Shadow Spy

Chapter 495: There are many problems with great disarmament

At the end of September, Ayers formally wrote a report on the proposal for war compensation against Japan and handed it to Roosevelt. Later, he specifically named Panson as the first conceived of the report.

Roosevelt was extremely surprised when he first saw this suggestion, but then he began to seriously consider it!

In the following period, Roosevelt and Ayers discussed the matter many times, and also communicated with Li Junhao twice, which finally confirmed his thoughts...
-

In October, the most important thing Li Junhao did was to fight with Congress!

Because of the end of the war, it is the consensus of all walks of life that the U.S. military, which expanded to more than 1200 million during the war, will be reduced. However, the Joint Defense Committee of the two houses of Congress requested that 1948 million troops be eliminated by the end of 1000 to save military expenditures. This was unacceptable to the U.S. military. !

As the number one five-star general in the US military, Li Junhao naturally has to shoulder the responsibility of speaking out for the military. This does not even have to do with his status as the commander of the navy and land. At this time, it is he, the military's number one, who is fighting with Congress. Of course one person’s responsibility!

On October 10, when Li Junhao attended the hearing of the Joint Defense Committee of Congress for the first time on behalf of the military, he directly stated: The previous goal of disarmament of 10 million soldiers set by the committee was completely nonsense! Not to mention that it is impossible to achieve this goal before the end of next year. Even if it is achieved, the remaining 1000 million troops will not be enough to meet the needs of the navy. Should the army, navy, and air force be abolished?

Some congressmen pointed out: The current size of the navy has reached 300 million, the navy has reached 100 million, the air force has exceeded 200 million, and the army has exceeded 600 million. Not counting, there are as many as 500 million civilian and auxiliary personnel. Such a scale is of great significance to the country. Said that the burden is too heavy and must be reduced by more than half...

Li Junhao said: With the end of World War II, downsizing is necessary, but it must be planned and step-by-step, and it must not be carried out simply and roughly. In that case, it will seriously endanger national security...

After several days of debate, Congress finally agreed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff should come up with a reasonable disarmament plan before the end of this year, and at least half of the military will be reduced next year, which ended the debate.

Although it is impossible to say who wins or loses in this matter, Li Junhao was able to change the decision of the Joint Defense Committee and reduce the number of disarmament troops from 1000 million to 600 million. This is already an excellent result for the military. If it were replaced by another general, who would Can't do it either.

Therefore, for Li Junhao, this is just a normal job, but for other senior military officials, it is a manifestation of ability, which directly increases his prestige in the military.

Next, he divided the goals of disarmament into various military services, allowing them to make their own plans, which would be discussed and finalized by the Joint Chiefs of Staff next month.

As for Hailu, he doesn’t want to cut it yet. The current forces in the Far East are mainly divided into two parts. One part is an occupying force in Japan and cannot of course be withdrawn; the other part is holding on to those areas that have been liberated from the Japanese army in advance. They have to wait to be handed over to New China and cannot be withdrawn for more than a year. .

Although this part of the country can be cut first, it cannot be rushed. It cannot be left without mobile troops. If there is an emergency somewhere, and the president wants to use troops, it will be okay if he cannot send them out himself. In fact, the chief officers of the four major branches of the military now know that in terms of land and sea, the troops have heavy missions abroad, and the mobile troops needed by the president still need to be left, which cannot be reduced for the time being. Everyone understands this.

The current scale of the navy is too large, so it should be reduced by half, and a large number of old warships must be phased out. It would be good if this work can be completed in one year.

The Air Force has just become independent and is still in the process of sorting out the situation. Considering the future war situation, air superiority is too important and it will not be cut too much. It is estimated that it will need to maintain a scale of about 150 million.

The only thing left to focus on is the Army! The current size of the army is 600 million. In order to complete half of the tasks of the President's Army, it must be reduced by 400 million. This is the most difficult part.

Speaking of which, compared to the two technical services of the Navy and Air Force, the Army is easy to expand and should be easy to reduce. But in fact, there are many problems. The key is that there are too many people. If all 400 million people are put into the army at once, If they are abolished and released into the society, the employment pressure will be too great. If it is not handled well, it will cause turmoil, which is something that no one wants to see.

Army Chief of Staff Brad Leigh, who had just returned from Europe and took office, had a big head, and he couldn't help complaining about his predecessor Marshall who "escaped" - you old man threw your hands away and became Secretary of State, handing over the big business of the Army. I, I haven’t figured anything out yet. I am responsible for the great disarmament. This is really a scam!

The new Chief of Naval Operations, Ernest, is facing a similar situation, but one advantage is that the navy has a tradition of replacing ships and personnel on time. Old ships must be retired, and officers and soldiers who are too old must be retired. During the war, Newly recruited ordinary sailors, those with no special expertise or potential for improvement must also retire... Under such circumstances, it is entirely possible to cut the number by half within a year. Of course, if there are more cuts, the navy will stop working!
-

On November 11, at the Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting, the disarmament plan presented by Bradley failed to pass the test at all - it only guaranteed a reduction of 3 million troops within one year, which of course would not work!

He himself has no choice. There are many factions in the army, and all aspects must be taken care of. The chief officers of each department are protecting their calf, and they all want to retain more of their own troops. Even the 200 million is forced by the Army Staff. of.

Seeing Bradley's eyes asking for help, Li Junhao decided to help him and said: "Omar, let me make a few suggestions for you to consider:

"First, it has been more than two years since World War II ended. The service terms of the conscripts added by various units during the war should have expired. Except for professional personnel, let them retire!

“Second, let’s abolish all the large establishments of the previous group armies and corps! This will allow us to eliminate many civilian and auxiliary personnel;

"Third, those troops stationed in Europe and Japan can temporarily retain their establishment and carry out some personnel replacements. Military expenses and funds will be borne by the government of the occupied areas... In this way, these troops can be excluded from the army in the accounts. Among the total..."

After hearing his three suggestions, especially the last one, the eyes of several people present lit up. This is a good idea! For troops stationed overseas to maintain local security, military expenditures must of course be borne by the local area! In this way, there is no need to spend money at home, and Congress can no longer be nagging!

"Okay, okay, I'll go back and revise the plan." Bradley was happy and thought Panson was a good friend!

(End of this chapter)