Shadow Spy

Chapter 471: Stand at attention when you make a mistake and get beaten

On Monday, January 1, at a joint meeting between the White House advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt agreed with the Joint Chiefs of Staff's recommendation and decided that the Joint Chiefs of Staff would be responsible for handling the failure of the Allied Expeditionary Force Command. Later, he accepted the decision one day in advance. With birthday congratulations, Secretary of State Hull and Army Chief of Staff Marshall left the White House and went to the train station. They will rush to Newfoundland to participate in a new round of Allied Summit.

The next day, as a representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Li Junhao took a joint investigation team of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Department, and the Navy Department to fly to Europe to investigate the problems in the Ardennes Campaign.

There is a special general in the investigation team, Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, deputy chief of staff of the Army, who has returned from an inspection trip to northern Shaanxi, China and has taken up his post.

On the plane, he asked with some confusion: "Oger, I am getting familiar with the work of the staff department. There are other deputy chiefs of staff. Why are you asking me to join the investigation team?"

"Because you are suitable!" Li Junhao said with a smile, "Didn't you cooperate with Patton in North Africa? This time you are going to meet an old friend."

"Forget it!" Stilwell also laughed, "Little George is still a good person, but his temper is too bad. That means I have a good temper, otherwise I really can't stand him!"

"Then how can I get you to cooperate with him again?" Li Junhao asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Stilwell asked confused.

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

On January 1, the Joint Chiefs of Staff investigation team began an investigation at the Allied Expeditionary Force Headquarters in Reims, France. Li Junhao led people to question the U.S. military generals headed by Eisenhower, followed by staff officers, some British generals, and frontline personnel. Some mid-level and senior military officers... have obtained a large amount of first-hand information.

During this period, Marshal Montgomery, the frontline commander of the British army, came to visit him, but Li Junhao refused directly - he did not want to see this selfish bastard, and was afraid that he would not be able to resist executing this guy himself! ——

On February 2, when the Newfoundland Conference officially began, Li Junhao held a special investigation meeting in a theater in Reims, or announced his evaluation and decision on the Ardennes Campaign. American generals from the Allied Expeditionary Force and More than 4 senior military officers attended the meeting, but the British troops were refused entry.

After the meeting began, the staff of the investigation team first announced the actual situation investigated, and then the leader of the investigation team, representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Commander of the US Marine Corps, General Panson, announced the decision.

As soon as he came up, Li Junhao spoke sternly: "Although our side won the battle in the Ardennes in the end, the US military suffered 1.9 casualties, 8.1 wounded, and 10 casualties. This was the largest battle since the United States entered the war. level of casualties, the investigation team found out that the Allied Expeditionary Force Command bears unshirkable responsibility for this!

"As the director of national intelligence, before the war, I ordered people to report the German expeditionary force headquarters to the unusual movements, but from the commander in chief to the staff, no attention was paid to it. This was the first major mistake!

"Before the battle began, the British army changed the frontline commander without authorization, and it was Montgomery who had been explicitly prohibited from being used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a long time. The headquarters did not report to the country. This is the second... No, this is not a mistake, but This is a serious violation of discipline!

"After the German army started to attack, the headquarters was slow to respond. It took two days to order reinforcements, and was unable to restrain the British troops on the northern route. The four isolated US divisions were besieged by 25 German troops. They suffered heavy losses, with nearly casualties, Captured! This is the third serious mistake - command error!

“With the enemy’s situation unclear, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were rashly thrown into the battlefield, putting them in danger again. The 101st Division was completely surrounded by German troops in Bastogne and had to persist under the siege of German armored forces. It lasted nine days and caused heavy losses! This was the fourth serious command error!

"At the most critical moment of the battle, the headquarters did not provide the most urgently needed fuel supplies to the 3rd Army Group responsible for the rescue. Instead, it handed over most of the supplies to the 1st Army Group, which was unwilling to take action and sat back and watched as the st Army Group was attacked by the Germans. The British Army... This is the fifth serious problem!

"Here, I would like to ask Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower, what are you thinking about?" Li Junhao's angry voice resounded in the theater. Eisenhower, who was also sitting on the stage, looked pale and lowered his head in silence, as did some senior officers in the headquarters. He lowered his head, but the middle and senior generals of the US military sitting in the audience clenched their fists, feeling very relieved!

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

“In view of the serious mistakes made by the current Allied Expeditionary Force Expeditionary Force Command and its principal leaders, the Joint Chiefs of Staff has decided, and President Roosevelt has approved, to make the following decision:

“1. Effective immediately, the General Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces will be disbanded, General Eisenhower will be removed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, his military rank will be reduced to Army Major General, and he will be transferred back to China.

“Second, establish the European Allied Forces Headquarters, with the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Marshall, concurrently serving as Commander-in-Chief.

“3. Establish the U.S. European Expeditionary Force, appoint Omar Nelson Bradley as Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, and promote him to Army General.

“3. Appoint George Patton Jr. as deputy commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Force and commander of the rd Army, and be promoted to Army General.

"1. Appoint Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell as commander of the st Army.

“18. Appoint Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway as Acting Chief of Staff of the Expeditionary Force and Commander of the th Airborne Corps.

"..."

“In addition, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, performed extremely well in this battle and was appointed commander of the 101st Airborne Division and promoted to Army Major General.

"..."

As soon as Li Junhao finished speaking, warm applause erupted in the theater, and many officers' hands turned red! To be honest, no one could have imagined before that the domestic high-level officials would be so determined to make such major adjustments to the US military command before leaving Europe!

The senior generals were extremely happy for Eisenhower's dismissal and demotion. Patton, who had always been unruly, actually took the lead in shouting: "Long live the Joint Chiefs of Staff! Long live General Panson..." which raised the atmosphere to its peak!

After class, Eisenhower was silently sad when he saw this scene. He knew that he had indulged the British army, but the purpose was not to maintain the unity of the Allies. 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 this chapter)