18.5. Victory and defeat

1. to capture [transitive] (1) to catch a person and keep them as a prisoner захватывать; брать в плен: Government troops have succeeded in capturing the rebel leader. | They've captured twenty enemy soldiers. | The guerrillas shot down one aeroplane and captured the pilot.

(2) to take | to seize to get control of a place or object that previously belonged to an enemy by fighting for it, during a war захватывать, завладевать; завоевывать: Rebel forces captured the city after a week-long battle. | The town was captured after a siege lasting ten days. | The Dutch fleet captured two English ships. | The Russians now appear ready to capture more territory from the Chechens. | Enemy forces have taken the airport. | A group of soldiers seized the airport. | Troops yesterday seized control of the broadcasting station.

2. to surround [transitive] if police or soldiers surround a place or someone they arrange themselves in positions all the way around it or them окружать: The troops were surrounded. | Armed police surrounded a house in the High Street. | Shooting broke out after the guards surrounded a villa in the city.

3. to encircle [transitive] to surround someone or something completely окружать: Troops encircled the city and began firing rockets at the government buildings. | They were encircled by enemy forces. | The city is nearly encircled by rebel troops.

4. to outflank [transitive] to go around the side of a group of enemies during a battle and attack them from the side or from behind обходить фланг, выходить во фланг / тыл (противника): To the west, the army was outflanked by a huge number of British forces. | There were plans designed by General Schwarzkopf to outflank them from the west.

5. to close in [intransitive] to move closer to someone or something, especially in order to attack or surround them приближаться, наступать; окружать

to close in (on / upon / around sb / sth): Enemy troops began closing in at dawn. | The advancing soldiers closed in on the town. | The enemy is closing in on the city. | Hitler himself committed suicide as Soviet forces were closing in on Berlin. | The police are closing in on the criminals.

6. to seal off | to block off [transitive] to stop people from entering an area or building, often because it is dangerous оцепить, блокировать, окружать: Following a bomb warning, police have sealed off the whole area. | Police have sealed off the street where the gunman is hiding. | A heavily armed guard of police have sealed off the city centre. | Police blocked off the city centre streets. | All the roads out of the town were blocked off by the police.

7. to surprise [transitive] to find, catch, or attack someone when they are not expecting it застать / застигнуть врасплох; нагрянуть неожиданно; нападать: Marlborough led his armies across the Rhine and surprised the French and Bavarian armies near the village of Blenheim. | A security guard surprised the burglars in the storeroom. | The robbers had just opened the safe when they were surprised by the police.

8. to defeat | to beat [transitive] to win a victory over someone in a war, competition, game etc нанести поражение, одержать победу: After a long campaign Wellington's army finally defeated Napoleon. | Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. | They hoped to defeat the enemy at sea. | The Republicans were heavily defeated in the Spanish Civil War. | Empire armies were met and defeated. | His guerrillas defeated the colonial army in 1954. | Our army was beaten.

9. to rout [transitive] to defeat an enemy completely and force them to run away разбить наголову; обратить в бегство: The general was killed and his armies were routed in a magnificent cavalry charge. | He was captured, and his army was routed.

to rout sb completely / utterly одержать полную и безоговорочную победу

10. to mop up | to clean up | to wipe up [transitive] to deal with the remaining members of a defeated army by killing them or making them prisoners уничтожать; зачищать, очищать (захваченную территорию от противника), производить зачистку местности: The infantry divisions mopped up remaining centres / pockets of resistance. | After we have mopped up the last few groups of the enemy, we can advance to our next position. | The usual solution is to send in infantry to mop up any remaining opposition. | The government hoped to mop up rebel resistance. | It's a small enemy force; we should be able to wipe it up in no time.

11. to surrender | to yield (1) [intransitive; transitive] to give in [intransitive] | to give up [transitive] to say officially that you want to stop fighting or to stop avoiding the police, government etc because you realize that you cannot win сдаваться; капитулировать; прекращать сопротивление

to surrender / yield / give in (to sb): On April 16th, the enemy surrendered. | The terrorists were given ten minutes to surrender. | Rebel forces have surrendered after three years of fighting. | After 74 days of battle, the army surrendered to the British. | 19 rebels hiding in the Czech embassy surrendered to the authorities. | We shall never yield to a conqueror. | They weren't a particularly good army, but they refused to give in (to the enemy) and accept defeat. | The rebels were eventually forced to give in. | The government has said all along that it will never give in to terrorist threats / demands.

to surrender oneself / give oneself up (to sb): We advised the bandits to surrender themselves to the police. | The siege ended peacefully after the gunman gave himself up. | The hijacker gave himself up to police, who are now questioning him.

(2) to give up [transitive] to give your soldiers, land or weapons to an enemy after you have been defeated сдавать

to surrender / yield (up) sb / sth (to sb) | to give sb / sth up (to sb): The General had to surrender his troops. | Neither side is willing to surrender any territory. | They were given two hours to surrender their weapons. | They surrendered the fortress to the enemy. | They promised to abide by the peace agreement and surrender all their weapons to the occupying forces. | Are the citizens still refusing to yield (up) the town? | They were forced to yield (up) their land to the occupying forces. | They did not yield (up) ground to the enemy. | We had to give up the castle (to the enemy). | Despite renewed pressure to give up the occupied territory, they will not yield. | If you catch the escaped prisoner, will you give him up (to the police)?

