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Chapter 1777 Strategic Issues

Washington, White House. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

“...... According to a comprehensive and systematic investigation, almost all of the capital ships of the United States on the west coast have been wiped out, but fortunately, before the war, our heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers were sent to Australia and New Zealand in large numbers to escort the convoy of ammunition and troops, and we had very little loss on these ships.

"Therefore, according to actual needs, we only need to appropriately replenish a few aircraft carriers cruising in the Atlantic Ocean to complete the formation of several aircraft carrier formations, partially restore the strength of the Pacific Fleet, and regain sea supremacy!"

Admiral Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, took the report and reported it carefully.

Many people may not know much about the official position and composition of the US Navy, but in fact, the chief of naval operations is the chief of staff of the Navy in the usual sense, and is the actual commander of naval military operations.

The struggle for military power between the minister and the chief of staff of the US *** team has been going on for a long time.

After the independence of the United States, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy were established successively. By law, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy are the President's representatives in the Army and Navy, respectively, and both Ministers must be civilians, in order to prevent the emergence of a military dictatorship. However, this has produced a fatal weakness, that is, ministers who are civilian officials do not know much about military affairs, or even know nothing about military affairs, and the indiscriminate use of troops will certainly have an adverse impact on military operations.

At the beginning of the last century, during the Second American-British War, the United States suffered a lot of consequences for this, and suffered successive defeats in the war against the British army. In order to change this situation, the US Government has reformed the armed forces, and in order to assist the Secretary of War in commanding the armed forces, a special staff has been set up composed of the heads of various bureaus of the War Department.

After the war, the United States began to try to establish a centralized command system, so the Secretary of War appointed an officer as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, so that the Secretary of War received technical advice from the General Staff and directed military operations through the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Theoretically, the authority of the Secretary of War should be higher than that of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, after all, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army is appointed by the Secretary of the Army, but in practice the question arises - can the Commander-in-Chief of the Army really command the Army? If the command is carried out, where will the Secretary of War go? This is tantamount to usurping "the Secretary of War as the president's command representative." If command is not exercised, this post will be useless and redundant, and the result will be extremely troublesome to the originally centralized and unified command system.

In the absence of war, even if there is occasional friction between the Secretary of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the problem is not too big, but in wartime, if the two become entangled in their command authority and constrain each other, then military operations will certainly be affected.

This has happened many times in the history of the United States. During the Mexican-American War in the middle of the last century, the Secretary of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army each had a set of operational plans and commanded the armies they could control, so that the President of the United States at the time did not know who to issue orders, which greatly delayed the progress of the war.

The lack of clarity about the powers of the minister and the commander-in-chief also left the front-line commanders at a loss as to whom to take orders, and in the early days of the American Civil War, the Northern Army was often affected by this, and the front-line commanders sometimes received almost identical orders from the ministers and commanders-in-chief at the same time, leaving them in a dilemma, resulting in the defeat of the war. In order to change the confusion in the command system, President Lincoln appointed the commander-in-chief of the army to lead the three armed forces, with full authority over the military operations of the army, and put the secretary of the army in charge of recruitment, logistics and supply, etc., a move that quickly reversed the unfavorable situation and hastened the victory of the Northern Army.

However, this command system is contrary to the law and in fact deprives the Minister of War of military command. Later presidents went even further, simply giving the Army Commander-in-Chief the command of Army operations and ordering all Army Bureaus to report to the Army Commander-in-Chief rather than the Secretary of the Army, a move that was fiercely criticized by Congress and had to be abandoned. The lack of clarity between the powers of the Secretary of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army again affected the Spanish-American War that followed.

After the Spanish-American War, the US Government and military leaders, who were deeply inconvenienced, all held that this kind of confusion of responsibilities could no longer continue, and that it was necessary to put an end to the situation in which the Secretary of the Army, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and the various administrative, technical, and logistical departments of the Army were at odds with each other, and that a unified decision-making center should be established.

After that, the United States formally established the General Staff of the Army in the style of the German General Staff, and replaced the Commander-in-Chief of the Army with the Chief of the Army General Staff. The General Staff is controlled by the operational officers and advises the President and the Secretary of the Army on matters related to the Army's strategic plans, the Army's development, supervises the work of the departments, and directs the Army's training. The General Staff Act, which was passed by the National Assembly, basically realized this idea, but in World War I, the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force had a new conflict over the command of the army.

The situation in the Navy is slightly better, there is no such problem in terms of command.

Since the establishment of the Admiralty, it has been directed by the Civilian Minister, with the assistance of some staff or commissions, the construction and military operations of the Navy, and there has been no Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The departments of the Admiralty operate separately and report to the Minister. In 1915, the U.S. government set up the chief of naval operations in the Admiralty, which was equivalent to the chief of staff of the War Department.

