Press Briefing on the 60th Anniversary of World War II 2/2/2005

• The Japanese conquest of Burma cut China’s last transportation route to the outside world (from Kunming to Lashio via the Burma Road, and then by railroad to Rangoon) at the end of April, 1942.
  
• 1942年4月底，日军占领缅甸，切断了中国与外界最后一条运输路线（从昆明经过缅甸公路到腊戍，然后走铁路到仰光）。
  
  
• Until a new land route to China could be opened, the only way for war materiel to reach China was by air from northeast India via the hazardous “Hump Route” over the Himalayas.
  
• 新的陆路运输线开通前，将作战物资运抵中国的唯一通道是从印度东北部飞越喜马拉雅山的艰险“驼峰航线”。
  

• Opening a new land route to China was a consistent aim of President Roosevelt and General Stilwell from 1942 to 1945.
  
• 开辟一条新的陆路运输线是罗斯福（Roosevelt）总统和史迪威（Stilwell）将军在1942年至1945年间始终不渝的目标。
  

• The United States sent 4600 railway personnel to India in 1943, to bring order to the British colonial railroad system between Calcutta and Assam.  Before then, it took up to 67 days to move supplies from the port of Calcutta to northeast India.
  
• 美国于1943年向印度派遣了4600名铁路人员，以改善加尔各答与阿萨姆之间英国的殖民铁路系统的管理秩序。在这之前，从加尔各答港口将物资运往印度东北部需时长达67天。
  

• The construction of the Ledo Road -- from Ledo, Assam, India -- into Burma began on December 16, 1942.
  
• 利多公路工程 — 从印度阿萨姆邦的利多进入缅甸 — 于1942年12月16日动工。
  

• The Ledo Road ran 465 miles from Ledo to a junction with the Burma Road at Mongyu.  In addition to building the Ledo Road, engineers and local workers also upgraded over 600 miles of the Burma Road from Mongyu to Kunming.
  
• 利多公路从利多至缅甸公路的一处相交点全长745公里。除了修建利多公路外，工程兵和当地工人还改善了从芒友(也译为孟尤或孟由)至昆明路段的缅甸公路。
  

• The full length of the Stilwell Road from Ledo, India to Kunming, China was 1079 miles.
  
• 从印度的利多到中国的昆明的史迪威公路（Stilwell Road）全长1726公里。
  

• A fuel pipeline was built along the full length of the new road from India to China.
  
• 沿着从印度至中国的这条新路全线铺设了一条输油管道。
  

• The Ledo Road and the pipeline went through some mostly uninhabited areas of Burma with some of the most difficult terrain in the world, including tropical rain forest, torrential streams, terraces and canyons, jungle-covered mountains and swampy valleys.  The wet monsoon season from May to October had heavy rain (up to 140 inches in the mountains).
  
• 利多公路和输油管道线经过一些缅甸的主要是无人区的地段，这些地段有着世界上极端困难的地理环境，如热带雨林、急流、阶面和峡谷、布满丛林的山脉和多沼泽的河谷。5月至10月的雨季时大雨滂沱（山区降雨量多达3560毫米。）
  

• Leeches, malaria, and typhus were among the medical hazards for the troops.
  
• 蚂蝗、疟疾和伤寒危及筑路部队的健康。
  

• Two Chinese units joined the American engineers, the 10th and 12th Independent Combat Engineer Regiments.
  
• 两支中国部队 — 第10和第12独立战斗工程兵团 — 与美国工程兵共事。
  

• From October, 1943, the commander of the effort was Brigadier General Lewis A. Pick.  Troops nicknamed the Road “Pick’s Pike.”
  
• 自1943年10月起，筑路工程的指挥官是刘易斯÷A.皮克（Lewis A. Pick）准将。官兵们戏称该路为“皮克的公路”（Pick’s Pike）。
  

• General Pick said that building the road was “the toughest job ever given to U.S. Army Engineers in wartime.”  Told the road could not be built, he said the road would be built, “rain, mud, and malaria be damned.” He began around-the-clock construction.
  
• 皮克将军说，建造那条路是“战时给予美国陆军工程兵团（U.S. Army Engineers）最艰巨的任务。”他被告知路不可能修建时，他说路得修，“去他妈的雨水、稀泥和疟疾！”他开始日夜兼程的建设。
  
  
• In December, 1943, the engineers opened 54 miles of road in 57 days.
  
• 1943年12月，工程人员在57天内开通了86公里的路。
  

• Pick’s construction system:  Chinese Army engineers led, clearing a trace.  An American engineer company followed, bulldozing the roadhead.  An aviation engineering battalion cleared the right-of-way 100 feet wide, and other units graded sections of 10 to 15 miles.  American and Chinese engineers installed drainage culverts.  An engineer construction or combat battalion built the needed bridges.  Finally, an aviation battalion spread gravel for the road surface.
  
