Chapter 45 Chapter Forty-Five

June 22, 1941. The characters of our play are now scattered around the world.Their stage becomes a planet, spinning under a sun spotlight that only illuminates half the set, and always turns from east to west.In the days when the Germans invaded Russia, the man who was farthest east was Leslie Sloter. It was just dawn, three hundred miles west of Moscow, and countless German watches were pointing to a quarter past three, when German artillery, along a thousand-mile-long front, stretched from the frozen Baltic to the warm The Black Sea began to rumble and bombard.At the same time, swarms of German planes took off early, crossed the border, and began bombing Soviet airfields, blowing up hundreds of planes on the ground.The morning star was still shining over the road, over the railroad, over the fragrant fields, when the armored columns and infantry divisions—infinite numbers of young and strong Teutonic men in steel helmets and gray uniforms, On the vast Polish plains leading to Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv, rolling strides toward the orange-yellow sooty East.

Shortly after sunrise, in Moscow, a sad and trembling German ambassador told Foreign Minister Molotov that since it was clear that Russia was going to attack Germany, the Fuehrer had wisely ordered the German armed forces to attack first in self-defense.Molotov's gray, flat, oval face was said to bear a rare expression—surprise.History also records that when Molotov said: "Do we deserve this treatment?" the German ambassador finished delivering his message and slipped out of the room.He worked all his life to restore the spirit of La Pague, the solid alliance between Russia and Germany, and was finally shot by Hitler.

① Rapallo, an Italian city where Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1922. It wasn't just Molotov who was surprised by the invasion.Stalin was also surprised.In Russia, only Stalin's words and deeds mattered, so the Red Army and the whole country were also surprised.This attack was an unprecedented tactical achievement, and its scale reached an unprecedented level.Three and a half million armed men suddenly attacked four and a half million armed men.The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor six months later involved only a few thousand combatants on each side, a far cry from the scale.

Communist Party historians use events to prove their dogma.This is good for publicity, but bad for the record.Facts that could not be explained by party theory were cast aside.Many events in the vast land battle that the Russians dubbed the Great Patriotic War—the Second World War, a term they dislike—may never be known.Communist Party historians have asserted that Stalin was to blame for ignoring warning signs and allowing the German surprise attack to succeed.This is a very simple way to look at amazingly significant events.However, when it comes to matters, this is indeed true. The sun shone on the Red Tower of the Kremlin, visible from the window of Leslie Sloter's apartment; it also shone on a letter from Natalie Henry from Rome open on the desk by the window on the letter.

Slote went to bed very late, and he was still asleep.Natalie wrote him a long happy letter, because suddenly Ellen Jastrow got a passport!It was true that he had his passport, and they were preparing to leave on a Finnish freighter that would anchor in early July; Ellen might even take most of his library with him.Natalie had no idea what Byron was up to in the White House, so she wrote an impassioned letter thanking Slote.This news surprised the diplomat, because in Italy he felt as if he were touching a stone wall covered with cotton, which is the nature of the State Department.His reply letter was not finished, and it was still placed next to her letter.He was modest about the success of the affair, and then explained at length why he thought the rumors of an imminent Russian invasion unreliable, and why he concluded that if the Germans attacked, the Red Army would be able to drive them back. .He wanted to find some auspicious words about Natalie's pregnancy, so he put down his pen and went to bed.By the time the alarm clock woke him, his letter was out of date, but he didn't know it then.

He looked out of the window and saw the usual sights of a Moscow morning: men in hats and young women in turbans walking to work under a hazy blue sky, and a crowded, dirty bus wobbling uphill. One day, old women lined up in front of a milk shop, and more old women lined up in front of a bakery.The Kremlin towered across the river, huge, imposing, and silent; its walls were dark red in the morning sun; the many domes of the cathedral shone with gold.There were no air-raid sirens; there were no tweeters or radio broadcasts yet.A scene of peace and tranquility.Stalin and Molotov waited a little while before sharing the astonishment with the people they had led to disaster.But at the front, millions of Red troops had already tasted the astonishment and were trying to recover from it before the Germans could kill them.

Slote knew nothing of this, and he went to the embassy in a light heart, hoping to finish some procrastinated work on this peaceful Sunday.He found the embassy building a bustle unlike Sunday.Only then did he realize that the Germans were coming again, and he couldn't help feeling sick in his chest. The rising sun moves west to Minsk.The sunlight streaming down a wide, quiet street fell on a clean-shaven workman in a cloth cap and baggy old clothes dusted with flour.If Natalie Henry was also walking on this street, she would never have recognized her relative, Beryl Jastrow.With his beard shaved off, his broad, flat Slavic face, the bulbous nose of a peasant, and his old clothes, he looked like a true Eastern European.He might be a Pole, a Hungarian, or a Russian; he knew all three and could pass himself off as any.Even in his fifties, Ben Riel walked quickly, and this morning he walked even faster.At the bakery, on a German short-wave radio he had hidden behind a flour sack, he had heard Goebbels announce the attack in Berlin.After get off work, he heard a familiar sound far away: the rumble of bombs.He was worried, but not scared.

When Natalie Henry met Barrell, he was a pious and wealthy businessman, the happy father of the groom.There was another side to Baen Riel.During the last World War, he served in the Austrian Army on the Eastern Front.He had been captured by the Russians, escaped from a POW camp, and returned to the Austrian line through the forest.During the riots of 1916, he joined a mixed German and Austrian unit.Early in his military career, he learned to make bread and cook meals to avoid eating forbidden foods.He could eat nothing but bread, baked potatoes, or boiled cabbage for months, while making delicious soups and gravy, and he wouldn't touch anything like that.He knew army life, he could live in the forest, he knew how to get along with Germans, Russians, and a dozen small Danubian countries.For Ben Real, anti-Semitism was the normal state of affairs, no more frightening than war, and he had experience dealing with it.

He left the cobbled main avenue, turned down dirty alleys and alleys that crooked, past wooden bungalows, and came to a yard that smelt of breakfast, firewood, and warehouses. Clucking and running in the mud. “You leave work so early,” said his daughter-in-law, who held a crying child in one arm and stirred a pot on the woodstove with the other.She was visibly pregnant again; her cropped hair was wrapped in a turban, her face was haggard and troubled, and the bride of a year and a half earlier looked fifteen years older.Her husband, wearing a hat and a sheepskin coat, was muttering in a corner from a battered Taymut Codex.He had also shaved off his beard and cut his hair short.Three beds, a table, three chairs, and a small bed with railings filled this warm little room.All four lived in it.Ben Riel's wife and daughter died in the winter of 1939 of typhus, an epidemic that had begun after the bombing of Warsaw.At that time, the Germans had not yet rounded up the Jews; Ben Riel spent a lot of saved money as a bribe to redeem himself, his son and daughter-in-law, and left the city to join the slow eastward exile The ranks of the survivors, through the paths and forests, to the Soviet Union.The Russians accepted these people and treated them better than the Germans.Although most of them have to go to the remote refugee camps beyond the Ural Mountains.Ban Riel took the rest of his family to Minsk, where his relatives lived.Almost all the bakers in the city had joined the army, so the immigration office in Minsk let him stay.