Before and after the German invasion of Poland, the U.S. Navy's command system was already very large. According to the division of the Americans themselves, the US Navy is mainly composed of the Admiralty, naval combat units, and shore agencies. The Department of the Navy, based in Washington, D.C., is the Navy's principal executive leadership body, which includes the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Department of Naval Operations, the Marine Corps General Command, the Admiralty Bureaus, and the Coast Guard Command in wartime. Naval combat forces include combat fleets, maritime forces, fleet marines, and other units. Shore agencies are the general term for other naval agencies other than combat units and the Admiralty, mainly including naval military districts, naval bases, naval aviation bases, etc.

In the absence of a unified "Department of Defense," the president of the United States had to act as a liaison between the Army and Navy when war broke out. As early as the Spanish-American War in the last century, the Secretaries of War and the Navy, organized an Army and Navy Commission composed of one officer from each of the two services.

Before the Pearl Harbor incident, in order to facilitate the coordination and command of military operations and provide military advice to the president, the senior commanders of the Navy and Army finally formed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Chief of Naval Operations were the natural candidates, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army in charge of Army Aviation was also included. Admiral Sile assumed the chairmanship. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is responsible for the entire operational command of the US military, while the Secretary of the Army and Navy is responsible for the day-to-day work of various departments and assists in war mobilization.

After listening to the report of Chief of Naval Operations Stark, Roosevelt nodded to Secretary of the Navy Knox on the side and asked:

"In response to the shameless aggression of *** people, what is the reaction to the military expansion bill we submitted to Congress?"

Knox smiled bitterly: "I have to say, *** people helped us solve the trouble completely, and now the public opinion in the country is highly consistent, whoever opposes the war is a traitor who is spurned!" Under such circumstances, it is clear that our congressmen will not offend the voters, and the new shipbuilding plan we submitted has been successfully passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. That is, in the next three years, we will get more than thirty battleships and aircraft carriers, more than a hundred cruisers and destroyers, and an overwhelming superiority over the *** Navy. ”

Roosevelt nodded: "All this fully shows that our people have finally woken up!" During this time, I spoke to the people on the radio almost every day, convened meetings of important members of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and emphasized unity and the ultimate goal, and from now on, everything in the country revolves around the war, which is good...... By the way, did the new fighters and tanks produced by the drawings purchased from Nanhua a few months ago achieve mass production? ”

"It's done, and the scale is not small!"

War Secretary Stimson said happily: "At present, Longan Aircraft Company has produced three prototypes: the P41 that imitates the Nanhua A26 fighter, the P42 that imitates the A27, and the P43 that imitates the latest A28. Experiments have proved that the performance of the three fighters is completely superior to the P40 and P37 fighters we are equipped with, and has a great impact on the P47 under development. The monthly output of the Longan Aircraft Company is 200 planes, and the production capacity has not been able to increase for a while, and it has authorized the United Aircraft Corporation and the Boeing Aircraft Company to produce these three types of fighters, and it is believed that it will soon reach the scale of producing 1,000 or 2,000 fighters per month.

"In addition, the M7 and M8 tanks imitating the Nanhua Wolf and Leopard (actually Leopard I) tanks have been successfully trial-produced by Amway Iron and Steel Company, and when the troops accepted them, the response was good, and it is generally believed that the performance is much better than the Allies, Crusaders, Matilda and other tanks provided by the British, and the War Department has decided to purchase all of these tanks with superior performance before our own M3, M4, and M5 tanks are developed. At present, Amway Steel Company has authorized Corning Heavy Industries and United Tractor Company to produce, and the monthly output will reach 1,000 units in three months, greatly easing the pressure on the supply of tanks. ”

"Very good!"

Secretary of State Hull, who promoted cooperation between the United States and South China, had a look of pride on his face and said solemnly: "The American army really needs tanks, and troops without tanks have no combat effectiveness." Now with tanks, it was crucial to prevent the Japanese from carrying out landing operations on the west coast. ”

Army Chief of Staff Marshall nodded, took over the conversation and said: "Yes, in the battle on Oahu, the Japanese army used a large number of light tanks to quickly break through the defense line held by our army, and it is incredible that Oahu, which was held by more than 30,000 people, fell in less than two weeks...... Originally, we thought that with the strong fortifications there, we could hold out for at least a month, maybe even half a year.

