不为人知的故事：世界上最激烈的坦克战

30 years ago, thousands of tanks faced off on a desert battlefield. Today, ‘Fright Night’ still haunts these Gulf War veterans.

30年前，数千辆坦克在沙漠战场上对峙。直到今天，那惊魂之夜的场景仍然萦绕在这些海湾战争老兵的心头。

BY BILL NEWCOTT

作者：比尔·纽科特

The most pitched tank battle in the history of warfare was fought not against the Nazis in Europe or North Africa—but just 30 years ago, in the desert of Iraq.

历史上最激烈的坦克战不是发生在欧洲对抗纳粹时期，也不是发生在北非，而是在30年前的伊拉克沙漠里上演的。

Operation Desert Sabre, the four-day ground offensive of the six-week military operation known as Desert Storm, involved a fierce tank-against-tank campaign that outstripped even World War II’s savage battle of Kursk, which saw some 6,000 German and Soviet tanks battle over a grueling six-week period.

彼时，为期六周的“沙漠风暴”军事行动中有一个“沙漠军刀行动”，那是为其四天的地面攻势，其中的坦克对战十分激烈。第二次世界大战期间的库尔斯克战役十分残酷，在那场战斗中，德国和苏联的约6000辆坦克持续了长达六周的激战。但“沙漠军刀行动”的坦克战的激烈程度甚至超过了库尔斯克战役。

“Kursk was bigger if you consider the entire campaign,” says retired colonel and historian Gregory Fontenot, who commanded a tank battalion in what was perhaps Desert Storm’s most intense few hours—an overnight free-for-all that participants later called Fright Night.
“But no battle ever occurred—before or since Desert Storm—in which more than 3,000 tanks, plus thousands more armored vehicles, fought in the course of not quite 36 hours.”

“如果你考虑到整个战役的规模，库尔斯克战役更宏大，”退休上校兼历史学家格里高利·方特诺特回忆说，他在“沙漠风暴”行动最激烈的几个小时里指挥了一个坦克营，那是一个通宵的大混战，参与者后来称之为“惊魂之夜”。“但 “沙漠风暴”史无前例的，在那前后都从未发生过一场超过3000辆坦克，外加数千辆装甲车辆，在不到36小时的时间里作战的战斗。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

In three epic encounters—dubbed 73 Easting, Medina Ridge, and Fright Night (officially known as the Battle of Norfolk)—armored behemoths from both sides relentlessly went muzzle-to-muzzle, turning the sprawling desert into history’s most concentrated tank shooting gallery.

在三场史诗般的对战中，双方装甲巨兽无情地进行着枪口对射，将广袤的沙漠变成了历史上最密集的坦克射击场。人们称其为“东征73号”、“麦地那岭”和“惊魂之夜”(官方名称为“诺福克之战”)。

For the millions of Americans who stayed glued to their TVs in late February 1991, the news coming from Kuwait was unrelentingly triumphant. Allied troops were thoroughly trouncing the forces of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, overrunning their positions and chasing them out of Kuwait, the small, oil-rich country Hussein’s army had invaded the previous August.

1991年2月底，数百万的美国人目不转睛地盯着电视，从科威特传来的消息令他们欢欣鼓舞。消息称，伊拉克独裁者萨达姆·侯赛因的军队在1990年8月入侵了科威特这个盛产石油的小国，不过盟军彻底击溃了侯赛因的部队，占领了他们的阵地，并将他们赶出了科威特。

News reports showed fleets of allied tanks roaring across the desert like a stampede of buffalo, routing Iraq’s Russian-made tanks, blasting them into plumes of fire and smoke. Swarms of Iraqi soldiers were reportedly surrendering without a fight. Grim images of burned Iraqi corpses, seemed to serve as obxt lessons in the perils of challenging the might of the world’s “good guys.”

新闻报道显示，盟军坦克舰队像蜂拥的水牛一样呼啸着穿过沙漠，击溃了伊拉克的俄制坦克，把它们炸成了火海和浓烟。据报道，大批伊拉克士兵不战而降。到处是伊拉克人被焚烧的尸体，这些可怕的画面似乎给我们上了一课，告诉我们挑战世界上“好人”的力量是多么危险。

When it was all over, less than a hundred hours after the final offensive started, those of us watching TV heard the casualty reports: 292 coalition troops killed, compared to tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers. Sitting there on our comfy couches, we looked at each other and said, “Well, that was easy.”

