War can mean misfortune for some soldiers. But for others, it was the best stage for them to show themselves. For example, the names that shone in this world war - Montgomery, Eisenhower, Zhukov. Of course, there is also Barton in this.

"Patton is the kind of soldier who was born!"

This was what Patton's friend had to say about him, but in March 1944, the "natural" soldier was not having a good time. Because of the "slap incident", this full militant was "unemployed" at this time, and could only act as a mascot to confuse the German army.

Naturally, such a day was not expected by Patton, who was bent on going to war, and he had to write letters to his old friend (Eisenhower) and old superiors (Marshall) again and again, strongly asking to go to war.

However, his request could not be fulfilled for a while, because the superiors were very uneasy about this unruly and troublesome thorn. Of course, this is not to say that the boss has completely given up on Barton, but for the time being, it doesn't matter whether there is this product or not.

In the preparation stage of Operation Overlord, both Britain and the United States were full of confidence, at least that's what they said. As for whether you are really so confident in fact, then it is really the opinion of the benevolent and the wise of the wise. One thing is certain, however, that both Roosevelt and Churchill believed that the Bully was imperative, and that the sooner the better. The reason was also very simple: the Germans suffered another crushing defeat at the Romanian-Hungarian border, four of the seven Panzer Divisions were annihilated, more than 300,000 Axis soldiers were either killed or captured, and the liberation of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia by the Soviet Red Army was already unstoppable. And what is even more terrifying is at the same time. Rokossovsky and Zhukov began another round of furious advances. Its troops are already directed at Warsaw!

In other words, the Russians are getting closer and closer to Germany itself. If they do not want to give all of Western Europe to the Russians, then Britain and the United States will have to speed up the pace, so even if there are doubts about organizing an amphibious landing operation of unprecedented scale, the two heads of state agree that they can no longer wait!

As the supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Western European theater, Eisenhower was undoubtedly under great pressure, the time was tight, the task was urgent, and the German army on the other side was not vegetarian, and various interests within the Allied forces still needed to be coordinated. It's really hard to do this job.

But according to his old friend Barton, "Ike is less of a military man and more of a politician." ”

There is some truth to this statement. Eisenhower's military prowess was, to be honest, mediocre, and his more powerful ability was the ability to organize and coordinate relationships, which politicians were better at. As early as the thirties, Eisenhower showed this ability, which caught Marshall's attention and was recorded in his small book (which also included Patton, Bradley, and other famous players).

In the organizational phase of Operation Overlord, Eisenhower took this ability to the extreme, allowing Operation Overlord to proceed smoothly. Of course, this chapter is not about Eisenhower's story, this chapter belongs to Patton, in order to win the qualification to return to the battlefield. Barton had to cheekily write to the old friend, begging him to give him another chance.

Speaking of the friendship between the two. That sincerity has a long history, they have known each other since 1919, and the relationship between the two sides in the thirties is like lacquer. After the United States entered the war, Eisenhower made a good impression on Patton in North Africa and Sicily, but all that changed completely with the slapping, which Eisenhower thought was becoming more and more of a troublemaker.

So he completely put aside the request of his old friend, in his opinion, it is the same with or without Patton, anyway, the Allies have no shortage of excellent generals, Montgomery and Bradley and the like can completely replace Patton's role.

This time, Eisenhower looked away, the first stage of Operation Overlord was the landing stage, and it was indeed the same with or without Patton, and with the support of strong sea and air superiority, it was indeed not difficult to land successfully. The difficulty was that in the second stage, when advancing deep into the Caen line, the Allies were in big trouble, and they were once suppressed in the coastal area and could not move, and only after Patton took over the Third Army did they begin to advance on the front line. Let's put it this way, every time Eisenhower was in trouble, it was always Patton who broke the siege – as was the case with Operation Overlord, and later with the Ardennes counterattack (Battle of the Bulge).

Eisenhower ignored Patton's role, but Li Xiaofeng would not ignore Patton's ability, even if he was really not interested in this so-called blood and gall veteran, but he could not ignore this ability in the use of armored troops.

Let's put it this way, the Anglo-American Allied forces with Patton and the Anglo-American Allied forces without Patton are completely different in the use of armored forces. Patton was more adventurous and offensive, while Montgomery and Bradley were honestly conservative in their use of armoured troops and lacked the kind of imagination to rush forward.

A Patton who is rushing forward is not the Patton that Li Xiaofeng likes to see, it is related to the division of the political chassis of Western Europe after the war, and he will never allow Patton to interfere with his good deeds.

