By the time John returned to the Army Staff's Operations Planning Service on Monday morning, the Hoover and Clyde Tolson "homosexuality" scandal had already been rampant. As soon as John entered www.biquge.info the office area, he heard several of Pakarina's Army Women's Auxiliary girls gossiping there.

"It's unbelievable how such a handsome person as Mr. Tolson could fall in love with that ugly monster of Hoover!" A red-haired, freckled girl sighed as she typed.

"yes, and they're so much older. It's disgusting that Hoover can be his dad (Hoover is 28 years older than Clyde). The chubby girl next to her had a disgusted expression.

"Mr. Tolson must have been coerced by the (Hoover had a very dark complexion and had been rumored to be of black descent). God, let that damn Hoover go to hell! The girl who said this was obviously a member of the Appearance Society.

"I think Clyde took the initiative, otherwise he could have become the deputy director of the FBI before he was 30 years old. News reports said that he had been promoted from clerk to deputy commissioner in his second year at the FBI, and there must have been dirty deals involved. The other female corporal, a slightly older one, looked at the problem from a much "deeper" perspective.

"I said, girls, don't just chat, has the vehicle replenishment plan of the Western Military Region been completed, and the director's office will be used in a while." John was listening to the amusement when he saw Pakarina rush in from the back office.

Unexpectedly, this little beauty has a new hairstyle, and she really has a little "leadership momentum". As soon as she spoke, the girls who had been chatting passionately just now immediately began to type obediently, and a crackling typewriter sounded in the office.

Pakarina was obviously pleased with the effect, and was about to turn to leave, when she looked up to find John standing in the doorway. "Good morning, sir, and welcome back. It's a pleasure to meet you. Pakarina, who had just pretended to be a "leader" with a small face, immediately ran over happily and took the briefcase from John's hand.

"Good morning, Pakarina." John greeted her with a smile, "The new hairstyle suits you perfectly." ”

"Thank you, sir." Pakarina smiled a little shyly, and then said, "Colonel Gero said that you will be back today, I have already cleaned up your office just now, please come with me."

With that, Pakarina led John to the door of an office. John was a little puzzled, this seemed to be Crawford's office, his original office was on the other side of the hallway.

Pakarina explained with some embarrassment: "There were a group of new people in the department last month, and there were not enough offices, so you had to share an office with Lieutenant Colonel Crawford first. ”

John graciously patted Pakarina on the shoulder, signaling that he didn't care. The news that he was about to be transferred was not a secret, and it was understandable to do so. Although it was a bit inappropriate that no one greeted him beforehand, it was not to blame Pakarina. It would have been nice for her and Jairo to think of helping him prepare his makeshift office in advance when he returned.

Besides, John came here today to get the appointment and say goodbye to his colleagues by the way. There is no need for a formal office, and it doesn't matter if you have an office or not. Anyway, I'm leaving, and I really can't afford to be unhappy because of this little thing.

"Isn't Robert here yet?" John asked, sitting at his desk, fiddling with the frames on his desk with pictures of Adele and Little Ella

Before Pakarina, who was helping him hang his coat and briefcase, answered, Crawford pushed the door open and said, "John, you're here." Jairo told me just now that you would be here today, but I didn't expect it to be so early. ”

"Good morning, Robert." John warmly hugged Crawford and said, "How's it going?" I've heard that the British are driving you crazy. ”

"It was the submarines of the Germans that were driving them crazy." Crawford, who looked tired and had dark circles under his eyes and a panda, sighed: "Pakarina, help us get two cups of coffee first." ”

When Pakarina was out the door, Crawford continued: "Did you know that in January alone, more than 120,000 tons of the 210,000 tons of supplies we sent to Britain were sent to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by these submarines? This month, the damage was even worse as the weather began to improve. The day before yesterday, Hitler announced on the radio that they had sunk 190,000 tons of Allied ships in the past week. This may be an exaggeration, the figure is more like a month's total, but it is also far more than the British can bear. ”

"Haven't the British, yet figured out how to deal with submarines?" John was a little strange that the British had already begun to take his advice on the use of escort carriers. He remembered that some slow-moving merchant ships began to be equipped with escort aircraft carriers at the end of last year.

"They tried a lot, but nothing worked. The last U-boat to sink was the U104, which was sunk by the frigate "Azalea" just before Christmas. Crawford said with some emotion: "From the beginning of the war to the present, the Germans have lost only 32 submarines, and they are building submarines much faster than that." ”

"Didn't those escort carriers work either?" John couldn't help but wonder. He remembered that in history, escort aircraft carriers were still very effective at dealing with submarines.

"Escort aircraft carriers? Do you mean those armed merchant ships with flight decks installed? Crawford thought for a moment, "The effect is not very obvious. Weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean were so bad last month that planes were unable to take off at all. Even if it takes off, you can't find the submarine. ”

Come to think of it, air anti-submarine warfare now mainly relies on searching for submarines with the naked eye from airplanes, and it is indeed difficult to be effective in bad weather. It seems that the navy should already be conducting magnetic anomaly detector experiments, but I don't know when the results will be produced.

But none of this was John's concern. In fact, Crawford would have had no complaints if it weren't for the fact that the Germans' submarine attacks had greatly increased their workload. Anyway, these materials have already been "sold" to the British, and the transport ships are also the British's own, and no matter how big the losses are, it has nothing to do with the United States.

Seeing Crawford's tired appearance, John kindly suggested, "I advise you to find a chance to rest for two days recently." By the time the Lend-Lease Act is passed in Congress, you'll be busier than you are now. ”

"Alas~" Crawford let out a long sigh: "How's the discussion going in Congress?" ”

"It should be soon. The British are running out of steam. Their daily war spending, which was £7.5 million last July, has now exceeded £11 million (about $44 million). John calculated: "Now they have twice as much deficit as they did eight months ago, and they are paying less than a quarter of all their taxes." Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Kingsley Wood, is trying to get Parliament to raise tax rates, but it won't last long. In addition, Southeast Asia is not very stable, and the Japanese may not be able to attack Singapore at some point. ”

"Yes, and the Japanese. I've heard that the navy is interested in sending a main fleet to help them defend Singapore? ”

"Congress will not agree, the British will focus their defense on India and Australia, ours in the Philippines and Guam. The loss of Singapore will not have a decisive impact on the outcome of the war, but will put our fleet in danger. ”

"Lieutenant Colonel Crawford, your coffee." At this time, Pakarina walked in with a cup of coffee.

"Where's mine, Pakarina?"

"Colonel, Chief Bull told you to go to his office right away. I think he'll have the coffee you want. ”

"Okay." John stood up, "We'll talk later, Robert." By the way, I booked a seat at the Washington Hotel, and we will have dinner together in the evening, and you will go too, Pakarina. ”

With that, John went to see Commissioner Bull. Today is his last day at the Operations Planning Division, and he still has a lot of work to do.