①The Hebrew classics of Judaism. "I came back early because the Germans came again." Ban Ruier took a cup of tea from his daughter-in-law, sat down on the chair, and smiled sadly at her surprised look. "Didn't you hear the bomb?" "Bomb? What bomb?" His son closed the book and raised his head, with a look of fear on his pale and thin face. "We heard nothing. You mean they're beating the Russians now?" "At first. I heard it on the radio. It must have been a bomb dropped by an airplane. I guess the Germans were blowing up the railroad. The war is still far away." The woman coaxed her wailing child into beating her small fist, Weakly said: "They will not defeat the Red Army so quickly." The son stood up. "We'll just walk in these clothes."

"Where are you going?" asked the father. "East." "Once we go, we can't stop. We have to go all the way to Siberia," Barrell said. "Then to Siberia." "Siberia! Almighty God, Mendel, I don't want to go to Siberia," said the wife, patting the angry child. "Do you remember what the Germans did in Warsaw?" said Mendel. "They were beasts." "That was the first few weeks. They quieted down after that. We'll be all right if we hide a little bit, won't we?" said the father calmly. "Pour me some more tea. Everyone thought they were going to be slaughtered, eh? Typhus and cold were worse than the Germans." "They killed a lot of people." "Those people don't obey discipline. With the Germans, you have to obey discipline. And keep out of their way." "We're leaving today." "Wait a week," said the father. "Three hundred kilometers away. Maybe the Red Army will give them a blow. I know the box office manager at the railway station. If we want to go, it will be within a few hours. Siberia is far away, and it is not a place for Jews to go." "Don't you think we should go today?" said the son. "yes." "Okay." Mendel sat down and opened the book again. "I have breakfast on the table," said the daughter-in-law. "Give me a cup of tea," she said manly. "I'm not hungry. Tell the child not to cry." Ben-Reel Jastrow, despite his ingenuity, made a serious mistake.The Germans moved all at once near Minsk, closer than any Soviet city, which caused another surprise.Even Germany's invasion of Russia paled in comparison to this offensive in the eyes of some. The bright morning sun shines on the columns of soldiers, like long gray worms, crawling across the vast green plains of Soviet-occupied Poland.Behind the advancing soldiers, out of the range of the cannon fire, were marching small detachments, wearing different uniforms and obeying different orders.Their name is "Special Operations Team".They are unique in human history.To understand and understand this special operation team, it is necessary to have a simple and clear understanding of the whole picture of this invasion. The continent of Europe in this region consists, for the most part, of low-lying, moist basins, almost like swamps, extending thousands of square miles.This huge swamp, called the Pripyat Marshes, always kept out invaders from the west of Russia.They had to come around from the south or the north of it.Adolf Hitler's generals, attempting to bring down the Soviet Union with one blow during the summer weeks, were advancing simultaneously from the north and south of the swamp. However, the Special Operations Forces had no military objective.Their task was to deal with the Jews.From the time of Empress Catherine, Russia has forced several million of its Jews to live in "ghettos," the western frontier of Polish and Turkish lands won in war.After the revolution, the ghetto was abolished, but most of the Jews were poor and accustomed to their villages and towns, and settled there. Thus, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the Red Army's border defense belt happened to be where the majority of Soviet Jews lived.The Einsatzgruppen were traveling executioners with orders to kill Russian Jews without warning, regardless of age or gender.The order was not in writing, but came from Adolf Hitler, through Goering and Heydrich, to the "Security Police", the German national police, who formed the action team.The detachment was also ordered to shoot immediately all the political commissars of the Red Army—political officers.But the latter order was in writing. The special operations team consisted of four teams, following the three huge German regiments that were attacking. The Army of the South, composed of Germans and Romanians, attacked Ukraine from the south of the marshes and followed the Black Sea into the Crimea.They were followed by two special