No Other Choice—别无选择（乔治·布莱克）（第四章~end）
One Saturday morning I was working in my small attic room in Broadway Buildings when a shattering explosion shook the whole building to its foundations. We rushed out of our rooms to find out what had happened. A V2 had come down only some hundred yards away, across Queen Anne's Gate, destroying the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks where a wedding service was just in progress, killing and maiming many of those present.
【一个星期六的早晨，我正在百老汇大厦的小阁楼里工作，突然一声巨响撼动了整栋大楼。我们冲出房间去看发生了什么事。一发V2从几百码开外的安妮女王之门上空爆炸，摧毁了正在举行婚礼仪式的威灵顿兵营的教堂，造成很多人员死伤。】
I remember being on duty one Sunday afternoon in September. Before he left, Major Seymour had given me the text of telegrams which I was to despatch immediately upon receipt of a telephone call from SHAPE. It contained instructions to our underground organisations in Holland, especially those in the Arnhem-Nymegen area, to render every assistance to the Allied troops about to land and to keep us constantly informed of enemy troop movements. It was a tense afternoon waiting for this call. I realised that an important operation was afoot, which, if successful, would bring about the liberation of Holland within a matter of days. Then the call came and I at once sent off the telegrams. I felt as if a spring had been released inside me. We were very busy the next few days dealing with the greatly increased flow of traffic, processing it and passing it on, much of it by telephone. It soon revealed that the enemy was succeeding rapidly in bringing up vastly superior forces, including a whole Panzer Division, and that the main body of our troops stood little chance of linking up with the parachute troops which had landed north of the river. The operation miscarried. Thousands of lives were sacrificed in vain and Holland faced the most bitter and cruel winter of its war.
【我记得9月的一个星期天下午，我正在值勤。西摩少校临走前给了我一份电报，一接到SHAPE的电话，我就要立即发出去。电报指示在荷兰的地下组织，特别是在阿纳姆-奈梅亨地区的地下组织，要为即将登陆的盟军部队提供一切援助，并随时向盟军通报敌军的动向。等待这个电话是一个紧张的下午。我意识到一个重要的行动正在进行，如果成功，将在几天内解放荷兰。然后电话来了，我立刻发了电报。我感到体内的压力被释放了。在接下来的几天里，我们非常忙碌，处理大大增多的情报，分析它并传递它，大部分是通过电话。很快就有消息显示，敌人正在迅速地调来大量的精锐部队，其中包括整个装甲师，我军主力几乎没有机会与在河流北岸登陆的伞兵会合。行动失败了。成千上万的生命白白牺牲，荷兰正面临着战争中最痛苦、最残酷的冬天。】
Occasionally, to give me a break from office work, Commander Child would suggest that I accompany an agent to the airfield on the night of a dropping operation. We usually set out in the early afternoon in a large car, driven by a girl in one of the Women's Services, to an airfield in Essex. On the way we would stop, first for tea and then for drinks in some cosy old pub. We all three did our best to keep the mood gay and carefree and usually succeeded in this. At the airfield we always had supper with the crew of the aircraft which was to drop the agent. Just before departure the agent changed into clothes of Dutch origin and I had to check carefully that he had no English coins, letters, bus or cinema tickets or anything else on his person, which might give him away. Then I gave him his false Dutch identity documents, his money, his codes and transmitting schedules and, if he wished, a lethal pill.
【偶尔，为了让我从办公室的工作中休息一下，查尔德指挥官会建议我在空投行动的晚上陪同一名特工前往机场。我们通常在下午早些时候乘坐一辆大车，由妇女服务机构的一个女孩驾驶，前往埃塞克斯的一个机场。在路上，我们会停下来，先喝茶，然后在某个舒适的老酒吧里喝一杯。我们三个人都尽量使气氛愉快、没有压力，我们通常能做到这样。在机场，我们总是和空降特工的机组人员一起吃晚饭。就在出发前，这名特工换上了荷兰特色的衣服，我不得不仔细检查他身上是否带了英国硬币、信件、汽车票或电影票或其他任何可能暴露他身份的东西。然后我给了他伪造的荷兰身份证件、钱、密码和传输时间表，如果他愿意，还给了他一颗致命的药丸。】
After that he put on his jumping suit and his parachute and was ready to start out on his dangerous mission. We got into a jeep and drove to the waiting aircraft. There I checked that the right containers with supplies and equipment were on board and then came the moment to say goodbye. A brief handshake, muttered good wishes and he climbed into the aircraft turning round once more to give the thumbs up sign before the door closed behind him. A final wave as the aircraft rolled out to the runway and then the wait as it gathered speed, lifted itself in the air and with its light winking disappeared into the night. The drive back to London in the dark was usually a silent one. Neither the driver nor I felt much like indulging in small talk. Our thoughts were with that aircraft flying eastward into enemy territory. Would the dropping operation be successful and our companion of an hour ago come down alive and well among his comrades of the underground? Would the crew with whom we had just supped and who had been so cheerful and matter-of-fact return to base safely?
