宁愿战死(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。
宁愿战死
when field marshal paulus, who commanded the german sixth army's assault on stalingrad, surrendered to the soviets on 31 january 1943, hitler was furious, and said that "paulus stood at the doorsteps of eternal glory but made an about-face".
over 11000 german and axis soldiers refused to lay down their arms at the official surrender, believing that fighting to the death was better than what seemed like a slow end in soviet camps. they continued to resist until early march 1943, hiding in cellars and sewers of the city, with their numbers being dwindled at the same time by soviet forces. more than 2400 of them were killed, and 8646 were captured.

only 5000 of the 91000 german prisoners of war survived their captivity and returned home.
一九四三年一月三十一日，率领德国第六军进攻斯大林格勒的陆军元帅保罗斯向苏联军队投降。希特勒非常愤怒，说「保罗斯站在流芳百世的门前，却掉头而去」。
德军和轴心军有超过一万一千人拒绝听命投降放下武器，认为投降大概只会慢慢死在苏联集中营，不如战斗至死。他们躲在斯大林格勒的地窖和排水沟，继续抵抗，但被苏军渐次剿灭，到一九四三年三月初全部削平，战死者有二千四百余人，被俘者有八千六百四十六人。
九万一千个德国战俘，只有五千人没有死在战俘营，得回故乡。
【附注】about-face也作about-turn或volte-face，指一百八十度的转向。