在最后的进攻开始后不到100个小时的时间战争就结束后，我们这些看电视的人听到了伤亡报告，报告称292名联军士兵死亡，相比之下伊拉克士兵的死亡人数多达数万。我们就坐在舒适的沙发上，互相打量说:“嗯，这场战争很简单。”

Only it wasn’t easy.

只是这实际上并不容易。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

From the moment Iraq invaded its smaller neighbor to the south on August 1, 1990, an array of world nations condemned the action. Over the next few months, led by the United States, a massive military force from 35 nations was assembled in adjacent Saudi Arabia. Ostensibly, the military presence was aimed at keeping Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia. But it was no secret that, if Iraq persisted in occupying Kuwait, the coalition would act to push Iraq’s forces back across their own border.

自从1990年8月1日伊拉克入侵其南部较小邻国的那一刻起，世界各国就纷纷谴责这一行动。在接下来的几个月里，由美国领导的一支来自35个国家的庞大军事力量在邻近的沙特阿拉伯集结。表面上，该军事力量存在的目的是防止伊拉克入侵沙特阿拉伯。但如果伊拉克坚持占领科威特，联军将采取行动迫使伊拉克军队退回自己的国界，这一目的并不是什么秘密，

“First of all, don’t ever say it was a hundred-hour war—that’s a disservice to the Air Force and other military personnel who began engaging with the Iraqis in January,” says Fontenot, sitting in the den of his home in Lansing, Kansas. Behind him hangs a painting of two U.S. tanks charging toward the viewer, “the way the Iraqis saw them.”

“首先，永远不要说这只是一场100小时的战争——这是对空军和其他军事人员的一种伤害，实际上他们从1月份就开始与伊拉克人接触了，” 坐在堪萨斯州兰辛家中的书房中的额方特诺特这样说道。他身后挂着一幅画，画的是两辆美国坦克向观众冲来，“这是伊拉克人看待这场战争的方式”。

On January 17, 1991, the coalition began air strikes against Iraq, bombing missile bases and other military installations. Meanwhile, ground troops in Saudi Arabia trained for desert warfare while there were isolated skirmishes between the two sides along the Saudi border.
In mid-February, coalition forces seemed to be concentrating their attention on Kuwait City, the occupied nation’s seaport capital. As warships gathered offshore, the Iraqis became convinced the expected assault would focus on the coastline.

1991年1月17日，联军开始空袭伊拉克，轰炸导弹基地和其他军事设施。与此同时，沙特阿拉伯的地面部队正在为沙漠战争进行训练，双方还在沙特边境发生了小规模冲突。2月中旬，联军似乎将注意力集中在了被占领国家的海港首都科威特城。随着军舰在近海集结，伊拉克人开始相信预期的攻击将集中在沿海地区。

But while the Iraqis were preoccupied with Kuwait’s front porch, the coalition attacked through the back door: On February 24, one of the largest forces of tanks ever assembled—more than 3,000—plus thousands of armored support vehicles and infantry roared across the vast, lightly guarded Saudi-Iraqi border that stretched to the west. Commanding General Norman Schwarzkopf had devised a grand scheme he called the “left hook”: Coalition tanks would rush north into Iraq for a set distance, then turn abruptly to the east, pushing toward occupied Kuwait City and destroying all enemy resistance along the way.

但是，当伊拉克人全神贯注地盯着科威特的前门时，联军却从后门发动了袭击: 2月24日，史上规模最大的坦克部队之一集结起来，3000多辆装甲支援车辆和步兵呼啸着穿过沙特-伊拉克边界，这条边界向西延伸，守卫薄弱。指挥诺曼·施瓦茨科普夫将军设计了一个他称之为“左钩战术”的宏伟计划，即联军坦克向北冲进伊拉克一段一定距离，然后突然转向东方，逼近被占领的科威特城，摧毁沿途所有抵抗的敌人。

‘Once a tanker, always a tanker’

一次的坦克手，永远的坦克手

Paul Sousa is gazing at a hulking M1A1 Abrams tank with the affection of a middle-age man reunited with his first car. The thing is 32 feet long and weighs nearly 68 tons, but to him it’s one sweet set of wheels.

