After receiving Tang Qiuli's call, Lieutenant General Jonathan's heart finally fell into his stomach, and there was no problem in coordinating with the Chinese, but it was still a heavy task to safely withdraw more than 200,000 people from Luzon.

Ships are not the problem, the key to the problem, when withdrawing from the troops, the order of the divisions, all know that Manila is about to fail, plus the MacArthur escape, although it has not yet spread to the front-line troops, but among some high-ranking officers, there have been fluctuations, everyone wants to leave this damn place first, if there is a unit that does not obey the arrangement and acts on its own, it will cause a disorderly rout on the whole front.

More than 200,000 soldiers who had lost their organization and the will to fight and were bent on fleeing for their lives flocked to the wharf, what a terrible scene it was, and I am afraid that more people would be drowned in the sea than they would eventually withdraw to Australia.

Lieutenant General Jonathan made a phone call and called Brigadier General Kleist, the new chief of staff of the headquarters, to the headquarters, although he knew how much dry goods this nominal chief of staff had in his stomach, he still wanted to discuss it with his chief of staff.

After Chief of Staff Kleist arrived, Lieutenant General Jonathan was surprised to find that the former acting chief of staff, who was respectful and low-browled in front of MacArthur, had a different temperament from top to bottom.

After Lieutenant General Jonathan finished talking about his worries, Chief of Staff Kleist said almost without thinking: "Commander, I think that a meeting of the top commanders of each unit should be convened immediately to clarify the order of the withdrawal of each unit." Otherwise, it will inevitably cause chaos, and there is also the most critical problem, that is, the problem of which unit will take on the task of blocking and finally boarding the ship under the cover of the Chinese aircraft group, I think, this is the biggest problem! ”

Then there is the incident of MacArthur running away to Australia. The commanders of all units must want to know the reasons and the results of the handling, and I hope that the commanders will be mentally prepared! ”

Lieutenant General Jonathan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but re-examine the chief of staff who spread throughout the troops with his incompetence and MacArthur's shadow. It's really a sight to behold, and the proposal he proposed. It's exactly what I'm thinking about. Unexpectedly, there were really dry goods in his stomach.

Lieutenant General Jonathan immediately said: "Okay, Chief of Staff, according to your opinion, I will notify you immediately." Convene a military meeting, the commanders of the troops, temporarily transfer command to the deputy or the chief of staff, in addition. The General Staff came up with a set of evacuation plans, focusing on the order of evacuation of the troops, the time of the meeting, set at seven o'clock, set three hours for preparation, damn the Japanese, it is time to stop the offensive at night! ”

Chief of Staff Kleist stood up energetically and replied loudly: "Yes, Your Excellency Commander, carry out your orders immediately!" ”

Lieutenant General Jonathan, looking at the back of his chief of staff, disappeared into the office, nodded approvingly, Brigadier General Kleist, not as unbearable as he imagined, it seems that there will be no big problems with cooperation in the future, this is the first time he has appeared as the supreme commander in front of all senior officers, and he should make some preparations in advance.

From the heart, Lieutenant General Jonathan's heart is still a little uneasy, a few hours ago, he was the same as them, he was a divisional commander, and in a blink of an eye, he became their top boss, and it is very appropriate to describe his promotion with a steady rise.

Can the guys, who were holding a resentment in their hearts because of MacArthur's sudden escape, be convinced and obey their own arrangements? Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Jonathan's excitement dimmed a lot, and he began to have a headache.

At night, after repelling the last attack of the Japanese army, the Manila defense line roared with gunfire all day, and finally gradually subsided, and the forward positions of the US and Philippine troops were full of traces of battle, fortifications and shelters that had been overturned by Japanese artillery fire, huge craters with smoke billowing from the air, empty bullet boxes, bloody corpses of US and Philippine soldiers, wounded people who kept screaming miserably, and tired soldiers whose faces were blackened by gunsmoke, all showed the cruelty of the battle that had just ended.

In the conference room of the US military headquarters in downtown Manila, a battle of words and words, which was not much inferior to that of a real battle against the Japanese army, was also fiercely staged, and the commanders of the US and Philippine armies, who were covered in gunpowder smoke and exhausted, worried and at a loss, gathered here to focus on the issue of who should evacuate first and who would leave last, as Chief of Staff Kleist had predicted, and the issue related to the MacArthur incident.

