斗机飞行员都是身经百战的老兵。

German fighter pilots are seasoned combat veterans.

很多人击落过上百架敌机，因为他们从1939年就开始参加这场战争了。

Many of them have hundreds of kills because they've been engaged in this war since 1939.

对付德国战斗机最好的办法，就是派盟军的战斗机去把它们打下来。

The best way to kill a German fighter is to send Allied fighters to shoot them down.

但当美国开始轰炸德国本土时，他们的战斗机航程不够，没法全程护航轰炸机。

But when The United States starts to bomb Germany proper, their fighters don't have the range to be able to escort bombers all the way to a target.

所以B-17轰炸机机身周围布满了机枪。

So the B-seventeen is bristling with machine guns around the fuselage of the aircraft.

三架敌机，九点钟方向，正在绕过来。

Three planes, 09:00 coming around.

太快了，六点钟方向，高空正冲下来。

Too fast, 06:00 up coming in.

这真是一架会飞的堡垒。

There really is a flying fortress.

轰炸机机组人员是一个彼此高度依赖的集体，每个人都要依靠身边和身后的人。

Bomber crews were these interdependent societies in which every person was dependent upon the person sitting next to them and the person sitting behind them.

他们在改平。

They're breaking in level.

改平了。

Breaking in level.

我锁定他们了。

I got them.

三号轰炸机在三点钟方向失去控制。

B 17 out of control at 03:00.

加油，各位。

Come on, you guys.

赶紧离开飞机。

Get out of that plane.

跳伞。

Rail out.

快点。

Come on.

赶紧出来。

Get out of there.

距离目标还有几英里时，轰炸机就会开始所谓的投弹航线。

A few miles from actual target, the bomber will start what's called the bomb run.

整个过程全靠目视操作。

It's all done visually.

你得保持高度、空速和航向，让炸弹和空气能准确对准北向瞄准点。

You have to hold altitude, hold airspeed, and hold heading so the bomb and air can dial in on the northern bombsite.

因为如果你没击中目标，就得再飞回来一次。

Because if you don't hit the target, you gotta come back again.

战争有时会浓缩成一个个孤立的恐怖瞬间。

War sometimes breaks down to individual moments of terror.

你眼睁睁看着其他飞机被直接炸得粉身碎骨。

You're watching other planes being literally blown out of the sky.

然后你得精准投下炸弹，再平安返航。

And you have to drop the bombs with precision and then make it out again on the way home.

投弹了。

Bombs away.

在实战条件下，诺德隆瞄准器的精度并没有达到空军当初的预期。

In combat conditions, the accuracy of the Norden bombsight is not as precise as the Air Force predicted.

伤亡人数比他们预想的还要高。

The casualties are greater than they feared.

这些任务回来时，往往损失百分之十到二十。

These missions would come back with ten, twenty percent losses.

当然，飞行员都是经过严格训练、技术高超的人才，非常难找替代者。

Of course, the pilots are highly trained, highly technical people that are very difficult to replace.

历史上从来没有人尝试过如此大规模的战略轰炸。

No one in history has ever tried strategic bombing on this scale before.

当将领、战略家和空军指挥官们正在规划空战的未来时，这些

As generals and strategists and air marshals are working out the future of air war, these

随着任务的进行，第八航空军逐渐摸索出有效打击目标的方法。

mission, the eighth Air Force slowly develops the methods needed to damage their intended targets.

但阿道夫·希特勒的注意力始终集中在与苏联的战斗上。

But Adolf Hitler's attention remains fixed on his battle with the Soviets.

他亲眼见过1940年德国空军进攻英国时的惨重损失。

He had seen the German losses back in 1940 when the Luftwaffe was attacking England.

在他看来，战略轰炸根本无法决定战争胜负。

And to him, it looked like strategic air power doesn't win wars.

真正决定战争结果的是地面部队。

Ground forces win wars.

所以希特勒认为，空军的职责就是支援地面部队。

So Hitler's viewpoint about an air force is that it exists to support the ground troops.

在斯大林格勒战役惨败、第六集团军全军覆没后，希特勒更加专注于东线战场。

With the loss at Stalingrad, including capture of his entire sixth Army, Hitler is focused on the Eastern Front.

