ONE of the most conspicuous and advantageous departures from the so-called rules of warfare is the independent action of men acting separately against men huddled together in a mass. —
作战中最明显且有利的偏离所谓战争规则的方式之一是个人独立行动，针对群体集结的人进行攻击。 —

Such independent activity is always seen in a war that assumes a national character. —
这种独立行动通常出现在具有国家特征的战争中。 —

In this kind of warfare, instead of forming in a crowd to attack a crowd, men disperse in small groups, attack singly and at once fly, when attacked by superior forces, and then attack again, when an opportunity presents itself. —
在这种战争中，人们不再像群体一样集结起来攻击，而是以小组分散开来，单独进行攻击，并在受到优势势力的攻击时立即逃避，然后在机会出现时再次发动攻击。 —

Such were the methods of the guerillas in Spain; —
这就是西班牙游击队的方法； —

of the mountain tribes in the Caucasus, and of the Russians in 1812.
高加索山地部落的方法，以及1812年俄罗斯人的方法。

War of this kind has been called partisan warfare on the supposition that this name defined its special significance. —
这种战争被称为游击战争，是基于这个名称定义了它的特殊意义。 —

But this kind of warfare does not follow any rules of war, but is in direct contradiction to a well-known rule of tactics, regarded as infallible. —
但这种战争不遵循任何战争规则，而是直接违背了一条被认为是绝对正确的战术规则。 —

That rule lays it down that the attacking party must concentrate his forces in order to be stronger than his opponent at the moment of conflict.
这个规则指出，进攻方必须集中兵力，以在冲突时比对手更强大。

Partisan warfare (always successful, as history testifies) acts in direct contradiction of this rule.
游击战争（正如历史所证明的那样）恰恰相反地行动。

Military science assumes that the relative strength of forces is identical with their numerical proportions. —
军事科学认为，兵力的相对强度与其数目成比例。 —

Military science maintains that the greater the number of soldiers, the greater their strength. —
军事科学认为，士兵数量越多，他们的力量就越大。 —

Les gros bataillons ont toujours raison.
大部队总是正确的。

To say this is as though one were in mechanics to say that forces were equal or unequal simply because the masses of the moving bodies were equal or unequal.
这就好像在力学中说，力量是相等或不相等的，仅仅因为移动物体的质量相等或不相等一样。

Force (the volume of motion) is the product of the mass into the velocity.
力（运动的程度）是质量乘以速度的产品。

In warfare the force of armies is the product of the mass multiplied by something else, an unknown x.
在战争中，军队的力量是质量乘以其他未知因素x的乘积。

Military science, seeing in history an immense number of examples in which the mass of an army does not correspond with its force, and in which small numbers conquer large ones, vaguely recognises the existence of this unknown factor, and tries to find it sometimes in some geometrical disposition of the troops, sometimes in the superiority of weapons, and most often in the genius of the leaders. —
军事学在历史上看到了大量的例子，证明军队的规模并不总是与其战斗力相符。它模糊地认识到了存在着这个未知的因素，并试图有时将其归于部队的几何布置，有时将其归于武器的优势，最常将其归于指挥者的天才能力。 —

But none of those factors yield results that agree with the historical facts.
但是，这些因素都不能与历史事实相符。

One has but to renounce the false view that glorifies the effect of the activity of the heroes of history in warfare in order to discover this unknown quantity, x.
只要放弃那种将历史英雄的活动在战争中过分赞美的错误观点，就能发现这个未知的因子 x。

X is the spirit of the army, the greater or less desire to fight and to face dangers on the part of all the men composing the army, which is quite apart from the question whether they are fighting under leaders of genius or not, with cudgels or with guns that fire thirty times a minute. —
X 是军队的士气，即全体军人对战斗和面对危险的更大或较小的意愿，这与他们是否在天才领导人的指挥下战斗或使用每分钟射击三十次的枪械无关。 —

The men who have the greater desire to fight always put themselves, too, in the more advantageous position for fighting. —
那些更愿意战斗的人也总是将自己置于更有利的战斗位置。 —

