6. to ravage [transitive; usually passive] to damage something very badly разрушать, уничтожать: For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention. | Cambodia has been ravaged by war for the past 20 years.

7. to neutralize [transitive] to destroy somebody or something that is dangerous to you during a war, such as enemy troops, a military target, or bomb разрушать, уничтожать; подавлять огнем; обезвреживать: Government forces neutralized the rebels. | The aerial bombardments have neutralized the threat of artillery attacks on allied ground forces. | After some time the job is completed and the two mortar bombs have been neutralized.

8. to take out [transitive] (informal) to kill someone or destroy something разрушать, уничтожать: The building was taken out by a bomb.

9. destructive | ruinous (adjective) causing a lot of damage or problems разрушительный; разорительный; гибельный, губительный: a ruinous civil war | ten ruinous years of terrorism | The border war has been wasteful and destructive. | If multiple warheads are deployed, the different blast waves reinforce each other, increasing their destructive power. | But, given the destructive power of modern weapons, they did not believe that civilization could be protected by war.

10. destruction [uncountable] the act or process of destroying something or of being destroyed разрушение; уничтожение: The death and destruction had torn apart families whose political loyalties had also been divided in what was essentially a civil war. | What came instead were world wars, a Great Depression, a Holocaust, and threats of nuclear destruction. | These are the colour changes in Tamburlaine's army on the three days before the destruction of Damascus.

11. devastation | obliteration [uncountable] severe and widespread damage or destruction affecting a large area уничтожение; опустошение, разорение; истребление

12. Destruction | devastation collocations

widespread / wholesale destruction / devastation большие разрушения: The war caused widespread death and destruction. | Single-handed he did his best to prevent the wholesale destruction of the big houses in Spital Square.

complete / total / utter destruction / devastation полное уничтожение / разрушение: It's a scene of complete devastation.

wanton destruction / devastation бессмысленное уничтожение / разрушение

sb carries out destruction / devastation: The soldiers carried out the total destruction of the village.

sth causes / brings destruction / devastation (to sth): This reaction was based on the understanding that atomic bombs cause widespread death and destruction and extreme human suffering. | A huge bomb blast brought chaos and devastation to the centre of Belfast yesterday.

13. annihilation [uncountable] severe and widespread damage or destruction affecting a large area or a lot of people (полное) уничтожение, истребление: During the Cold War the threat of nuclear annihilation was always on people's minds. | Muslim political leaders fear the annihilation of their people.

14. ruin [countable – often plural] the parts of a building that remain after it has been severely damaged развалины; руины: People built shelters among the ruins of the city. | One dead child was found in the ruins almost two hours after the explosion. | The countryside here is dotted with the ruins of churches the government has torn down or blown up in recent weeks.

a heap / pile of ruins груда развалин / руин

smoking / charred ruins дымящиеся / обуглившиеся руины

to reduce / blast sth to a ruin / ruins / rubble / ashes to destroy something, especially a building, completely превращать / обращать в груду развалин / руин: The attack reduced the town to a smoking ruin. | The bomb reduced the house to rubble. | Then cities can be blasted to rubble.

15. to be / lie in ruins (1) (of a building or city) to be extremely badly damaged so that most of it has fallen down лежать в руинах: Whole blocks of the city were in ruins after the war. | The town lay in ruins after years of bombing. | Large rural areas lay in ruins.

(2) to be in an extremely bad state лежать в руинах: After the war the Japanese economy lay in ruins. | The economy was in ruins after the war.

16. the ravages of sth the damage or destruction caused by something such as war, time, disease, or weather опустошение, уничтожение: The ravages of the Napoleonic Wars hit the merchant guilds particularly hard. | Bureaucracy was also a necessary evil to cope with the ravages of war. | They repaired the ravages wrought by war.

2. Fighting

2.1. General concepts

1. battle [countable; uncountable] a fight between opposing armies, groups of ships, groups of people etc, especially one that is part of a larger war бой, битва, сражение: the Battle of Trafalgar | A career soldier, he had died leading his men into battle at Spion Kop during the Boer War. | The fierce battle for Travnik was now over, the sources said.

to join battle (with sb) | to plunge into battle вступить / ввязаться в бой: Get a good night's rest, men; we join battle with the enemy at first light. | He went to join the battle and, all unskilled in warfare, he was killed at once. | We do not readily plunge into battle with such powerful forces.

to fight / wage a battle вести бой: We invaded Ireland and fought our own battles there. | We are determined and able to fight battles. | He denied yesterday it was waging a battle on two fronts.

to win a battle выиграть сражение: They won the battle by sheer weight of numbers.

to lose a battle проиграть сражение: The French lost the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. | It may be, in the long run, more productive to lose the battle but win the war.

bloody battle кровавое сражение: one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War

fierce / pitched / raging battle ожесточенный бой; жестокая схватка, яростная битва; решительное сражение: There sieges were less frequent and pitched battles more important. | He describes how he killed two young workers taken prisoner in a pitched battle inside a factory workshop.

at the battle of… в битве при…: Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. | He is finally met and defeated at the Battle of Osterwald.

2. combat [uncountable; countable] organized fighting, especially during a war бой, битва, сражение: These troops have very little experience of active / armed combat. | It is no coincidence that combat soldiers, particularly paratroops, wear camouflage uniforms that somewhat resemble a leopard's spotted coat. | There was fierce combat between the two sides.

close combat ближний бой: This will get your cavalry into close combat and hopefully out of the hail of missiles fairly quickly.

combat mission боевое задание: We flew over 200 combat missions. | In all, there are 15 combat missions involving both subs and surface vessels.

combat unit боевое подразделение: The women were excluded from the combat units. | Friedman was a member of a logistics team rather than a combat unit. | The battle casualties of the combat units were nearly as bad as those on World War II battlefields.

combat zone поле боя: She was actually in the combat zone now and she noted uneasily that once again she was placed firmly beside the count.

3. fighting [uncountable] a situation in which people fight, especially in a war бой, битва, сражение: The UN failed to stop the fighting in Rwanda. | The fighting is threatening to turn into full-scale war. | There was fighting on the streets of Paris yesterday when police and demonstrators clashed.

fighting breaks out / erupts / starts: Fighting broke out between army units. | The ceasefire appeared to be in tatters on Monday after heavy fighting erupted in Tetovo. | And it was on this day that heavy fighting started at Thermopylai.

to end fighting: On February 19, Aoun and Geaga agreed a six-point pact to end the fighting.

house-to-house fighting уличный бой

heavy / fierce / bitter fighting жестокое сражение: Meanwhile, heavy fighting was going on in and around Tan Son Nhut. | Tass still reported heavy fighting around Bagram on March 8. | Fierce fighting has continued all day on the outskirts of the town. | There was fierce combat between the two sides.