By the time John had returned from smoking with the big smoker in Lin Yutang, Stilwell had already left, and it was said that he had rushed back to Georgia overnight. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 InfoJohn felt that Marshall's choice to let Stilwell come over this time was really a bit of a lack of consideration. Although Stilwell and Weidemeyer had worked together for a few years in the late twenties, they had a little friendship. But Stilwell isn't the long-sleeved type to dance, and his personality is clearly not suitable for this.

No, a good opportunity to close the distance and enhance the relationship, he made it the same as performing official duties. After giving the gift, he stayed for less than half an hour and left in a hurry. It is said that "goose feathers are sent thousands of miles, and the gift is light and affectionate", Stilwell ran almost a thousand miles, but the key is that everyone can see that this gift is insincere.

After a while, Weidemeyer, who had sent Stilwell away, returned to the room. When he saw John, he was a little embarrassed to round up Stilwell: "I'm sorry, John. Joseph is such a temperant, and he didn't mean to target you. ”

"Hehe, vinegar Zi Qiao, it's really worthy of its reputation." John sneered. Originally, he was not very interested in the character of Stilwell, but now that he has met him, his impression is even worse.

In his opinion, Marshall's biggest failure in employing people was to reuse Stilwell, a self-righteous "mouth cannon". Historically, Stilwell, as chief of staff in the China-India-Burma theater, behaved quite amateurishly. After two and a half years in office, the staff was made by him to look like a leather bag company, and even the normal organizational structure was incomplete. When Weidemeyer came to replace him, he had to take time to rebuild the team.

Although in later generations, some people liked to package Stilwell as the kind of excellent general who died tragically in the political struggle, but in military terms, Stilwell could not find anything to say except that he was a pioneer, approachable, and "well-trained". It is no wonder that Allied officers and soldiers (including the Americans themselves) at the time called Stilwell "the best three-star company commander." At this level, at best, it is the material of a division commander, and it is not enough to be a military commander.

Further, Stilwell did not have sufficient administrative skills, nor did he have the strategic judgment or leadership temperament to do so. Clark's warfare skills are a little trendy, but he is good at playing politics, and one person can settle several governments in exile. Stilwell is not good at his own level, and he likes to be self-righteous, with no one in his eyes, and he speaks harshly, offending everyone.

What's worse is that this guy has followed Marshall for so many years, and he didn't learn the good ones, but learned the bad habit of "cronyism". (When Stilwell was chief of staff in the China-India-Burma theater, he stuffed a lot of friends and family into the team, including his son and two sons-in-law.) Marshall's "cronyism" was the ability to know and employ people, and what Stilwell singled out was what Roosevelt called "a lot of impostor generals."

In the past, when Stilwell didn't provoke John, he had considered whether to find an opportunity to give this guy some eye medicine at Stimson's, so that he could harm the Chinese Expeditionary Force. After hesitating for a long time, he dispelled this idea.

After all, there is no older general in the U.S. military than Stilwell (Stilwell was a 1904 West Point graduate, 11 years older than Eisenhower and Bradley) and more "familiar" with the situation in China. Moreover, at present, US military commanders basically have no actual combat experience, and we will have to wait until we walk on the battlefield to find out. Stilwell was Marshall's first favorite again, and no matter how reasonable John's empty words were there, it probably didn't make a difference.

Unexpectedly, he didn't provoke Stilwell, but Stilwell took the initiative to "hit" the door. Since Stilwell didn't take John seriously (John didn't believe Stilwell didn't know who he was), he opened his mouth in public and taught him not to "just ponder crooked ways." John wouldn't be polite to him, and he had to let him taste the power of "crooked ways".

In his previous life, Stilwell was able to rely on Marshall's trust and survive five investigations by Washington's special envoys. In this life, John believed that he would never have such good luck.

John was still figuring out how to make Stilwell, and Weidemeyer had already returned with two cocktails. "I'll ask you something, where is James?"

"The transfer order was approved yesterday, and it is estimated that James will be notified when he returns to the 5th Division." John took the glass: "Don't worry, I know what is going to happen next." ”

During this time, in addition to preparing for the thesis and final exam, John was most worried about the problem of transferring Van Fleet to the 82nd Division. To do this, he called Bradley almost every day.

Bradley still knows a certain amount about his old classmate and is sympathetic to Van Vliet's "unlucky" experience. However, out of an abundance of caution, he only agreed to transfer Van Vliet to the 82nd Division first, and Bradley did not respond to John's suggestion that he be the division's chief of staff.

Fortunately, Van Vliet is still only a lieutenant colonel with no ambitions, and it is easy to transfer. Bradley made a phone call, and the 5th Division agreed. Originally, they didn't pay much attention to Van Vliet, but now when they saw that Bradley wanted to pull his old classmate, they didn't stop him, and they should have sold Bradley a favor.

"You have to be careful, I heard that the 5th Division regretted it again." Weidemeyer kindly reminded.

"Regrets? Why? This appointment has been approved. "John was a little strange that he knew Van Vliet in the 5th Division, but he didn't know much about the situation there.

"Who made James get the first overall score in this graduation assessment." Seeing that John didn't understand the message, Weidemeyer patiently explained to him again: "This is the first batch of short-term training courses for middle-level officers since the expansion of the army, and there are 105 places in the whole army. Many troops have broken their heads in order to rob people, and they let go of a first place in vain, can you not regret it. ”

John had some malicious guesses that Van Vliet could come to the short school this time and probably some guy with a background took a fancy to his position as deputy head of the regiment. That's why Van Vliet was sent here for training, and the position was replaced there.

It is estimated that the gang of the 5th Division was already having a headache about how to arrange Van Vliet after he returned, so they agreed to Bradley's request for transfer so happily. didn't think about it, Van Vliet, who was inconspicuous on weekdays, suddenly became the first place, and now the 5th Division was a little dumbfounded. Even if they don't care about Van Vliet as a person, they don't want to bury the notoriety of talent because they don't know anyone on their backs. Otherwise, who will dare to come to the 5th Division among those outstanding military academy graduates in the future.

However, the order has been approved, what other tricks can the 5th Division have. Not to mention, there really is. That is to have Van Vliet receive two appointments at the same time. In this era, there was no Internet, and information communication was far less transparent and smooth than in later generations. Therefore, it is not uncommon for multiple units to issue appointments to the same person. Usually, the person who receives the appointment can choose which one to accept.

John's mind turned, and he soon found an opportunity to help Van Vliet get promoted. Now that Van Vliet has become a "sweet spot" for several companies to compete for, should the 82nd Division increase its size in order to attract talents?