On Monday, January 29, at a joint meeting of White House advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt agreed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff's proposal and decided that the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be responsible for handling the dereliction of duty of the Allied Expeditionary Force Command.

The next day, as a representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Li Junhao took a flight to Europe with the joint investigation team of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the War Department, and the Admiralty to investigate the problems in the Ardennes campaign.

There was a special general in the investigation team, that is, Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, deputy chief of staff of the army, who had returned from an inspection in northern Shaanxi, China, and had already taken up his post.

On the plane, he asked with some confusion: "Og, I am familiar with the work of the General Staff, isn't there other deputy chiefs of staff, why did you let me join the investigation team?" ”

"Because you're suitable!" Li Junhao smiled, "Didn't you cooperate with Barton in North Africa, and this time I happened to meet an old friend." ”

"Forget it!" Stilwell also smiled, "Little George is still a good person, but his temper is too short-tempered, that is, I have a good temper, otherwise I really can't stand him!" ”

"So how do you get to work with him again?" Li Junhao asked.

"Huh? What do you mean? Stilwell wondered.

Li Junhao shook his head, but refused to say more......

——

On 31 January, the investigation team of the Joint Chiefs of Staff began an investigation at the headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Reims, France, and Li Junhao led people to question the US generals headed by Eisenhower, followed by staff officers, some British generals, and some middle and senior officers at the front...... I got a lot of first-hand information.

During this period, Field Marshal Montgomery, the commander-in-chief of the British army, came to visit him, but Li Junhao directly refused - he didn't want to see this selfish bastard, and he was afraid that he would not be able to help but execute this guy himself! ——

On 4 February, at the official beginning of the Newfoundland Conference, Lee held a special investigation meeting in a theater in Reims, or rather announced the decision on the evaluation and handling of the Ardennes campaign, which was attended by more than 400 American generals and senior officers of the Allied Expeditionary Force, while the British were denied entry.

After the meeting began, the staff of the investigation team first announced the actual situation of the investigation, and then the head of the investigation team, the representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of the US Marine Corps, Admiral Panson, announced the decision.

As soon as he came up, Li Junhao said sternly: "Although the Ardennes Battle was won by our side in the end, the US army lost 19,000 casualties, 81,000 wounded, and 100,000 casualties, which is the largest campaign-level casualty since our United States entered the war.

"As the director of national intelligence, before the war, I ordered someone to inform the Expeditionary Force Headquarters of the movements of the German army, but from the commander-in-chief to the staff officers, did not pay the slightest attention, which was the first major mistake!

"Before the start of the battle, the British army changed the front-line commander without authorization, and Montgomery was clearly forbidden to be used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a long time, and the command did not report to the country, which is the second ...... No, this is not a mistake, but a serious disciplinary violation!

"After the German army began to attack, the headquarters was slow to react, and it took two days to order reinforcements, and it was unable to restrain the British troops on the northern road, so that the isolated four American divisions were besieged by 250,000 German troops, with heavy losses, nearly 10,000 casualties and capture! This is the third serious mistake - a mistake in command!

"In the case of unknown enemy conditions, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were rashly thrown into the battlefield, which once again put them in danger, among which the 101st Division was completely surrounded by the German army at Bastone, and had to hold out for nine days under the siege of the German armored forces, causing heavy losses! This is the fourth serious command error!

"At the most critical time of the campaign, the command did not supply the 3rd Army, which was responsible for the rescue of the most urgently needed oil supplies, but gave the majority of the share to the British army, which was slow to act and sat back and watched the US 1st Army be attacked by the Germans...... This is the fifth serious problem!

"Here, I would like to ask Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower, what is he thinking?"

Li Junhao's angry rebuke resounded in the theater, Eisenhower, who was also sitting on the stage, bowed his head with a pale face and was silent, some senior officers of the headquarters also lowered their heads, while the middle and senior generals of the US army sitting in the audience clenched their fists and felt very relieved!

After calming down for a while, Li Junhao continued: "The above are just the big problems in this battle, there are many other small problems, so I won't waste time here......

"In view of the grave mistakes made by the Command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and their principal responsible persons, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decides, and President Roosevelt approves the following decisions:

"1. With immediate effect, the General Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces shall be dissolved, and General Eisenhower shall be removed from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, and his rank shall be demoted to that of Major General and transferred back to the country.

"2. To establish the Allied General Command in Europe, with General Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, concurrently serving as Commander-in-Chief.

"3. To form the American European Expeditionary Force, appoint Omar Nelson Bradley as commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, and promote him to the rank of general.

"4. Appointed George Patton Jr. Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force and Commander of the 3rd Army, and promoted to Army General.

"V. Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell is appointed Commander of the 1st Army.

"6. Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway is appointed Acting Chief of Staff of the Expeditionary Force and Commander of the 18th Airborne Corps.

“……”

In addition, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, performed so well in this campaign that he was appointed commander of the 101st Airborne Division and promoted to major general.

“……”

Li Junhao's words fell, and the theater immediately burst into warm applause, and many officers' hands were red! To be honest, no one could have imagined that the determination of the domestic top level this time would be so great and that they would so decisively make such a big adjustment to the US military command that went out of Europe!

The senior generals were overjoyed by Eisenhower's dismissal and demotion, and Patton, who had always been unruly, took the lead in shouting: "Long live the Joint Chiefs of Staff!" Long live General Panson...... "brought the atmosphere to the top!

Eisenhower, who was out of class, was silently saddened when he saw this scene, he knew that he was conniving at the British army, but the purpose was not to maintain the unity of the Allied forces, how could he be punished so severely? He couldn't figure it out. But in the current situation, he couldn't say anything.

(End of chapter)