保罗·苏萨带着中年男子与第一辆车重聚时的那种深情凝视着一辆笨重的M1A1艾布拉姆斯坦克。它有32英尺长，近68吨重，但对苏萨来说，这是一组可爱的车轮。

“This is my beast,” he smiles. “I was on these things for 18 years. For Desert Storm, I was in one for 100 hours straight—only came out to go to the bathroom, or help fuel, or hold a machine gun while the other guys fueled.”

“这是我的野兽，”他笑着说。“我在这些事情上做了18年。在“沙漠风暴”行动中，我在其中一辆坦克里呆了100个小时，中途只有上厕所，或者帮忙加油，或者在其他人加油的时候拿着机关枪防御的时候才出来。”

Some 1,900 of these monsters were dispatched against the Iraqis in Desert Storm. The enemy had thousands of serviceable Soviet-era tanks, but nothing to match the firepower at the fingertips of Sousa, a gunner with the 1st Cavalry Division.

在“沙漠风暴”中，大约有1900个这样的坦克怪物被派遣去对抗伊拉克人。敌人拥有数千辆苏联制造的坦克，但他们都比不上第一骑兵师的炮手苏萨的火力。

Modernized versions of the M1A1 are still stationed around the globe, but this particular one, sitting in a corner of the 67,000-square-foot American Heritage Museum in Stow, Massachusetts, is the only such tank on public display in the world.

现代化版本的M1A1坦克仍然驻扎在世界各地，但这个特殊的坦克现在坐落在马萨诸塞州斯托市6.7万平方英尺的美国文化遗产博物馆的角落里，这是世界上唯一公开展示的这种类型的坦克。

Four soldiers manned the M1A1: a commander, a driver, a gunner, and a loader. These guys call themselves tankers. “Once a tanker, always a tanker,” they’re fond of saying. The commander sits up top, watching the surrounding terrain. The driver is out front, his head jutting from a hole just under the gun. To sit in the gunner’s seat, however, is to get a sense of having had a machine built around you. There’s not an inch of spare room; just an in-your-face array of equipment and ammunition.

M1A1上有四名士兵:一名指挥官、一名驾驶员、一名炮手和一名装填手。这些人自称是坦克手。他们总爱说:“一次的坦克手，永远的坦克手。” 指挥官坐在上面，观察周围的地形。司机在前面，他的头得从枪下的洞里伸出来。然而，坐在炮手的座位上，你会有一种周围有一台机器包裹着你的感觉，周围没有一寸空间; 有的只是一堆你眼前的装备和弹药。

“For me, the whole war was spent down there in the dark, looking through a periscope,” Sousa adds. “Kind of cooped up.”

“对我来说，整个战争都是在黑暗中通过潜望镜进行的，” 苏萨补充道。“有点被禁锢起来了的感觉。”

Early on the morning of February 24, coalition forces secretly stretched some 300 miles along the Saudi-Iraqi border. Iraqi military officials had some suspicions, but did not act on them.
“I’ll tell you one thing—my mother had figured it out,” says Randy Richert, who served with the 1st Infantry Division. He’d trained as a tanker but found himself driving a colonel in and around moving tank formations in an unarmed Humvee, like a dolphin skipping around a pod of whales.

2月24日清晨，联军沿着沙特和伊拉克边境秘密行进了约300英里。伊拉克军方官员虽然有一些怀疑，但没有采取行动。“我告诉你一件事，我妈妈洞悉了我们的行动，”在第一步兵师服役的兰迪·里歇特说。兰迪曾接受过坦克手训练，但在战争中只是驾驶着一辆没有武装的悍马车，带着一名上校来来回回地指挥坦克编队，那感觉就像海豚（悍马）在一群鲸鱼（坦克）周围蹦蹦跳跳。

“My mom kept hearing on the news about all the other divisions that were amassing near Kuwait, to the east, but nothing about us. So she told her friends, ‘I think Randy’s out there in the desert somewhere.’”

“我妈妈一直听新闻说其他部队在科威特以东集结，但没有听到关于我们编队的消息。所以她告诉她的朋友们，‘我觉得兰迪在沙漠里的某个地方。’”

Prior to Desert Storm, many of the Army’s tankers had spent the better part of a decade on M1A1s in Europe—training for the possibility of a Soviet invasion across the Iron Curtain.

在“沙漠风暴”之前，为了应对苏联越过铁幕入侵的可能性，许多陆军的坦克手都在欧洲花了近十年的时间在M1A1里训练，。

“It was Cold War time,” recalls Paul Beaulieu, a gunner. “We were always on alx; always waiting for that Soviet invasion. I never dreamed I’d end up using that training somewhere in the desert, but I was ready.”