但盟军的空袭还是让德国空军元帅赫尔曼·戈林感到警觉。

But the Allied raids do alarm Luftwaffe air marshal, Hermann Goring.

戈林不断收到各地 Luftwaffe 指挥官的报告，说他们急需更多的战斗机。

Goring is hearing from local and regional Luftwaffe commanders that they really need more fighter aircraft.

但从某种意义上说，戈林被绑住了手脚。

But in a sense, Goring's trapped.

如果他把空中力量从东线调走，本就岌岌可危的局势很快就会彻底崩溃。

If he detaches air power from the Eastern Front, a situation that is already critical is soon going to turn mortal.

德国人现在开始简化流程，提高效率。

The Germans now are gonna streamline procedures and make things more efficient.

他们在盟军大规模轰炸行动期间，加紧生产更多飞机和武器装备。

They start producing more aircraft, more armaments in the middle of the combined bomber offensive.

因此，从1943年起，德国的工业产出呈指数级增长。

So from 1943 on, there's an exponential increase in German industrial output.

随着德国战斗机产量上升，盟国政府越来越担忧，也开始对飞行员总说‘我们能炸垮德国’感到厌倦——毕竟，他们根本看不到任何实证。

With German fighter production on the upswing, the Allied government's becoming increasingly concerned, and they're getting a little tired of hearing their airmen say, We can bring Germany to its knees, when they don't see any evidence that that's true.

五月，丘吉尔和罗斯福会面，敲定了作战计划，并正式承诺发起横跨英吉利海峡、进攻法国的行动。

In May, Churchill and Roosevelt meet to finalize plans They also commit to a cross channel invasion of France.

自从美国参战以来，他们就有一个战略：在西北法国的某个地方登陆一支庞大的部队，然后直插德国腹地。

Since America came into the war, they've had a strategy: to land a gigantic force somewhere in North Northwestern France, and then driving straight into the heart of Germany.

这次行动代号为‘霸王行动’，计划定在明年春天展开。

Codenamed Operation Overlord, the attack is scheduled for spring of the next year.

要确保登陆成功，必须在被占领的欧洲上空取得制空权。

Achieving air supremacy over occupied Europe is crucial to the success of the invasion.

这时候，所有人都明白，两栖作战如果没有掌握制海权和制空权，根本不可能实现。

At this point, everybody recognizes amphibious operations can't happen unless you control the seas and have control of the air.

因此，所有高级指挥官都一致认为，当务之急是摧毁德国空军的地面设施。

So the top commanders all agree that the number one priority is destroying the

这意味着轰炸机部队的任务就是彻底破坏 Luftwaffe 在地面上的基础设施。

And that means the bomber force is given the job of smashing the infrastructure of the Luftwaffe on the ground.

这样，当盟军在D日登陆并展开地面作战时，就不会有德国飞机前来干扰。

So that when the Allies land on D Day and in the ground fighting that follows, there'll be no German aircraft interfering.

英国皇家空军和第八航空队联手发动了‘轰炸周’行动，对德国多个城市展开集中打击。

The RAF and the eighth Air Force join efforts for what they term Blitz Week attacks on various cities across Germany.

他们的首个联合目标是一个繁忙的港口，那里有码头、潜艇基地和制造设施。

Their first joint target is a busy port with dock yards, submarine pins, and manufacturing.

那里还居住着一百多万人口。

It's also home to over a million people.

汉堡是飞机生产的重要中心。

Hamburg is a real center of aircraft production.

对美国人来说，那里有大量具体的军事工业目标可以打击。

So for Americans, there's lots of specific military industrial targets they can attack.

但英国人关注的是那里的住宅类型，觉得它们非常容易着火。

But the Brits look at the types of housing there, and they think they're very vulnerable to fire.

所以他们打算烧掉一片片街区。

So they're going to burn neighborhoods.

他们要让德国平民无家可归。

They're gonna dehouse German people.

这样一来，工人会丧生，工厂会停产，供应链也会彻底瘫痪。

And that means workers are gonna be killed, factories will grind to a halt, supply chains will break down.

