英军在浙东战役时的情报活动探微

On the Intelligence of the British Army in the Zhedong Battle

第一次鸦片战争中的浙东三城反击战,清政府耗费数百万帑金,调集五六省兵力,欲一举扭转败局,最终却"图之数月,隳之崇朝"。战役失败的原因是多方面的,其中,英军及时、全面的情报活动对战争的进程有重要影响。浙东战役中,英国军队通过秘购、分析《京报》以掌握清廷决策动态;借助传教士潜入内地搜集军事情报;收买汉奸窃取清军内部情报,从而全方位获取了清军的政治、军事情报。其情报内容从清军的战略意图到战术安排,从官员个人情况到官员间关系,从军用物资调配到武器储备和使用情况无所不至,对清军战备情况达到了若指掌的程度。在战略战术、武器装备、军队战斗力等方面,清军本已处于劣势,英军的情报活动更使之雪上加霜,最终导致三城反击战的彻底溃败。

The Zhedong Battle in the Opium War was defeated by the British Army though the Qing gov- ernment mobilized forces of five or six provinces and spent a lot of money. One of the important reasons for it is the intelligence. The British Army bought Beijing Gazette in secret to analyze the decisions by the Qing government; missionaries were used to gather military intelligence; traitors were bribed to gather in- ternal information, so the British Army knew everything well that Qing government had from strategic in- tention to weapons and so on. In the military field, the Qing Army was inferior in fact and besides intelli- gence made it worse than ever, so defeat was unavoidable.