“在冷战时期，”枪手保罗·博利厄回忆道。“我们时刻保持警惕;一直在等着苏联的入侵。但是我做梦也没想到自己的这种训练成果最终会在沙漠的某个地方派上用场，但我最终也准备好了。”

Walking around the American Heritage Museum’s M1A1, Beaulieu notes that the tank’s advanced suspension system gave it a surprisingly smooth ride, even on the roughest desert terrain. Pointing to a nearby 1960s vintage Sheridan M551 tank, which also saw service in Desert Storm, he adds, “Compared to riding in that tank over there, this is like a Cadillac.” Ironically, the Sheridan was actually built by Cadillac.

站在美国遗产博物馆的M1A1旁边，博利厄提到，坦克的先进悬挂系统可以让坦克在最粗糙的沙漠地形上也能实现平稳行驶。他指着附近一辆上世纪60年代的老式谢里丹M551坦克补充说:“和坐在那边的坦克比起来，这就像一辆凯迪拉克。“讽刺的是，谢里丹实际上是凯迪拉克建造的。

‘It was raining mud’

泥雨纷飞

That first morning, the tanks, accompanied by infantry and other armored vehicles, plowed through Iraqi defenses—many of which had been nearly destroyed by earlier air attacks—as they made steady progress north.

第一天早上，坦克在步兵和其他装甲车辆的陪同下穿过了伊拉克的防御工事，由于途中的许多防御工事几乎被早些时候的空袭摧毁，所以部队一路稳步向北推进。

Utterly unprepared, tens of thousands of Iraqi infantry—most of whom were teens and young men pressed into service by Saddam—fought fiercely but were severely outgunned. Many surrendered when the tanks arrived in their camps. These were not Iraq’s most skilled fighters, however. They were mere cannon fodder set up in broad perimeters in front of Iraq’s much-feared Republican Guard.

伊拉克步兵中大部分是被萨达姆强迫服役的青少年和年轻人，所以成千上万的伊拉克步兵完全没有做好准备。虽然他们的反抗也十分激烈，但奈何武器严重落后。最后，当联军坦克到达他们的营地时，许多人直接投降了。然而，他们并不是伊拉克最熟练的战士。他们只不过是在伊拉克令人畏惧的共和国卫队前设置的宽范围内的炮灰而已。

At home in the U.S., viewers saw stock film footage of M1A1 tanks speeding across a dry, flat desert under brilliantly sunny skies. But those were training films. The actual weather in Iraq was dreadful: Rain pounded the desert for most of the offensive. Even worse, it was a sticky, oily rain—caused by precipitation mixing with the billowing smoke from Kuwait’s oil fields, which the Iraqis had set afire.

在美国国内，观众们看到了胶片上的一些片段，影片里，在晴朗的天空下，M1A1坦克在干燥平坦的沙漠上飞驰。但那是只是训练影片。实际上，伊拉克的真实天气是可怕的，在进攻的大部分时间里，沙漠中雨水肆虐。更糟糕的是，因为伊拉克人点燃了科威特油田，油田冒出的滚滚浓烟和雨水混合，这就让当时的雨水非常粘稠的且含油量高。

The invasion’s swift success surprised even Schwarzkopf, who ordered his troops to push on well ahead of schedule. The decision increased the coalition’s advantage, but took a toll on the already-fatigued troops.

联军入侵迅速取得了成功，这个结果甚至让施瓦茨科普夫也感到惊讶，他命令他的部队提前推进。这一决定增加了联军的优势，但对已经疲惫不堪的部队也造成了一定损失。

“Sleep just didn’t happen,” says Richert. “The minute you stopped, you’d fall asleep. Maybe you’d get a 20-minute nap, and that would be it for the next eight hours.”

“根本就没有睡觉的机会，”里歇特说。“你一停下来，就会睡着。也许你会小睡20分钟，但接下来的8个小时就没机会再睡了。”

There were a number of tank-to-tank skirmishes in the first two days of the operation, but the armored war began in earnest on February 26 when the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and other units encountered Republican Guard tanks after they had made the eastward turn toward Kuwait. In one notable face-off, A Troop—led by future U.S. National Security Advisor Capt. H.R. McMaster—took a position above a dried-up river bed, and for four hours fought off wave after wave of Iraqi tanks.