这次行动代号叫‘哥摩拉’，源自《旧约》里被天火焚毁的城市。

It's code named Operation Gomorrah, after the Old Testament city that was destroyed by fire from above.

接下来八天七夜，汉堡将遭到持续不断的猛烈轰炸。

This is gonna be eight days and seven nights of pounding the city of Hamburg.

整个计划安排得非常周密。

It's very carefully planned.

首先用高爆炸弹炸碎窗户、掀翻屋顶、推倒建筑。

First, there are high explosives to blow out windows, to blow out roofs, to knock down buildings.

接着投下燃烧弹，那些小炸弹就像爆竹一样烧起来。

And they'll drop incendiaries, smaller bombs that just burn like firecrackers.

屋顶瓦片被炸掉后，木结构就暴露出来，燃烧弹落在上面，立刻引发大火。

And with these roof tiles gone, the the wooden structure of the roofs is exposed, and these little incendiaries will land in those roofs and just set fires.

英国人想为闪电战中的损失向汉堡复仇。

The British want revenge on Hamburg for the Blitz.

美国人多年来一直鼓吹战略轰炸，现在终于能展示联合轰炸机部队的威力——把一座城市从地图上彻底抹去。

The Americans have been singing the strategic bombing song for years, and now they can show the destructive nature of the combined bomber offensive to wipe a city off the map.

有时候，历史事件真够糟心的。

Sometimes historic events suck.

但了解历史这件事，不该这么糟心。

But what shouldn't suck is learning about history.

我靠讲故事的方式来做到这一点。

I do that through storytelling.

《不糟心的历史》是一档热门历史播客，从18世纪到20世纪，逐十年讲述美国的宏大故事。

History That Doesn't Suck is a chart topping history telling podcast, chronicling the epic story of America decade by decade from the eighteenth century to the twentieth.

原创音乐和沉浸式音效，伴随我们一路讲述这些历史。

Original music and immersive sound design accompany us on our storytelling journey.

收听并关注《不糟心的历史》，这档由Odyssey出品的播客，现已在Apple Podcasts、Spotify，或你常用的任何平台上线。

Listen to and follow history that doesn't suck, an Odyssey podcast available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1943年夏天，盟军空军发动了‘轰炸周’，这是迄今为止对德国规模最大的一系列空袭。

In the summer of nineteen forty three, Allied Air Forces launch Blitzweek, the largest series of raids on Germany to date.

英国和美国空军 supposedly 一直协同作战，英国负责夜间轰炸，美国……

The British and American Air Forces have supposedly been working together, the British bombing by night, The U.

美国。

S.

白天。

By day.

但他们之前并没有轰炸同一个城市。

But they haven't been bombing the same target cities.

到了1943年夏天，情况变了。

That changes in the summer of nineteen forty three.

盟军首次联合打击的目标是汉堡。

The Allies' first joint target is the city of Hamburg.

7月24日晚上，空袭开始了。

On the night of July 24, the raids begin.

英国皇家空军投下了燃烧弹。

The RAF drops incendiary bombs.

但接下来几天，美国的B-17轰炸机没能击中目标。

But in the following days, American B-17s are unable to hit their targets.

美国人本来想炸飞机工厂，但燃烧弹引发的大火浓烟太浓，导致诺德隆瞄准器完全失灵了。

The Americans intended to bomb aircraft factories, but the use of incendiaries created so much smoke that the Norden bombsites were essentially blinded.

他们根本看不清目标。

They can't actually see their targets.

结果只能像英国人那样，搞起了大面积轰炸。

So they're almost reduced to doing area bombing not unlike the British.

7月27日，热浪来袭，气温飙升，英国皇家空军又连续第四晚发动空袭。

On July 27, a heat wave sends temperatures soaring as the RAF returns for a fourth night of strikes.

天气特别热。

It's very hot.

空气特别干燥。

It's very dry.

气象条件正好适合形成火风暴。

And the meteorological conditions are ripe for firestorm.

火风暴。

Firestorm.

这次火势太猛，燃烧消耗了大量氧气，反而引发了风暴。

This time, the fires burn so hot, the oxygen that these fires demand causes a windstorm.

风速超过每小时两百四十公里。

Winds are over 150 miles an hour.