【之后，他穿上跳伞服，带上降落伞，准备开始他的危险任务。我们上了一辆吉普车，向等候着的飞机驶去。在那里，我检查了装有补给品和设备的集装箱是否在船上，然后就到了告别的时刻。简短的握手，嘀咕着祝福，他爬进飞机，再次转身竖起大拇指，然后门在他身后关上了。最后，飞机行驶到跑道上，加快速度，在空中上升，随着它的灯光闪烁消失在夜色中。在黑暗中开车回伦敦的路上，通常是一片寂静。司机和我都不太喜欢闲聊。我们的思绪随着那架飞机向东飞进敌境。空投行动会成功吗?我们一小时前的同伴会活着下来，安然无恙地和他的地下同志们在一起吗?刚刚和我们共进晚餐的飞行员们，那些兴高采烈的人，会安全返回基地吗?】
One such journey has remained deeply impressed on my mind. The agent I accompanied was a nice, fair boy, just turned eighteen, who was going out to one of our groups in the Amsterdam area as a W/T operator. Just before take-off there was a last minute hitch. But, after a longish wait the aircraft took off after all. Two days later we received a telegram from the group to which the young agent had been dropped. He was dead. The dropping ground had been laid out not far from a large lake. He must have jumped a little too soon and came down over the lake. Probably not realising this in time, he did not release his harness before he hit the surface. There had been a fairly strong wind and his parachute had dragged him under water. His body was found the next day. Although we did not know it then, he was the last agent to be dropped over Holland. Before the next new moon period came round, the Germans had surrendered unconditionally.
【其中一次行动给我留下了深刻的印象。陪同我的是一个帅气的男孩，刚满18岁，他要去我们在阿姆斯特丹地区的一个团队做电话接线员。就在起飞前最后一分钟出现了故障。但是，在稍长时间的等待之后，飞机还是起飞了。两天后，我们收到了那位年轻特工被派往的组织发来的电报。他死了。空降场坐落在离一个大湖不远的地方。他一定是跳得太快了，掉到了湖里。可能是没有及时意识到，他在浮出水面之前没有解开安全带。当时风很大，降落伞把他拖到了水下。他的尸体第二天被发现。尽管我们当时并不知道，他是最后一个空降荷兰的特工。在下一月来临之前，德国人已经无条件投降了。】
VE day found me alone, in charge of P8, now reduced to a mere shadow of a section. A week before, the German armies in the Netherlands had surrendered and Major Seymour, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, had gone to The Hague to open a SIS station there. Commander Child, with no more agents to train and supplies to drop, had taken up an Intelligence appointment with Naval HQ in Germany.
【这一天我孑然一身，负责P8，形单影只。一周前，在荷兰的德国军队投降了，西摩少校被提升为中校，他去海牙开设了一个SIS站。查尔德已经没有更多的特工需要训练，也没有更多的补给需要空投，他与德国海军总部进行了一次情报会谈。】
Two things remain in my memory of that day. The long wail of the sirens, giving the All Clear after the surrender of the German armed forces had been announced and the streets that evening lit up again for the first time. Although I was on duty, there was now no radio traffic and I went out in the streets for a while to join the festive crowd. I found myself pushed in the direction of Buckingham Palace where a surging mass of people kept on chanting: 'We want the King! We want the King!' and then, when he and the Royal Family came out on the balcony, started singing For he's a jolly good fellow'. The war was over, we had won.
【那天有两件事留在我的记忆中。德国军队投降的消息宣布后，放空警报发出了长啸，当晚街道上第一次亮起了灯。虽然我在执勤，但现在没有无线电通讯了，所以我出去了一会儿，加入了庆祝的人群。我发现自己被推向白金汉宫的方向，那里人山人海，不停地喊着:“我们要见国王!我们要见国王!”然后，当国王和皇室成员来到阳台上时，他开始唱“For he's a jolly good fellow”。战争结束了，我们赢了。】