在行动的头两天有一些坦克对坦克的小冲突，但装甲战争在美国第二装甲骑兵团和其他单位在向东转向科威特后遇到了共和国卫队的坦克后才正式开始，时间是2月26日。在一次引人注目的对峙中，一支由后来的美国国家安全顾问麦克马斯特上尉率领的部队在干涸的河床上驾好装备，在长达四个小时的战斗中击退了一波又一波的伊拉克坦克。

Hours later, just a few miles away, the 1st Infantry Division and the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Armored Division (also known as Hell on Wheels) got into a middle-of-the-night battle with more Republican Guard tanks—Fontenot’s Fright Night.

几个小时后，就在几英里之外的地方，第一步兵师和第二装甲师(也被称为地狱之轮)的第三旅与更多的共和国卫队坦克展开了午夜战斗，这就是著名的“方特诺特的恐怖之夜”。

In the dark, in the rain, in the smoke, conditions could hardly have been worse. Tanks fired on each other without being certain which side they were on. Iraqi soldiers physically swarmed the coalition tanks, attempting to find holes through which they could aim their machine guns. The tankers responded by sealing their hatches while their comrades in nearby tanks literally peppered them with machine gun fire, killing the hangers-on.

在烟雾缭绕的黑暗的雨夜中，情况糟糕透了。坦克在不确定自己在哪一边的情况下互相开火。伊拉克士兵聚集在联军坦克上，试图找到可以瞄准机枪的射击孔。作为回应，坦克封闭了舱口，而附近坦克里的战友用机枪向聚集的伊拉克士兵扫射，解决了那些人。

The sky was illuminated with tracers. As tanks passed low hills or depressions, Iraqi fighters jumped from hiding, aiming rocket-powered grenade launchers, trying to take the tanks out from behind. Only quick action from the tank’s machine gunners prevented disaster.

后来，天空被曳光弹照亮了。当坦克驶过低矮的山丘或洼地时，伊拉克士兵会从藏身之处跳起来，瞄准火箭动力榴弹发射器，试图从后面把坦克干掉。只有快速行动的坦克机枪手才避免了灾难的发生。

“Sometimes,” says Fontenot, “it would just be lines of tanks firing away at each other. It was 360-degree battle.”

“有时候，”方特诺特说，“那只是一排坦克相互射击。这是一场360度的战斗。”

Inevitably, in the confusion and the darkness, fatal accidents happened. In his book, The First Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed: Road to Victory in Desert Storm, Fontenot relates the sickening moment when an errant armor-piercing round from an M1A1 destroyed a U.S. Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, sending glitter-like sparkles skyward.

在混乱和黑暗中，不可避免地发生了一些致命的事故。在他的《第一步兵师与美国陆军的转变:沙漠风暴中的胜利之路》一书中，方特诺特就描述了一个令人恶心的时刻:一架M1A1的穿甲弹击中了一辆美国布拉德利步兵车，把闪闪发光的火花射向了天空。

Fontenot specifically ordered his men not to shoot until they were absolutely certain it was an enemy in their sights. Still, he is haunted by what he calls the “fratricide” of that chaotic night. A combination of friendly and enemy fired killed six Americans and wounded 32.

方特诺特特别命令他的手下在完全确定敌人已经进入视线之前不要开枪。尽管如此，在那个混乱的夜晚，他仍然被所谓的“兄弟间的自相残杀”所困扰。友军和敌军联合开火，打死了6名美国人，打伤32人。

“There were so many factors,” he says. “It was raining mud, for crying out loud. We had clouds and smoke that played tricks with visibility. Someone said visibility that night was like looking into a closet with sunglasses on.”

“有很多因素造成了这个后果，”他说。“当时下着泥巴雨。我们的云层和烟雾对能见度造成了影响。有人说，那天晚上的能见度就像戴着墨镜往壁橱里看一样。”

Fatigue also played a role, Fontenot says. “The guys saw things that they expected to see, but they weren’t really there. If you see combat vehicles coming toward you, you’re going to do something, and it might not be the right thing.”

方特诺特说，疲劳也是原因之一。“这些家伙看到了他们期望看到的东西，但他们并没有真正做到。如果你看到战斗车辆朝你驶来，你就会采取行动，而这可能不是正确的做法。”

After Fright Night, there was one major tank battle left: a 40-minute slugfest at a place called Medina Ridge, involving some 3,000 vehicles, including 348 M1A1 tanks. It was the last stand for Iraq’s Republican Guard, and they put up their best fight of the short war. Still, the M1A1’s gun range was so superior to the Iraqis’ they could fire almost with impunity. Attack helicopters and A-10 anti-tank planes flew in to help mop up.

