At the Port Elizabeth Pier in New York, Lieutenant Colonel John and Somerville, accompanied by Martin, inspect the loading and unloading of aid. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Originally, the transportation of 20,000 Garand rifles and 10 million rounds of rifle ammunition was not worth John's personal trip to New York. However, there is news that the British king, who is on a visit to Canada, will arrive in New York the day after tomorrow. George VI and Queen Elizabeth will be in attendance at the launch ceremony.

To this end, the British Royal Navy sent a strong escort force for the "HX-59" formation, including 3 frigates, 6 destroyers and 1 cruiser. John and Lieutenant Colonel Somerville also had to come to the scene to ensure that the shipment of the military supplies was completed in time.

In fact, this batch of materials from the army is only a small part of the cargo transported by the "HX-59" formation, and it has basically been loaded onto the ship. Slowing down the whole loading and unloading process are the civilian supplies such as flour, canned food, meat, medicines, cloth, etc.

John stood on the top floor of the Port Building, looking through his binoculars at another marine terminal across the river. Federal Shipping has just been contracted to operate that port. Ponysk is upgrading its terminal facilities. When completed, it will join the Port of Houston as one of the first container handling terminals in the United States.

"The efficiency is still too slow, if you use a 20-foot container, this amount of material will be loaded in half a day." John put down the binoculars in his hand and said to Martin, who was directly in charge of the transportation plan.

"I've inquired, and those gantry cranes will be ready for use in two weeks." Martin knew very well whose industry the federal shipping was, "but the ports in the UK would not have been able to do without handling equipment." ”

Their conversation succeeded in attracting the attention of Lieutenant Colonel Somerville.

"What container?" These days, he and John and the others are already very familiar, Somerville asked directly.

John explained his concept of the so-called container sea-land intermodal transport. Somerville was sent to the United States to be responsible for the handover of aid, so he was no stranger to the transportation industry. He quickly grasped the doorway. "It's a device that resembles a Lancashire tray, isn't it, that's a good thing." (The so-called Lancashire pallet is a device similar to a container hatch invented by British Rail at the end of the last century to transport raw materials to textile companies in Lancashire.) ）

After thinking for a moment, he said to John, "Do you have any relevant technical materials, I think I can suggest it to the above." At a time when there is a shortage of labour in the country, this can drastically reduce the demand for dock workers should be of interest to Minister Bevan. ”

Ernest Bevan, according to Somerville, is the current Minister of Labour and National Affairs in Britain's wartime cabinet, second only to Winston Churchill, who was both Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Defence. The general secretary of the British Transport Union and the leader of the Labour Party, who participated in organizing and leading the British general strike in 1926, was very skilled in solving labor problems.

Soon after taking office, he introduced a series of decrees and emergency measures prohibiting strikes, lockouts, employers from firing workers without government permission, extending the legal working hours, and increasing the number of jobs for women, which greatly alleviated the labor shortage caused by conscription in the United Kingdom.

However, these are only temporary solutions. No worker can work without a break, and women cannot fully fill the gap in the sturdy labour needed in key industries. If the implementation of container intermodal transportation can improve transportation efficiency while significantly reducing the number of transport workers, Ernest Bevan has no reason to refuse.

John was well aware that in peacetime he wanted to promote container intermodal transport, which would inevitably lead to a boycott from the trade unions. Only by taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of the shortage of labor in wartime and preemptively cooking raw rice to maturity can we minimize the resistance to popularization.

John graciously agreed to provide information on intermodal shipping to Somerville and said FedEx would be happy to help with the renovation of the UK port if needed.

That night, he went to the hotel room in Somerville with the materials that Maersk had sorted out. In the room, in addition to Somerville and several Royal Navy officers on escort missions, there was a young French naval lieutenant.

This combination is simply bizarre. You know, now France has surrendered. Just a few days ago, the British Royal Navy carried out a surprise attack on their "former ally". The French ships docked in the port of Gibraltar were shelled at close range by the British warships around them, and all but three French battleships were sunk and one battlecruiser and five destroyers escaped.

Although this "surprise attack" was contrary to moral and international law (France surrendered, but did not declare war on Britain), and the French Vichy government severed diplomatic relations with Britain as a result, the British were not "ashamed" of it.

Because as soon as these French warships fell into the hands of the Germans, the strength of the German and Italian navies would be doubled. At that time, the Royal Navy will not only be unable to effectively maintain a naval blockade of Germany, but its ability to protect the Atlantic route will also be greatly weakened. There was even the possibility of being driven out of the Mediterranean and deprived of crude oil supplies from the Middle Eastern colonies.

So only by letting these French warships fall into their own hands or lie to the bottom of the sea can the British Royal Navy breathe more freely.

How could a French naval lieutenant mix with someone from the British Royal Navy at such a time?

Somerville saw John's confusion and hurriedly introduced him: "John, this is Major Bisson of Free France, and he is the adjutant of Vice Admiral Missellier. ”

It dawned on John that Vice Admiral Missellier was the naval representative of the Free French organization, and it was no wonder that Major Bisson was here.

Prior to the surrender of France, Vice Admiral Missellier was in charge of the control of embargoes in the Mediterranean region in Marseille. As soon as he learned that an armistice had been reached, he loaded the most valuable cargo he could find on the docks onto several merchant ships, escorted them to Gibraltar by three small French warships, and handed over the small fleet and all the supplies to the British.

Before Missellier's arrival in England, he did not know de Gaulle and did not know the position he took. Originally, as a three-star vice admiral, his status in the French army was much higher than that of Charles de Gaulle, a brigadier general.

However, de Gaulle had already preempted Churchill's public support. As a result, Vice Admiral Missellier was now subservient to de Gaulle (although he himself did not sign any document pledging allegiance to de Gaulle) as the naval representative of Free France.

Somerville went on to explain: "Bisson is here with the convoy this time, and he'll be flying to the Bahamas tomorrow. Prime Minister Winston Churchill has promised to hand over to them some of the naval supplies you have aided. ”

John nodded, De Gaulle's movements were quite fast, was he going to open up a new battlefield in the Central African colonies so soon. "I wish you all the best on your trip, Major Bison." John said fluently in French: "My wife is also French. We believe that France will regain its freedom under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle and General Miscellier. ”

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel!" Major Bisson shook John's hand with some excitement, "Please tell your wife for me that French soldiers will never give in." Freedom will belong to the French people! ”