"Judging from the combat situation reported by the European side, the blitzkrieg launched by the Germans mainly relied on the rapid advance of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks, and although the French purchased many new tanks from South China, the operation was stubborn, and under the innovative tactics of Germany, the defense line collapsed and finally collapsed. Whether our army wants to stick to the homeland or counterattack Hawaii in the future, it needs a lot of tanks, and the manufacturing drawings provided by the South China side can be said to be of great help to our army. ”

When Marshall said this, he said worriedly: "With the fall of the Hawaiian Islands, and now that *** has occupied almost all the islands west of the United States, it is very likely that the enemy will concentrate his forces and land at any point on the west coast...... That's right, most of our industrial bases are concentrated on the east coast, but after so many years of development on the west coast, especially those brand-new factories and enterprises built by the Chinese group, most of them are in the western region, so it is necessary for us to strengthen the defense of the west and not give the Japanese army an opportunity to take advantage of it! ”

Roosevelt's heart sank, and he asked Chief of Naval Operations Stark:

"Although the Navy suffered a crushing defeat at Pearl Harbor, our heavy and light cruisers and destroyers were saved. Stark, do you think it's necessary to transfer half of the battleships that escorted merchant ships in the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and reorganize them into a battlefleet?

"In addition, the aircraft carrier 'Langley' is currently deployed on the southwest coast of Australia, the aircraft carrier Saratoga is undergoing overhaul at shipyards on the west coast, and the aircraft carriers 'Wasp', 'Yorktown' and 'Hornet' are cruising in the ......Atlantic."

Seeing that the two bigwigs in the Navy were about to speak, Roosevelt raised his hand and motioned for himself to finish speaking first: "So far, Germany has not declared war on the United States, and has even avoided contact with our navy's escort ships everywhere, which has made our naval resources a waste in the face of a serious shortage of capital ships on the west coast...... You see, is it necessary to transfer all aircraft carriers to the Pacific Ocean to participate in the war against ***? ”

"It depends on whether you actually need it......"

Stark thought for a moment and replied with an extremely solemn expression: "Due to the serious dereliction of duty committed by the former commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Kimmel has been removed from his post by you, the president, and he is replaced by Chesco. Admiral Nimitz ......"

Roosevelt interjected: "Yes, General Nimitz was ordered by me, but I am not randomly looking for someone to replace Kimmel who has made mistakes, and only General Nimitz can solve the current difficulties." Nimitz graduated from the Naval School, fought in the last European war, served as Chief of Staff of the Atlantic Fleet. In addition, he also served as the captain of the flagship ship of the Asian Fleet 'Otasta', the commander of the First Pacific Combat Fleet, and the director of the Aviation Bureau of the Admiralty.

"I also served in the Navy and understand the importance of new technologies and tactics for the Navy. Judging from the Battle of Malacca, the Battle of the Maldives, and the Battle of the Seychelles encountered by the British Navy, as well as the Pearl Harbor incident that we have just experienced, the replacement of giant ships and artillery by aircraft carriers has gradually become a reality. In this case, we must send someone who knows something about naval warfare under new technological conditions to be the commander of the fleet, otherwise it will not be enough to contain the frenzied offensive of the Japanese army. ”

Stark agreed: "The President's decision is undoubtedly wise, and we at the Naval Operations Department, after studying it, agree that only Admiral Nimitz can take on this responsibility." But here's a situation where I would like to ask the President to consider that, with our great assistance, the Royal Navy is now firmly in control of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In fact, as long as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal were in the hands of the Allies, then the Italian navy could only nest in the Mediterranean and could not come out to make trouble, and the poor presence fleet of the Germans could not deal a big blow to us at all. Therefore, it is quite feasible to transfer ships from the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean!

"What needs to be considered now is whether we need to assemble ship groups in the Pacific region, whether we want to implement the strategy of Europe first and then Asia, or Asia first and then Europe...... *** Navy has fully established its superiority in the Pacific region since the victory in the Pearl Harbor operation, and the waters west of the United States have become a pasture for the Japanese aircraft carrier formation to cruise, but this does not mean that we in the United States are weak and can be bullied!

"If the Japanese army sends carrier-based planes and wants to bomb the cities on our west coast, the army air force can send fighter planes to fight. We have obtained the British coastal radar technology, and at the same time, we have also introduced radar combat vehicles from South China, which can already monitor the range of 200 nautical miles, and have enough time for early warning!