火风暴正式爆发了。

The firestorm hour.

巨大的上升气流把躲在避难所里的人吸走氧气，导致他们窒息而亡。

A gigantic updraft results that robs people cowering in their shelters of oxygen and leads to death by asphyxiation.

温度飙升到一千摄氏度。

Temperatures go up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.

这是历史上最惨烈的一次火风暴。

It's the most devastating firestorm that's ever been created.

有人描述，人们抱着孩子想逃出避难所，手脚却被融化的沥青粘住，四周建筑纷纷坍塌，把他们压在下面。

The stories are of people trying to run out of shelters with children near them burning with their hands and feet stuck in melting asphalt, with the buildings falling down on top of them.

汉堡城彻底被毁了。

The city of Hamburg is devastated.

行动‘哥摩拉’导致超过四万名平民死亡。

Operation Gomorrah kills over forty thousand civilians.

城市中将近三分之二的房屋被烧成废墟，一百万人无家可归。

Almost two thirds of the city's houses are burned to the ground, leaving a million residents homeless.

丘吉尔对己方行动造成的人命代价感到忧虑。

Churchill is worried about the human cost of what they're doing.

他担心后人会如何评价这件事。

He's worried about how history will look at it.

据说丘吉尔看过一些汉堡空袭的影像后，曾问过：‘我们是不是成了野兽？’

And there's a line from Churchill supposedly where he looks at some of the movies of Hamburg and goes, are we beasts?

空袭力量最令人震惊的一点是

The striking thing about air power

它让每个人都成了战斗人员。

is it makes all of us combatants.

这已经不只是战场上的事了。

It's not just about the battlefield.

真正的战场，其实是平民百姓。

The battlefield is actually civilian population.

这场毁灭让纳粹高层震惊不已。

The destruction stuns Nazi high command.

希特勒的一位部长告诉他，汉堡之灾让他吓得魂飞魄散。

One of Hitler's ministers tells him that Hamburg put the fear of God in me.

但希特勒拒绝前往这座城市，也不愿接见那些在大火中救人性命的平民代表。

But Hitler refuses to visit the city or receive a delegation of civilians who had saved lives during the fire.

汉堡的惨状给整个德国的战争努力带来了巨大冲击。

Hamburg is a shock to the entire German war effort.

戈林一再向希特勒保证，他完全能掌控轰炸威胁。

Goring has told Hitler repeatedly that he had this bomber problem under control.

可如今，德国第二大城市却化为一片废墟。

And now here lies the second largest city in Germany in ashes.

关于汉堡大轰炸的传闻迅速传遍了整个德国。

Accounts of the bombing of Hamburg spread throughout Germany.

希特勒开始将德国战斗机从东线和地中海战场调回本土。

Hitler begins to transfer German fighter planes from the Eastern Front and the Mediterranean to the Fatherland.

此外，德国人在主要城市周围建起了巨大的纪念碑式高射炮塔，高达45米，混凝土墙体厚达3米，布满火炮。

In addition, the Germans ring their major cities with these gigantic monumental flak towers, a 150 feet tall, 11 foot thick concrete walls bristling with guns.

这些炮塔不仅对来袭轰炸机极为有效，炮火轰鸣的声势也让民众感受到希特勒在保护他们。

Not only are they highly effective against incoming bombers, their guns barking, the sound and fury remind the people that Hitler is looking out for them.

回到英国，当时对汉堡空袭的评价分歧很大。

Back in Britain, there was big disagreement at the time with how the raid on Hamburg goes.

在哈里斯看来，这是一种能赢得战争的策略。

From Harris's point of view, this is a war winning strategy.

只要对平民造成足够大的打击，就能瓦解他们的战斗意志。

That if you hit people hard enough, you can cause a breakdown of their will to fight.

但对阿诺德来说，汉堡行动并不算成功。

But for Arnold, Hamburg was not a success.

它暴露了区域轰炸的低效性。

It proved the inefficiency of area bombing.

他想精准打击那些维持德国空军运转的工厂。

He wants to strike precise targets, the factories that are keeping the Luftwaffe in the air.

亨利·阿诺德相信战略轰炸是能奏效的。

Henry Arnold thinks strategic bombing can work.

