On September 25, 1939, a light rain began to fall in Washington. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info John did not go to work, but was alone in the study, looking at the conscription announcement, enlistment notice and physical examination form on the table in a daze. "Uncle Sam" on the recruitment announcement is sending out "I-want-you!" to John. The calling. If it were usual, this sentence would definitely be reminiscent of the famous talent show in the later generations. But now, apart from lamenting the impermanence of fate, he has no energy to think about anything else.

True, it has been 25 days since the outbreak of the Second World War, and the fate of many people has been completely changed. But John never dreamed that this would happen to him so soon. He hadn't recovered for days since Uncle Stimson and Cousin William talked to him last week. How did he, who is already 35 years old, suddenly change from a civilian to a professional soldier?

It all started with the outbreak of the Polish campaign more than 20 days ago. At 4:40 a.m. on September 1, the Germans, with six armored divisions, four lightly armored divisions, and four motorized infantry divisions as the main assault forces, smashed the defense line of about 800,000 troops of the six Polish armies in western Poland.

Leaving aside the rampage of the two armies led by Rundstey and Bock on the Polish plains, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and General Kovalev and General Timoshenko were ready to move on the eastern border of the Soviet Union. September 1 is also the day when Marshall, the greatest chief of staff of the Army in American history, took office.

The veteran officer, who had taken 14 years to be promoted to captain, was in his sixties and suddenly came to work. He was first transferred to Washington in February 1938 as special assistant to the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, and in October he was promoted to deputy chief of staff of the Army, then acting chief of staff, chief of staff, promoted to major general, and granted the provisional rank of four-star general. In one fell swoop, he surpassed many senior generals and lieutenant generals with rich qualifications and practical combat experience, and became the first person in the US Army. Although Germany's blitzkrieg on Poland ruined his scheduled inauguration, it doesn't matter, does it.

One of the first things Marshall did when he took office was to reshape the Army and build an armed force strong enough to defend the country. (It's hard to imagine that the U.S. Army is now the 17th strongest in the world behind countries like Spain and Portugal.) The task was quite daunting, because Roosevelt couldn't give him much public support for the election at the end of next year.

Marshall faced a situation of about 170,000 active Army troops, 56 squadrons of Army Air Force, about 2,500 pilots, and two small, experimental mechanized regiments. In terms of organizational structure, although the US Army was divided into 14 military regions (theoretically there should have been 14 corps) when MacArthur was chief of staff, in reality there were only three relatively complete infantry divisions, and it was impossible to make up even a full army.

The Army's weaponry is even more outdated, and many units are still using some World War I equipment. The only thing that is better is that the car has replaced the horse as the main means of transport for the troops. In addition to the outdated equipment, the military quality of the troops is also miserable. Many officers on active duty lack regular and rigorous training, and a large number of senior generals have outdated thinking, and they still cling to the experience of World War I and even the Spanish-American War, and the training expenses of the troops account for only 2 percent of military expenditures.

In John's view, Marshall's plan for the beginning of his tenure was already conservative: the active Army was expanded to 280,000, the National Guard to 126,000, and a number of old World War I equipment was eliminated, at a total cost of only $675 million. At this scale, it was not enough to fight a decent battle in World War II.

But such a plan was also strongly resisted by "isolationists" in Congress. And the top brass of the White House stood by and watched Marshall's predicament. In the words of Uncle Stimson, these people were "willing to lose the war rather than lose the vote." ”

It was not until mid-September that, thanks to the efforts of Uncle Stimson, Congress finally agreed to allocate $900 million to strengthen the military, of which $250 million was for the navy.

Finally got the money, and Marshall began to recruit. The armament is easy to solve, and the industrial strength of the United States is here, and it is not too difficult to catch up. The shortage of soldiers is also easy to solve, and now that the economic situation is sluggish, for many young men, it is better to be a soldier than to be unemployed at home.

The key problem was the shortage of officers, which was a real headache for Marshall. Because of low salaries and slow promotions, few of today's college graduates are willing to become career officers. (Miraculously, this American career officer has a requirement for academic qualifications.) There are only two or three hundred graduates a year from military academies such as West Point and Virginia, which is not enough to stuff your teeth.

As a result, Marshall, who "is difficult for a clever daughter-in-law to cook without rice", hit the idea on John, a "social youth" with a skill. The Selective Service Board began to issue enlistment notices to a group of professionals and to recruit them for military service. John was so gorgeously tricked.

In fact, John himself is to blame for this. If he hadn't been in front of the generals in the Army Staff, showing off his supply chain logistics plan, others wouldn't have remembered to recruit him. When John figured out what had happened, he was so remorseful that his bowels were blue. If he had known this, he would not have said anything and would not have run out to fill the garlic. If the aircraft production can't go up, it can't go up, and it's not the problem of Hughes Aircraft. Now it's okay to dig your own pit and bury yourself.

According to what John heard from the War Office, the first person to "get his heart struck" about him was Brigadier General Somerville, with whom he had only met that day. This general from the engineering corps has just been ordered to form an army quartermaster supply unit.

In later generations, the US Army was divided into dozens of arms in three categories: combat units, combat support units, and combat service support units. But in 1939, even the most basic quartermaster supply units had just been formed. John's "outstanding" performance that day made Brigadier General Somerville, who was suffering from a lack of professional talent in his hands, think that he was a good material for logistics, and he was bent on recruiting him.

As soon as Brigadier General Somerville made his move, he was discovered by General Arnold, who was also very concerned about John. Arnold knew John better, and was well aware of the political and economic power behind John. He felt it would be a waste to get John to transport supplies. This kid has great powers in the aviation manufacturing industry, and he has also studied the strategic bombing theory advocated by him, so it is just right for him to come to his army aviation command.

These two people, one is the only "ten-star general" in American history (Arnold is a five-star general of the Air Force who was reassigned to a five-star general in the army), and the other is the first engineer in American history (the first engineer in Somerville to receive the rank of four-star general, and he presided over the construction of the Pentagon). Unexpectedly, he sent an invitation to John back and forth, which really made John "flattered".