"It takes a long time to build a ship, and because of the Japanese attack, we lost a large number of excellent naval crews at Pearl Harbor, and now we are not able to counterattack Hawaii, let alone go on an expedition to rescue Australia and New Zealand. After studying the situation, my colleagues in the Naval Operations Department unanimously agreed that the current situation should be withdrawn from the warships on the west coast and Australia, all of them should be reduced to the Caribbean region on the Atlantic side, and then take the initiative to seek a sortie after the advantage is formed! ”

"Wait! Stark, you mean to say...... Naval Operations is ready to temporarily abandon the Pacific? Roosevelt was very surprised: "Admiral Stark, do you know what this means?" Oh no, Churchill would never have allowed us to do this, and then Australia and New Zealand would have been lost, and the two countries of the Far East would have been deeply disappointed in the United States, not to mention that we have more than 100,000 officers and soldiers in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, and we can ...... it."

"Mr. President, I have to remind you that the 15,000 people in the Philippines can basically be removed!"

Stark shrugged: "Actually, I don't want to do this, but the current situation is very dangerous, *** people are frantically attacking, attacking, and attacking again, if we don't want to consume strength little by little, we should know how to accumulate strength appropriately!" ”

Hull asked: "Didn't the South Chinese side launch a counterattack in the Middle East?" I guess we're not that passive either! According to the intelligence of the South Chinese side, after driving *** out of the Persian Gulf, the South Chinese army will launch an attack on the East Indies, Burma and Malaya, weakening the war potential of ***! In such a slow way, in three to five years, *** will be dragged down! ”

Stark smiled and shook his head: "Mr. Secretary of State, although the South China side has launched a counterattack in the Middle East, they do not have a navy and cannot shake the foundation of the Japanese army. We can give up the Pacific Ocean for the time being, but we can have the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, this kind of deal is still cost-effective for now! ”

"No way!"

Roosevelt shook his head firmly: "Our navy must not only not shrink, but also make sorties!" As long as we hold out for two years, we can regain the strategic initiative! The military must serve politics, and judging from the current situation, fighting in Australia and New Zealand can effectively contain the energy of ***, which is very worthy of the assistance of the United States! As for the Philippines, I have sent a request to Mr. An Yi, Chairman of South China, that they can rescue the MacArthur family, and as long as General MacArthur's headquarters exists, the American Far East Army will still exist and can resolutely resist! ”

Marshall said in a somewhat low mood: "Poor Douglas, it turned out to be so unlucky, the Navy sent three submarines to rescue in succession, but they all lost contact...... Damn *** people, I sometimes even suspect that they have spies within us, otherwise how could the timing be so good? ”

War Secretary Stimson smiled: "If you want to say anything else, I still believe, as for spies, this is simply impossible, after the Pearl Harbor incident, the Senate and House of Representatives passed emergency bills, stipulating that the Japanese nationals in the country during the war should be placed under centralized custody, restricting their personal freedom, and prohibiting them from participating in military and political activities." Besides, our orders are all issued through cipher code, and not many people know about it, and at this level, *** spies can't infiltrate us at all! ”

"Do you think it's possible that our cipher code has been leaked?"

Roosevelt asked with concern: "Britain once deciphered the German ciphers, but unfortunately with the bombing of Bletchley Garden and the death of a large number of cipher code experts, the decipherment work has basically come to a standstill." In fact, our code-breaking achievements are no worse than Bletchley Gardens, which have basically mastered the laws of diplomatic cipherlands and achieved gratifying results. It's a pity that the *** people are very cunning, and at the critical moment, their diplomatic cipher code actually adopted a new cipher code rule, resulting in us not being able to get the correct time for the *** Navy to attack Pearl Harbor, and the tragedy of the Pacific Fleet happened! Think about it, if the government organization deciphers our cipher code, what a terrible thing! ”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Army and Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William Brown. Admiral Silai, with a slight hesitation, said affirmatively:

"Mr. President, such a thing will never happen! Our cipher machine uses fifteen turntables, ten of which can be taken out and rearranged and installed in different positions, the direction of rotation of the turntable can be forward, or backward, after any keyboard is tapped, there may be more than one turntable. Such a complex mechanical action makes it seem to change randomly, and there is no pattern at all. I don't think anyone with *** will be able to decipher our ciphercode...... Of course, if Mr. President feels it necessary, we can change our cryptographic system periodically to maintain the confidentiality of information transmission! ”

Roosevelt nodded: "This matter must be hurried, not only the Navy must quickly change our password, the Army must also hurry up to replace it, and the diplomatic department must also be replaced every once in a while, otherwise it is very likely that a new fiasco will be caused by carelessness in the details." There is a saying among the Chinese that a thousand miles of embankment collapses in an anthill, a fiasco, or it may be a slight negligence! ”

Hull, Stark, and Marshall glanced at each other, and then gave a *** head, indicating that they would execute it as soon as they returned.