我们只需要加大打击力度。

We just need to do it harder.

对汉堡的联合空袭摧毁了一座城市，却没能有效削弱德国空军，为欧洲登陆做准备。

The combined raid on Hamburg levels a city, but does little to destroy the Luftwaffe before the invasion of Europe.

到1943年8月，第八航空队已经获得了足够的飞机和人员，足以组成大规模编队，彻底摧毁德国的飞机生产能力。

By August 1943, the eighth Air Force is receiving enough planes and personnel to launch the large formations required to decimate German aircraft production.

‘轰炸机霸主’理论即将付诸实践。

Bomber Baron theory is about to be put into practice.

真正让德国空军维持运转的，是它背后的那些工厂。

What is keeping the Luftwaffe in the air are the factories behind it.

这正是阿诺德想要打击的目标。

That's what Arnold wants to strike.

他认为实现这一点的办法就是加大白天精确轰炸的力度。

And he thinks the way to do that is to double down on daylight precision bombing.

派出更多飞机，发动更多空袭，反复攻击同一个目标，直到德国人撑不住。

More planes, more raids, more attacks on the same target until the Germans break.

阿诺德现在要求第八航空队全力以赴。

Arnold now demands maximum effort from the eighth Air Force.

通常情况下，飞机在维修或保养，机组人员也会轮休，偶尔能休息一天。

Normally, airplanes that are being worked on or repaired or aircrew that are resting, so that every now and then they get a day off.

但一旦进入全力出击状态，就意味着每次都要把所有能飞的飞机都派上天。

But now when you go maximum effort, it means you put everything in the air every time.

以前每次任务大约出动90架B-17，但这个数字很快就要翻倍甚至三倍。

Previously, around 90 B-17s would fly each mission, but that number will soon double and triple.

美国人坚信德国经济就像一张由相互连接的节点组成的网络。

The Americans are obsessed with this view of the German economy as a series of interconnected pubs and spokes.

只要击中关键的那一个点，整个系统就会全面崩溃。

So if they hit the right domino, they'll all come down.

这些被称为瓶颈产业。

These are called bottleneck industries.

有些产业，只要少数几家工厂控制住，就能左右整个产量。

Industries where just a few plants and locations control all the production.

轰炸这些瓶颈目标，似乎能更高效地利用你的空军力量。

Bombing bottleneck targets seems to be a more efficient use of your air force.

一次大规模空袭，炸毁一家工厂，就能让德国战争经济的关键部门瘫痪。

One big raid, one factory destroyed, a crucial sector of the German war economy crippled.

对空军来说，最重要的瓶颈产业可能是滚珠轴承。

Probably the most consequential bottleneck industry with regards to the Luftwaffe, there's ball bearings.

任何会移动的设备，都离不开滚珠轴承。

Anything that moves needs a ball bearing.

任何需要转动的部件，比如德国飞机的发动机、螺旋桨、起落架，还有制造这些部件的各类机床，全都需要滚珠轴承。

Anything that turns needs a ball bearing, including German aircraft engines, propellers turning, landing wheels, and also all the machines and machinery that build those products.

所以这是一举两得。

So it's a twofer.

8月17日，正好是盟军首次袭击欧洲占领区一周年，第八航空队发动了双重打击。

On August 17, one year to the day from their first attack on occupied Europe, the eighth Air Force launches a dual raid.

第一次袭击雷根斯堡，目的是引开德国战斗机，好让主力部队去轰炸德国最大的滚珠轴承工厂——施韦因富特。

A first strike on Regensburg is meant to draw off German fighters, so that the rest of the force can hit the primary target, Germany's largest ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt.

三周后，第八航空队又袭击了斯图加特的另一家工厂。

Three weeks later, the eighth strikes another plant in Stuttgart.

仅在这几次行动中，第八航空队就损失了近一百架飞机，一千多名机组人员阵亡或被俘。

In these raids alone, the eighth loses nearly a 100 planes and a thousand crew killed or captured.

滚珠轴承的生产确实被打断了，但只是暂时的。

Bulbarian production is interrupted, but only temporarily.

