"I know, I know, you have lost 80% of one regiment, half of the other regiment, General Arnold's army has lost more than 700 aircraft and nearly 300 pilots (crews), plus the casualties of the garrison on the island, our overall casualties may exceed the German army by several times, but you must understand that the goal of evaluating a campaign is definitely not only based on casualties, but on whether the operational objectives have been achieved as originally intended. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" Marshall said, "Can we not fight because we are afraid of casualties?" In this way we do not need to declare war on Germany at all, because as long as there is a war, there will always be losses. Your losses are not small, but they are insignificant compared to the overall strategic situation......"

"When Bermuda fell into enemy hands, and when tens of millions of people on the east coast were threatened by German warships and aircraft, the 82nd Airborne Division fought bravely to retake the island and break the enemy's propaganda offensive. You rescued the friendly forces on the island who were forced to surrender and repelled the enemy's attack attempts, which is the second thing; The third thing is that you have struck from the air with inferior equipment, showing the indomitable spirit and courage of the American military, uniting and inspiring more Americans...... The president said that the whole campaign should be judged not only by military significance, but also by political and social significance. ”

Li Qiwei nodded silently: Marshall and Roosevelt had already reached conclusions, and of course he could only agree.

"You can look at the newspapers of the past few days...... Marshall casually handed him the newspapers published by the Washington Post, the Christian Monitor, the New York Times, and other mainstream media, and the exaggerated headlines came into view:

"General Fei Enters the Sky with His Own Weight - General Matthew Ridgway and the 82nd Airborne Division Bermuda Bloody ......"

"The Architect of the Great Victory, the Destroyer of the Myth of the Invincibility of the German Army - the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army and its Distinguished Commander, General Matthew Ridgway......"

"The United States needs more Ridgway and the 82 Airborne Division ......"

"He single-handedly recovered Bermuda and annihilated thousands of German troops...... This newspaper believes that this kind of achievement is by no means accidental, because this reporter interviewed an eyewitness under extremely coincidental circumstances, and for reasons of secrecy could not disclose his identity and name; he was in charge of the periphery of the Pentagon a few days ago, and in the early morning of one day suddenly found that someone in full armor had descended from the sky and rushed straight to the Pentagon, and his actions were crisp and neat, without any delay; at first he thought it was sabotage by enemy troops, but later when he saw the military police answering him, he learned that it was General Ridgway who received the combat mission overnight...... If the commander of a division, a general, can also have superb combat skills like Mr. Ridgway, we believe that the combat effectiveness of this unit will not be weak......" Ridgway looked at such a report, and could only smile bitterly, "The reporters have exaggerated and over-touted, I hope General Arnold and General Ingersoll will not blame me, without their support and help, we would not have this result." ”

"They are reasonable people who think you fully deserve these honors...... Okay, without further ado, you can rest for a while, make a safe phone call to your wife and family, and then prepare for an audience with the President in the evening, who cares about you and keeps an eye on your fighting on Bermuda, and if it weren't for his ill health, he would have come to meet you at the docks in person today. Marshall said meaningfully, "The president is ready to promote you to lieutenant general, and also suggests that the 101st Airborne Division be placed under your jurisdiction, and I hope that you will complete the reorganization of the 82nd Airborne Division as soon as possible, and then add some special service units and command structures to form the 18th Airborne Army in the United States, and he also hopes that you can see you lead your troops again in the future Azores campaign." During this time, you will have a heavy task, on the one hand, you will be responsible for the replenishment and training of the troops, and on the other hand, you will have to pass on the experience and experience of fighting the German army. ”

Li Qiwei was stunned, he was only a colonel when the war broke out in 1941, and in two years, he crossed the brigadier general and the major general, and he was about to become a lieutenant general, and this rocket speed made him feel a little blind. Even more dizzy is to fight the Azores, and when he thinks of the heavy casualties in Bermuda, he has palpitations, and he doesn't know how many people will die next time he goes to fight the Azores.

Marshall saw his concerns and said with relief: "We will have a proper plan and sufficient support, and we will not let the troops rush forward, as for the issue of promotion, the army system unanimously passed, no one objected, and Admiral Kim also threatened me vigorously, if the army does not give you a promotion, he will let you go to the Marine Corps to lead an army!" Hmph, how can I get him his wish? ”

"Thank you, sir, for cultivating."

Marshall nodded with satisfaction, Li Qiwei was still capable, and he also made achievements, and it was in vain that he transferred him to the Operational Planning Division of the Army General Staff, and later recommended him to be the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. This campaign is also a major test for Marshall himself, if the generals he recommended always fails, he believes that not only will the people lose confidence, but the president will also shake their trust in himself, and Ridgway is fighting for strength at a critical time, that is, he must vigorously commend and reward, what is the rank of lieutenant general, and if the other party continues to perform well in the future, the position of chief of the general staff can also be passed to him -- Matthew Ridgway is only 48 years old!

