Chapter 1026 Axis Attack (15)

It is of course impossible to approve Arnold's resignation. Arnold did not dare to take this job. Could it be that the successor commander-in-chief of Army Aviation dared to do so?

To cope with the current predicament, there are still purely theoretical countermeasures: deploy more aircrews and dispatch more fighter jets to perform escort missions—not short-distance escorts but full-range escorts.

But in this case, the personnel involved, the possible losses, and the consumption of materials will increase exponentially.

Arnold couldn't have made it more obvious: There are currently more than 2,500 experienced aircrews left. If we want to rescue most of Patton's troops, at least 500 more will have to be put in. This will only play into the hands of the Germans - I heard that the Germans only When the enemy was encircled on the outside and there was no rush to attack the American troops inside the encirclement, some smart staff members surmised that the German army intended to consume a large number of its own aircrews.

While trading planes for oil tankers in the Pacific, and at the same time trading planes for retreat in South America, no matter how big the US empire is, it cannot sustain such rapid consumption.

In more than a month, skilled crews have only replenished less than 200 units, but the loss has exceeded 2,000 units.

Experienced crews are all beaten like this, and inexperienced crews are even more likely to die - haven't you seen the Germans' Ta-152 and Do-412? Even worse, it's the Fw-190A8, which is an air superiority fighter. If the Germans really didn't want Patton to withdraw, they would have just bombed the temporary airport a few more times. A lot of fuel had no place to put it and was piled in the open air. It had to be bombed and stored piece by piece, but Garland would rather send attack planes to bomb Recife. Nor will Patton be fried.

How can we fish after the airport has been blown up?

Here, Arnold was worried about not being able to send a crew to carry out such a fatal mission, and over there, Garland was also worried about how to declare his military exploits.

In the past two days, the Air Force and Hainan Airlines have had a lot of success, and their results are all ace + Knight's Cross standards. At first, Garland was afraid that someone would lie about his military exploits, so he specially selected a few camera guns to look at, and they all seemed to be worthy of the name.

If the original standards were followed, most of the fighter pilots in the three wings of this sortie could apply for the Knight's Cross. Therefore, he said to Rommel with a guilty conscience: "How about I tighten the standards a little more stringently? If in one breath With so many applicants for the knighthood (as well as oak leaves and upgrades), I am afraid that the high command and the head of state will collapse. "

"What are you afraid of? Just declare how you want to report!" Rommel was very open-minded. "It's not a false report. The Americans came to our door to kill us. Can we take the reward now? If you are too strict, you won't be afraid of the young men under your command shooting you." ?”

"That's not the case!"

"Report it, I will testify! Then the Army will report a few less."

"Why is this so embarrassing?"

"There is still a big battle ahead of the Army, and the Air Force will have few opportunities to find such a good opportunity." Rommel said with a smile, "I would like to see how many more plane crashes the Americans can endure!"

The question of whether to continue sending transport planes for rescue immediately became the focus of discussion at the Joint Chiefs of Staff late that night.

No one has a good idea. The German encirclement situation has taken shape, and the air force is far stronger than originally expected. This makes the US military's air retreat become a luxury hope. Neither the Army faction nor the Luhang faction were able to speak, and finally Li Hai from the Navy faction came forward to speak.

"I heard that the German army had several very famous encirclement battles on the Eastern Front, one was called the Holm siege, the other was called the Demyansk siege, and the most recent one was called the Central Asia Basin Campaign. The defenders relied on their own courage and confidence He persisted and persisted for several months at the longest, and finally relieved the siege when the weather warmed up and the German troops returned." He paused, "Can you ask General Patton to follow the example of the German army and lead the soldiers to hold on in the valley? Army aviation sent transport aircraft to airdrop some supplies and ammunition to sustain the operation to see if it could support General Ridgway's counterattack. "

This was almost a fantasy, and even Truman couldn't believe it.

Clark, who had just returned to Washington, shook his head: "The terrain is different, the situation is different, and the tenacity of both sides is different. I think it will be difficult to persist."

He knew the officers and soldiers of the 5th Group Army thoroughly and had psychological expectations. They could show their powerful and swift performance when the situation was favorable. However, when the situation was unfavorable, there was no need to expect them to perform exceptionally well. In this situation, In a desperate situation, as long as the decision to stop the airlift is made, the entire morale will completely collapse.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Rescue George and some other officers. As for the others, we can only..." Clark hesitated and choked, "Surrender honorably, at least they can save their lives."

At this point, Eisenhower had a similar view, but watching a group of more than 50,000 people fall into the hands of the German army, he felt that he could not speak out at all.

