BILINGUAL STORY 雙語故事
Red flares over Kinmen — Remembering the 1949 ‘Battle of Guningtou’ 金門夜空的紅色信號彈——紀念1949年「古寧頭戰役」
By Nigel P. Daly / Translator: Cynthia Chen 陳昕妤
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。
Two red flares rose from the black sea. The men stopped eating beside their stranded tank and stared toward the water. The platoon leader shouted for everyone to get into position. Hsiung Chen-chiu climbed into Tank No. 66 and looked through the sight.
Wooden boats crowded the darkness. Soldiers jumped into the water, holding rifles above their heads, and moved toward the beach. Hsiung was 18 years old. A few hours earlier, the biggest problem he had ever faced was a tank stuck in the sand.
Photo: AI I 照片：人工智慧
Tank No. 66 should have gone back to camp after the exercise. Instead, it was stuck beside the coast. Another tank tried to pull it free. Then one track came off. They worked into the night trying to repair it. Two other tanks stayed nearby.
Hsiung turned the cannon toward the sea and loaded a shell. The cannon kicked. A boat offshore burst into flames. The fire lit the water. More boats. More men. Hundreds of them. He fired again. The fighting continued through the night.
Near dawn, the tide went out. Landing boats were stuck in the mud, but enemy soldiers were already inland. Gunfire hit the tank. Metal rang around Hsiung. Then he heard engines behind them. “Reinforcements!” someone shouted. The engines came closer. And the bullets came faster.
兩枚紅色的信號彈從漆黑的海面升起。守在故障戰車旁的士兵們放下手中的食物，凝視著海面。排長大聲喊叫，命令所有人各就各位進入戰鬥位置。熊震球爬進66號戰車，透過瞄準鏡看了出去。
黑暗的海面上擠滿了木船。無數士兵跳入水中，將步槍高舉過頭，朝著沙灘前進。那一年熊震球才18歲。幾個小時前，他所面臨最大的難題，也不過是一輛陷入沙堆裡的戰車。
66號戰車原本應該在演習結束後返回營區，但它卻卡在海岸邊。另一輛戰車試著把它拉出來，結果履帶反而脫落。他們忙到深夜努力修理，另外兩輛戰車則留在附近警戒。
熊震球將砲管對準大海，裝填了一發砲彈。砲火後座力猛然一震，海上的一艘船隻隨即爆炸起火，火光照亮了水面。更多船隻、更多敵兵，成百上千地湧來。他再次開火，戰鬥持續了一整夜。
接近黎明時分，潮水退去。登陸的船隻擱淺在泥灘上，但敵軍士兵已經進入內陸。槍林彈雨擊中戰車。金屬碰撞聲在熊震球耳邊響個不停。隨後，他聽到身後傳來引擎聲。「援軍到了！」有人大喊。引擎聲越來越近，子彈也呼嘯得更加猛烈。
Epilogue 故事討論
The battle was real. Early on Oct. 25, 1949, Chinese communist forces crossed from Fujian to Kinmen, beginning the Battle of Guningtou. Military studies estimate that the first wave included more than 8,000 soldiers, crossing in about 200 boats, mostly civilian fishing and sailing boats. The previous afternoon, M5A1 Tank No. 66 became stuck near Longkou after a military exercise. Attempts to free it failed, so two other tanks stayed nearby.
When the attack began, all three happened to be near the landing area. No. 66 opened fire, and one early shell reportedly hit a boat carrying ammunition, setting it on fire and lighting the shore. As the tide fell, many boats became stuck near shore, making it harder to bring in more troops. After three days of fighting, the invasion failed, with thousands of Communist soldiers killed or captured. For Kinmen, No. 66’s unlucky breakdown turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
這是一場真實發生過的戰役。1949年10月25日凌晨，中共軍隊從福建渡海進攻金門，展開了「古寧頭戰役」。根據軍方的研究估計，第一波攻勢包含超過8,000名士兵，搭乘約200艘船渡海，其中大多是民間的漁船和帆船。前一天下午，一輛M5A1 66號戰車在演習後不幸陷於壟口附近的沙灘，救援嘗試失敗後，另外兩輛戰車留在現場守候。
當攻擊開始時，這三輛戰車恰好就在登陸地點附近。66號戰車隨即開火，據傳其中一發即早發射的砲彈擊中了載有彈藥的船隻，引發大火並照亮了海岸。隨著潮水退去，許多船隻擱淺於岸邊，導致敵軍難以繼續輸送兵力。經過三天的奮戰，這場入侵行動以失敗告終，數千名共軍士兵陣亡或被俘。對金門而言，66號戰車當年那場不幸的故障，最終反而因禍得福。
Vocabulary 單字片語
1. flare 信號彈、照明燈
2. stranded 滯留的
3. tank 坦克、戰車
4. platoon 排、隊
5. rifle 來福槍、步槍
6. track 履帶
7. cannon 加農砲、大砲
8. shell 砲彈
9. reinforcement 援軍
10. ammunition 彈藥
11. invasion 入侵
12. captured 被俘
Idioms 相關成語
1. get into position 各就各位
2. burst into flames 爆炸起火
3. a blessing in disguise 因禍得福
Nigel P. Daly is a writer with a language learning newsletter called Chin-glish bilingual lab (https://ndaly.substack.com).
Cynthia Chen is a translator and writer specializing in blogs, scripts and articles.
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