Hewitt knew that it was inconvenient for him to intervene, because this was a matter for the army, and he was not serious about expressing his opinion as an admiral, and he could not bear this responsibility in case of serious war damage in the future, and as far as he was concerned, he would never take a destroyer to fight a cruiser. However, there are also US Army officers who apparently do not see it that way.

He heard a voice with a strong English accent speak: "Sherman is necessary to replace it with a new tank gun, but it is not necessary to postpone the departure for this reason." When Hitler attacked Russia, none of his tanks were comparable to the T-34s of the Russians, did he stop attacking? We can't be intimidated by the Germans. ”

The voice was familiar to him - this was Major General George? Barton's voice.

"George, what are you talking nonsense again? If you can't find a way to change the gun without wasting time, you should shut your foul mouth. "U.S. Secretary of the Army Henry on the side? Lewis said unhappily.

Don't look at the **** scolding is very ugly, but Hewitt knows that Patton has a good relationship with the minister, 30 years ago he was the minister's external liaison officer, and he was scolded by his old boss for two sentences, and General Marshall didn't dare to say that about Patton.

Sure enough, Barton shrugged unconcernedly: "I can't do this, I mean let's just take the old Sherman and set off, and the new one will stay at home and change it slowly, besides, the only place we are going to is the French, and they can't deal with the old Sherman, can they?" ”

Everyone laughed and cried at this statement: the French really couldn't deal with Sherman, but now the Germans were in Tobruk. Their tanks are man-eating tigers. Once the British and Americans landed in Morocco and Algeria, the Germans who reacted would inevitably rush from ******, and without reliable armored forces, they were afraid that they would not be able to consolidate the landing grounds. But the British don't care about that. They finally caught an American general who was willing to support their point of view, and they immediately came to their senses, and repeated the point of view they had just repeated several times, which made Hewitt frown, and the others also yawned and looked impatient.

Patton stepped back after firing the cannon, and then he saw Hewitt and offered to shake his hand. Even though they shook hands with Barton and smiled at each other. Hewitt still has a bad impression of this Operation Torch collaborator. He felt that he still couldn't understand the weirdo, who was clearly a gifted, charismatic soldier who fought for honor, but that charisma lasted too short. Soon he will show his wild words and unruly side. Hewitt had never dealt with Patton before, and at first he admired this enthusiastic, iron-blooded and ruthless armored major general, but in order to prepare for the plan related to the Torch Project, his impression of Patton plummeted.

The staff officers of the 34 task force proposed. A large-scale amphibious landing campaign requires at least 6 months of preparation from the time the order is received to the time the fleet departs. However, because of the endless bickering between Britain and the United States, in the end, only 7 weeks were given to prepare Task Force 34 - the most complex military operation in American history. The lack of time had already made Hewitt very mad, but Barton's nonchalant attitude made the coordination of the army and navy even more tormented. Despite Barton's accusations at Washington's goddamn idiots for not making up his mind to fight, instead of relocating his headquarters to Hampton Anchorage, he continued to do nothing in his brightly lit office on the top floor of the Quartermaster Building on the National Mall in Washington.

On more than one occasion, Hewitt lashed out at Patton in anger in front of his men: I have called and written many times to tell them to come and join us as soon as possible, but without consulting the Navy he proposed a Moroccan landing site, where there were no beaches, and the other was a shallow beach full of treacherous mines—God knows what he was thinking.

But even so. Hewitt still had to pinch his nose and work with Barton, and he couldn't find anyone who could manage Barton. The Secretary of the Army, Mr. ****, was Patton's old superior. Apparently would not heed the accusations of a rear admiral; General Pershing, the most prestigious predecessor of the army, was Patton's attempted brother-in-law (it is said that Pershing fell in love with Patton's 29-year-old sister Nita when he was 55 years old, and the two were also engaged, but later did not marry for various reasons), Patton also became Pershing's adjutant, and the road to the army depended on Pershing's support, otherwise he would have been expelled several times because of his fiery temper and living treasure style; Army Chief of Staff George? General Marshall, who was picked up by Pershing, has always regarded Patton as an old urchin who has not grown up and is tolerant at every turn (Barton is 57 years old), apparently only a few words at most; Eisenhower, the commander of Operation Torch, was five years younger than Patton and was a junior of Patton at West Point...... Come to think of it, the only Army Commander who can handle Patton is probably Douglas? MacArthur, but old McArthur's eccentric personality couldn't even bear the Admiral Nimitz and Admiral King, how dare Hewitt touch his head?