"Got it checked? Britain and the United States are ready to launch Operation Overlord in May? ”

Yakov replied: "The news is relatively certain, although the specific time has not yet been decided, but it is certain that it will be around mid-May. The location is Normandy and Calais. ”

Li Xiaofeng sneered: "Crossing out Calais, that's a fake target, and it can only be used to deceive the Germans." ”

Yakov was a little surprised by this, because as far as he knew, the unanimous reaction of the inside line planted in Britain and the United States was quite controversial on this issue. In his view, Calais, which is shorter and closer to Germany, is more likely.

"Then let's make a bet, it must be Normandy!" Li Xiaofeng said confidently.

Yakov would not have made such a bet with anyone, because no one had ever lost such a bet, and given the "history of blood and tears", it would be better not to have heard it.

"What about Barton? What is that guy doing? ”

In this historical time and space, the Patton slapping incident was exposed earlier, and the bad impact was greater. And behind all this, Li Xiaofeng is naturally fueling the troubles. He certainly wouldn't let go of this good way to kill Patton.

"Also acting as the commander of the so-called First Army landing in the Balkans. Recently, however, he had been writing frequently to Marshall and Eisenhower. There was a strong demand to return to the front. ”

Li Xiaofeng snorted, muttered for a moment and then ordered, "Carry out the lion slaughter plan." ”

The so-called lion slaughter plan is actually a plan to assassinate Patton, which took shape after the success of Operation Torch, and the actual arrangement dates back to the thirties. It can be said that KGB has put a lot of thought into this plan.

Yakov couldn't figure it out: "Don't you want this?" Judging by Eisenhower's attitude, he did not use Patton's idea for a short time. And judging from the situation on the British and American sides, is there any Patton who can take out those second-rate troops deployed by the Germans on the Western Front? ”

"They'll soon find out that it's not that easy," Li Xiaofeng scoffed. Said categorically: "So I have to deal with Barton in advance, he is dead at this time, and the impact is small!" ”

Yakov could only reluctantly carry out the orders of a certain immortal, not that he had a good impression of Barton, but that he thought that there was no need for this at all, what was there to be afraid of an outdated veteran? Is it necessary to go out of your way just for the sake of a single Barton?

Yes, in order to solve Patton, the KGB really made a big move, and the foreshadowing of the lion slaughter plan was actually laid in 1932. For 12 years for a Patton, this can be said to be a super generous spending.

To make this big deal clear. We have to go back to July 28, 1932, which is unfortunately not Friday, but Thursday. Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., where there were no National Gallery of Museums, Federal Trade Commission buildings, and D.C. tennis courts. In 1932, there was a row of ugly old red-brick buildings that housed warehouses, budget hotels, car showrooms, and a Chinese restaurant and funeral parlor.

Most of the walls of this ugly red-brick complex have been torn down and should have been razed to the ground a few weeks ago. But in the middle of the night on June 17, the "army of compensation" quietly infiltrated and occupied the place.

The chief of police in charge of the SAR police at that time was a man named Pelham. Brigadier General of the Retired Army in Glasford. This compassionate (mind you, this compassion is really extraordinary!) The veteran was reluctant to drive the expeditionary force out of this safe place, especially when he saw so many people still with their wives and children, he couldn't bear it even more.

Interjecting a sentence, there may be comrades who do not know what this so-called "army of compensation" is all about, so I will explain a few words. What is the so-called compensation? In fact, in World War I, American soldiers who participated in the war received an additional 25 cents as an overseas living allowance in addition to the daily salary of $1 per person. But during the war, this salary was not paid to American servicemen who participated in the war. After the war, the U.S. government could not afford the cost, so in 1924 the Adjusted Service Certificate Law was enacted and passed. In the bill, the U.S. government first issued a certificate of grant to World War I veterans, promising that the salary arrears would be paid in cash after 20 years at the rate of $1 per day for the number of days they had served in the army.

But comrades know that the Great Depression occurred in the United States in 1929. In 1932, nearly one-third of the employed population in the United States could not find work and was in dire need of relief. The veterans then demanded immediate payment from the U.S. government of the salary arrears that were due in 1945. The Overseas Legionnaires Association of America even argues that it is unreasonable to promise a hungry person that he will pay for food after 20 years.

About 25,000 penniless unemployed veterans of World War I poured into Washington with their wives and children, setting up camp in neighborhood parks, garbage dumps and abandoned warehouses to demand the government's compensation. The dominant newspaper of Wall Street at the time referred to these people as the "Indemnity Army" and the "Indemnity March", and these veterans called themselves the "Indemnity Expeditionary Force".

At that time, the U.S. economy was in a very sluggish state, with about 15 million people unemployed (you can look up how many people the U.S. population was at that time, you can see how scary that this number was), and President Hoover never admitted that there was an economic crisis in the United States, let alone that the U.S. economy was on the verge of collapse, and he coined a term that is now known as the "Great Depression."

