While John was on the phone with Lieutenant Miller, Brigadier General Swain, who had just returned from an inspection of the division's artillery unit, pushed open the door to Bradley's office. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Omar, I heard that Alvin (Sergeant York) has arrived?"

"It's almost there, Pope has already gone to the airport to pick him up. What, in a hurry to meet your old comrades-in-arms? ”

Strictly speaking, Swain and Sergeant York are really old comrades-in-arms. At the beginning of World War I, he served as an artillery company commander in the 82nd Division. This time, Sveneng's leap from a military prosecutor to the commander of the artillery of the 82nd Division is also related to this service experience.

It's just that Swain didn't know Sergeant York back then. He had suffered a head wound at the Battle of Saint-Michel (the first battle of the American Expeditionary Force) and returned home with a Purple Heart to preach in major cities. At that time, Sergeant York was still an unknown ordinary soldier.

But because of this connection, this time Bradley was able to successfully invite Sergeant York, a legendary combat hero who is a household name in the United States, to the 82nd Division, and Swain also made a great effort. He not only personally sent a long telegram to Sergeant York as a veteran of the 82nd Division, but also promoted the World War I Veterans Association to publish an open letter calling on veterans to support the anti-fascist cause, creating public opinion for Sergeant York's "departure from the mountain".

"How's the preparation going? I've heard that a lot of media reporters are coming tomorrow. Brigadier General Swain asked with concern. Tomorrow's event is the first public appearance of the 82nd Division, and it can't go wrong in any way.

"I've already told John, and he's there staring at him." Bradley's words completely reassured Swain. Although John has not been in the 82nd Division for a long time, his ability is obvious to all in the division.

"Then I'll be relieved." Swain took the coffee from Bridge's hand: "John, this guy has a lot of ideas, but he really does things very well, and he doesn't look like a young man at all. I just went down for a spin and it was even better than I thought. The lads were very satisfied with the barracks and the food, and they got to know each other very quickly, and their morale was very good. ”

Bradley nodded, and picked up a division of labor table from the table: "John just gave me a schedule for tomorrow's activities, I looked at a lot of things, and drew up a division of labor, can you see if there is anything to adjust?" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Swain took the worksheet: "Good fellow, the specifications are high enough." More than a hundred media outlets, all three major broadcasters, and live TV? ”

"Yes, the ABC is interested in Sergeant York's return to the 82nd Division, and they are ready to do a live televised speech tomorrow morning."

"Hey, Sergeant York is really charismatic." Sven couldn't help but sigh. He had the impression that since the advent of the 1939 New York World's Fair, live television has generally only appeared during major national events, such as Roosevelt's inauguration. I didn't expect Sergeant York to come to give a speech, and he could also recruit the live broadcast team of the TV station. The 82nd Division is going to be on fire this time.

He knew there that John had played a big part in the reason why the ABC was so focused on the talk. Who made his nephew Cornelius Jr. now the second shareholder of ABC. In fact, not only ABC, but among the more than 100 media that came this time, the most important dozen or so big media were invited by John. It's just that no one else knows about it except Bradley.

"You are also a veteran of the 82nd Division, and when Sergeant York arrives, you will be in charge of his reception. Tomorrow there will be a group interview after the speech, which will also be hosted by you. After Bradley explained Swain's division of labor, he remembered one more thing: "By the way, John proposes to fire the salute tomorrow when Sergeant York enters, and you can look back and make arrangements." ”

"Salute?" Swinn paused, this was to let Sergeant York review the rhythm of the troops. However, he still nodded and said, "No problem, but there are only 4 37mm guns at most, and no more will work." ”

In fact, what Sven lacks now is not artillery at all. The artillery units directly under the 82nd Division alone have 12 battalions of 155mm howitzers, 36 105mm howitzers and 32 75mm and 37mm anti-tank guns. What he lacked was skilled artillery, and it was definitely not possible to let the recruits go to the salute, so he could only draw officers and non-commissioned officers from a company.

It takes 5 men to operate a 37mm anti-tank gun, 4 guns, and Swain has to draw 20 men. If it goes any longer, some platoons of recruits will have to release ducks.

"Okay, 4 doors are enough. There are only 8 salutes on National Day. Bradley snapped the shot. However, seeing that Swain was a little speechless, he asked again, "What other questions do you have?" ”

Swain hesitated, but still reminded Bradley: "I see that on your division of labor, you have given Pope the responsibility of media reception. Everyone knew that John was busy with this from beginning to end, and Pope was not involved in it at all. Push Pop to the front when he finally wants to show his face, will there be any opinion on John's side? ”

Bradley smiled, thinking to himself how long Swain had known John, and he was afraid that he had only seen his hard-working side, and how could he know how cunning this kid was.

"I have communicated with John about this division of labor, and he has no opinion."

"Are you sure?" Sven was a little confused. Pop and John did not deal with each other, which everyone in the division knew well. John doesn't seem to be a person who can swallow his anger, how can he be so high-spirited and give up the opportunity to make a name for himself to Pope in order to take care of the overall situation?

"I don't know what the hell he was up to, but he certainly wouldn't let Pope take advantage of anything. I've known this kid for a few years, and I haven't seen him lose. He's shrewd, so don't worry about him. ”

"Also, how can it be easy to build this large family business at a young age. Pop didn't inquire clearly, and he was going to take someone else's prestige, and now he was kicking the iron plate. ”

"He only chose to take John under the knife after he inquired clearly. Those chief staff officers of the General Staff, any of his actions may trigger the intervention of the three of us. Only against John, we will all turn a blind eye. ”

Bradley knew all about Pop's thoughts. "For one, John was the highest, with the same rank as him, and was the greatest threat to him. Second, he believes that John has not been in the army for a long time, and there are inevitably loopholes in his work, and it is easy to grasp the handle. Three, he didn't really think about what to do with John. ”

"You mean to say that Pope suppressed John just to force him to cooperate?" Swain understood what Bradley meant. Come to think of it, Pop can be used as a nail by the conservatives to get to the 82nd Division, and it is certainly impossible to be ignorant of John's situation. Knowing that John's background is tough and he took the initiative to act, he must have another purpose.

If someone else had changed, Pope's trick might have succeeded. In the case of Bradley, it is inconvenient for them to meddle, as long as Pop can really keep picking out the mistakes in John's work, John can only obediently give in.

Who can stand the fact that your boss picks fault with your work all day long. And Stimson, who was far away in Washington, could not have intervened in such a trivial matter. After a long time, there were only two ways left in front of John: either get out of the way or cooperate with him.

Rather than drive John out of the 82nd Division, Pop was more hopeful of cooperating with John under his leadership. In this way, he was able to do things through John that were inconvenient for him to do directly. For example, if Pop comes forward to integrate some resources of the original Ninth Division, if Pop comes forward, he will definitely encounter obstruction from Bradley and others, but John will not.

"Are you so sure that John can handle Pope?" Swain asked, a little worried.

"You'll just take care of it." Bradley drained his coffee in one gulp, "Maybe John will surprise us." ”