At this time, Roosevelt's personal aide McIntyre walked into the conference room.

Roosevelt took a telegram from McIntyre, read it and handed it to Secretary of State Hull, who was surprised and delighted after reading it, and then handed the telegram to Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Knox, Army Chief of Staff Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Stark, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff William. Silai, Army Air Corps Commander Arnold and others.

"Oh God!"

The first to exclaim was Air Force Commander Arnold, who, in a trembling voice, said in disbelief:

"Is the current South China Air Force already strong enough to this extent? It has sailed more than 1,000 kilometers over the entire South China Sea to Manila, far away from the mainland, and then controls air supremacy over Manila, and then uses air transport to withdraw all our officers and men, and if possible, perhaps some Philippine officers and men can be withdrawn to South China itself, and then use the Indochina Peninsula as a base to wait for an opportunity to counterattack the Japanese army...... I bet it's the craziest and most incredible battle plan I've ever seen. If successful, it will be greater than the Dunkirk retreat of the British! ”

"Fairytale vision, but the possibility of implementation is almost zero!"

Stark said sarcastically, "This is too big!" Personally, I very much doubt that the South China side will be able to assemble such a large number of planes, especially the planned air battle, which will be carried out over Luzon Island, and lose the advantage of local operations, and I do not think that the South China Air Force will be able to intercept the fighters of the Japanese Navy and Army Air Force that are constantly coming from all directions!

"Once the escort fighters are lost, their transport planes will become live targets for *** people. What is particularly serious is that if the South China side loses the superiority of the air force, its homeland will inevitably be subjected to the *** navy, and the situation in the Far East may even take a sharp turn for the worse! ”

Marshall, however, disagreed: "Since the South China side has put forward such an idea, then they must not be without purpose." Therefore, I think there is still a possibility of implementation. Compared to us, they have been fighting with *** for *** for *** years (counting from 918) and have more combat experience than us. Giving them full trust may bring us extraordinary surprises! ”

"Gentlemen, listen to me—"

Stimson sees the problem from the perspective of a politician: "If it is not a drain on our own strength, why don't we try to accept this miraculous rescue plan?" Even if there is a loss, we don't have to pay for it...... I firmly believe that since the South China side has taken the initiative to put forward such a battle plan, then at the very least, MacArthur and his family should be able to be rescued. Finally, if we take 10,000 steps back, even if the rescue fails, seeing us and our allies pay so much sacrifice and price, both the people and the army will be deeply moved and their morale will be doubled! ”

Roosevelt nodded again and again, and Hull sighed and said, "It's still the Republic of South China as an ally!" The British did not contribute anything at all except to ask us for people, weapons, and assistance, and Nanhua was only a request to us, so they did not hesitate to send all their fighters to carry out such a miraculous rescue mission. ”

Speaking of this, Hull said to Roosevelt: "Dear Franklin, I have visited South China and have great confidence in their government and military leaders. They are not like those people in the Nanjing officialdom who talk exaggeratedly, they pay more attention to reality, and since we are already allies, we should fully believe in them! ”

"I'm also impressed!"

Roosevelt said with a smile: "Now do you still question my efforts to repeale the Chinese Exclusion Act?" Over the years, there have been Chinese people in state legislatures and active participation in the political system of the United States, for which I have been criticized. In fact, as long as everyone plays on the rules, but the river demolishes the bridge, and can help at the critical moment, then we will allow them to join the game. If the South China side can succeed in this rescue operation, it will be an extremely lucky moment for the United States. I am deeply touched by the fact that more than 15,000 young men may be rescued by the kindness of South China Chairman An Yi, and 15,000 families will therefore avoid losing their husbands, sons and fathers. ”

Speaking of this, Roosevelt called another aide to Grace and asked him to express his gratitude to An Yi, chairman of South China, in his own name, and promised that the US Navy and Army would actively cooperate with South China's actions and call if necessary.

Just as Roosevelt was about to adjourn the meeting and let the Navy and Army staff quickly coordinate the rescue with South China, the telephone in the conference room rang at an inopportune time.

Roosevelt knew that the call could not be routed here without an emergency, so he instructed his secretary, Miss Lehand, to answer the phone.

Miss Lehand, who had only listened for a moment, suddenly let out an exclamation, and then looked at Roosevelt in panic: "Panama - Panama is attacked-"

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: Yesterday I took injections and took medicine, slept all night at night, and felt better. Today I wanted to work hard and update 15,000 words to make up for the regret that I couldn't update yesterday, but unfortunately I didn't have enough energy in the end, and the regret was difficult to fill.

Alas, after eight years of writing books, my body is a little unbearable...... Thank you again for your concern!