"So, Matthew's appointment is coming down soon?" On the last day of 1940, Bradley, Clark, Martin, and Crawford brought their families to John's home in Washington. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The weather was fine today, and after lunch, the wives took the children to the sunroom in the garden. John, the shareholders of the "Band of Brothers" shipyard, played bridge in the living room.

It's been more than a year since the five of them first met at John's house, and the looming clouds of war have changed dramatically for each of them. Among them, the ones who have changed the most are Bradley and John.

After a year of training as the principal of the Benningburg Infantry School, Bradley is now getting more and more imposing as a superior. Although to outsiders, this "GI General" still looks more like an old southern peasant than a professional officer, in John's old friends and others, they can clearly feel a certain change that has happened to him.

John, on the other hand, made the transition from a successful businessman to a professional military officer in just over a year. Especially after the last two months of military course training, John has begun to move closer to the direction of a qualified officer from his way of thinking to his grooming. In contrast, Crawford, who was drafted into the army in the same batch as him, although he has also changed a lot, still retains a lot of civilian traits.

In contrast, Clark and Martin, the two veterans, have changed the least. Although they have all been promoted this year, they are still in charge of their original work in the staff department, which is not much different from a year ago.

In John's opinion, Clark is okay to say, after all, he is the young Zhuang elite that Marshall fancies, and his future development prospects are still very good. Martin was different, if he hadn't hitched a ride on the expansion of the army, he almost missed the last chance to be promoted and was forced to retire without high-level care in the staff department.

Even so, if Martin does not find another way out and continues to stay in the staff in the future, it is likely that the lieutenant colonel will be the pinnacle of his military career. John deliberately persuaded him to find an opportunity to serve in the combat unit below, and no matter what, Martin still had a certain relationship with Eisenhower when he was in the Philippines. Coupled with the help of Bradley and the four of them, Martin may not be able to mix up in the future.

In addition to the changes that have taken place in John and them personally, their relationship has also quietly changed. As the only general of the five, Bradley has vaguely replaced John as the central figure of the small group. Just now, when he asked John about his recent studies seemingly casually, there was obviously a hint of comparison in it.

This is not surprising, as a year ago Bradley and John were both lieutenant colonels (although one was a full rank and the other was a temporary rank), and there was no subordinate relationship between them. Even though John is a newcomer to the Army, it is not surprising that with his own background and economic strength, he dominates this small circle.

But now, Bradley has officially become the commander of the 82nd Infantry Division, and he also carries the second star (major general) on his shoulders, and his status in the army is no longer comparable to John. Moreover, John was about to go to Bradley as deputy chief of staff, becoming the other party's unmistakable subordinate. No matter how good his personal relationship with Bradley is, in a place like the military, where there is a high hierarchy, the subordinates should still have the appearance of subordinates.

In fact, all along, Bradley's attitude on John's assignment to the 82nd Division has been neither for nor against. Even when Marshall asked him for his opinion on this face-to-face, he did not make it clear.

On the one hand, Bradley did have a good personal relationship with John, and his wife became little Eric's godmother. Bradley not only knew John's details, but also recognized his personal character and ability. It would also be a good thing for him to have a deputy chief of staff in the division headquarters who had good ability and knew the roots.

Bradley, on the other hand, was hesitant to make John his direct subordinate. He was worried that John, a young colonel who had just joined the army for more than a year, would not be able to correctly understand the meaning of the military hierarchy and bring his personal feelings to his daily work.

If that happens in the future, Bradley will have a hard time. No matter what, the blurring of the relationship between superiors and subordinates without distinguishing between public and private affairs is a taboo in the military, and it will seriously affect the execution ability of the troops. Anyway, Bradley was worried that it would affect his friendship with John. After all, John is quite powerful in the military, politics, and business circles, and if he doesn't handle it well and turns his face, it will be a troublesome thing in the future. Instead, it's better not to work together in the first place.

That's why Bradley showed a different attitude when he asked John about his education just now, and when he drank and played cards before. In fact, he was testing and reminding John that it was no problem for him, a major general, to be a brother to John, a colonel. But when talking about work, he, the division commander, is the commander of John, the deputy chief of staff, and John should maintain a certain amount of respect and obedience to him.

Fortunately, John was not completely unaware of the problem. Soon after the arrangement for him to serve in the 82nd Division was finalized, Stimson specially reminded him to pay attention to the relationship between himself and Bradley. And Middleton also repeatedly told him that after going to the 82nd Division, he should put himself in a correct position and not confuse the relationship between his superiors and subordinates because of personal friendships.

John thought he could still make a distinction between public and private. Isn't it just to be respectful and obedient to Bradley at work, which is not a problem for John at all. He is not a military genius, and he is qualified to compete with Bradley on military issues.

So, John put himself in the right place. When Bradley asked about his studies at Fort Leavenworth, he answered earnestly. He also took out some questions from his paper and asked Bradley for advice.

Seeing that John understood what he meant, Bradley also breathed a sigh of relief. These days, while he is busy preparing for the 82nd Division, he has been worried about this problem. Delighted, he not only enthusiastically talked to John about concealment and camouflage tactics, but also took the initiative to ask John for his translation of The Art of War.

Regarding the current dynamics of the 82nd Division, Bradley also briefly spoke to John. Since the 82nd Division was a reserve force before, although the basic structure of the unit existed, it was obviously no longer able to meet the needs of the current operation. Bradley has recently been recruiting for the right officers for the division.

In the battle for the division headquarters, Marshall recently made Colonel Matthew Ridgway, chief of the strategic section of the Operations Planning Division of the Army General Staff, who is also from the 15th Infantry Regiment, the deputy commander of the division. In other words, Matthew will soon be carrying the stars. I just don't know who John's immediate boss, the post of division chief of staff, will be.