8 Napoleon soon realized he could not feed, clothe, and quarter his army in Moscow during the winter. In October 1812, he ordered his Grand Army to retreat from Moscow.
拿破仑很快意识到，他无法在冬天向远在莫斯科的军队供应粮草、提供御寒衣物和宿营之地。1812年10月，他命令大军撤出莫斯科。
9 The French retreat turned into a nightmare. From fields and forests, the Russians launched hit-and-run attacks on the French. A short distance from Moscow, the temperature had already dropped to minus 4 degrees Celsius. On November 3, the winter's first snow came. Exhausted horses fell dead in their tracks. Cannon became stuck in the snow. Equipment had to be burned for fuel. Soldiers took ill and froze to death. The French soldiers dragged on, leaving the dead along every mile.
法军的撤离成为一场噩梦。俄国人出没于田野与森林，采用打了就跑的战术，向法国人发起攻击。刚出莫斯科城，气温就降到摄氏零下4度。11月3日降下初雪。困乏的马匹倒地而死。大炮陷入雪中。装备只得被用作燃料焚烧。士兵们染病冻死。法国士兵拖着脚步行进，一路上留下无数死尸。
10 As the Russian army was gathering its strength, the French had to flee Russia to avoid certain defeat. At the Berezina River, the Russians nearly trapped the retreating French by burning the bridges over the swollen river. But Napoleon, by a stroke of luck, was able to build two new bridges. Thousands of French soldiers escaped, but at the cost of fifty thousand dead. Once across the Berezina, the tattered survivors limped toward Vilna.
正当俄罗斯军队集聚兵力之时，法国人却不得不逃离俄国，以避免注定的失败。在别列兹那河，俄国人焚烧了涨水的河道上的桥梁，差点将后撤的法军困于河边。侥幸的是，拿破仑居然突击造起两座桥。成千上万法国士兵得以逃脱，但却损失了5万人。渡过别列兹拿河，溃不成军的幸存者一瘸一拐地向维尔纽行进。
11 Of the six hundred thousand soldiers Napoleon had led into Russia, less than one hundred thousand came back. The weakened French army continued its retreat westward across Europe. Soon, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia formed a powerful alliance and attacked these stragglers. In March 1814, Paris was captured. Napoleon abdicated and went into exile, his empire at an end.
拿破仑发兵60万进入俄国，只有不到10万士兵返回。元气大伤的法国军队在欧洲继续西撤。不久，英国、奥地利、俄国以及普鲁士组成强大的联盟，攻击这些散兵游勇。1814年3月，巴黎被攻占。拿破仑退位去过流放生活，他缔造的帝国随之灭亡。
Hitler's Invasion
12 By early 1941, Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, had seized control of most of Europe. To the east of Hitler's German empire was the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, without a declaration of war, Hitler began an invasion of the Soviet Union that was the largest military land campaign in history. Confident of a quick victory, Hitler expected the campaign to last no longer than three months. He planned to use the blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," tactics that had defeated the rest of Europe. The invasion had three broad thrusts: against Leningrad and Moscow and through the Ukraine.
希特勒的入侵
到1941年初，纳粹德国元首阿道夫·希特勒已经控制了欧洲大部分地区。希特勒的德意志帝国的东部与苏联毗邻。1941年6月22日，希特勒不宣而战，入侵苏联，发动了历史上规模最大的一场陆地战役。希特勒自信能速战速决，预计这一战役不会超过3个月。他计划采用征服了欧洲其余地区的闪电式战略。入侵计划包含三大目标：向列宁格勒与莫斯科进攻，并横扫乌克兰。
13 Caught off guard by the invasion, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin instructed the Russian people to "scorch the earth" in front of the German invaders. Farms and factories were burned, destroyed, or rendered useless. During the first ten weeks of the invasion, the Germans pushed the front eastward, and the Russians suffered more than a million casualties.
苏联领导人约瑟夫·斯大林被打了个措手不及，他指示全国人民在德国入侵者到来之前实行“焦土”政策。农场和工厂被焚烧毁坏，或被弄得无法运转。在入侵的最初10个星期内，德国人一路东进，俄国人伤亡人数多达一百多万。
14 In the north, the Germans closed in on Leningrad. Despite great suffering, however, the people of Leningrad refused to surrender. As the battle of Leningrad dragged on into winter, the city's situation became desperate. As food ran out, people died from hunger and disease. By the middle of the winter of 1941-1942, nearly four thousand people starved to death every day. Close to one million people died as a result of the siege.
在北方，德国人包围了列宁格勒。尽管忍受着极大困苦，列宁格勒的人民绝不投降。列宁格勒保卫战一直持续到冬季，此时该市的处境变得危急。由于食品匮乏，人们死于饥饿与疾病。到了1941年和1942年之间的寒冬，几乎每天有4千人死于饥饿。列宁格勒之围造成近百万人死亡。