Turner was despising the Army in his heart: Didn’t Iceland originally have tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff were not so forward-looking and hesitant when they abandoned them, and now they are actually being coy? In his opinion, the Patton cluster was obviously at the end of its rope, and continuing to rescue would only consume more energy. The most important thing is to stop the loss in time, and the precious army aviation crews will be retained to defend Hawaii!

Truman sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do. In his position, he did not dare to issue the call like Japan or Germany: "Fight to the last man and never surrender" and "Everyone will be broken and serve the Emperor!" , not to mention that the people below will definitely not listen to him. Even if they listen to him, what is the use? It will only increase the number of killings.

Truman thought for a while and finally said: "The Army Aviation will finally arrange 30 of the best transport aircraft and send enough fighter jets to help George and some important officers retreat! Other decisions will be made by George himself."

Arnold agreed. If he didn't even agree to this request, he felt that he would be tortured by his conscience for the rest of his life.

Upon hearing Washington's arrangements and hints, all the senior U.S. military officers in the valley who knew the news went crazy. They jumped to their feet and cursed Washington and the Joint Chiefs of Staff angrily. Arnold was the first person they criticized.

"Everyone, be quiet." Barton spoke slowly. These days of continuous fighting and suffering had completely deformed him. Only his deeply sunken eyes still had some sparkle.

Before Hewitt retreated, he wanted to ask a few close subordinates to knock Patton unconscious and drag him onto the plane to retreat - but failed in the end. Patton saw through his trick, took out his gun and put it to his temple, telling the other party if If you dare to let him get on the plane, he will commit suicide immediately! Such intense emotions eventually led the Navy to abandon the operation. Hewitt could no longer see that Patton had any desire to live. He only wanted to die - but he didn't want to die until these tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were properly settled!

"Listen to what I have to say. First, the Army Airlines will send planes to evacuate. There may be hundreds of places. You can discuss who to let go. I will allocate a few places to each of you and designate the people you think are important to evacuate. , I won’t leave anyway, but I’d like to remind you one thing: walking from the air is not necessarily safe, and the probability of death is not small; secondly, there are only two options for officers and soldiers who don’t want or can’t walk by the air.” Patton paused, “First. The first one is to leave the valley to surrender to the German army. I heard that the commander of the enemy is Rommel, who is quite chivalrous, and at least his life can be saved. The second one is to break out of the encirclement with me and fight a bloody road - a road with a narrow escape from death. I want to surrender! You can sign up tonight, please leave your weapons and supplies!"

"Patton plans to surrender? This is not his style." Rommel laughed. "I thought he would persist to the end and fight with us until the last moment."

Major General Bockman, who was in charge of the contact, looked embarrassed: "Our army is at the end of its rope and has no choice but to surrender to your army. We hope that we can be given appropriate treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convention."

"Of course, that's no problem, but you must ensure that the equipment, supplies, vehicles, etc. are in good condition and must not be deliberately damaged or destroyed, otherwise..."

"I know, I know, we understand." Regardless of the army or navy, everyone knows that as long as you surrender to the Germans, as long as your equipment and supplies are intact, you will basically be fine, and you may even receive some preferential treatment. At worst, you can become an SS soldier! ——This "secret" is now familiar to the army and navy.

On September 17, the U.S. military sent off the last batch of retreating aircraft—even though sufficient escort crews were deployed, 5 of the 30 aircraft were still lost.

On September 18, the remaining American troops gradually walked out of the valley and surrendered to the German army, but most of them only had light weapons, few tanks and vehicles, and some were in tatters. This situation made Gauss, who came after hearing the news, frown a little, and he reminded Rommel. Said: "That's not right. It's impossible for Americans to have so few tanks and vehicles... There must be something wrong with this!"

Rommel smiled: "I know there is a problem, and the biggest problem lies with Patton."

"he?"

"I've shown up, but he hasn't shown up yet. What was he thinking? Although the American representative in charge of the contact tried to explain and cover up that he was injured and unfit, as long as Patton was still breathing, they should carry him Come see me, where are you now?”

That night, Patton led a small force to attack northeast. In the end, only the three infantry battalions of Roosevelt's group and several young officers from the headquarters were willing to follow him to break through. Other senior officers might be eager to leave by plane. Or they say they don’t want to fight anymore, and just want to save their lives like their brothers.

Patton gathered all the tanks and vehicles he could find in an attempt to break out of the encirclement. He initially had the upper hand in the dark night, but when the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division recovered and began to intercept, the breakout group was unable to break out. .

At dawn, Rommel received a battle report: All the American troops who broke through last night were wiped out by our division.

"Where's Barton?"

"He was clearing the way for the troops on an M26 tank..." The staff officer who reported the report paused, "He was hit by an assaulter of our army, the ammunition exploded, and the entire crew of the tank was killed. Only after interrogating other people did he find out."

"What a pity..." Rommel said sadly, "Bury him well. He is the bravest American general I have ever met!"

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