On 21 June, in the underground command room of the Allied Expeditionary Force Headquarters outside London, a supreme military meeting was held, attended by most of the commanders of the Allied forces participating in the war, and there was also a special trip from Washington, Li Junhao.

After the meeting began, Eisenhower first introduced Lieutenant General Panson, commander of the US Marine Corps, which was unanimously welcomed by the participating generals, and even more enthusiastic British generals! Only then did the commander-in-chief remember Pan Sen's other identity, and secretly laughed that he was worried in vain!

Chief of Staff Smith introduced several major generals to Li Junhao, giving him a basic understanding of the situation in the Allied Expeditionary Force Command:

Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the U.S. Army.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Arthur William Ted, British Air Force General.

Chief of Staff, Walter Biddle Smith, Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army.

Deputy Chief of Staff, Frank Morgan, Lieutenant General of the British Army.

Commander of the Navy, Bertram Ramsay, British Admiral.

Air Force Commander, Trevford Leigh Mallory, British Air Force General.

Commander of the Army (21st Army Group), Bernard Law Montgomery, General of the British Army.

Commander of the 1st Army of the US Army, Omar Nelson Bradley, Lieutenant General of the US Army.

Commander of the 2nd Army of the British Army, Milley Templesey, Lieutenant General of the British Army. It has jurisdiction over 5 armies and 13 divisions.

Commander of the 1st Army of the Canadian Army, Duncan Glenheim, Lieutenant General of the British Army. It has jurisdiction over 1 army and 3 divisions.

In addition, there are several major generals who have not yet arrived at their posts, such as Lieutenant General George Patton, Jr., commander of the US Army's 3rd Army, which is the second echelon, Admiral Harris, commander of the British strategic bomber force, Major General Doolittle, commander of the 8th Wing of the US Strategic Air Force in the United Kingdom, Rear Admiral Kirk, commander of the Western Task Force (US), and Rear Admiral Weian, commander of the Eastern Task Force (British).

Eisenhower then spoke: "Generals, I specially invited Lieutenant General Pansen to attend our meeting, in the hope that he can give us a lecture on the key points of the landing operation, so that our 'Overlord' plan can minimize the casualties of soldiers on the premise of ensuring success......

In the middle of last month, after learning about the battle for the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Theater, the commander-in-chief urgently called off the landing plan, saying that he wanted to make a major revision of the battle plan in light of the successful experience of the "grain requisitioners" campaign...... Now invite Lieutenant General Pan Sen, who successfully commanded the battle to seize the island, because of this incident!

Li Junhao was not polite, and immediately explained the characteristics, tactics, and precautions of the beach-grabbing landing operation that he had "summed up......

Then, he also expounded his position on the Marine Corps, defining its functions and tasks as follows: Using a landing force that has undergone strict professional training, with specialized tactics and equipment, and with minimal sacrifice and loss, to win the victory of the beach-rushing landing operation!

After the meeting, Admiral Eisenhower talked to him again and said that he had submitted a formal application to the White House Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US-British Joint Chiefs of Staff to join the operational plan for a counteroffensive on the European continent and to be responsible for the first wave of beach-grabbing landing operations! In addition, the commander-in-chief hoped that Li Junhao would join his command and personally direct the landing operation.

Li Junhao said: It is no problem to dispatch and command naval and land troops to participate in the war, but whether to serve in the Allied Expeditionary Force Command will take some time to consider.

Eisenhower understood this and said that it would be a pleasure to cooperate! ——

On 22 June, the U.S. Navy was instructed to organize a large transport fleet to begin transporting Marine Corps troops to the United Kingdom, along with the assembled LCC-12 "Stuart" amphibious command ship.

These units participating in the war include the first, third, and fifth main forces of the navy and land, the newly reorganized Sixth and Seventh armies, and five newly formed special operations brigades.

The other 2nd, 4th, and newly reorganized 9th Corps were sent to the Pacific Theater to participate in the war, while the 8th and 10th Armies and 15 Special Operations Brigades remained on home to continue training as rotational units.

After the Battle of Marianas, using the recruits who had completed the training, Li Junhao strengthened the five main armies to 70,000 people, each with 6 brigades and 10,000 troops directly under the army; The 6th to 10th armies, each with five brigades under its jurisdiction and 5,000 units directly under the army, each with 5,000 troops, were formed with veterans from the five armies as the backbone and the new recruits who had completed training, and 20 special operations brigades, five of which were female brigades.

——

On the same day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff applied and President Roosevelt signed an order to promote Ognyan J. Roosevelt. Lee Panson is a U.S. Marine Corps Admiral – another record-breaking rank that follows Vice Admiral in the U.S. Army, and he became the first Admiral in U.S. Army history!

The US-British Joint Chiefs of Staff Conference has issued an order: General Pan Sen is appointed as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force and Commander-in-Chief of Landing Operations, with full responsibility for the first wave of landing operations!

The Allied Expeditionary Force Command, which received the order, immediately proceeded to revise the landing plan, and the main part of the change was to replace the land units originally scheduled to carry out the beach-rushing landing with units of the US Marine Corps.

——

Li Junhao did not expect to be promoted to general at this time, although in terms of merit, he is completely qualified - just by virtue of his achievements in the Indo-Burma theater, it is not inferior to Eisenhower's achievements in North Africa! It's just that he is much younger than the generals in the current army, and his seniority in the army is too shallow; But in other aspects, he has more part-time jobs and is more important than those generals in the army.

According to the current situation, by the end of World War II, there will be no problem for him to earn another five-star general for Hailu! Of course, he still has to fight the next battles well.

——

After taking up the post of deputy commander-in-chief, Li Junhao formally joined the leadership group of the Allied Expeditionary Force, attended several meetings in succession, and also took over the landing operations command under the commander-in-chief, and guided the general staff to revise the operational plan and adjust the number, distribution, and number of landing troops, ships, and fighters......

Soon after, he also met with Lieutenant General Ridgway, commander of the 1st Airborne Army of the Allied Expeditionary Force, at the headquarters - before the first wave of landing operations in Operation Overlord, Ridgway would command the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the United States Army and the 6th Airborne Division of the British Army, and the main task was to parachute inland in Normandy before the landing of the beach-grabbing troops, attract German defensive forces, prevent German reinforcements to the beachhead, and protect important highway nodes and bridges.

(End of chapter)