John spent the whole morning in his office reading the books. At present www.biquge.info Roosevelt's efforts to amend the "Neutrality Act" have not yet yielded results, and the export of military supplies to the warring parties is still illegal. The arms dealers, who were anxious to make war money, were mainly focused on lobbying Congress to revise the law. Therefore, the War Department does not receive many applications now, and they are mainly projects that play "side-kicking". For example, this application for Mobil Oil to export jet fuel to Germany.

John had also heard that some time ago the Rockefellers and Goering had a hot fight, and they helped the Germans build a number of huge oil storage tanks and supporting facilities in Hamburg, and in return, Mobil Oil received a large order for jet fuel. Now that the construction in Hamburg was complete and Mobil was ready to export fuel to Germany, the war broke out. The Commerce Department was not sure whether the deal violated the Neutrality Act, so it kicked the ball to the War Department.

Similarly, Ford Motor applied to export a batch of engine and parts to Germany, and a shipbreaking plant applied to export scrap steel to Japan's Yawata Iron and Steel Works. After reading these files, John probably understood why Colonel Wells was troubled.

Neither aviation fuel, nor automobile engines, nor scrap steel can be considered military supplies in the strict sense of the word, but it is also okay to call them civilian industrial products. If the object of export is Britain and France, it is estimated that Colonel Wells has turned a blind eye and signed the agreement.

Who made the United States an English-speaking country. Germany is on the aggressor side again. In today's American society, both high-level politicians and ordinary people are psychologically supportive of Britain and France. Everyone just doesn't have a conclusion on how to support it and to what extent.

However, the export targets of these applications are Germany and Japan. Don't sign it, think about the Rockefeller family and the Ford family behind this, Colonel Wells is naturally a little weak-legged. Sign it, in case the policy changes, the United States openly sides with Britain and France, and Colonel Wells is afraid that he will be counted as an old man in the future, saying that he is "an enemy". After all, even a fool can see that these "civilian materials" will definitely be used for military purposes.

John guessed that Colonel Wells must have been secretly rejoicing in his office across the corridor at this time that he had finally thrown this "hot potato" out. Of course, Colonel Wells found the problem to be tricky, and it was not a big deal with John.

At the meeting just now, John had no say in the professional issues such as personnel appointments, military intelligence, training plans, supply plans, and preparations for exercises. But when it comes to dealing with arms dealers, he is still very experienced. Isn't this what he did in the Military Production Committee before?

John, who had a bottom in his heart, closed the file and went to the cafeteria for lunch. In the officers' cafeteria, John unexpectedly met an "acquaintance", Eisenhower's old classmate, Lieutenant Colonel Bradley, assistant secretary of the Army Staff.

"Omar, here." John beckoned Bradley, who was holding a plate, to sit down on his side.

Bradley was obviously taken aback by John's uniform, and it took a long time to speak: "John, who are you?" ”

"We're colleagues now. Chief of Staff Marshall asked me to come over and take charge of the approval of the export of military products. John pointed to the silver leaf on his shoulder, "Assistant to the Chief of the Operations Planning Division, this is my new position, and the office is on the fourth floor. ”

"It's really amazing." Bradley exclaimed, "You're a lieutenant colonel now, too." ”

"It's just a temporary rank, it's completely different from yours." John didn't want to irritate Bradley because of this: "I'm reporting on the first day today, I don't know anything, you have to help me." ”

"Of course." Bradley agreed, "But I won't be able to help you for long, and I'll be transferred to Fort Benning in a little while." ”

Historically, John recalls, Bradley was transferred to the Fort Benning Infantry School in 1941 as principal and resident commander, and was promoted from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general. I didn't expect that in this world, there was so much in advance. Could it be that Marshall had already begun to get rid of those old generals with outdated ideas so early?

"Congratulations, I heard that Brigadier General Robert Ken is retiring, you are about to be promoted." The current principal of the Fort Benning Infantry School is Fred's father, Brigadier General Robert Ken. This old man has reached retirement age, and his heart is not very good. As the cradle of infantry officers, the next task of the Fort Benning Infantry School will be very heavy, and Marshall should be worried that his old colleague (when Marshall was the principal of the Fort Benning Infantry School, Robert was the vice principal) would be physically unbearable.

Bradley didn't have this problem, he was in the prime of life and an old man at the Fort Bennings Infantry School (Bradley had served as the head of the weapons department at the Fort Bennings Infantry School), and he was the best person to take over the work of the Infantry School.

"Not what you think." Bradley hurriedly denied it, "George (Marshall) asked me to be in charge of preparing for the Reserve Officer School. ”

That's right, now that there is such a big shortage of grassroots officers, it is really necessary to set up a crash training school for officers. If Bradley had done this well, it would have been logical for him to take over Robert Ken's class in the future.

"Anyway, it's better than being an assistant secretary now." John changed the subject back: "You better introduce me to the staff first, I don't even know where the other departments are." ”

Bradley smiled: "It's not your fault, who made this building too small." Bradley told John that the office building on Constitution Street, where they were now located, was actually a quartermaster building from World War I. The entire Department of the Army has offices on the National Mall, Foggy Bottom Street, and eight or nine other locations in Washington, D.C., and Maryland and Virginia.

"I only found out about the location of some departments after I became an assistant secretary." Bradley laughed, "But I heard that after Secretary Stimson took office, he began to work on the construction of a new office building that could accommodate all departments. ”

John knew that this new building would be known as the "Pentagon", and that the world's largest office building would not be built until 1941 and put into use in 1943.

Bradley continued to educate John, the new man: "The civilian officers of the War Department and our Army Staff are working separately, you know that. Our staff headquarters is divided into three major sections. The Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chiefs of Staff, the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, and we, the Secretaries of the Staff, are a big block; The General Staff Departments, such as the Personnel Service, the Intelligence Service, the Training Service, the Supply Service, and your Planning Service, are one big block; Administrative, civilian, medical, logistical, and specialized functional departments such as the headquarters of all arms are another major block. ”

After listening to Bradley's introduction, John learned that the building he was in was the office of Marshall, the deputy chiefs of staff, the assistant chiefs of staff, the general offices of the General Staff, and the Operations Planning Office. The offices of the Personnel Division and the Intelligence Division are located on the National Mall in the United States, and the Training Division and Supply Division are located on Foggy Bottom Street. The specialty functions are located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and in Maryland and Virginia. Before, he thought that the staff members were all in this building.