Lieutenant General Jonathan, who first informed the commanders of the exciting news, took a telegram and said with an impassioned expression: "Ladies and gentlemen, after many days of hard fighting, in view of the situation in front of Luzon Island, which is developing in an unfavorable direction for us, the Supreme Command of the Civil War has approved us to evacuate Luzon Island and transfer to Australia, and in the process of retreat, we will be escorted by the Chinese Air Force throughout the process." ”

The commanders of the American and Philippine armies below, with a look of excitement on their originally dull faces, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief, and they were finally leaving this damn place, God forbid, they were not killed by the Japanese.

After the excitement, the last thing that Lieutenant General Jonathan wanted to see still appeared, and a brigadier general stood up and said loudly: "Commander-in-Chief Jonathan, can you tell us, what did General MacArthur do, why didn't he show up at such an important military meeting as the safe evacuation of Luzon, and why did you suddenly take over his position?" We are all very strange about these problems, I hope you can give a reasonable explanation! ”

Lieutenant General Jonathan's face was very ugly, this was a naked act of questioning, and there was no need to hide MacArthur's escape at a military meeting of this level, otherwise, it would cause unnecessary commotion, and once that guy with ill intentions or disgruntled intentions deliberately provoked it, there would be a danger that the situation would get out of control.

Lieutenant General Jonathan glanced at him, and Chief of Staff Kleist, who had been prepared for a long time, took out a letter of appointment from Washington and signed by President Roosevelt himself, and then read out the decision of the wartime Supreme General Command on MacArthur's disposition.

The senior officers below were silent, even the cronies of the former MacArthur family were silent, and they did not dare to make noise, they all knew very well in their hearts that what their boss did this time was too fucking disgraceful, wasn't it interesting enough, they didn't even say hello, they smeared oil on the soles of their feet, the boss was finished this time, he was deprived of command, hung high, and when he didn't turn over, who can say clearly?

However, MacArthur's old guy can also be regarded as energetic, and the sin of losing his head is just not, and the official is still the same, and he doesn't worry about it, where can he be reasonable?

MacArthur slipped through this matter and gently exposed it, no one delved into it, it was a matter between the big guys above, and he couldn't get along, and Jonathan was on the rise, and he was lucky, and he was jealous.

Next, the problem of the arrangement of the evacuation order of the various troops, but it is a short encounter, no one wants to evacuate last, stay on this damn island for one more minute, the more dangerous it is, in response to the order of the withdrawal of the various units made by Chief of Staff Kleist, the US generals quarreled, no one is stupid, the last to withdraw the troops, that must be the covering troops, and they will definitely not be able to retreat from the cannon fodder.

Originally, the position defended by more than 200,000 soldiers had to be handed over to no more than one division of troops to defend to block the attack of more than 100,000 fierce and powerful Japanese troops.

In particular, the division commanders who were arranged by Chief of Staff Kleist to evacuate at the end were even more noisy, emphasizing the difficulties of their own troops, what they always stuck to important targets, the excessive casualties of the troops, and the large number of wounded, and if they did not board the ship first, they were afraid that the speed of other troops would be delayed.

More than a dozen division commanders of the US army can be shamelessly withdrawn first, and the two commanders of the Philippine First and Second Army Corps, which are mainly Filipino soldiers, have ugly faces and do not say a word, and the brothers are self-aware, and all unlucky and thankless things must be done by their own troops, and when MacArthur did not run, he did not use his own troops as cannon fodder.

It is estimated that this time is the same, the Americans did not treat the Philippine soldiers as people! This task of covering the retreat of the Americans will inevitably fall on their own heads, and that is also a helpless thing, who let himself not be raised by his own mother and be unwelcome?

Looking at the senior generals who usually look like people, for this little thing, they disregard the quarrel of their faces, almost an hour has passed, and they have no clue, tonight at ten o'clock, the troops are about to move, Lieutenant General Jonathan is so angry that his face is pale, he has once again seen the ugliness of the so-called American generals.

Lieutenant General Jonathan, with a gloomy face, stood up suddenly, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said: "Everyone, don't argue anymore, I also serve as the commander of the Seventh Mechanized Infantry Division, and the task of blocking the Japanese army behind the palace will be completed by me under my command of the Seventh Mechanized Division, I only make one request, when evacuating the position, try not to alarm the Japanese army, evacuate according to the plan, our actions are related to the lives of more than 200,000 soldiers, I hope you know the weight!" ”

Speaking of this, Lieutenant General Jonathan's tone changed, and he said with ferocity: "If that unit does not follow the deployment of the chief of staff and withdraws from the position without authorization, I, Jonathan, will definitely shoot him before being killed by the Japanese!" ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) )