operations teams, because the Jewish ghetto was denser here. Army Corps Central, take the shortest straight road Napoleon took - Minsk, Smolensk, Vyazma, Borodino, Moscow.The road slanted to the north of the Great Swamp, pointing like an arrow at the Russian capital.It runs between the upper reaches of two rivers, the Dvina to the north and the Dnieper to the south.The soldiers called this road the dry road and liked it very much.Another special ops team goes with this central main commando. The Army of the North, advancing along the Baltic towards Leningrad, with a special operations team behind it. These four battalions, including officers and soldiers, amounted to about three thousand traveling executioners.They set off to slaughter around three to four million people, which works out to over ten thousand each of them.They obviously can't do it.The plan was to get the job started and then recruit local anti-Semites and German soldiers to complete the horribly unheard-of, yet perfectly real mission they set out on. The German soldiers in the special operations team are mainly recruited from public officials, such as policemen, detectives, and staff.There were no lunatics or criminals among them.Most of the officers are lawyers, doctors, or businessmen who, because of age or ability, cannot fight in the army.Some also have advanced university degrees.One of the officers was also a theologian.The officers are good Germans as well as the soldiers, the kind of people who would never drive through a red light, they like opera and music, they read, they wear ties and coats, they have wives and children, most of them go to church , sang hymns, and they planted flowers in their little garden on holidays.Obedience is a German virtue.They were told that the Jews were the enemy of the Germans and that the only way to deal with them was to kill them all, including the babies in their arms and the mothers.This kind of words come from above.The noble virtue of the Germans is to listen to these words from above and to put them into practice. Strangely enough, the Jews who had fallen to the Germans were not slaughtered in great numbers, or even planned to kill them, across the vast area west of the invasion line to the Atlantic coast.There is a misconception that after Hitler came to power in 1933, the Germans started killing Jews.This is untrue.They plundered the Jews, as they later plundered all the peoples they conquered, though generally under legal requisition laws.Jews were often insulted, sometimes beaten, sometimes tortured, sometimes killed, or worked to death.But until June 22, 1941, only a few concentration camps existed, and most of them were Germans who opposed Hitler.The existence of concentration camps filled the Jews with fear, but the Germans themselves were equally afraid. In June 1941, the life of the Jews in Europe was terrible, with German laws squeezing the last of their possessions.But they live. "A man can live under any law," said a German Jewish newspaper. It was therefore the Jews who were safer behind the German lines than those in front.The Jews in Warsaw, for example, organized themselves under the draconian laws of the Nazis.Although overwork, starvation, and disease killed some of them, the main thing is that they managed to survive.From this point of view, the Jastrows might as well not have left Warsaw. But Ben-Reel Jastrow, as clever as he was and had learned to live with anti-Semitism, hadn't thought of the Special Operations Squad.This is something new. Adolf Hitler had given orders to the Einsatzgruppen in March, and on June 22 he probably didn't remember much of them.He was in a map room, watching the progress of the invasion. The sun was already out, and the light there was still gray and cold.The Führer didn't like sunlight, and he ordered his Eastern Campaign Command to be built facing north.A railway through the East Prussian forest, not far from the starting line of the Army of the North, led to what he called "the wolf's den."The headquarters consisted of concrete warehouses and wooden huts surrounded by barbed wire, watchtowers and minefields. "Wolf's Lair" is actually a lot like a concentration camp. Next to General Jodl stood the newest and youngest general in the German army, Almin von Roon.Hitler didn't like Long and always treated him roughly.Long was born into an aristocratic family and spoke German with a beautiful Berlin accent, the opposite of Hitler's rough, rustic Bavarian accent.His uniform was impeccably cut, the exact opposite of Hitler's oversized soldier's tunic.In