On 15 May, Li Junhao sent a telegram back to Ayers, not mentioning the matter of the Huhai Concession, but suggesting that he pay attention to the war in the Balkans of Europe, especially the island of Crete, which controls the Aegean Sea and the eastern route of the Mediterranean, and that the German army would launch an attack on it, and suggested that the US military, which had not been in actual combat for many years, learn the tactics of seizing the island.

Ayers was not proficient in campaign tactics, so he announced it at the new national security meeting, which caused a lot of discussion, but everyone guessed that it was a conventional landing operation, covered by the navy, transported, and landed; It was only later that Ayres announced the idea of airborne warfare that had been improved in the Far East's Panson callback......

——

On 20 May, the Germans launched an airborne battle plan codenamed "Mercury", and the participating troops consisted of the 7th Airborne Division, the 5th Mountain Infantry Division and a number of independent units, with a total of about 22,000 troops, the 8th and 11th armies of the 4th Air Force (433 bombers, 233 fighters, 500 transport planes, 50 reconnaissance planes, and 72 transport gliders), 7,000 landing troops, and 70 ships of various kinds, under the unified command of the commander of the 4th Air Force, Admiral Lehr.

There were 30,000 British expeditionary forces and 14,000 Greek troops on Crete, but they were poorly equipped, their artillery was insufficient, there were no planes at all, and there were only six tanks.

By the end of the month, the Germans had successfully taken control of Crete, which was a strategic success, as Germany not only had an important air and naval base in the eastern Mediterranean, but was also able to contain the British troops stationed in North Africa in the south, and the possibility of an attack on the Middle East to the east made the Allies very worried about the connection between Germany and Japan, and most importantly, they had no worries about the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Tactically, however, the German campaign was a failure.

In the 12-day airborne operation, although the British lost 15,743 men (including 1,742 killed), 3 cruisers, 6 destroyers and 29 other ships were sunk, more than 10 warships, including aircraft carriers, were seriously damaged, and 14,000 Greek troops were completely annihilated, but the German army lost 14,000 airborne elite troops and more than 170 transport planes.

This result was devastating for the German Airborne Forces, and made the German military top brass doubt the role of the Airborne Forces in the war, and the arms were never used on a large scale since.

——

As a spectator of the United States, the shock brought by the Airborne Battle of Crete was great!

The blitzkrieg, armored assault warfare, and rapid interspersed division tactics used by the German army in the war, as well as this airborne operation, made the US military top brass deeply aware of the characteristics of modern warfare. Moreover, more military personnel noticed Brigadier General Panson, who made a forecast in advance! In the minds of many people, Pan Sen is already known as a military strategist!

At the White House National Security Conference on June 2, Admiral Raisi formally proposed that Brigadier General Panshin be repatriated from the Far East to fully assume the duties of principal assistant to the National Security Adviser and to be appointed assistant chief of staff to the National Security Council (Chief of Staff is currently held by Raisi).

The congregation agreed, but Ayers expressed concern, because he knew how much Pan Sen wanted to keep the Huhai Concession, and had made more than two years of preparation for it, and had put too much effort into it, so he would definitely not be willing to transfer him back from the Far East!

After the meeting, Ayres communicated with Roosevelt and Leahy separately and exchanged views on the issue of Panson.

For his concern, Leahy felt that it was not a big problem, the Huhai Concession had done a good enough job of preparing for war, and it was okay for someone else to be in charge, and a person with strategic vision like Pan Sen should be used in a more appropriate place, rather than wasting it on the front line where danger was always in place.

In this regard, President Roosevelt agreed with Leahie's opinion and personally decided that Ayres would do Panson's work, and Admiral Leahy would be responsible for arranging the personnel allocation in the Far East.

In this way, the three big men arranged their future work without Li Junhao's knowledge!

——

On June 5, after Li Junhao received a telegram from Ayres, he suddenly felt bad, and asked him to leave the new concession he had built himself, which made him a little unacceptable. So he immediately called back, stating that he did not want to leave at this time, and asked the White House to reconsider.

Ayres sent another long telegram, explaining in detail the decision of the National Security Council, and informing Admiral Leahy of the reasoning, saying that it would be more correct for him to contribute to the overall situation of the country; As for the security of the Huhai Concession, it has laid a good foundation, as long as there is a commander with medium battlefield command ability, it is enough to complete the defense task, and there is no need for him to stay at all......

Of course, Li Junhao understands this truth, but he really can't let go of it in his heart! In addition, if he returns to China, what will happen to Xiaohu, Xiaoyu, Li Xiaoyu, Zheng Pingru and others? There are also police stations, 327 regiments, wolf warrior brigades, intelligence networks, etc., how can they be put aside all at once?

When he spoke out about these difficulties, Ayers knew that he had begun to compromise, and immediately enthusiastically helped arrange them......

——

On the other hand, Admiral Leahy is also choosing a successor to the commander of the Shanghai-Strait Joint Command, as an admiral, of course, he is mainly looking for the naval sequence, for this reason, he specially consulted with the Secretary of the Navy, Knox, and very unexpectedly got a candidate - Rear Admiral Preshito Vaughn, Chief of the Admiralty's Expeditionary Operations Division!

When Major General Vaughan heard the news from Minister Knox, he immediately took the initiative to go to the Far East.

Admiral Leahy spoke with him along with Ayres and Knox, and gave him a detailed account of the current situation in the Huhai Concession, especially the efforts made by Brigadier General Pan Sen over the past two years or so, so that he understood the importance of this task.

After hearing this, Major General Vaughan immediately assured that he would resolutely implement the defensive strategy formulated by Brigadier General Pan Sen, continue his policies on managing the Huhai Concession, stabilize the situation, and defend the Huhai Concession well!

As for why Rear Admiral Vaughan was willing to leave the important post of the Admiralty and go to the Far East to serve, it was that he needed actual experience in leading the army to prepare for the promotion - as an officer who was promoted from the Marine Corps, he had to be transferred to the rank of Navy in order to be promoted to Rear Admiral, but he had no experience in commanding ships in combat, and it was simply impossible to be promoted in the Navy, so this military position in the Shanghai Concession was an excellent opportunity for him, and taking the risk of fighting for this was nothing at all!

(End of chapter)