Chapter 833 Roosevelt at a Turning Point in History (Supplement, 5,000 Votes and More)

On February 13, 1944, Congress held a hearing on the "protection fee" incident. Although the final conclusion still had to be voted on whether to accept it, the relevant gossip had already circulated in advance: "...it is based on rumors and no evidence, and it is recommended to stop the investigation." . Although the Republicans are dissatisfied, they can only accept this view. They have checked everyone who can, read all the information they can, and have thought of all the ways they can think of. How can they convict someone without any strong evidence? Moreover, Truman’s work attitude and work style were impeccable. He was more Republican than the Republican Party, and no one could criticize him in a word.

"Everyone, before convening the meeting, let's first listen to a young man talk about his personal experience..." the Senate President introduced, "His name is John Kennedy. He served on a PT torpedo boat and served as captain. He participated in In the Battle of Cape Verde a few months ago, he fought bravely but was unfortunately kidnapped and became a prisoner of war. In the prisoner of war camp, he did not give up and kept looking for opportunities to escape. In the end, he escaped from the clutches of the Germans with nine brothers and escaped with a narrow escape. In order to protect his companions, he deliberately diverted the pursuers, was shot three times but luckily survived, and finally escaped safely with his companions and returned home. Let us welcome this hero with the warmest applause! "

Everyone applauded enthusiastically, and several Democratic congressmen were asking privately: John Kennedy's name sounded familiar. Is he the son of Joseph Kennedy?

Old Joseph and other officers and men on the torpedo boat slowly pushed the stretcher into the venue. Kennedy's injury healed quickly and he could barely sit up, but how could the speech be as effective as lying down? After everyone gathered together, they decided to push a stretcher out.

Sure enough, the applause became more enthusiastic after this appearance. Many Democrats who were familiar with Joseph even stood up and waved. Now everyone is convinced that this Kennedy is the son of Joseph Sr., and Joseph Sr. looks a bit reserved under the spotlight. He is the only one. People know what the truth about the prison escape is, but they can never tell it, even if they die!

"I'm sorry to meet you distinguished congressmen like this. I should have recovered better before reporting back, but what I have seen and heard in the past few months has made me unable to suppress my eagerness. I heard that General Turner This sense of urgency is particularly profound after the accusations. My sense of honor, my sense of mission, and my faith prompt me to report the relevant situation to you as soon as possible.”

John F. Kennedy took a breath and spoke slowly. As a top student at Harvard University, he has always been committed to the dream of being president of the United States, and he has been immersed in high-level political circles for so long. His speech level is of course very ideal.

"I have not served in the Navy for a long time. My only field combat experience was when I served as the captain of the torpedo boat PT-189 in the Cape Verde Islands. There, my torpedo boat lost 7 companions, and 5 were killed by the German S The boat attacked, and there were two more..." Kennedy's tone was very bad, and his voice was full of uncontrollable anger, "died at the hands of the renegade 3rd and 5th Army Divisions!"

There was a "buzz" sound, and the crowd started talking and whispering among themselves.

"I have heard from my superiors more than once that there are only 5-6 thousand German defenders on the island. We have two veteran army divisions on board, and there are also a large number of warships and aircraft to provide fire cover. It should be said that we are very well prepared and have complete advantages. Here at our place, I initially thought that this battle would soon end with a comprehensive victory for our side, but the expected victory has not yet come. The Germans defended very tenaciously, and their aircraft and S-boat units fought very fiercely. The Army suffered heavy casualties but was never able to win. Especially the endless night attacks caused us to lose many troops. Five of our companions died in one night attack. I didn’t know that the battle could be fought like this... Of course, this is just me as a grassroots person. The situation that the officer saw was very incomplete. What I want to focus on today is the situation at the final moment of retreat..."

Everyone has their ears pricked up. Everyone actually knows how Cape Verde is doing. Now, what everyone is most concerned about, the most vague and confusing, is the situation at the last moment.

"The retreat order was issued very hastily. The commander told me that the German fleet came from the direction of Newfoundland and had already fought with the fleet once. It was very strong and our army was invincible. If we did not retreat, the entire army might be destroyed in Verde. Corner - not only the fleet, but also the landed ground forces, so the superiors arranged for the main fleet to retreat first, and our auxiliary ships, including torpedo boats, frigates, several destroyers and some cargo ships, assisted the army in retreating, as long as the people retreated, the equipment was needed. , all baggage will be discarded.

At that time, there were at least 14,000 troops in Cape Verde, and all the ships capable of retreating together could only provide a retreat capacity of about 7,000-8,000 at most. I asked the chief what to do? He was silent for a long time and told me that he believed that the Army would select good personnel for retreat, and that my duty was to accept as many evacuees as possible while ensuring safety. To achieve this goal, we threw away everything we could on the ship in order to make room for as many people as possible, even one more!