The bizarre president sees the Great Depression as a public relations issue rather than an economic one, and he believes that the nightmare will end as soon as the image of American businesses improves. So he chose to describe the catastrophe as "the Great Depression." The reason is that the word doesn't sound as scary as "panic" and "crisis".

December 1929. Hoover declared that "the situation is basically improving." Three months later. He said the worst would end within 60 days. At the end of May 1930, he predicted that the economy would return to normal in the autumn, but the market collapsed in June.

Hoover said, "Gentlemen, you have come 60 days late, and the Great Depression is over!" ”

While Hoover was widely criticized and rebuked for, the self-righteous president said in his State of the Union address to Congress on December 2, 1930, that "fundamental economic strength has not been compromised."

Almost at the same time, the International Apple Dealers Association was faced with the dilemma of unsalable apples. The association decided to give apples on credit to the unemployed for retail sale at a price of 5 cents each. Overnight, the whole country of America was filled with shivering apple vendors.

When Hoover was asked why he was embarrassed by the good economy, Hoover confidently replied: "Many people quit their jobs and moved to more profitable careers, and selling apples was one of them." ”

President Hoover's ruthless and bizarre policies will be able to surprise future generations anyway. It was because of his policies in the midst of the economic crisis that a generation of Americans was affected. The most intuitive data is that eight years later, teenagers during the "Great Depression" began to enlist in the army. Kelly found that 40 percent of the young men who applied for the job were unqualified, with the vast majority having dental problems, followed by poor vision, heart and circulatory diseases, and deformities in the arms and legs. And the root cause of these problems is malnutrition during puberty.

Clearly, the root cause of malnutrition lies in President Hoover's bizarre policy of saving the rich and not the poor. The more difficult it is. The more Hoover was friendly to the big capitalists, Charles of the Bank of Chicago. Dawes was appointed president of the Renaissance Finance Corporation, which oversaw the resolution of the Great Depression. And after the banker came to power. The first thing he did was to borrow $90 million from KfW Finance Corporation to his own Bank of Chicago.

In fact, this reconstruction finance company was originally used to save the banking industry. In an effort to save America's precarious livestock industry, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation agreed to Congress's request to allocate $25 million to feed the livestock of struggling farmers, but it agreed on the condition that Congress would have to shelve a $120,000 relief program for the hungry (isn't it ironic to look at those two figures?). ）。

The big capitalists of that era really liked Hoover, for example, when the economic crisis caused a large number of teenagers to be malnourished and wandered around, the famous founder of Ford Motor Co., Ltd. Henry Brown. How Ford defended Hoover: "Wandering around is the best education in the world for these boys!" Because they gain more experience in a few months than they do in a few years in school! ”

And when ordinary people across the country are trying their best to survive the difficulties, what is the state of President Hoover's life? Every day, he walked into the restaurant in a suit and enjoyed seven dishes on his own. Note that the dishes he is enjoying are not seasonal but out-of-season (rarer and more expensive), that there must be flowers on the table, and that there are long, thick and authentic Havana handmade cigars in a custom-made humidor. Again, note that Hoover had to smoke twenty of these cigars a day. When the Hoovers were eating, a butler and numerous manservants (they had to be of the same height!). Stand firm and remain absolutely silent, and are not allowed to do anything without being ordered.

And while Hoover enjoyed a good life as president, what about the days of the unemployed and his family? At that time, people called the shack village made of tin cans, cardboard and sacks "Hoover Village", and the broken bags used to collect waste were called "Hoover bags". In North Carolina, impoverished farmers sawed off the front faces of discarded cheap cars and attached them to scrawny mules, calling them "Hoover carriages." The "Hoover Blanket" is an old newspaper wrapped in a wanderer on a park bench, and the "Hoover Pig" is a long-eared hare caught by hungry farmers.

The populace also seized every opportunity to ridicule the president: "What? You say business is getting better? Do you mean Hoover is dead? There was even a blatant ridicule in the newspapers: "Hoover asked Treasury Secretary Mellon for 5 cents to call a friend, and Mellon replied: 'The smallest is 10 cents, take it and call two people!'" ’”。

Well, back to the original topic of "compensation expeditionary forces", these people are actually not very demanding, they just want the government to pay them the wages they already owe, so that they can have money to support their families. So how much is this money? The average is about $500 per person.

In other words, all these 25,000 veterans need is 12.5 million dollars (and the restoration is what they deserve), is that a lot of money? Isn't it telling when you consider the KfW Finance Corporation, whose "bailout" of the Bank of Chicago spent $90 million in one fell swoop?

And what was the attitude of Hoover or the high-ranking American officials and dignitaries of that era towards these veterans? To put it simply, four words - shout, fight, shout and kill! (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you tianwen2018, the king of cavalry, the king of mending knives, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, Xuan Yufeng and Comrade Juventus!