12. to capitulate (formal) to accept military defeat капитулировать, сдаваться: Their forces capitulated five hours after the Allied bombardment of the city began. | When Wittikind and his warriors capitulated, the revolt began to collapse.

13. capture [uncountable] (1) the act of catching someone in order to make them a prisoner захват, задержание, поимка; взятие в плен: They are offering a reward for information leading to his capture. | Eighty-two of the rebels were killed or executed soon after capture. | He had to save the President from capture by Louis' men.

to avoid / evade / escape capture избежать пленения / захвата: The two soldiers somehow managed to avoid capture. | He tried to evade capture by leaving the country. | The shooting happened while the man was trying to evade capture by the security forces.

(2) the act of getting control of a place or object that previously belonged to an enemy by fighting for it, during a war захват: They witnessed the capture of the city by rebel troops. | The campaign culminated in the capture of Rome.

14. encirclement [uncountable] окружение

15. defeat [uncountable; countable] failure to win or succeed; victory over someone or something поражение; разгром; проигрыш: After their defeat in battle, the soldiers surrendered. | The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon's career.

to inflict (a) defeat on sb нанести поражение: You are going to inflict such a defeat on the enemy that he will never recover.

to face defeat (at sb's hands) стоять перед лицом поражения

to suffer (a) defeat (at sb's hands) потерпеть поражение: Maybe after suffering such a defeat, they would give up. | At the last General Election, they suffered a crushing / humiliating defeat. | The nationalists look ready to suffer a crushing defeat in the referendum.

to accept / admit / concede defeat признать поражение

a big / comprehensive / heavy / crushing / decisive / resounding / stunning / total / utter defeat сокрушительное поражение: The New York Times described the withdrawal of troops as a resounding defeat for the government. | There were similar warnings in the 1980s after a crushing defeat for the separatists in the1980 referendum.

humiliating / ignominious / shameful defeat постыдное / унизительное поражение: Politicians did not relish a repeat performance of the humiliating defeat they had suffered over the suspension and repeal of the acts.

16. rout [countable – usually singular; uncountable] a complete defeat in a battle поражение, разгром; беспорядочное бегство, стремительное отступление: General Lee had reached the scene and was in command during the rout of the Federals.

complete and utter rout полный разгром: The battle was a complete and utter rout.

to put sb to rout to defeat somebody completely in a battle разбить наголову; обратить в бегство: They instantly put them in disorder, and very soon to rout.

to turn into / become a rout: The battle turned into a rout. | One after another the Italian bases in the desert fell as the retreat turned into a rout. | The defeat became a rout.

17. surrender [singular; uncountable] (1) the act of saying officially that you want to stop fighting or to stop avoiding the police, government etc because you realize that you cannot win сдача; капитуляция: the surrender of the rebel gunmen | the Nazis' surrender to the Allied forces | The Milanese were starving, and forced into surrender. | The rebels are on the point of surrender.

to negotiate a surrender договариваться о сдаче / капитуляции: Colonel Casado was anxious to negotiate a surrender.

to accept surrender принимать капитуляцию: General Haig would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. | It was nearly impossible to get them to accept a surrender.

unconditional surrender the act of accepting total defeat безоговорочная капитуляция: The allies demanded unconditional surrender. | Hopes of a compromise peace stood no chance in the face of Franco's determination to pursue the Republic's unconditional surrender. | Instead, they issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling again for unconditional surrender on pain of great destruction.

(2) the act of giving your soldiers, land or weapons to an enemy after you have been defeated сдача: the surrender of all illegal weapons | the surrender of territories to the enemy

18. victory [uncountable; countable] the success you achieve when you win a battle, election, game etc победа: We're very confident of victory.

victory (over / against sb) / (in a struggle): He wanted forces capable of quick, decisive victories against diplomatically isolated opponents. | His assignment seems to have been the result of a military victory in a top-level power struggle with the civilians.

to win / achieve / gain (a) victory одержать победу: Nixon, meanwhile, spoke and acted as if the United States had won a decisive victory under his command. | Taylor rejected Sawyer's proposals, apparently convinced that he could win military victory and install himself as president. | A military commander should order his troops in the way best calculated to achieve victory at a minimal cost. | The United States gained a decisive victory under his command.

to lead (troops) to victory привести к победе: He was killed in the assault soon after, but the information he had gained as a scout led to victory. | It can lead to victory or to defeat; or to an uneasy truce.

to cruise to victory to win easily

to ensure / secure / assure victory обеспечить победу: Military hardware alone is not sufficient to ensure military victory. | By placing Franco in overall command, the Nationalists made a quantum leap forward in their efforts to secure victory. | Once this had been achieved and the victory in the north assured, nothing mattered to Franco so much as the final victory.

to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat вырвать победу

clear / clear-cut / decisive / outright / resounding / stunning / sweeping victory безоговорочная победа, ошеломляющий успех

great / glorious victory великая / славная / блистательная победа

bloodless victory бескровная победа (без жертв)

hard-won victory победа, давшаяся с трудом

Pyrrhic / pyrrhic victory a victory that is not worth winning because the winner has lost a lot in order to achieve it пиррова победа (сомнительная победа, не оправдывающая принесенных ради нее жертв): It may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. | It was a pyrrhic victory for both sides.