But something unexpected happened. The Army troops who boarded the ship actually mutinied. They pointed their guns at us, saying that the Navy was treating them unfairly and that they wanted to surrender. The Germans launched a pre-battle uprising. Two of their companions were with them. Theorizing and trying to resist, he was killed tragically by a Thompson submachine gun - I never knew that the Army would actually fire on the Navy! Not just us, there were firefights on many ships. Not 50 but 40 naval officers and soldiers died at the hands of the army! We were all eventually taken prisoner by the Germans.

I once begged them, we don’t care if you want to surrender to the Germans, we don’t want to be prisoners, let us go. The other side refused and shouted, ‘No, the navy has abandoned us, we will not let the navy have an easy time! ’ In the end, all the ships present, probably hundreds of ships of all kinds, were escorted by the army to the Germans, and what made me even more angry was...”

Speaking of this, Kennedy’s voice choked, “The navy had originally sent 4 destroyers far away to meet the retreating troops, but the rebels reported their location to the Germans. The Germans took off bombers early in the morning and sank them all. It is said that almost no one survived!”

The whole audience was silent, and everyone was immersed in grief.

“In fact, many people in the army also disagreed with this behavior. During the retreat, the situation was critical, the mood was excited, and the brain was hot, so they did it. Many people regretted it afterwards, but it was too late to regret it, so they could only make the mistake. The leaders of the two army divisions shamelessly became SS division commanders - they sold out and deceived their officers and soldiers, and sold out the navy to beg the Germans for mercy in exchange for their lives! After entering the prisoner-of-war camp and learning more about the situation, I was very depressed, because..." Kennedy panted and said with great sorrow, "I don't know what happened to the American soldiers, what they experienced at home, and why their bones are so soft? - There are a lot of traitors! Much more than the British!

I met a British prisoner of war in the prisoner-of-war camp. He was captured in the North African campaign. He said that we all volunteered to be prisoners. I was very surprised by this statement and asked why? Later, it became clear that in the late stage of the North African campaign, the British Eighth Army's more than 200,000 troops were surrounded by the Germans in the desert. They were short of supplies and lacked transportation. Commander Montgomery summoned all senior officers and said that only 20,000 to 30,000 people could escape the encirclement now. He was ready to let the Australian and New Zealand Divisions retreat.

He explained the reason for doing so: "North Africa is a colony of Great Britain, not Australia and New Zealand. They are here to help Great Britain fight. Now the troops are facing a life-and-death situation. Every British soldier must be aware of being loyal to the country and fulfill his responsibilities..." In this way, more than 200,000 troops gave all the gasoline, trucks, supplies, water and the most precious escape opportunities they could collect to the Australian and New Zealand divisions. General Montgomery led the remaining troops to deal with the German army and surrendered only when he was sure that they had escaped the encirclement. Not long after, the general who felt guilty about his subordinates committed suicide. The Germans respected him very much and arranged a grand memorial ceremony for him. Hitler, Mussolini and senior German and Italian generals all attended the ceremony. Nearly 200,000 British officers and soldiers also became prisoners calmly - no one said that the superiors were unfair to us and wanted to "revolt on the battlefield".

There were also a small number of British who defected and joined the German army, but they were not large-scale. I have never heard of a British SS division. However, there were too many prisoners of our army who defected, and the two SS American divisions were not enough. Germany was considering forming a third American division, and some people even said that they would form a separate SS American Army. The Nazis came to the prisoner-of-war camps to mobilize again and again, such as "You don't work for the big capitalists anymore", "You are descendants of Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Ireland, not Americans", "Your superiors don't want you, your navy has abandoned you, be loyal to the Führer, we treat you as brothers", and other deceptive propaganda, and then many spineless people defected - what a shame! "

"The above is what I saw and heard in the German prisoner-of-war camp. Those were the darkest days of my life. It's great to be able to return home and breathe the air of freedom." Kennedy sighed, and then said, "Finally, I would like to take a minute to talk about my views on General Turner, a grassroots officer's views on the final decision of the superior to retreat.

American education and tradition have made the concept of freedom and equality deeply rooted in people's hearts, but when some people need to sacrifice, who should step forward?

In traditional battleships, if the battle is not going well and they are preparing to retreat, they will ask destroyers and light cruisers to launch torpedo attacks on the enemy to buy time and opportunity for the main force to retreat. These desperate attacking troops are usually difficult to survive; in aircraft carrier operations, I have heard more than once that heavy cruisers and light cruisers use their bodies to shield torpedoes for aircraft carriers. This is a very normal thing. According to the concept of equality, why should the main ship let the people on the auxiliary warship die? Why should the cruiser block torpedoes for the aircraft carrier? We are all equal and living people, and no one is more noble than anyone else!

I think there is nothing wrong with the superior's decision. If there is a problem, it is because of time constraints and inadequate communication, but can all this constitute a reason for betrayal and even killing comrades? Clearly, surrendering would free you, and clearly no one forced you to join the SS. You did this to cover up your inner meanness, shamelessness, and betrayal...

I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone: Don't ask what the country can do for you, but ask what you can do for the country! "

Everyone in the audience stood up and applauded Kennedy!