particular, Long has a hooked nose and looks a bit Jewish.But as a colonel in the War Department, he was involved in three elaborate plans for Operation Barbarossa.His memory was prodigious; he knew when the artillery came;To Long, the Soviet Union was like a table model, only bigger and more shocking than the ones used in battle plans.The army is made up of people, not a flag with a number on it, but the principle and plot are the same, at least in the beginning. (At the Nuremberg interrogation, Long denied knowing about the Special Operations Corps. He remembered it when he was shown the order to kill the Commissar he would sign on behalf of the War Department, but pleaded that he did not know about the Special Operations Corps. Purpose. The court ruled his rhetoric, as did other issues in which Long defended himself.) For three hours after sunrise on the day of the invasion, Ron managed to avoid the Führer's nagging, blunt questions about trends in ground operations.Then he stated his verdict: the North was doing well, better than originally planned; the Center was better; the South was bad.This proved to be a correct estimate, and for a long time thereafter Hitler took a liking to the hook-nosed general. Here, the giants of the card game lay out the first few cards.Hitler and his staff guessed that the Russians would gather their strongest forces in the center, north of the Pripyat marshes, to defend the capital.But the man who deployed the Russian army—Stalin, or the generals who advised him—bet that the Germans would push their main force south and occupy the Ukrainian grain regions and the Caucasus oil fields.This judgment may have been formed by reading; Hitler openly stated in the book that the occupation of these places was his lifelong goal.In any case, the largest part of the Russian defense was concentrated on the south side of the swamp.As a result, the battle lines are uneven.The Germans found themselves advancing slowly in the south, but the rush to Moscow was surprisingly easy.The first big Russian city ahead of them was Minsk. By the time the sun rises in Rome, Ellen Jastrow is already working at the writing desk in his room at the Hotel Elegance.Dr. Jastrow was glad now that he was only four or five chapters away from his book on Constantine the Great.At exactly eight o'clock, as usual, the same waiter brought the same breakfast.Jastrow finished his breakfast and went back to his desk. A bedroom door opened loudly, and Natalie walked in waddlingly in a pink bathrobe.Due to pregnancy, not only her body appeared bloated, but her cheeks and eye sockets were sunken, and her mouth appeared larger. "My God, have you heard the latest news?" "What good thing happened?" "It depends. The Germans have invaded Russia." "What! Really?" "That's what the eight o'clock news said." "Alas," said Jastrow, taking off his glasses and wiping them with his handkerchief. "So, when did it start?" "It's dawn today." "Strange! The moustachioed wretch is really up to it, isn't he? Another two-front war!" Natalie went to the coffee table on wheels where the rest of the breakfast lay. "Is the coffee still hot?" "It's hot, drink it." "The doctor told me not to eat until the exam, but I couldn't stand it. I was starving." Natalie sipped her coffee and devoured a sweet bun. "You'd better call the ambassador." "I think so too. But Russia is far away, what does it have to do with us? Indeed, it is interesting to think that Hitler became weaker and weaker after entering Russia. I hope he follows Napoleon's old path." "If Finland takes it in, this 'Vayasha' will not be able to leave." "Jesus, really. You're absolutely right. Any news from Finland?" "I haven't heard of it." Natalie sat down heavily in a chair and looked around the spacious room, surrounded by crimson velvet chairs and sofas, gilt-framed mirrors, and marble statues. "My God, this room is so stuffy. How nice it would be to get out of there!" "My dear boy, the house is quite spacious, and we only give you the price of two small rooms." "I know, I know, why not? The hotel is empty, only Germans. It gives me the creeps." "I think every hotel has them." Natalie said sadly: "Of course. I recognized a secret police man in the elevator yesterday. Byron and I saw him in Lisbon. I knew it was the man. He had this on his forehead. An ugly scar." She stretched out a finger and drew an "L". "A coincidence, of course. Did he recognize you?" "He stared at me." "I don't think it matters. People like that stare at anything alive. So what did the doctor say yesterday? Is everything all