恐怖之夜过后，还剩下一场主要的坦克大战，即在麦地那岭进行的一场40分钟的激战，该战役涉及约3000辆车辆，其中包括348辆M1A1坦克。这是伊拉克共和国卫队的最后一站，他们在短暂的战争中打出了最好的一仗。尽管如此，M1A1的射程还是比伊拉克人优越，他们几乎可以不受敌军火力影响地开火。联军还利用攻击直升机和A-10反坦克飞机飞过来帮忙扫尾。

The victory at Medina Ridge was quick, decisive—and, for many of the Americans, traumatizing.

麦地那岭战役的胜利是迅速而果断的，但对许多美国人来说，这是一次精神创伤。

“I don’t think my wife needs to know what took place out here,” one tanker told the New York Times. “I do not want her to know that side of me.” From breach to cease-fire, the battles of Desert Storm lasted a bit under a hundred hours. Between 25,000 and 50,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 80,000 captured. Of the 219 U.S. soldiers who died, 154 perished in battle, too many of them in friendly fire.

“我认为我的妻子不需要知道这里发生了什么，”一名坦克手告诉《纽约时报》。“我不想让她知道我的那一面。” 从开始进攻到停火，“沙漠风暴”的战斗持续了不到100个小时。有2.5万到5万名伊拉克士兵被杀，8万人被俘。在阵亡的219名美军士兵中，有154人死于战斗，其中很多则人死于友军炮火。

About 3,300 Iraqi tanks were destroyed in desert battles and by air attack. The coalition lost 31.

大约3300辆伊拉克坦克在沙漠战斗和空袭中被摧毁。联军损失了31辆。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

A somber place

昏暗的地方

The M1A1 at the American Heritage Museum is shiny and like new. It’s a Monday, the museum is closed, and the museum’s Hunter Chaney asks if I’d like to sit inside. The answer, of course, is yes.

美国文化博物馆里的M1A1闪闪发光，就像新的一样。那是一个周一，我去博物馆但是关门了，博物馆的亨特·切尼问我想不想进去坐坐。答案当然是肯定的。

I need a step ladder to mount the tank’s side—a young soldier would have clambered up there like a mountain goat. I slide into the tank’s dark interior, flip down the gunner’s spring-loaded seat, and get into position.

我用一个梯子爬上了坦克的一侧，一个年轻的士兵会像一只山羊一样爬上去。我滑进坦克黑漆漆的内部，掀翻炮手的弹簧座椅，并就位。

The last time I saw one of these things in person was in the months after Desert Storm, during a gala, triumphant parade on the streets of Washington, D.C.

我上一次亲眼看到这些东西是在沙漠风暴之后的几个月，那会儿华盛顿特区街头举行了一个庆祝游行。

But there’s no sense of triumph in here. It’s a somber place, made all the more subdued by the fact that a man died in the seat next to mine. After the Gulf War ended, this particular M1A1 remained in the Middle East, where it was put into service during the Iraq War. On August 3, 2006, while patrolling outside of Fallujah, the tank was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED). A hunk of shrapnel tore into the neck of the commander, a young father named George Ulloa.

但在博物馆这里完全没有胜利的感觉。这是一个阴郁的地方，一个男人死在了我旁边的座位上，这让我更加感到压抑。海湾战争结束后，这架M1A1一直留在中东，并在伊拉克战争期间投入使用过。2006年8月3日，在费卢杰城外巡逻时，这辆坦克被一个简易爆炸装置(IED)击中。一大块弹片击中了一位名叫乔治·乌略亚的年轻父亲的脖子。

In a video tribute playing on a loop near the tank, Ulloa’s tearful wife talks about his love for their three children, his love for his country.

在坦克旁边循环播放的致敬视频中，乌略亚含泪的妻子谈到了他对他们三个孩子的爱，以及他对国家的爱。

Wars can be swift; wars can seem to go on forever. And depending on your perspective, even a hundred-hour war can feel like an eternity.

战争可以是迅速的，但是战争似乎会永远持续下去。根据不同的人的看法，即使是100个小时的战争也会让人感觉像永恒。