On the night of July 10, the eight-hour rail journey from Buffalo to Louisville was the most fearful journey John ever walked. It wasn't until the early hours www.biquge.info of the next morning, when the train passed through Louisville Station and turned onto a special railroad branch to the "Fort Knox" base, that John breathed a sigh of relief.

In a secluded dedicated station, it took more than four hours for the staff of the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the treasury management to complete the inventory and acceptance of the special supplies. After that, it didn't matter to John, all he had to do was send the remaining batch of M3A1 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles on the train to the stationing of the Army's 2nd Armored Division.

Even if it's a play, you have to do a full set. John still needs to wait for the wheeled reconnaissance vehicles to be handed over before he can successfully complete the mission. Although it was a bit of a pity that I was not allowed to enter the vault for a feast of my eyes, this regret was nothing compared to the ease of feeling after being completely relieved.

When John took this batch of "agricultural sprayers" (M3A1 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles are the product of FMC, the American Food Machinery and Chemical Company. This company first produced piston pumps for spraying pesticides, so the military often jokingly called the M3A1 reconnaissance vehicle a pesticide spraying vehicle) When he arrived at the gate of the 2nd Armored Division, he unexpectedly met an "old friend" - Brigadier General Jacob Devers.

said to be old friends, in fact, John and Devers have never met a few times, but both of them are Stimson's descendants, and they have cooperated with each other a few times. When Devers was promoted to chief of staff of the Panamanian garrison, John used his farewell party to build momentum for Eisenhower.

Later, when Crawford went to Panama to loot the garrison material warehouse in order to gather the orders of the British Purchasing Committee, Devers also cooperated with the full face. Of course, Devers also learned from John about the latest developments in the top of the staff.

"Haha, John. Long time no see. The tanned Devers was the first to spot John, jumped out of the car, and waved enthusiastically to John.

"Hello, sir!" John jokingly stood up and saluted, then embraced Devers warmly. "When did you return to China, why didn't I hear the news?"

"Just came back the day before yesterday and took a vacation. But how can you, a busy man, be here? Devers smiled and said, "I looked for you yesterday when I went to the munitions building, and they said you were on a business trip. Why, the chief of staff is here to inspect the grassroots level. ”

"What an inspection, I'm just running errands to deliver goods. No, they were given equipment. John remembered that Devers seemed to have been the commander of the Army's armored forces for a while before the war. So he asked in a low voice, "I won't leave when I come back this time." I've heard that there are a lot of vacancies in the Armored Forces Command. ”

"Hehe, your nose is pointy." Devers looked around and said in a lower voice, "It's hard to say right now. Minister Stimson said that there may be two places to go, one is to go to the 9th Division as a division commander, and the other is to come here as a deputy commander. Didn't I take my vacation to meet old friends and ask about the situation? ”

John knew who Devers was talking about as an "old friend", George Patton Jr. was now the commander of the Army's 2nd Armored Division (don't be fooled by this number, the 2nd Armored Division was the first and currently the only armored division in the U.S. Army), and Devers and he were classmates at West Point.

"I'm going to do the equipment delivery now, let's talk later?" John patted his briefcase and apologized for taking his leave.

"Cheng, you can come directly to the division headquarters to find me when you are done. Let's have a meal together at noon, and someone has a treat. Defuss was happy to do it for Barton.

The place where John saw Devers again was at the service at the headquarters of the 2nd Panzer Division. The tall and unashamed Barton stands with the chubby, smiling Defuss, reminding John of Simba and Pumbaa in the later Disney animated film "The Lion King".

"George, let me introduce you, this is Lieutenant Colonel Vanderbilt of the Operations Planning Division of the General Staff. I said, don't be a boss, you can't do it, but they just sent a batch of equipment to your 2nd Division. ”

"John, this is Major General Patton of the 2nd Panzer Division. Don't mind, he was born with a creditor face. ”

Both John and Barton were surprised by Devers's mouth. After all, it is a person who has stood on the podium for decades, and few people can say anything about him, and the wisest way at this time is to smile and not take his words.

Historically, Devers is known as the No. 1 rapper in the Allied High Command. How long can he go? Someone once joked that the reason why the original formulator of the "Operation Overlord" battle plan was sent to the Mediterranean theater as deputy commander on the eve of the operation was because Eisenhower, Montgomery, and other commanders of the two armies really did not want to hold any more meetings with him.

It can be so verbose that even a patient like Eisenhower can't stand it, and Devers's words are at the pinnacle.

At lunch that day, John and the three of them had a good meal. For a general like Patton, who is old enough (he was Pershing's adjutant during World War I, and was a colleague of Marshall), and his family is prominent enough (his ancestors were generals during the Revolutionary War, and he has in-laws with the Washington family, and there are members of the Patton family in all American wars), and his ability is excellent enough, John has no capital to win him over.

Therefore, he did not bother to get close to Barton in vain, but just regarded this meal as a very ordinary social event. Patton apparently didn't take John, a "pink" lieutenant colonel who had been in the military for less than a year, too seriously. Most of the time, he was talking to Devers about the tactics of the Panzers. It was only when he talked about the new batch of M3A1 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles that arrived today that he chatted with John a few more words.

In fact, for this car, John and Patton have the same opinion - chicken ribs. As a reconnaissance vehicle, the mobility of the M3A1 is not very good, the body is on the heavy side, and the adaptability to mountainous and unhardened roads is insufficient. As a fire support vehicle, its open hull does not have sufficient battlefield protection. As a transport and artillery towing vehicle, its armored casing and heavy 0.5-inch Browning M2 heavy machine gun wasted too much space and kinetic energy.

In short, the M3A1 is not outstanding in terms of mobility, firepower or protection. Historically, the US Army has been replacing the M8A8 with the M20 and the M20 General Purpose Armored Vehicle since 1943. Most of the M3A1 reconnaissance vehicles were exported to the Allies through Lend-Lease, and only a small number served in the second-line units of the U.S. Marine Corps.

After lunch, John hurriedly took his leave and returned to Washington. This brief encounter with Barton was quickly left behind him. It wasn't until now, when he began to think about entering the field of special vehicle manufacturing, that he thought of Patton's words that day, "The people in the Ordnance Department can never understand what the front-line troops really need." We want bulldozers that can cut through mountains and open roads, but they only give us useless pesticide sprayers. ”

That's right, bulldozers! How did he forget about Caterpillar, the "yellow giant"? In later generations, almost every American boy had a yellow model of a Caterpillar construction car in his toy box. What's more, as far as John knows, Caterpillar doesn't seem to have had a good time lately.