gojungle: переводы

→ 12 DUE PROCESS OF LAW

→8 I L CARSO SQUALLIDO

→Bullets cracked around us as we wobbled into the air. Against all the odds we had done it: found the remains of the wireless set and secured enough of it to convince even the most obdurate security officer that the thing had smashed on impact to a degree where no one would ever be able to deduce how it had worked.

→They would have needed to transfer him to Army HQ in Marburg for this anyway, since we had no lock-up ourselves and the Provost Major of the local infantry division had stood firm on regulations and refused to lend Flik 19F the use of a prison cell. And anyway, there were more important things to think about that week, for the next day, 4 August, after an intense nine-hour bombardment, the Italian 3rd Army began its long-awaited offensive: the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, which merged with the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Battles into a conflict which was to rage on until the onset of winter.

→ I suppose dug out my manual of military law and contested my sentence of five days’ confinement to base. But in the event I was no more troubled that if i had been minded to do so I could have by it than Toth was by his own summary condemnation to five days’ close arrest on bread and water.

→Any old soldier will tell you that, for an enlisted man, being spectator to an exchange of insults between two officers of equal rank is one of the very sweetest pleasures that military life affords.

→He snatched the telegram—and tore it up into tiny pieces before striding back to his office. The fragments fluttered among the grass blades on the field. As I climbed out of the aeroplane I saw the assembled ground crew grinning among themselves in delight.

→“I thought that you might like to see this.” I rummaged inside the breast of my flying jacket. “It’s a telegram of congratulation to us from a fellow who claims to be commanding the 5th Army, a chap called Boroević or something like that. I thought that you might perhaps care to read it out to the assembled ranks on parade this morning.”

→He turned to leave. I called after him. “Oh, Herr Kommandant.” He turned back irritably. “What do you want?”

→“Herr Linienschiffsleutnant, you are henceforth sentenced by me as your commanding officer to a week’s confinement to this airfield. As to your pilot here—five days’ solitary arrest on bread and water! Abtreten sofort.”

→This information seemed merely to enrage Kraliczek even further— so far as I could gather on the grounds that destroying enemy aircraft without the aid of bullets would make nonsense of his monthly returns for expenditure of ammunition. At last he recovered himself sufficiently to speak.

→“Be quiet! And there’s the matter of your shooting down an Italian aeroplane, clean contrary to your orders not to engage the enemy . . .” “. . . By your leave, Herr Kommandant, the enemy engaged us, not we him. And incidentally, we didn’t shoot him down: he tried to follow us into a dive and broke up in mid-air.”

→“I see. Might I obediently enquire, then, whether we could bring forward some kilometres on account from September? Or perhaps borrow some unused kilometres from another unit if it helps balance the books? I know for a fact that Flik 4 at Wippach have been grounded for most of July. Surely they would help us out if we asked nicely . . .”

→“Not see any sense in it? Who are you to question orders, you degenerate! The whole point of a long-range reconnaissance unit is to fly as many kilometres as possible over enemy territory. You would have added at least a hundred kilometres to our total for August!”

→“Herr Kommandant, I choose to ignore your accusations of cowardice: so far as I understand the term, skulking is something that one does in Kanzlei huts, not in the air. As to your orders for us to proceed to Monte Nero to the west of the lines, they were not clearly expressed and I chose to interpret them as seemed most sensible at the time. If you care to examine this map you will see that the most direct route from here to the operational area keeps us well to the east of the trench lines almost all the way. I could see no point whatever in risking our mission by flying unarmed over Italian territory.” He fairly exploded at this, spluttering with all the fury of a damp firework.

→Meanwhile the slopes below me broke out into a rash of flashes and smoke clouds as the Italians recovered from their shock and, realising what was afoot, let fly with every gun available to try and find the perpetrator of this outrage.

→I breathed deeply and tried to count up to ten: the temptation to use violence against a brother-officer was overwhelming.

→“Damn and blast you both, I could have you court-matrialled and shot for cowardice! Your orders were to proceed to the scene of action over the enemy side of the lines and to return by the same route, not skulk in safety behind our lines. You are guilty of avoiding contact with the enemy, that’s the truth of it.”

→“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about: your damned disobedience to orders.” “Begging your pardon, to what disobedience can you possibly be referring, Herr Kommandant? Zugsführer Toth and I carried out our assignments to the letter . . .”

→“Good morning, Herr Kommandant. Up early I see. And in what may I perhaps be of service to you?” “Prohaska, I want to know the meaning of this.” I smiled. “Of what, Herr Kommandant?”