Iron Cross

Hewitt was ordered to lead the 34th US Task Force, with 102 US warships (including 29 transport ships) and more than 30,000 US troops from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Casablanca, Morocco, to carry out an expedition spanning 4,500 nautical miles. The task of capturing Oran was given to the Central Task Force, which had nearly 20,000 US troops, commanded by Rear Admiral Lloyd Fredendall and escorted by British naval forces commanded by Commodore Thomas Trubridge - because these troops were transported to Scotland and Northern Ireland in early August, they had spent two months doing nothing in the countless quarrels between the top leaders of both sides.

I thought the plan was determined, but I didn't expect that only 10 days later, Hewitt was pulled into a meeting again, and he heard a fierce quarrel before he entered the door.

"The enemy situation has changed dramatically, and we can't simply execute according to the original plan." An American staff officer said something with red ears, while the British liaison officer stationed at the Joint Chiefs of Staff looked indignant.

"What happened, Tom?" Hewitt stopped a lieutenant colonel he was familiar with and pointed at the two groups of people who were in a heated mood. "Why are they arguing again?"

"You don't know? No wonder." The other party handed over a document and whispered, "This is what the intelligence department has recently collected and sorted out. The British have a lot of things hidden from us."

"Malicious concealment?" Hewitt's heart was beating fast. He speculated for no reason. When he opened the document, he found that the facts were even more outrageous than he imagined:

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Hewitt criticized Patton angrily in front of his subordinates more than once: I have called and written to him many times to tell him to come as soon as possible to cooperate with us, but he proposed a landing site in Morocco without consulting the navy at all. There is no beach in one place and a shallow beach full of booby traps in the other place - God knows what he is thinking.

But even so, Hewitt had to hold his nose and cooperate with Patton. He couldn't find anyone who could control Patton. Secretary of the Army, Mr. ****, was Patton's old superior and obviously would not pay attention to the complaint of a rear admiral; General Pershing, the most prestigious predecessor in the Army, was Patton's attempted brother-in-law (it is said that when Pershing was 55 years old, he fell in love with Patton's 29-year-old sister Nita, and the two were engaged, but later they did not get married for various reasons). Patton also served as Pershing's aide-de-camp. His military career was entirely due to Pershing's support. Otherwise, with his hot temper and funny style, he would have been expelled several times long ago; Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall was promoted by Pershing himself, and he was very popular with Patton. Hewitt regarded Patton as an old naughty boy who had not grown up and was tolerant of him everywhere (Patton was 57 years old). Obviously, he would only say a few words at most. The commander-in-chief of Operation Torch, Eisenhower, was 5 years younger than Patton and was Patton's junior at West Point. Patton wrote a letter to encourage him and won the first place in his class at West Point. He had a close relationship with him... After thinking about it, the only army commander who could deal with Patton was Douglas MacArthur, but MacArthur's eccentric personality was unbearable even for the Navy commander Nimitz and Admiral King. How could Hewitt dare to offend him?

Moreover, the contradiction between the Army and the Navy was a very sensitive topic. Hewitt did not want the problem between himself and Patton to rise to this level, and he did not want to suppress the Army through the Secretary of the Navy Norfolk. The two sides had been arguing very intensely over strategic direction and battlefield resources. The attention of the Navy's top brass was on the Pacific battlefield. Recently, they were busy with the Battle of Guadalcanal. They had no enthusiasm for Operation Torch at all. They did it reluctantly purely because the President asked them to do so. If the conflict between him and Patton broke out publicly, it would not only embarrass the relationship between the Army and the Navy, but also involve the debate between Britain and the United States on whether to "focus on Asia first, Europe later" or "focus on Europe first, Asia later". There would be too much right and wrong. He could only hold his nose and endure it, and quietly do his own work.

In this way, in the eyes of the 34th Task Force, Patton became a "hateful person" who could not be beaten, scolded, or left. He himself was still unaware of it. There was a joke circulating in the Task Force Command: If you complain again, you will meet Patton when you go out in the future. What will you do?