right?" "Yes." She said vaguely. "He wants me to check again. Now I'm going to lie down for a while." "Still going to bed?" "He told me to rest more. The appointment is not until noon." "Okay. This chapter can be transcribed." "Ellen—" Natalie paused for a moment, biting her lower lip, "—he told me not to type for a while. My back is tired. Wait until the fatigue wears off." "I see." Jastrow sighed, looking around the room. "I agree, the place isn't particularly comfortable. When I think about my lovely house being empty... Natalie, do you think this Russian war will change things at all? I mean—" "Christ, Ellen," blurted Natalie dissatisfied, "do you mean you're still on the same continent as the Germans?" "Dear boy—" Jastrow made a very Jewish gesture, hunched over and shook his hands, "—don't get impatient with me. You were a baby in the last war, But to me there was only a short time between the two wars! It was just a truce and then a fight. Think how many times you heard Germans pick Belgian babies on bayonets, Nuns got their breasts cut and all that! Then I spent a year in Munich with some really wonderful people. They were Germans, Germans- oh my god there was a letter from Byron and I told you No?" "What? Where?" "Perhaps the waiter left it in the parlor." She ran out of the room with heavy steps, grabbed the white letter, returned to the bedroom, and began to read it out of breath.It was a dry letter with no other news, except that he had been transferred from the "S-45" to a ship in the Pacific Fleet. On the new submarine "Tuna", Captain Esther was transferred to an old submarine "Squid" and so on.But love, loneliness, etc. have a lot of words, which are old tunes.She undressed, lay down on the bed, and read and reread the letter with such vigor that the sentences lost their meaning. The Italian doctor told her that there were only two or three small bleedings and it was not a big deal, but that she had to rest to keep the baby safe.Natalie was going to be in bed for two weeks. The dividing line between day and night moves slowly across the Atlantic Ocean, mostly passing over fluffy clouds and empty wrinkled blue sea, occasionally encountering neatly arranged dots and some random scattered dots.The neatly arranged dots are the escort fleet, and the scattered dots are the German submarines trying to hunt them, and the American warships trying to spot the submarines to warn the convoy.Hunter and hunted alike were given the light and warmth of the sun; and this vast triangular game, whose participants called it the Battle of the Atlantic.The sun then moved to another continent, the New World. In a few moments, the windows of New York's CBS building were illuminated by the morning sun, but the tomb-like broadcasting studios were filled with endless electric lights.In the corridors and cubicles of CBS News, despite the early hour, there was already a buzz of people coming and going.Hugh Cleveland, unshaven, sat at an old writing desk, smoking a long cigar and scratching at a yellow legal pad.Despite the popularity of his spare-time shows, he hasn't given up on "What's On in Town."He often said that after the boom in spare-time programming passed, news broadcasts would still be his way of making a living.From a pocket radio on his desk came the loud voice of Winston Churchill: "There was never a man who was as persistent as I was against communism... I never took back a word of what I said. But all this has disappeared because of the scene that is now unfolding... I see tens of thousands of Russian villages and towns , where the girls were smiling, and the children were playing. I saw the cruel massacre befall them... Groups of dull, mechanical, obedient, and barbaric German devil soldiers, like swarms of locusts crawling , trampling, ruining..." The phone rang.He tried to ignore it, then grabbed it again, snarling, "Damn it, I'm listening to Churchill . He leaned back in the swivel chair with one ear to the radio and the other to the phone. "Behind these fires and these storms, I saw the small group of people who designed and organized this terrible rainstorm, pouring down on all mankind..." "Chet, of course I did. As soon as the news was over, I sent a wire to the Russian consulate here. Apparently I couldn't get it on the phone. They called me about an hour ago. Madeleine Henry went there, and they promised to send someone with her. No, I don't know who, don't know yet. Damn, their maid was in the news this morning, too!" "Can you doubt what our policy will be? We have but one goal, and one single unalterable