Iron Cross

Admiral King's exaggeration of South America and the worsening situation in South America was mixed with private goods. The reason was that the Pacific Fleet was currently trapped in Pearl Harbor and could not move. Not only was the US Navy crippled, but it was also forced to be separated in the two oceans and could not respond. This touched Admiral King's reverse scale. Not to mention that the Army could not force the Navy to implement the European strategy, even if President Roosevelt ordered it personally, he would still mess it up. Otherwise, who would see him hurriedly withdrawing the fleet and fleeing in a panic?

However, he still saved face for President Roosevelt and repeatedly emphasized that the Navy agreed with the proposal to attack the Azores in principle, but felt that time was tight and hoped to postpone it until the spring of 1944. Relatively speaking, the Falkland Islands are not only more important to the United States at this stage, but also easier to conquer. It can be used as a touchstone to test the Azores Campaign. If even a battle like the Falklands cannot be won, then the Azores Campaign should not be fought at all, and it would be humiliating if it is fought.

These words made everyone nod in agreement, and the Army also expressed its approval.

Turner was not qualified to attend the meeting because of his low rank. If he was there, he would have laughed secretly and laughed at their lack of understanding of Admiral King: the latter's words were true and false, and the second half actually made a 180-degree turn - let alone this year, even next spring Admiral King would not bother to attack the Azores unless the Falkland Islands could be taken without bloodshed, but is that possible?

Roosevelt thought Admiral King spoke well, and the general ideas, time arrangements, and troop deployment were very well described. The next step should be to intensively deploy troops, dispatch materials, and formulate plans. He personally added a road - Donovan presided over the work of the "fifth column" and once the army approached, he would create a coup in Argentina again. Roosevelt was very clear-headed and knew that it was okay to use force to deter Argentina. If he really sent troops to attack Argentina, he would have an endless feud in the future. The best way was to promote peace through fighting and change through pressure.

"London needs you to communicate more with Winston and explain the changes in the situation in Argentina to him. A stable South America is conducive to the long-term continuation of this war and to the stabilization of the rear of the United States." Roosevelt told Hull, "Our material assistance to Britain will only increase and not decrease. The Wasp (Essex class) that will be commissioned in October has also been decided to be donated to the Royal Navy. The British troops that have arrived in North America can continue to carry out adaptive training and do not need to participate in this battle."

Since the agreement with the British to attack the Azores together was broken, of course they had to give the other party some benefits. Moreover, if the British army appeared on the Argentine border, it would greatly stimulate the national sentiment of the Argentines and inevitably complicate the situation. Roosevelt did not want to make things worse. He believed that Churchill's political vision could understand the reason for doing so, not to mention that if the United States insisted on it, the British side would not be able to stick to its own opinion.

The policy of fighting South America was thus determined, but it was difficult to choose who to go to war and who to lead. There is no doubt that the navy is the main force in the fight against the Azores, so there is no doubt that the navy will serve as the supreme commander. However, the "Joint Element" operation involves a lot of army operations, so it would be inappropriate to let the navy take charge.

After fierce debate, the two sides accepted a compromise opinion: the early operations of the "Joint Element" operation, including the flattening of Guyana, entering Brazil, and deterring the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, were mainly carried out by the army, with army generals as commanders and the navy cooperating, mainly providing escort and transportation for the army fleet; when launching the campaign to capture the Falkland Islands, the navy generals served as commanders and the army cooperated.

The navy candidate was quickly determined. Admiral King decided to send out the main force of the Atlantic Fleet, and Admiral Ingersoll would lead the team himself; but it was difficult for the army to select a commander. Marshall wanted Eisenhower to lead the troops again, but the defeat in the African campaign was still fresh in his memory. Although Roosevelt had no prejudice against Ike, he was worried that he would be questioned by members of Congress, so he proposed that Eisenhower and Turner jointly plan the "Joint Element" plan, and the commander would be sent to someone else.

After repeated consultations, Jacob Laux Devers, commander of the 6th Army, was finally selected as the commander. He served as the chief of staff of the US garrison in Panama from 1939 to 1940 and had a relatively good understanding of South American affairs. In the military expansion before the Pearl Harbor incident, he showed his skills and clever dispatch, and solved all kinds of problems faced by the 9th Infantry Division, where he was the commander of the division. He was called "the great man" and finally caught Marshall's eye. In the following nearly two years (July 1941-May 1943), he was promoted to the commander of the Army Armored Center at Fort Knox and was very familiar with armored warfare. He had just been transferred to the 6th Army a few months ago and was promoted to lieutenant general at the beginning of this month.

In all aspects, this is a more suitable commander, and Roosevelt is determined to entrust him with an important task. Devers has presided over the preparation of the Overlord Operation Plan in history, but now it is clear that he will no longer prepare plans for either "Overlord" or "Joint Element", and this job will be handed over to Eisenhower.

The only thing that worried Marshall was that Devers' personal relationship with Eisenhower was not ideal. On the one hand, the extroverted Devers could not stand Eisenhower's dullness, and on the other hand, he also had opinions about the latter - he graduated from West Point six years earlier than Ike, but was promoted to lieutenant general several months later, which made Devers quite dissatisfied.

The prudent Marshall chose Clark as Devers' deputy. The latter had a good relationship with Devers and Eisenhower and could effectively lubricate him. Moreover, when fighting in countries such as South America, diplomatic relations were very important. Clark, who was good at dancing, was urgently needed. -As for his fighting ability, Marshall has selectively ignored it.

General Jin was very interesting. After the army commander was confirmed, he added: "Generals Walton Walker (Commander of the 20th Army) and Matthew Ridgway (Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division) are very good. I like them and hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with them; please don't include Patton again. Hewitt came back and complained to me. From the time of departure to the Indian Ocean, Patton almost tormented him to death along the way... "

The two army bosses, Smith-Timson and Marshall, could only smile bitterly. Patton's bad temper was now not only spread throughout the army, but also the navy. Strictly speaking, Admiral King's dictating to Army generals was not serious. Fortunately, both Walker and Ridgway were Marshall's favorites. Hearing General King's affirmation of them, he was also willing to be beautiful as adults. As a result, the 20th Army and the 82nd Airborne Division became the main force of the "Joint Elements" army, as well as the 9th Infantry Division, the old army started by Devers. Marshall could not wait to mobilize all the best troops and generals there, ready to fight a turnaround and wash away the shame of the African and Panama campaigns.