• 皮克的筑路方法：中国的陆军工程兵打头，清理出一条小径。随后一家美国工程公司跟上，推土机推出路端。一个航空工程营清理出一条30米宽的公路用地，其他施工队各将16至24公里的路段整平。美国和中国的工程兵安装下水道。一个工程建筑营或战斗营修建需要的桥梁。最后，一个航空营给路面铺砾石。
  

• Of the 15,000 Engineers who built the road, over 60 percent were African-Americans.  (At the time, U.S. Army units were segregated.  These units were led by white officers.  The success of African-American troops on the Road and in other roles during the War gave a strong impetus to the later drive for Civil Rights.)
  
• 1.5万名筑路工程兵中，60%以上是非洲裔美国人（当时，美国陆军是种族隔离的。这些部队由白人军官指挥。战争期间，非洲裔美国士兵在修建这条公路和在其他方面所起的作用强劲地推动了日后的民权运动。）
  

• Engineers moved 13,500,000 cubic yards of earth in building the road.  This is enough earth to build a wall 3 feet wide and 10 feet high from New York to San Francisco.
  
• 工程兵为修建这条公路挖掘的土方为1.026亿立方米，足以建造从纽约（New York）到旧金山（San Francisco）1米宽，3米多高的一面墙。
  

• Engineers dug 1,383,000 cubic yards of gravel from riverbeds to surface the road.  If this gravel had been loaded on railcars, the train would have been  427 miles long.
  
• 工程兵从河床挖了用以铺路面的105万立方米的砾石。如果将这些砾石用火车车皮装载，那列火车得680公里长。
  

• The Ledo Road crossed 10 major rivers and 155 smaller streams.  Seven hundred bridges were built over the length of the road.
  
• 利多公路经过10条主要河流和155条较小溪流。全程修建了700座桥梁。
  

• Construction was as much a drainage project as a road building effort.  An average 13 culverts per mile were used, totalling 105 miles of pipe.
  
• 这既是筑路也是一项排水工程。平均每1公里公路有8条涵洞管道，管道总长168公里。
  

• Foresters gathered 822,000 cubic feet of lumber for use in building the road.  One million board feet of lumber and 2400 pilings were used in a causeway over the swamp.
  
• 伐木工砍伐了用于筑路的62.5万立方米的木材。横越沼泽地的一个堤道用了1百万板英尺[1]的木材和2400根立桩。
  

• Engineers completed the longest (1,180-foot) pontoon bridge in the world over the Irrawaddy River on December 6, 1944.
  
• 1944年12月6日，工程兵在伊洛瓦底江上建成世界上最长的浮桥（360米）。
  

The First Convoy

• General Pick led the first convoy out of Ledo, bound for Kunming, China on January 12, 1945 -- 113 vehicles (heavy cargo trucks, jeeps, and ambulances). The convoy reached Myitkyina on 15 January, but was delayed until 23 January until the last Japanese units were cleared from the Road area by Chinese and American troops.
  
• 1945年1月12日，皮克将军率领着第一支车队自利多出发驶往中国的昆明 — 113辆车（重型载货卡车、吉普车和救护车）。1月15日，车队抵达密支那后受阻，直至1月23日残留的日军被中国和美国的部队自公路地区清除。
  

• The convoy entered China on 28 January.  They were met by Minister of Foreign Affairs T.V. Soong.
  
• 1月28日，车队进入中国，受到外交部长宋子文的欢迎。
  

• On 4 February, the convoy reached Kunming as firecrackers exploded and bands played.  The Governor of Yunnan Province gave a banquet for the Americans.
  
• 2月4日，车队抵达昆明时，鞭炮齐鸣，锣鼓喧天。云南省省长设宴招待美国人。
  

• The Governor announced that the Ledo Road and the upgraded portion of the Burma Road from Mongyu to Kunming were to be named the Stilwell Road in honor of American General Joseph W. Stilwell, former Commander of the China-Burma-India Theater.
  
• 省长宣布，为纪念中国-缅甸-印度战区前指挥官约瑟夫÷W. 史迪威（Joseph W. Stilwell）将军，利多公路和缅甸公路从芒友至昆明的经改善的路段被命名为史迪威公路。
  
  
• In the six months following its opening, trucks carried 129,000 tons of supplies from India to China.  Twenty-six thousand trucks that carried the cargo (one-way) were handed over to the Chinese.
  
• 在公路运行后的半年中，卡车自印度向中国运输了12.9万吨供应物资。2.6万辆车卸货后移交给了中国。
  

• The final estimated cost of building the Road (in labor, materiel, supplies, equipment, fuel, and repairs) was $148,910,000.
  
• 最终估计的筑路成本（劳力、材料、补给品、设备、油料和修理）为1.4891亿美元。
  

• The greater cost of building the Ledo Road is measured in human lives. The entire length of the Stilwell Road was 1,079 miles. American fatalities were 1,133.  The human cost is often stated as "a man a mile.”
  
• 修筑利多公路更高的成本是以人命衡量的。史迪威公路全长1726公里。美方死亡人数为1133人。人命成本经常被说成“一英里一条命” 。
  
  
• Overall:  Killed in combat, 624 … Died of Typhus, 63 … Died of Malaria, 11 … Drowned, 53 … Died in Road Accidents, 44 … Died in Aircraft Accidents, 173 …
  
• 其中624人死于战斗；63人死于伤寒；11人死于疟疾；53人死于溺水；44人死于交通事故；173人死于坠机事故。