奠边府的逃兵(英中对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
奠边府的逃兵
the war between the viet minh and the french after failure of negotiations for vietnamese independence ended with the battle of dien bien phu, 1954, which broke french resistance.
dien bien phu saw one of the most bizarre happenings in modern warfare. during the course of the battle, about 2000 french soldiers, mainly algerian, moroccan and vietnamese irregulars, announced to their commanders that they were deserting. and their commanders, with gallic fatalism, let them go.
but there was no place for them to go, as the french were surrounded on all sides by the viet minh. so the deserters deserted-- to the middle of the camp --- and made themselves as comfortable as possible while the fighting raged around them, draining the dwindling resources of the base, and relaxing with the army prostitutes.

越南独立谈判失败后，越盟和法国战争爆发，到一九五四年奠边府之役结束。法军经此一役，抗战能力崩溃。
奠边府战役中，发生了些现代战场上罕见的怪事。战斗期间，约二千个法国士兵告诉指挥官说，他们准备逃走：这些士兵多数是阿尔及利亚、摩洛哥以及越南裔非正规军人。而指挥官竟然以法国人听天由命精神，放他们离去。
但法军被越盟四面包围，逃兵无处可逃，于是逃到营地中央，在四面激战声中，尽量安顿下来，进一步消耗营地越来越少的物资，并和军妓交欢。
【附注】今日法国属古代高卢（ gaul）地区，所以 gallic（高卢的）一字常戏指「法国人的」。