盟军总是惊讶于德国人重建城市和工厂的速度有多快。

The Allies are always surprised at how rapidly the Germans rebuild their cities and factories.

但他们靠的是几乎取之不尽的奴隶劳工。

But they do so with this almost inexhaustible supply of slave labor.

数十万的战俘。

Prisoners of war in the hundreds of thousands.

他们几乎吃不饱。

They're barely fed.

死了一个，就随手扔掉，再换一个上来。

When one dies, they can be simply discarded and another one put in their place.

纳粹强迫被占领国家的劳工重建德国的工厂。

Forced laborers from occupied countries are ordered by the Nazis to reconstruct German factories.

他们还把德国的航空工业分散开来，这样就不会因为一次轰炸就全被摧毁，因为工厂不是集中在一起的。

They also dispersed the German aircraft industry so that it can't be taken out in any one strike because it's not all in one place.

而且他们把工厂建到了地下。

And they put it underground.

他们利用旧盐矿。

They use old salt mines.

他们利用旧采石场。

They use old quarries.

现在

Now

你根本打不着它。

you can't hit it.

现在你也炸不了它。

Now you can't bomb it.

你什么都做不了，因为地下设施根本没法轰炸。

There is nothing you can do because you can't bomb a facility when it's underground.

这最终意味着德国的飞机生产还会继续增长。

This ultimately means German aircraft production will continue to increase.

到1943年秋天，第八航空队已经开始深入德国腹地轰炸目标，甚至回头再次袭击以前打过的地点。

By the fall of nineteen forty three, the eighth Air Force is bombing targets deep inside the Reich and returning to ones they've already hit.

十月初，他们在短短一周内连续发动了一系列全力出击的空袭，其中包括对施韦因富特工厂的第二次打击。

In early October, they fly a series of maximum effort raids, including a second strike on the plant at Schweinfurt, all in a single week.

人的心理承受能力是有限的。

There is a limit to how much the human psyche can take.

很多时候，轰炸机机组人员就达到了这个极限。

And on many occasions, bomber crews reach that limit.

你在五英里高空，每一秒都直面死亡。

You're five miles up and you're braving death every second.

战斗机，高射炮，战斗机，高射炮。

Fighters flack, fighters flack.

肾上腺素疯狂冲击着你的神经系统。

An adrenaline rush overloading your nervous system.

然后你降落了。

And then you land.

四周一片寂静。

And it's quiet.

你回到了东盎格利亚的基地。

You're back at a base in East Anglia.

能吃上一顿热饭。

You have a hot meal.

睡在舒适的床上，然后明天可能还得再飞一次。

You sleep in a comfortable bed, and then maybe you do it again tomorrow.

更多的战斗机，更多的高射炮火。

More fighters, more flak.

你总觉得这次轰炸任务里自己起码要死十回，可那晚你却和几个朋友在军官食堂喝着威士忌。

You'd think you were going to die 10 times in the course of this bomb raid, And that night, you'd be drinking scotch with a couple of friends at the commissary.

这简直让人难以接受。

It was almost impossible to reconcile.

干得越久，你就越清楚自己有多脆弱。

The longer you did it, you would become more and more aware of how vulnerable you were.

到了月底，第八航空队已经遭受了惨重的损失。

By the end of the month, the eighth Air Force has endured horrific losses.

士兵们管这个月叫‘黑色十月’。

The men call it Black October.

如果你是美国空军飞行员，每次执行任务都有百分之二十的死亡概率。

If you're an American airman, you have a twenty percent chance of being killed on any mission you undertake.

五个人里就有一个活不下来。

One in five.

这数字太吓人了。

That is forbidding math.

更糟的是，这些轰炸似乎对德国的战争努力没什么实质影响，飞行员们的士气开始动摇。

Adding to that, they don't appear to be having an appreciable impact on the German war effort, leading to an incipient collapse of airman morale.

他们看着身边的人一个个倒下，心里明白：只能一直飞下去，直到死为止。

They start to see the losses around them and go, we're just gonna fly until we're dead.

黑十月期间的一系列美军空袭，暴露了昼间精确轰炸的惨重代价。

A series of American raids in Black October shows the cost of daytime precision bombing.

