Admiral Kim's exaggeration of the deterioration of the situation in South America is mixed with private goods, because the Pacific Fleet is currently trapped at Pearl Harbor and unable to move -- the US Navy has not only been crippled, but has even been forced to separate the two oceans and cannot respond, and this has touched Admiral Kim's backlash. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Not to mention that it is impossible for the Army to force the Navy to carry out the European strategy, even if President Roosevelt personally ordered it, Admiral King would also make this matter a mess -- or who would have hurriedly withdrawn the fleet and fled in embarrassment?

However, Admiral King still saved face for President Roosevelt, and insisted that the proposal to fight the Azores Navy was in principle in favor, but he felt that the time was too tight and hoped to postpone it until the spring of 1944. Relatively speaking, the Falkland Islands are not only more important to the United States at this stage, but also easier to conquer in the campaign - a touchstone for testing the Battle of the Azores. If you can't win a battle like the Falkland Islands, then don't fight the Azores battle at all, and it will be self-inflicted humiliation if you do.

This was a very reasonable statement, and everyone nodded yes, even the army agreed.

Turner is not qualified to participate in the conference because of his lack of rank, and if he is on the scene, he will secretly laugh and laugh at the fact that they do not know Admiral King well enough: the latter's words are true or false, and in the second half of the year, it has actually made a 180-degree turn - not to mention this year, even next spring, Admiral Kim is too lazy to fight the Azores, unless the Falklands can be taken bloodlessly, but is this possible?

Roosevelt believed that General King had said a good job, that the general idea, time arrangement, and troop deployment had been put in place, and that the next step should be to intensively dispatch troops, dispatch materials, and draw up plans. Roosevelt was still very sober-minded, and knew that it was okay to use force to deter Argentina, and if he really sent troops to fight Argentina, he would be able to form an undying bond in the future, and the best way was to promote peace and change through pressure.

"London also needs you to communicate with Winston more and explain to him the changes in the situation in Argentina, and that a stable South America is conducive to the long-term continuation of this war and to the stabilization of the rear of the United States." Roosevelt told Hull, "Our material aid to Britain will only increase, not decrease, and the USS Wasp (Essex class), which will be commissioned in October, has also been decided to be given to the Royal Navy, and the British units that have arrived in North America can continue to carry out acclimatization training without having to participate in this campaign." ”

Since the agreement with the British to attack the Azores was broken, of course, it was necessary to give the other side a little benefit, and if the British army appeared on the Argentine border, it would inevitably complicate the situation, and Roosevelt did not want to be self-defeating.

He believed that Churchill's political vision could see the reason for this, not to mention that if the United States insisted on it, the British side would not be able to insist on its own views.

In this way, the policy of attacking South America was decided, but difficulties were made in choosing who would go on the expedition and who would be in command. There is no doubt that the Azores are dominated by the navy, so there is no doubt that the navy is the supreme commander-in-chief. However, the "joint elements" operation has a large number of army operations, and it is somewhat inappropriate to put the navy in command.

After heated debates, the two sides accepted a compromise opinion: the preliminary operations of the "Joint Elements" operation, including the bulldozing of Guyana, the stationing in Brazil, and the deterrence of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, were all dominated by the army, with the army general as the commander, and the navy playing a cooperative role, mainly to provide escort and transportation for the army fleet; In the campaign to seize the Falkland Islands, the Admiral was the commander, and the Army played a coordinating role.

The selection of the navy was quickly decided, and Admiral King decided that the main force of the Atlantic Fleet should be exhausted, and Admiral Ingersoll would lead the team; However, it was somewhat difficult for the army to select a commander, and Marshall was willing to let Eisenhower lead the troops again, but the defeat in the last African campaign was still fresh in his memory, and although Roosevelt had no prejudices against Ike, he was worried that he would be criticized by the congressmen, so he proposed that Eisenhower and Turner jointly plan the "joint elements" plan, and the commander planned to send someone else.

After repeated consultations, it was decided to select Jacob Lawx Devers, commander of the 6th Army, who had served as chief of staff of the US Panamanian garrison from 1939 to 1940 and had a relatively good understanding of South American affairs. In the expansion operation before the Pearl Harbor incident, he showed his skills and clever scheduling to solve all the problems faced by the 9th Infantry Division of which he was the division commander, and won the reputation of "the powerful man", and finally entered the eyes of Marshall, and in the following nearly two years (July 1941-May 1943), he was promoted to the commander of the Army Armored Corps Center at Fort Knox, and was very familiar with armored warfare. He had just been transferred to the 6th Army a few months ago and had just been promoted to lieutenant general earlier this month.

By all accounts, this was a more suitable commander-in-chief, and Roosevelt was determined to entrust him with a heavy responsibility. Historically, Devers has presided over the preparation of the Overlord Initiative, but it is now clear that he will not be planning either "Operation Overlord" or "Joint Elements" and will be left to Eisenhower.

The only thing that worried Marshall was that Devers's personal relationship with Eisenhower was not ideal, on the one hand, the extroverted Devers did not like Eisenhower's woodenness, and on the other hand, he also had problems with the latter - he graduated six years before Ike at West Point, but he was still a few months behind him in the promotion of lieutenant general, which made Devers quite unhappy.

In the end, a cautious Marshall chose Clark as Devers's deputy, who had good relations with Defuss and Eisenhower, could be effectively lubricated, and fought in these countries in South America, diplomatic relations were very important, and there was an urgent need for a long-sleeved and dancing Clark - as for his ability to fight, Marshall had selectively ignored it.

Admiral King was very interesting, and after the army commander was decided, he interjected: "The two generals Walton Walker (commander of the 20th Army) and Matthew Ridgway (commander of the 82nd Airborne Division) are very good, I like them very much, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with them; Don't stuff Barton in again, Hewitt came back and complained to me, from the time I set off to get to the Indian Ocean, I was almost tossed to death by Barton along the way......"

Stimson and Marshall, the two Army bosses, could only smile bitterly, and Patton's bad temper was now spread not only in the Army, but also in the Navy. Admiral King is strictly not serious about pointing fingers at army generals, but both Walker and Ridgway are figures that Marshall is optimistic about, and listening to Admiral King's affirmation of them, he is of course willing to be an adult. As a result, the 20th Army and the 82nd Airborne Division have become the main force of the "joint elements" army units, in addition to the 9th Infantry Division, the old unit started by Devers, in addition, Marshall is eager to mobilize all the elite soldiers and strong generals, ready to fight a turnaround, wash away the shame of the African campaign and the Panama campaign. (To be continued.) )