"Do you have any more requests?"

"I personally have no request." Li Qiwei shook his head, "But I hope that the government and the military can compensate and commend the casualties and meritorious service of this battle, because the losses are too heavy after all." ”

"Of course, a press conference will be held in two days to announce the relevant decision, they are all heroes of the United States, and the president and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not treat them badly."

A war of words broke out between Germany and the United States over the outcome of the Battle of Bermuda, and the "Voice of Europe" ridiculed the cheap victory of the Americans: if the island of Bermuda, which was reduced to ruins, suffered casualties several times the losses of our army, can be called a victory, then we do not know how to describe the defeat......

CBS angrily fired back: Didn't you say you were going to attack the East Coast? Didn't you say you were going to sink our ships out of port? Now that we are here, what about your fleet? What about your planes? We are waiting for you to come! We'll kill as many as you come!

However, Hoffman, who had always personally directed the work of the Voice of Europe, was now unable to care about the war of words, and he received more disturbing news than the battle of Bermuda.

"Rommel refused to hand over the transport planes? Also asked to send him follow-up troops? Reinforcement of Central Asian troops to 200,000? Hoffman couldn't believe his ears and asked Keitel, "What does he mean by that?" Is he going to fight to China or India? ”

"Of course it's not ......" Keitel smiled awkwardly, he thought that the Führer had known the news for a long time, but he did not expect that the latter had heard of it for the first time. This is a bit strange, as we all know that Rommel is the Führer's favorite general, and there is almost nothing unsatisfying in his request, how can it be this time?

He did not know that Hoffman had recently been emphasizing the need to strengthen system management, enhance the authority of the Supreme Command and the Chief of the General Staff, and enhance the command authority of the Joint Theater Command, so as to avoid being directly stabbed at Berlin for a single matter, as was the case in the past.

"His reasons were twofold: first, he found that the Russians were mobilizing a large army to encircle and suppress him, and it was likely that their supply lines would be cut off immediately, and the transport aircraft troops could not leave at this critical moment; Second, he hopes to attract more enemy troops in the Central Asian theater and add more help to the 'Dawn' campaign. "The General Staff also noticed that something was not right, and that the enemy's movements were extremely strange, so General Zeitzler gave other advice - let him turn south into Iran." ”

"Into Iran?" Hoffman looked at the map and asked, "What did he think about it?" ”

"It is possible to increase the number of troops by 100,000, but at present, the campaign on the southern front has not yet been launched, and our army must carry out personnel reinforcement and supply through force, and it is not a problem to put another 100,000 troops, but it will be very difficult to put another 100,000 supplies; Secondly, what if the enemy continues to increase the number of troops after the army increases? It is impossible for us to send troops to Central Asia without restrictions, but the enemy can send troops in a steady stream, they have given up the defense of the scorched land belt in the middle and freed up a large number of troops, Central Asia is an internal war for them, the distance is close, the supply is convenient, we do not have similar conditions; Then, a big fight in Central Asia does not correspond to the current strategic intentions, after the winter and snow season, the movement of mechanized troops will be very difficult, only mountain infantry will do, the largest number of mountain troops of our army are all concentrated in Norway, and the transfer to the eastern front will not be urgent; In the end, it is too late to retreat now, or rather, the personnel can probably retreat, but the equipment cannot be withdrawn - all leave by transport plane, regardless of equipment. ”

Hoffman shook his head, it was obviously not a good idea to leave Central Asia as an unarmed soldier, he could afford to lose this equipment, he could not afford to lose this face, the Central Asian countries had just declared their independence and moved closer to the Axis, if the German army at this time because of the threat of the Soviet army and went back with their armor - just like Britain and the United States in Africa, the national power that the Central Asian countries had managed to support would be immediately exterminated by the Soviets, which would be a major blow to morale, to the people's hearts, and to Germany's prestige in front of the Allies. It was probably on this basis that Rommel called for more supplies and more troops.

As a result, Hoffmann is now faced with two choices, one is that according to Zeitzler's opinion, the Battle of Dawn will continue to proceed step by step, and Rommel will move towards Iran, and it will be a big deal to wait for the beginning of next spring to fight back; The other is to strengthen the forces in Central Asia and increase the supply capacity according to Rommel's opinion, as for the Dawning Campaign, because of the containment of the Central Asian war situation, perhaps so many supply forces are no longer needed.

There was some truth to both opinions, and Keitel couldn't express his opinion clearly, so the lawsuit is now in Berlin, and now it's Hoffman's turn to have a headache for the choice...... (To be continued.) )