损失惨重的任务、诺德隆瞄准具的局限、恶劣天气——这些因素共同导致了1943年轰炸行动成效甚微。

The lost raids, the limitations of the Norden bombsite, the weather, all these things play in a factor in how ineffective the bombing campaign is in 1943.

可以说，当时德国的天空依然掌握在 Luftwaffe 手中。

You could easily say that the Luftwaffe still owned the skies over Germany.

深秋时节，恶劣天气迫使第八航空队暂停任务，让地勤人员有整个冬天来修理受损的飞机。

In the late fall, bad weather forces the eighth Air Force to suspend missions, giving ground crews the winter to patch battered planes.

但英国皇家空军发动了迄今为止规模最大的行动，持续轰炸柏林。

But the RAF launches its largest campaign yet, a sustained assault on Berlin.

这些将是规模巨大的空袭，整整十六次深入德国腹地。

These are gonna be massive raids, 16 of them in the heart of Germany.

英国对柏林的目标是击垮德国人的士气。

The British goal over Berlin is to destroy German morale.

这才是击败德国的办法，不是去炸毁一个个工厂。

That's the way to beat Germany, not to destroy individual factories.

哈里斯认为，这些对柏林的空袭会损失四五百架轰炸机，但能让德国输掉整场战争。

Harris thinks these Berlin raids will cost 400 to 500 bombers, but they'll cost Germany the war.

英国皇家空军在冬季对柏林的空袭把机组人员的极限和耐力推到了顶点，但成效有限。

The RAF winter raids to Berlin pushed the limit and stamina of British aircrews with modest results.

巴黎的预测异常准确。

Paris is presciently accurate.

他们损失了四五百架飞机，近五千名飞行员。

They lose 400 to 500 aircraft and almost 5,000 airmen.

柏林空袭是一场宏伟的行动，但遗憾的是，也是一场惨重的失败。

The Berlin bombing campaign is an epic effort, but unfortunately, an epic failure.

两个空军都发现，他们的计划根本跟不上现实。

Both Air Forces are finding their plans are not corresponding with reality.

对德国空军的打击几乎毫无效果。

They're having almost no impact on the Luftwaffe at all.

只是自己的飞机不断被击落，飞行员伤亡和被俘的人数也在不断增加。

They're simply getting more of their planes shot down and more of their crewmen killed or captured.

经历了数月的惨重损失后，第八航空队到了关键的转折点。

After months of heavy losses, the eighth Air Force is at a crossroads.

阿诺德意识到，单靠轰炸机是无法取胜的。

Arnold realizes the bombers can't do it alone.

如果想让这些轰炸机在这场战争中发挥真正的作用，他必须派战斗机全程护航。

If he wants these bombers to make a difference in this war, he's got to send fighters to the target with them.

盟军空军有P-38闪电和P-47雷电这两种战斗机。

The Allied Air Forces have the p 38 Lightning and the p 47 thunderbolt.

这两种战机性能卓越，空战能力几乎不输任何其他机型。

Two absolutely excellent fighter aircraft capable of dogfighting just about as well as anything else in the sky.

它们只有一个短板，就是航程。

They only had one limitation, and that was range.

当时，航空工程师们认为，能飞近一千英里深入德国再返航，同时具备足够火力、机动性和动力的飞机，根本不可能造出来。

At the time, aeronautical engineers believed having an aircraft that could fly almost a thousand miles into Germany and back with enough firepower, enough maneuverability, enough engine power is an engineering impossibility.

但美国已经为英国生产了一种新型战斗机——P-51野马。

But a new fighter is already being produced by The United States for the British, the p 51 Mustang.

英国人试飞之后，就说：‘谢谢，还行吧。’

And the Brits test fly it, and they go, thanks.

还凑合。

It's okay.

在一万五千英尺以下飞得不错，但我们真正需要的是高空性能更好的。

Below 15,000 feet, it's fine, but we're looking for something higher altitude.

后来我们想到，不如把劳斯莱斯的梅林发动机装到这架飞机上。

Then we get the idea of putting a Rolls Royce Merlin engine in this thing.

于是，英国的发动机配上美国的机身，组合起来效果惊人。

So you have a British made engine, an American air frame mated together, and it's gangbusters.