Moreover, the contradiction between the army and the navy is a very sensitive topic, and Hewitt does not want the problem between himself and Patton to rise to this height, let alone use Secretary of the Navy Norfolk to press the army, and the two sides are already very nervous in arguing over the strategic direction and battlefield resources, and the attention of the navy's top brass is in the Pacific theater, and recently they have been busy with the battle of Guadalcanal, and they do not have much enthusiasm for "Operation Torch" at all, and they are purely reluctant to do it because of the president's request. If the contradictions between him and Patton break out openly, it will be embarrassing not only for the relationship between the army and the navy, but also for Britain and the United States to "put Asia before Europe" or "Europe before Asia" and "Europe before Asia." There will be too much right and wrong. He could only pinch his nose and endure it, silently doing his work.

In this way, in the eyes of Task Force 34, Button has become a "disgusting" who cannot be beaten, scolded, or leave, and he himself is unaware of it, and there is a joke circulating in the Task Force Command: Tell you to complain again, and then you will meet Patton when you go out, and see what you do?

Hewitt was still thinking about whether he should go back to the Admiralty first to wait for news, and coldly called his name: "Admiral Hewitt, you are a Navy, do you think you need to postpone your departure?" ”

Barton was laughing with the person next to him, but when he heard this, he suddenly cast his gaze, as if expecting Hewitt to give a different answer. Hewitt didn't want to offend the Army, but he didn't want to have any more trouble with the British, so after pondering for a long time, he first asked a question: "How long will it take to produce this batch of tank guns and supporting shells?" ”

"If you work overtime, it's about 20 days."

"Is it troublesome to replace the tank gun? Do you need special equipment? ”

"You need experienced workers and cranes, and it's not too difficult."

"Then I suggest postponing the departure for 20 days."

"Why?" Sheng asked strangely, "I can't complete the assembly in 20 days." ”

Hewitt replied, "Why do you have to assemble it?" It takes nearly 300 hours to get from Hampton Anchorage to Casablanca, and we have the time to urgently produce a batch of spare parts and put them on board for assembly - as long as we have enough workers and cranes, we have transport ships, and the fleet can bring a few more. We used to assemble a lot of things at sea, from airplanes to engines, and even repaired ships in an emergency. So I think tank guns can be modified on the road, as many as they can be modified, and if they can't be modified, they will be given to the British army for use - they don't mind short barrels. ”

"Hey...... That's a good idea, I like it. Eisenhower, who had been silent, spoke, shook Hewitt's hand warmly, pretended not to hear the last half, and said pun intended, "You have done us a great favor in the task force." ”

The British, who were next to him, glared at Hewitt, apparently obsessed with the last half of the sentence, to put it bluntly, they knew better than the Americans what those short-barreled Sherman tanks were, and if it weren't for the domestic rush, they would have wanted better tanks. Now the rear admiral has pierced this layer of paper, and they are very annoyed.

Barton walked over, grabbed Hewitt's shoulder with a big grin, and the man who was almost 60 was not steady at all, and said in a familiar tone: "You can relieve them, it shouldn't be a mistake to delay the departure for 20 days, it is always more reliable to have a new tank, who doesn't like a thicker, longer tube?" I'm going to you today to talk about the landing -- I always feel that something should be done to make it better. ”

Patton was saying "thicker, longer tubes" in a serious tone, but it fell into Hewitt's ears, as if this old and unserious guy was describing the man that guy, he frowned deeply, and several younger staff officers couldn't help but hold back a smile, **** Sheng, Marshall, and Eisenhower pretended not to hear it. Only the British were dumbfounded, bewildered - they could not understand the American slang that Patton had just used.

The decision to postpone the departure for 20 days was immediately reached, and the British probably knew that the Americans would not leave without changing their tank guns, so they pinched their noses and approved the decision, but finally asked to report it to the leaders of the two countries. This is almost the meaning of going through the motions, as long as **** students insist, President Roosevelt will most likely agree. And as long as Roosevelt insisted, Prime Minister Churchill would probably have said yes in the end - it had been postponed many times anyway, and he didn't care about postponing it for another 20 days.

Hewitt took a long breath, arguing for so long, nervous for so many days, finally got the good news that the departure had been postponed and calmly prepared, and Barton was willing to come and discuss with him to improve the landing plan, everything seemed to be moving in a good direction, and he secretly prayed in his heart: I hope this guy doesn't come up with any extra tricks. (To be continued.) )