Iron Cross

Hewitt knew that it was inappropriate for him to interrupt, because this was an Army matter. It was very unserious for him, a naval general, to express his opinions. If serious battle damage occurred in the future, he would not be able to bear the responsibility. As for himself, he would never take the responsibility. If a destroyer fights a cruiser, wouldn't that be a collision of eggs and stones? However, apparently there are also U.S. Army officers who don’t see it that way.

He heard a voice with a strong English accent speak: "It is necessary for the Sherman to install new tank guns, but it is unnecessary to delay the departure for this reason. When Hitler attacked Russia, he had no tanks. The T-34 is also comparable to the Russians. Has he stopped attacking? We can’t be frightened by the Germans.”

The voice was familiar to him—it was the voice of Army Major General George Patton.

"George, what nonsense are you talking about? If you can't find a way to change the cannon without wasting time, you should shut up that stinky mouth of yours." U.S. Secretary of War Henry Lewis on the side*** *Said unhappily.

Even though the ****** student scolded him harshly, Hewitt knew that Patton had a good relationship with the minister. He was the minister's external liaison officer 30 years ago. He seemed so affectionate after being scolded by his old boss. It would be better to replace him with General Marshall. I still dare not say that about Barton.

Sure enough, Patton shrugged indifferently: "I can't do this. What I mean is that we can just take the old Sherman and set off, and keep the new one at home and modify it slowly. Besides, the only place we are going to is France." Man, they couldn't handle the old Sherman, could they?"

Everyone was dumbfounded by this statement: the French really couldn't deal with Sherman, but now the Germans are in Tobruk, and the tanks in their hands are man-eating tigers. Once Britain and the United States land in Morocco and Algeria, the Germans who react will inevitably rush over from the front and attack them in large numbers. Without reliable armored forces, they may not be able to consolidate the landing sites. But the British didn't care about this. They finally found an American general who was willing to support their views. They suddenly became energetic and repeated the views they had just repeated several times. Hewitt frowned, and so did everyone else. Yawning profusely, looking impatient.

Patton fired the cannon and then retreated. Then he saw Hewitt and offered his hand to shake. Even after shaking Patton's hand and exchanging smiles, Hewitt still had a poor impression of his Operation Torch collaborator. He felt that he still couldn't understand this weirdo. He was obviously a talented, charming soldier who fought for honor, but that charm lasted too short, and he soon showed his arrogance and unruliness. The untamed side. Hewitt had never had any dealings with Patton. At first, he admired this armored major general who seemed passionate and ruthless. However, in order to prepare plans related to the Torch Project, his impression of Patton plummeted.

The staff of Task Force 34 proposed that a large-scale amphibious landing campaign would require at least 6 months of preparation from the time the order was received to the departure of the fleet. However, due to the endless quarrels between Britain and the United States, Task Force 34 was only given 7 weeks in the end. Preparation time - this is the most complex military operation in American history. The lack of time originally drove Hewitt crazy, but Patton's casual attitude made the army-navy collaboration even more painful. Although Patton kept scolding the damn idiots in Washington for their delay in making up their mind to fight, instead of moving his headquarters to Hampton Roads, Patton continued to stay in a spacious and bright office on the top floor of the Munitions Building on the National Mall in Washington, doing nothing.

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

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 engaged, but never got married due to various reasons), Patton also became Pershing's adjutant, and he relied on Pershing to guide him in joining the army. Otherwise, he would have had a fiery temper and lively style. I don’t know how many times he has been fired; General George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, was promoted by Pershing. He always regarded Patton as an old naughty boy who had not grown up and was tolerant of everything (Patton was 57). Obviously, the best he could do was not hurt. Let me just say a few words without hesitation; Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief of Operation Torch, was 5 years younger than Patton and was Patton’s junior at West Point Military Academy. At that time, Patton wrote a letter to encourage him and he won the first place in his class at West Point. He had a lot to do with him. ... After much deliberation, Douglas MacArthur is probably the only army commander who can deal with Patton, but MacArthur's eccentric character can't even be tolerated by Navy Commander Nimitz and Admiral King. How could Hewitt dare to get into trouble?

Moreover, the conflict between the Army and the Navy is a very sensitive topic. Hewitt did not want the issue between himself and Patton to rise to this level, nor did he want to pressure the Army through Secretary of the Navy Norfolk. The two sides were arguing over strategic direction and battlefield resources. They are very nervous. The top brass of the Navy are focused on the Pacific battlefield and have recently been busy with the Battle of Guadalcanal. They have little enthusiasm for "Operation Torch" and are doing it purely because of the president's request. If the conflict between him and Patton broke out in public, it would not only be embarrassing for the relationship between the army and the navy, but also may involve the debate between Britain and the United States about "first Asia before Europe" or "first Europe before Asia". In that case, there would be too much right and wrong. He could only hold his nose and endure it, silently doing his various tasks.

In this way, in the eyes of Task Force 34, Patton became a "nuisance" who could not be beaten, scolded, or separated from him. He himself was not aware of it. There was a joke circulating in the Task Force Headquarters: I told you to complain again. In the future, I will meet Barton when I go out. What will you do?

Hewitt was still thinking about whether he should go back to the Navy Department to wait for news. Suddenly, Dr. Hewitt called his name: "General Hewitt, you are in the Navy. Do you think we need to postpone our 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.