Hewitt was still thinking about whether he should go back to the Admiralty to wait for news, but suddenly the officer called his name: "General Hewitt, you are a navy, do you think you need to postpone your departure?"

Barton was joking with the people next to him, but when he heard this, he suddenly cast his gaze over, as if expecting Hewitt to give a different answer. Hewitt did not want to offend the Army, nor did he want to argue with the British anymore. After pondering for a long time, Hewitt asked a question: "How long will it take at the fastest to produce this batch of tank guns and supporting shells?"

"It takes about 20 days if you work overtime continuously."

"Is it troublesome to replace the tank gun? Does it require special equipment?"

"It requires experienced workers and a crane, but the rest is not that difficult."

"Then I suggest postponing departure for 20 days."

"Why?" the student asked strangely, "I can't complete the assembly in 20 days."

Hewitt replied: "Why must it be assembled before leaving? It takes nearly 300 hours to travel from Hampton Anchorage to Casablanca. With this time, we can urgently produce a batch of parts and put them on the ship for assembly - as long as we With enough workers and cranes, we have enough transport ships, and at worst we can bring a few more to the fleet. We have assembled a lot of things at sea, from aircraft to engines, and can even repair ships in emergencies. It is believed that tank guns can be modified on the road, and as many as they can be modified can be modified, and those that cannot be modified will be given to the British army for use - they do not mind short barrels. "

"Hey... it's a good idea, I like it." Eisenhower, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. He shook Hewitt's hand enthusiastically, pretended not to hear the last part of the sentence, and said with a pun, "You can do it here? It helped us a lot with the task force issue.”

The British next to him glared at Hewitt, obviously they were worried about the last part of the sentence. To put it bluntly, they knew what those short-barreled Sherman tanks were better than the Americans. If the domestic pressure was not too tight, they would also want to Better tanks. Now the rear admiral has pierced the paper, and they are very angry.

Button came over and hugged Hewitt's shoulders carelessly. The man who was almost 60 years old was not stable at all. He said in a familiar tone: "You can help them out. Postponing the departure for 20 days should not cause any problems." , It is always more reliable to use a new tank. Who doesn’t like thicker and longer tubes? Today I went to your place to talk about the landing-I always feel that there should be some adjustments to make it more perfect.”

Barton was talking about "thicker and longer pipes" in a serious tone, but in Hewitt's ears, it seemed that this old and shady guy was describing the man. He frowned deeply, and several The younger staff officers couldn't help but suppress their laughter, while Dr. Marshall, Marshall and Eisenhower pretended not to hear. Only the British were dumbfounded - they didn't understand the American slang Patton had just used.

The decision to postpone the departure for 20 days was reached immediately. The British probably also knew that the Americans would not leave until they replaced the tank guns, so they pinched their noses and approved the decision, but finally asked to report it to the leaders of the two countries. . This is almost just going through the motions. As long as the student insists, President Roosevelt will probably agree. As long as Roosevelt persists, Prime Minister Churchill will most likely agree in the end - it has been postponed many times anyway, and he does not care about another 20 days of delay.

Hewitt took a long breath. After arguing for so long and being nervous for so many days, he finally got the good news that he would postpone his departure and prepare calmly. Button was also willing to discuss with him to complete the landing plan. Everything seemed to be going well. Advancing in the right direction, he secretly prayed in his heart: I hope this guy doesn't come up with any extra tricks.

But even so, Hewitt still had to hold his nose and cooperate with Barton. He couldn't find anyone who could control Barton. The Secretary of the Army, Mr. ****, was Patton's old superior, and he obviously would not pay attention to the accusation of a rear admiral; General Pershing, the Army's most prestigious senior, was Patton's attempted brother-in-law (it is said that Pershing fell in love with Patton when he was 55 and 29). His sister Nita, the two were also engaged, but later they did not get married due to various reasons). After much deliberation, the only army commander who can deal with Patton is Douglas MacArthur. Miz and Admiral Kim couldn't bear it, so how could Hewitt dare to get into trouble?