determination. We are determined to destroy Hitler and the Nazis all traces of the system.No one can shake our resolve - no one...any individual, any country that fights against the Nazis, we support.Any individual or any country that is in league with Hitler is our enemy... "The danger of the Russians is our danger, the danger of America..." Madeleine rushed into the office, flushed and bright-eyed, gesticulating desperately to her superior. "Wait a minute, Chet, she's back." Cleveland asked her, covering his headphones with his hand, "What's the good news?" "I've got the ambassador. He's in New York. I've got him." "Holy Jesus! You are not lying, are you? Ambassador? What's his name, Oskinsky?" "Omansky," she said, nodding excitedly. "He got here at eight-fifty. The consul accompanied him." "Hey, Chet, are you listening? This girl got Ambassador Omansky. I swear to Christ! It's Omansky! Listen, I gotta get him ready. Of course, of course, thanks ’” He dropped the earphones. "How did you get it, Madeline? Why isn't he in Washington?" Churchill's voice rose toward the end of his speech, and Cleveland reached over and turned off the radio. "Hugh, I asked to see the consul, and told the fat girl who was delivering that I was from 'Famous in the City. Like staring at me, Ambassador Omansky was there, and he said he was on the radio. He was a very nice guy, very nice." "Wonderful! Absolutely amazing! It's amazing!" Cleveland looked at his watch and reached out to touch his stubble-covered face. "By God! The Bolshevik Ambassador himself! What luck!" He jumped up, drew the little girl into his arms, and kissed her. Madeline broke away from him, her face flushed, she looked back at the open door, and straightened her clothes. "You're such a nice girl, Madeleine. Now listen, I'll get freshened up, and you just write an introduction, think a few questions, and bring it to me in the dressing room, okay?" The ambassador came on time.Hugh Cleveland had never seen a Russian Communist in his life.Omansky surprised him with his fine clothes, his calm demeanor, and his fluency in English.The consul was even more fluent.The two Russians sat down in front of the loudspeaker with aplomb. "Mr. Ambassador, it is my great honor to welcome you, on behalf of myself and 'Who's In The City', at this historic moment—" Cleveland began, but stopped short. "Thank you so much. Now that our two countries are fighting together," Omansky said, "I'm delighted to have the opportunity to bring my homeland's battle to light on your popular show, 'Who's In The City.'" The spirit makes a promise to the American people. Allow me to read Mr. Molotov's radio address." The Consul handed Omansky a typed document, much to the chagrin of Cleveland, whose iron rule was to flatly reject pre-prepared speeches. "Well, Mr. Ambassador, I just wanted to say—" "Thank you. I have abbreviated his speech to save time, but here are some important passages from Foreign Minister Molotov himself: 'Without making any demands on the Soviet Union, without a formal declaration of war, the German army attack our country, and the German planes bomb our cities...'" Cleveland held up a hand and tried to speak, but the ambassador continued: "'This sudden attack on our country, which has never been preceded before, is Treacherous, never in the history of civilized nations. It is a great crime, because the Soviet Union and Germany have signed a non-aggression pact, and the Soviet government has always faithfully adhered to this pact...'” "Mr. Ambassador, with regard to this treaty, allow me to ask just one—" "Excuse me, I'm going to keep reading, and if time permits, we can discuss it," Omansky said, his voice calm and charming, and he read the sentences and paragraphs clearly drawn in purple ink.Cleveland made two more unsuccessful attempts to interrupt him, and the ambassador ignored him until he read the last line of the last page: "'All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union rests with the fascist rulers of Germany . . . "'The Soviet government has ordered our troops to drive the German troops from our land... "'Our struggle is just. The enemy must be defeated, and victory must belong to the 于我们。'“对于这些雄辩的话，”奥曼斯基说，“我没什么要说的了。我必须回到我的工作岗位上去，感谢你们给我这个机会。” 他把文件还给领事，对克里弗兰笑了笑，好象站起来要走。克里弗兰急得没有办法，忙说：“大使先生，我明白在这悲剧性的时刻您是多么忙。我不想耽搁您。只是请告诉我：美国共产党听到这消息会有什么反应？您知道，他们激烈地鼓吹中立。他们拚命地反对《租借法案》。现在他们是不是很快要翻转脸来？” 奥曼斯基沉着地在椅子里坐好。“当然不会。您要知道，全世界的无产阶级本性热爱和平。他们从战争不能得到什么，反而要失去一切。这场战争是从帝国主义国家之间的斗争开始的，因此，工人们——例如，您刚才说的美国共产党——反对战争。但是苏联既不是帝国主义也没有殖民地，它不过是一个要求和平的工人和农民的国家。法西斯德国进攻我们，就抛掉了假面具，暴露他们自己是全人类的共同的野蛮敌人。