The spirit of the army is the factor which multiplied by the mass gives the product of the force. —
军队的士气是一个乘以军队规模的因素，得出的积即为战斗力。 —

To define and express the significance of this unknown factor, the spirit of the army, is the problem of science.
定义和表达这个未知因素——军队的士气的意义，是科学上的问题。

This problem can only be solved when we cease arbitrarily substituting for that unknown factor x the conditions under which the force is manifested, such as the plans of the general, the arming of the men and so on, and recognise this unknown factor in its entirety as the greater or less desire to fight and face danger. —
只有当我们停止任意地用决定战斗力体现的条件替代这个未知因素 x，诸如将军的计划、士兵的武装等等，并将这个未知因素完整地认识为更大或更小的战斗意愿和面对危险的意愿时，才能希望通过将已知的历史事实用方程来比较这个未知因素的相对价值，以接近其定义。 —

Then only by expressing known historical facts in equations can one hope from comparison of the relative value of this unknown factor to approach its definition. —
只有通过将已知的历史事实用方程表示出来，我们才能希望通过比较这个未知因素的相对价值来接近其定义。 —

Ten men, or battalions or divisions are victorious fighting with fifteen men or battalions or divisions, that is, they kill or take prisoner all of them while losing four of their own side, so that the loss has been four on one side and fifteen on the other. —
十个人，或者营，或者师，战胜了十五个人，或者营，或者师，也就是说，他们杀死或俘虏了所有敌人，而自己只损失了四个，所以损失是一方的四个，另一方的十五个。 —

Consequently, four on one side have been equivalent to fifteen on the other, and consequently 4x = 15y. —
因此，一方的四个相当于另一方的十五个，也就是说，4x = 15y。 —

Consequently x/y = ¹⁵⁄₄. This equation does not give us the value of the unknown factors, but it does give us the ratio between their values. —
因此 x/y = 15/4。这个方程并不能给出未知因素的值，但可以给出它们之间的比率。 —

And from the reduction to such equations of various historical units (battles, campaigns, periods of warfare) a series of numbers are obtained, in which there must be and may be discovered historical laws.
通过将各种历史事件（战斗、战役、作战时期）化约为这样的方程，可以得到一系列数值，其中可能存在历史规律。

The strategic principle, that armies should act in masses on the offensive, and should break up into smaller groups for retreat, unconsciously confirms the truth that the force of an army depends on its spirit. —
战略原则是，军队应该集中力量进行攻击，并在撤退时分散成小组，不知不觉地证明了军队的战斗力依赖于其士气。 —

To lead men forward under fire needs more discipline (which can only be attained by marching in masses) than is needed for self-defence when attacked. —
在炮火中带领士兵前进需要更多的纪律（只有通过集结行进才能达到），而自卫则不需要那么大程度的纪律。 —

But this rule, which leaves out of sight the spirit of the army, is continually proving unsound, and is strikingly untrue in practice in all national wars, when there is a great rise or fall in the spirit of the armies.
但这个规则忽视了军队的士气，它在所有国家战争中的实践中总是被证明是站不住脚的，特别是在士气大幅度上升或下降的情况下。

The French, on their retreat in 1812, though they should, by the laws of tactics, have defended themselves in detached groups, huddled together in a crowd, because the spirit of the men had sunk so low that it was only their number that kept them up. —
1812年法国人在撤退时，按照战术规律，他们本应该分散防守，聚集成一堆，因为士兵的士气已经降到了极点，只有人数维持着他们的决心。 —

The Russians should, on the contrary, by the laws of tactics, have attacked them in a mass, but in fact attacked in scattered companies, because the spirit of the men ran so high that individual men killed the French without orders, and needed no compulsion to face hardships and dangers.
相反，俄国人按照战术规律本该集中进攻，但实际上却分散成小队进攻，因为士兵的士气异常高涨，个别士兵在没有命令的情况下就杀死了法国人，也无需被强迫面对艰难和危险。