因此，现在所有的人民都会团结起来打倒德国法西斯野兽。美国人民也一样，是爱好和平的人民。苏联人民在自己的正义斗争中指望得到他们的支持。” “大使先生——” “在这个问题上，”奥曼斯基说，“刚才丘吉尔先生宣布的，英国对我们全力支持的保证，将会起到决定性的影响，因为温斯顿•丘吉尔由于他英勇的反希特勒法西斯立场，一直在美国受到应得的尊敬。再见，十分感谢您。” 梅德琳陪着这两位俄国人走出播音室，克里弗兰正恼怒地望着他们的背影，对着扩音器说：“'市内名人动态'节目刚才请驻美国的俄国大使康斯坦丁•奥曼斯基先生向诸位作了关于德国人侵犯苏联的独一无二的首次广播讲话。”他的声音从戏剧性的庄重转到了开心的油腔滑调。“好吧，诸位，从侵犯苏联到新改进的惊人的'亮晶晶'牌，是一个急转，是不是？然而日子就是这样过的。如果油泥侵犯了你的厨房，那么新改进的'亮晶晶'牌就是打退它的现代化方法——” 初升的太阳到了芝加哥，但是看不见；一场雷雨笼罩着城市。巴穆•柯比坐着一辆出租汽车，去出席总统的炼铀委员会召开的秘密会议，委员会邀请了全国各地的有关工程师来讨论，其目的是要通过具体从事工作的人员研究能否在战争进行的预期时间——估计大约还要四或五年——内生产足够制造原子弹或发电站的铀。劳伦斯博士给他的信里要求他带来制造某种巨型电磁铁的切实可行的报告。他们两人是老朋友了，这些年来，柯比给这位诺贝尔奖金获得者的回旋加速器供应了许多特制设备。 巴穆•柯比的工作处于商业和科学之间，其性质是商业利用了科学；他常常说自己是个谋利者，然而他是有一定的科学地位的，因为他早年在加利福尼亚技术研究院工作过。柯比懂得巨型电磁铁是做什么用的。他对为了军用而生产铀的看法是明确的。这么做不但是可能的，而且柯比还认为德国人早已在这么做了。入侵俄国，对他来说，就是一个可怕的证明。 普通的铀，看起来象镍。它的化学性质是活动的，但是没有东西能使它爆炸。它奇特的放射性，会使照相底片产生模糊的影子；它摸起来有些热；长时间暴露在它前面，人会受到轻微灼伤。也好也不好，在宇宙间的物质中间，有一种要素的细微踪迹，化学性质相同，但原子构造不一样，就是：能爆炸的同位素铀—235。现在我们对这些都明白了，但是在一九四一年，科学家还只是猜想能不能做一个铀—235炸弹，一切还都是理论。一九四一年时的问题是：第一，要找出铀裂变时的连锁反应会不会无法控制，或者有什么还不知道的天然事物能使它停止；第二，如果第一个问题能够解决，那就要得到足够多的纯粹的铀—235来试着使它爆炸；第三，如果爆炸成功，那就制造足够多的这种东西来威吓世界。柯比听到希特勒进攻俄国的消息，他断定德国人至少在第一阶段上得到了成功。 从他狭隘的利益观点看，他把整个战争看成是德国人和美国人在使铀—235裂变问题上的竞争。其他的一切，什么潜艇的沉没，陆上的战役，空中的格斗，他越来越看成是无谓的流血，和这次大摊牌相比，不过是无用的老一套的虚张声势。希特勒冲进俄国，开辟了一条第二战线，放松了几乎灭亡的英国，简直象疯子的错误一样使他惊讶——除非是德国人成功地创造了可控制的连锁反应。如果希特勒有了铀的炸弹，或者可以指望在一两年内就有，那战争就已定局，而德国人到俄国去无非是进行一场规模巨大的奴隶掠夺，为统治全世界作准备而已。 从柯比所知道的情况中，看来是这样。是德国人发现了铀的裂变现象。一九三九年，他们把威廉皇帝研究院全部用来研究这项发现的军事用途。征服挪威后，有情报说，他们制造了大量的重水。这种两个氧原子的奇怪物质重水，它的唯一可能的军事用途就是在铀裂变过程中用作中子减速。 美国没有原子反应堆，没有建造反应堆的技术，只有一个科学家肯定能够创造连锁反应。全国储存的铀一共不到四十磅，更不用说那十分稀少的能爆炸的同位素235。尽管炼铀委员会开了那么多会，科学家们窃窃私议，政府还是不曾在这个计划上花费十万美金现款。柯比估计，现在德国人拚命地想搞世界帝国，在这方面也许已经花费了大约十亿美元。 炼铀委员会在一间单调的研究室里开会，尽管窗户开着，外面雷电不断，房间里还是闷热而烟雾腾腾。一块蒙着灰尘的小黑板上还有粉笔写的大学课程的基本方程式。桌子周围所有的人，柯比都认识，除了两个穿军服的客人：一个陆军上校和一个海军上校。科学家们只穿着衬衫，有的解掉了领带，卷起了袖子。仍旧是国家标准局的局长利曼•布里格斯当主席，这使柯比更为泄气。布里格斯是一个快活的灰头发官员，在他眼里，一千美元就是联邦的一笔可观开支。他还穿着外衣，系着领带。 劳伦斯博士对柯比友好地挥挥手，然后对旁边坐着的两位军人说：“这位是柯比博士，丹佛电气公司的董事长——这位是托马斯上校，这位是凯勒赫上校。” 柯比分发了油印的文件，然后高声念起来，有时候被隆隆的雷声打断。与会的人都侧耳细听——只有凯勒赫上校，一个双颊肥胖的秃头，连续不断地抽着烟，萎靡不振地瞪着前面，不时地把手伸进镶金线的蓝制服里在胸口的一个地方搔痒。陆军上校是个看上去带点书生气的小个子，老是咳嗽，不断地从一只小纸盒里拿药片吃，一面在柯比发的文件边上写速记注解。 柯比正在答复劳伦斯的信里提出的问题：他能不能制造这种巨型的电磁铁，如果能，大约要多少钱多少时间？劳伦斯认为——他总是用简单的方法和特别的力量来说服别人，所以有的科学家喜欢他，有的科学家恨他——可以把铀的一条电离子流在磁场中进行分离，以产生铀—235；这种方法柯比有一次对维克多•亨利讲过。已经有一种实验用的工具，叫作光谱仪，可以这样做。劳伦斯想制造巨型的光谱仪，以取得足够数量的铀—235供军用。这样的东西从来没有做过。这整个设想要求有——包括许多别的东西——特别巨型的电磁铁，能够保持一个不变化的磁场。电压的一点点细微变化，就会抹掉铀—238和铀—235之间离子流的极微小的差别。这是关键所在。 柯比提出了交付第一台电磁铁的可能日期，以及他要收的造价的大致范围，委员会的成员开始互相看了看。柯比最后提醒说，关于材料供应问题要求绝对优先权，说完就坐下了。劳伦斯的眼睛从眼镜后面朝他微笑着。 “好吧，这叫人还有点希望，”利曼•布里格斯温和地说，摸摸他的领带。“当然，这价钱还纯粹属于幻想的范围。” 那位海军上校插嘴说：“柯比博士，对于这个问题，通用电气公司来了人，西屋电气公司来了报告，他们设想的时间要两倍多，设想的钱还不止两倍，而且他们还把使用性能大大降低了。”巴穆•柯比耸了耸肩说：“有这可能。” “为什么我们要相信你说的可能性而不相信他们呢？”托马斯上校哑着嗓子说，随手从小盒里摇出一片药片来。 柯比说：“上校，我曾在西屋公司干过。他们制造的所有东西只使用一种电流。我是制造顾客设计的设备的，而且我是专门制造电磁铁的。这是一种比较狭仄的专业，然而是我的专业。在这一点上，德国人走在我们前头。我到德国去过，我研究了他们的机构，进口他们的镍合金线。西屋公司和通用公司不象我这样懂得这方面的技术。他们也不用懂得。对于电磁铁的专门技术我能够超过他们。至少我要求我能够，而且我准备以这些条件来投标。” 巴穆•柯比提到德国，桌子周围的人又交换起眼色来。那位海军上校以恼怒的声音说：“德国人还走在我们前头吗？” “在哪方面，先生？” “任何方面。说明白一点，就是制造这种炸弹方面。” 柯比抽了口烟斗，说：“从他们最近表现的自信看来，并不乐观。” “我同意。那么，为什么我们不干起来？这个委员会看来只会空谈。”凯勒赫坐直身子，皱起眉头说。“我不是科学家，我不敢说我对这种未来的武器十分相信，但是如果他们在干，我们就得赶快。我们直接到总统那里去，向他要钱要命令。我可以保证海军会支持委员会。” 布里格斯吓得举起一只瘦手说：“上校，总统有更紧迫的事，都需要钱、需要做。” “我不同意，”托马斯说，“能比这些炸弹更紧迫？” 布里格斯反驳说：“上校，这一切还不过纯粹是理论，要达到任何可能实用的结果还要好几年呢。” 凯勒赫上校用手一拍桌子，说：“瞧，让我提一个真正笨的问题。柯比在这儿谈论的是什么？是传布理论呢，还是制造光谱仪？也许我应该明白，然而我没有明白。” “是制造光谱仪，”劳伦斯用慈爱的声调说。 “很好。那么，为什么你不努力去干呢？你得过诺贝尔奖金。为什么你不送一个清楚明白的备忘录给总统，让他可以了解？为什么你还要在一些别的花样上绕来绕去？” “因为如果我们在这个基本建议上设想错误，”另一个科学家温和地解释说，“我们就可能白费好几年工夫。”柯比忍不住说：“或者在竞赛中输给德国人。” 讨论停顿了一会儿，一时间，只听得哗哗的雨声。布里格斯说：“好吧，这些事情还在未定之局，就象总统常说的那样。这件事情我们不能准备一半就动手去干，这是肯定的。无论如何——”他愉快地微笑着转向柯比，“我不认为我们还要耽搁你。你的报告十分有用。非常感谢。” 柯比收起他的文件，说：“不知道你们是否还用得着我，或者我先回丹佛去？” “弗莱德，别那么匆忙。”劳伦斯说。 “好吧，我就在史蒂芬斯旅馆。” 柯比在旅馆房间里呆了一上午，听着收音机里关于入侵俄国的新闻广播和特别报道，心情越来越沉重。不停歇的雨，时而夹着一阵闪电和雷鸣，加深了他的忧郁。有很长时间他在午饭之前不喝酒了，这天他却要了一瓶苏格兰威士忌，劳伦斯兴冲冲地来找他时，他已喝了差不多三分之一。“弗莱德，今天早晨你可出了风头。我以为我们会有午饭吃，不料委员会却叫送来咖啡和夹肉面包，会又接着开了下去。不过有些事已经提出来了。你有时间吗？” “我就是在这里坐着，听哥伦比亚广播公司广播世界的末日。”劳伦斯笑了。“它不会有末日。我们会在铀—235方面打败德国，这是这场战争的关键。他们的工业基础比我们差远了。这个委员会当然得改变它的方法。手续简直麻烦得令人难以相信。譬如说，现在进行的事务工作。简直受不了！为了保密，一次只能邀一个方面来商谈，把我们全体整天拖着！我们需要一个懂行的人作为事务工作与工业界之间的经常联系人，而且我们马上就需要。”劳伦斯停了一会儿，又说：“刚才我们正好谈起你。” “我？不行，谢谢。” “弗莱德，你是个工程师，你懂得业务，你对理论的掌握也很充分，这就是需要的人才，而这种人不多。不幸的是，现在世界上没有更重要的职位了，这你明白。” “可是天哪，要我给谁工作？向谁汇报？上帝保佑，不要是那个国家标准局吧！” “这一点是公开的。为了保密起见，也许你就在海军里面弄个顾问的职位。凯勒赫上校是急切地想干，我真觉得有点儿好笑。几年以前，菲尔米带着这东西的全套设计到海军去，被他们象疯子那样赶了出来。海军把恩利科•菲尔米①赶了出来！怎么，弗莱德？你干不干？” ①恩利科•菲尔米（1900—1945），美籍意大利物理学家，一九三八年得诺贝尔奖金，首先研究原子放射性问题，一九四二年首先完成铀原子分裂的连锁反应，后参与制造美国的原子弹。 顿了一会儿，柯比说：“我得在哪里任职？” “要在华盛顿。”柯比沉默了很久，于是劳伦斯又说：“到华盛顿去有困难吗？” “我没这么说，可是你要这些电磁铁制造出来——” “即使假定建议得到批准，钱拨了下来，那也要一年以后。这个可是必须立刻就干。你说怎么样？” 这是劳伦斯的急性子脾气，柯比很了解。他把劳伦斯看作可能是最有才华的人。柯比比这个获得诺贝尔奖金的人大几岁；他得到了博士学位之后，放弃了径直的科学前程，转向工业，大部分是由于他认识了劳伦斯和几个别的人，他们都比他年轻得多，有才华得多。他们使他感到自己落后了、泄气了。现在这样一个人鼓励他担任这样重要的一项任务，是无法推却的。 “但愿不给我这个职位，”他说，“给了我，我就接受。” 太阳在旧金山升起的时候，昼夜的分界线已经绕着地球走了一半，对苏联的入侵已经过了半天。无数的人被杀死，他们大部分是俄国人。苏联的空军损失了数百架飞机，也许不止一千架。灾难已经超过了正确的纪录。 在马雷岛海军船坞的军官俱乐部里，一张靠窗的满是阳光的桌子上，几个潜艇艇长正吃着火腿蛋，谈论对苏联的入侵。对入侵的结果，没有什么争辩。大家都同意苏联要垮台；有的说红军能支持六个星期，有的预言三个星期里或者十天就会结束。这些年轻的职业军官并不是头脑狭隘或者抱有成见的人，他们的这种看法在美国的武装部队里从上到下比比皆是。红军在芬兰的恶劣表现，已经证实那种认为共产主义以及斯大林的流血清洗已把俄国变成一个没有军事力量的国家的判断。一九四一年六月美国的作战计划处在估计世界战略形势时，根本没有考虑苏联。这些马雷岛上的潜艇军官在早餐桌上太平无事地议论地球另一边正在进行的大屠杀，不过表明整个军方对此的看法而已。 讨论的主要题目是日本人现在会不会进攻；如果进攻，进攻什么地方。这几位少校军官倾向于这样的意见：既然总统还在执行让他们越来越多地购买石油和废铁的自杀政策，日本人也许不会来。但是“乌贼号”的艇长布朗奇•胡班一开口，这种一致的意见就垮台了。 舰队里没有一个艇长比胡班更有威望。他在班里的崇高地位，他摆资格的冷淡态度，他玩的一手好桥牌，他打七十点高尔夫球的几下子击球，他喝酒的能耐，他的漂亮的老婆，他自己上得了杂志封面的漂亮仪表，这一切加起来，形成了一个使人难以置信的迷人外表。然而他的外表还有行动作后盾。在他的指挥下，“乌贼号”在轮机和炮术方面得了三个优秀。五月份舰队演习的时候，他让“乌贼号”溜进了一个驱逐舰的防护圈，击沉了假想的敌人战列舰。毫无疑问，他是个会青云直上的人物。因此，胡班少校在说话的时候，别人只有听的份儿。 胡班议论说，世界形势就象一场橄榄球赛。在亚洲，俄国的西伯利亚军队和日本人本来在面对面地比赛。希特勒最近的行动把俄国人吸回到另一翼，他们成了斯大林最后的后备。这是日本人的一个好机会。现在他们有了一个开阔的场地可以玩他们的球，从中国向南到新加坡，到苏拉威西和爪哇，把欧洲人富饶的属地都收拾掉。只要他们的行动够快，那么在美国人集合起来插手干预之前，他们就能越过界线。他看见他的新到任的副艇长在门口向他招手，他就打住了这个军人爱说的比喻，从餐桌边站了起来。 埃斯特上尉递给他一份太平洋舰队潜艇司令部来的电报： “乌贼号”取消大修只作必要战备检修报告启程马尼拉的最早日期。 “好啊，好啊，回基地去啦！”胡班咧嘴一笑，带点儿激动地说。“太好啦！那么太平洋舰队潜艇司令部也准备开球啦。让我们瞧瞧，今天是二十二号，嗯？还有那个空气压缩机和四号鱼雷发射管得装起来。显然我们弄不到新电动发电机了，这些事要等我们到马尼拉才能得到命令。就这样吧。”他把电报纸按在墙上，用铅笔清楚地写道：二十四日七时启程。然后递还给埃斯特。“作为军情优先电报发出。” “我们来得及吗，长官？” “给船坞的上校打个报告，他会把我们弄走的。” “是，长官。我们少一个军官。波洛蒂少尉得在医院里呆两个星期。” “妈的，我把这忘了。那么我们就四个军官走。挨着值班值到珍珠港，从那里的司令部里设法再找一个少尉。” “艇长，你认识太平洋舰队潜艇司令部人事处里的什么人吗？” “认识。怎么了？” “从新机构里去弄一个少尉出来行不行？” 对埃斯特狡猾的微笑，胡班做了个滑稽的鬼脸。“你脑子里有什么人吗？” “有那么个少尉，跟我一起从's—45号'上调出来的，刚去'鲔鱼号'报到。试航已经整整两个月了。” “是个好军官吗？” “这个，倒霉的是他是个袋里的耗子，是个很懒散的家伙。” “那我们要他干什么？” “我能对付他。在紧要关头，他倒是有计谋有勇气。他的父亲是作战计划处的上校，他的哥哥在'企业号'上驾驶侦察轰炸机。” “听起来不坏。他是哪一类的？” “他是后备役。你瞧，艇长，”看见胡班脸上苦笑的表情，埃斯特叫起来，“司令部里后备役军官多得是。你没法让艇上军官室里的军官全是常备役。在'乌贼号'上也没法。拜伦值潜水艇班行。我了解他。” “拜伦？” “他叫拜伦•亨利。人家叫他小名勃拉尼。” “好吧，也许我可以打个电话给珍珠港。不过，这样把这个勃拉尼弄来有点不择手段，是不是？新机构，在珍珠港，比跟着'乌贼号'到马尼拉是好得多的差使。” “苦差使。” 胡班好奇地对他的副艇长看了看，他对埃斯特这个人还摸不透。“你喜欢他，老弟？”埃斯特耸耸肩，说：“我们缺这么一个值班的。”向西移动的太阳，并没有在太平洋上照见好斗的小黑点。早晨的阳光斜射进停泊在珍珠港里“企业号”的机库甲板，射到拆卸的飞机上、半装配的鱼雷上以及在和平时期的这层水上机械工场甲板的一切乱糟糟东西上。到处都有穿油腻粗蓝布装的水手和穿咔叽装的军官在干活。象所有的航空母舰一样，这个钢铁的洞窟里弥漫着汽油、橡胶、金属和海洋空气的气味。水手长的哨声盖过了这个工作日的喧闹，接着广播喇叭里响起了一个南方口音：“请注意。十分钟后全体军官在军官室开会。” 华伦•亨利从一架侦察轰炸机的座舱里爬出来，在一块油腻的布上擦着手。他戴上咔叽军帽，对跟他一起干活的几个水手说：“在叫我了。祝我好运。” 他走进军官室时，穿咔叽衬衫、系黑领带的军官已经把椅子坐满，有的在两边站着。舰中央，正对前隔舱，挂着银幕，旁边一张铺绿呢的小桌上放着一架幻灯机。舰长，一个头发已经灰白的矮胖子，看见华伦进来，就站起来走到银幕前面，说：“诸位，我想你们都已听到消息。我一直听短波，看来这位元首趁斯大林还没举起锤子和镰刀就把他抓住了。”军官们对舰长的这种打趣，有礼貌地嘻嘻笑了笑。“我个人为俄国人感到遗憾，他们被这么呆笨的领导控制着。我遇到过几次他们的海军军官，我觉得他们是友好的，也相当内行，尽管他们的行为有点古怪。 “问题是，这件事对'企业号'的任务有什么影响？ “现在，我们许多人都知道，侦察机第六小队的亨利上尉对研究军事历史挺热心，所以我请他在这里给我们简单讲讲，然后开始工作，因此——立正！” 海军少将柯尔顿从一个门口进来，几十把椅子一阵响，全体军官站了起来。这个人胸脯粗壮，有点发紫的胖脸上还有飞机失事留下的伤疤。他曾经是“朗格莱号”上的海军飞行员，现在是太平洋舰队空军司令部的参谋长。舰长引他坐到副舰长急忙让出来的一把皮圈椅上。这位海军少将点起一支粗黑的雪茄烟，挥手叫军官们就座。 华伦站到银幕前面，双手背在身后，双腿略微分开，用大多数海军教官惯用的单调谦虚声音开始讲起来。他用老一套开玩笑的口气请大家原谅他的无知，然后就直截了当地谈到了主题。 “好吧，现在，很自然，我们关心的是日本人。在理论上，这里不应该有战争的问题。在军事力量方面我们比日本强得多，任何日本人要发动一场战争，看来就是自杀。所以你们听见老百姓在说，两个星期我们就会把这些黄脸儿的小个儿鬼子在地图上消灭掉之类的胡话。”有些年轻军官笑了笑，就不笑了。华伦把一幅黄蓝两色的水道部地图挂在银幕上，拿起一根教鞭指着说：“这是一幅太平洋的地图。面前没有一幅地图，就不应该说什么把某某人从地图上消灭掉之类的话。”华伦的教鞭把法国、荷兰、英国在东南亚的殖民地划了一个圈，“石油，橡胶，锡矿，大米——日本要成为世界列强之一所需的东西，都在这里。一九三九年以来欧洲几个帝国武装部队的遭遇，几乎都是为了掠夺。第一件事情要注意的，是这些东西都在日本的后院。我们要到那里去，得远远绕过日本，航行许多天。如果太平洋发生战争，那个有争议的地区离开旧金山有一万英里或一万英里以上，然而离开东京却只有八百英里。 “因此，我们的政府设法使日本人保持安静，让他们从我们这里买去他们需要的钢材、废铁和石油，尽管他们把这些东西立即储存起来准备和我们打仗。嗯，对这种政策我没有意见——” “我是有意见的，”海军少将用讥讽的口气严肃地咕噜了一句。军官们都笑了，鼓起掌来。柯尔顿接着说：“我这意见胆小的人不爱听。他们迟早会向东挺进，烧掉德士古的石油，把旧别克汽车的铁片打到我们身上。什么政策！对不起，上尉，请继续讲。” 华伦取掉地图，大家安静下来。银幕上亮起一张发白的幻灯片，这是一幅日俄战争的形势图。 “好，现在来讲点儿历史。这里是旅顺口——”华伦指着说，“远远伸进黄海，在朝鲜后面。这又是日本的后院。一九○五年，日本人在这里打败了俄国人。他们不宣战，偷袭沙皇的海军，在晚上用鱼雷偷袭。俄国人再也没恢复过来。日本人登了陆，包围了这个不冻港。就这样，旅顺口终于陷落。沙皇只得和一个只有他本国六十分之一大小的不发达的国家讲和！日本人把它看作一个伟大的胜利，就象我们看待美国独立革命那样。 “我个人认为我们的历史书没有对这场战争予以足够重视。现代日本的历史就是从这里开始的；也可能一切现代史都是从这里开始的。因为就在这一次，有色人种打了白种人，而且把白种人打败。” 在一个角落，靠近餐具柜子的地方，军官室的服务员们——一些穿白衣服的菲律宾人或黑人——都站在那里。只要讲题不是保密的，他们也有权旁听军官的课程。这时军官室突然静下来，人们的眼光都转向他们。菲律宾人脸上毫无表情，黑人们的表情则象谜一样各种各样，几个年轻的在酸溜溜地笑。这个尴尬局面出乎华伦的意外。司务长的助手们在场，对他说来是想当然的，不会去注意。他摆脱了窘态，继续讲下去。 “这是了不起的成就，离伯利①打开这个国家的大门才半个世纪。日本人学得很快。他们把丝绸和工艺品卖给英国人，换来现代化的使用蒸汽机的海军。他们雇佣德国人训练陆军。于是他们跳上大陆进攻俄国。 “要记得，莫斯科和旅顺口之间隔着整整一个大陆。唯一的联系就是一条铁路。漫长的供应线搞垮了沙皇。漫长的供应线搞垮了康瓦利斯②，漫长的供应线也搞垮了在俄国的拿破仑。你作战的地方越远，你消耗在来来往往上的力量就越大。 ①康瓦利斯（1738—1805），英国军人，美国独立战争时率领英军与美国革命军作战失败。 ②伯利（1794—1858），美国海军军人，一八五三年率舰队赴日本，迫使日本天皇政府签订条约，开放通商口岸。 “很巧的是，在海军战术学院，战争规划常常从日本人偷袭我们开始，而且就在我们这个珍珠港。这是从偷袭旅顺口推论出来的。日本人的头脑就是这样想的，上一次叫这些白种魔鬼吃了苦头，为什么不再照样干一下？ “当然，一九四一年不等于一九○五年。我们有了搜索机和雷达。这一次日本人可能被打得落花流水。然而，这个敌人的天性是奇特的。你不能排除这个可能性。 “不过总要记得他的目标。一九○四年日本人打沙皇的时候，他们并没有进军莫斯科的企图。他们的目标是抢占他们后院的地盘。他们就是这样干的，他们到现在还占领着。 “如果太平洋发生战争，日本人决不会出发攻占华盛顿。我猜想，他们甚至不会去威胁夏威夷。他们不可能乱冲乱撞。他们会向南进攻，大肆掠夺，然后向我们挑战，看我们敢不敢出来，拖着一条一千英里长的供应线，穿过他们设防的岛