"Are you kidding me? Forming a European Expeditionary Force? Am I crazy, or am I crazy?" Cun Yunsheng took the telegram that had just been sent and opened it to read the contents. He immediately became furious and directly Jumped up and shouted loudly. His eyes were wide open and his face was full of disbelief, as if he had seen something as ridiculous as a fantasy. If he hadn't clearly seen Stilwell's signature on it, he wouldn't have believed it to be true. He would have thought that some guy was playing a prank, or that Stilwell had a brain convulsion to come up with such a thing. Outrageous idea. What kind of European expeditionary force should we form? This is not something that can be done casually. It involves a series of complex issues such as how many troops, supplies, logistics support, etc. are involved. When Meng Fanlie heard this from the side, he was suddenly confused. He scratched his head, his face full of confusion, and he was muttering in his heart. Not long ago, a lot of effort was put into setting up a Middle East Expeditionary Force. The army has not yet stabilized, and various affairs are still being coordinated. Now, there is a European Expeditionary Force coming? Which song is this sung from? Meng Fanglia couldn't help but wonder, were they going to dismantle their existing troops and redistribute them? Or do you have any other plans?

If we really follow this approach, it will be too troublesome, and the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the troops will probably be greatly affected. If that's the case, it's better to just fall out. Anyway, it's not a problem to keep messing around like this. "Come on, is this Stilwell crazy?" Meng Fanglia couldn't help the doubts in his heart and asked with a frown. He really couldn't understand why Stilwell suddenly came up with such a puzzling idea. "I don't know. I also want to know if I'm crazy." Cun Yunsheng shook his head helplessly, saying that he didn't know what kind of medicine Stilwell was selling in his gourd. He was in a mess at the moment. On the one hand, he felt that this was too unreliable. On the other hand, he was worried that if this was really carried out, it would be a big trouble in the future. But now he couldn't understand Stilwell's intention. I can only do it in a hurry. "Do you think we are too strong? Do you want to dismember us?" Meng Fangli frowned and expressed his guess while thinking. In his opinion, the current development momentum of the Nanyang Task Force is too rapid. It is defeating the Japanese army on the battlefield and its power continues to expand. Stilwell now proposed the idea of ​​forming a European expeditionary force. Perhaps he was afraid of their strength and wanted to break them up in this way. "This possibility cannot be ruled out." Cun Yunsheng nodded thoughtfully after listening to Meng Fangliao's words. He also knew in his heart that the performance of the Nanyang Task Force during this period was indeed too outstanding, and it was not impossible that it would arouse some people's other thoughts. After all, in a war, the balance and game between the various forces are going on all the time. No one wants to see one force become too strong and break the original pattern. "Is there something unexpected happening in Europe?" Meng Fanglia raised his question again. He felt that in addition to the possibility of being thought of and wanted to dismember, as he had just guessed, there might have been some major changes in Europe, which gave Stilwell the idea of ​​forming a European expeditionary force. Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng suddenly fell into deep contemplation. Indeed, this possibility cannot be ruled out. The situation on the European battlefield has always been complex and changeable. If there is an emergency there, it is possible that troops need to be transferred from other places to support it. "Is there any information from Europe recently?" Cun Yunsheng suddenly raised his head and asked seriously. He knew that in order to figure out Stilwell's true intention, it was key to grasp the actual situation in Europe. Only by understanding what happened there could he understand what the order to form a European expeditionary force was. Son.

"Not yet." When the officer in charge of intelligence heard this, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly straightened up and said nervously. He was also very helpless. During this period, the intelligence collection work had indeed encountered some difficulties, and he had not been able to obtain the latest information about Europe in time. "No? That's strange. If there hadn't been some big event in Europe, there would never have been any European expeditionary force set up at this point in time. Are you really crazy?" Cun Yunsheng frowned so deeply that he could almost pinch his lips. A dead fly. His face was full of confusion and anxiety, and he was really curious about what happened that made Stilwell issue such a puzzling order. "Impossible. Something must have happened in Europe. Otherwise, we wouldn't be so eager to form a force of no less than three divisions in half a month. How can I get three divisions?" Cun Yunsheng picked up the telegram again and looked at it carefully. Looking at the content above, he shook his head helplessly and said. His brows were furrowed tightly, and his face was full of sorrow. He knew in his heart that it was impossible to gather the strength of three divisions in such a short period of time, but the requirements on the telegram were clearly stated there. , he couldn't help but worry. "What could happen to Europe? Could it be that the Allies were defeated again? Or was Gibraltar lost?" Meng Fanxiao said hesitantly at the side. He was also racking his brains to speculate on possible situations in Europe. After all, in his opinion, if there was no big deal, Stilwell would never issue such an outrageous order, and currently he could think of more serious situations. , that is, the Allies were defeated again or something happened in the key place of Gibraltar. Hearing Gibraltar, Cun Yunsheng was stunned for a moment, as if some thought flashed through his mind. He then quickly walked aside, took the map hanging on the wall, and then stared at the location of Gibraltar, with solemnity and thoughtfulness in his eyes. After a long time, Cun Yunsheng suddenly seemed to understand something. He raised his head and said seriously: "Gibraltar, maybe something really happened here." He knew the importance of Gibraltar in the entire war situation. This is a key place in the throat of the Mediterranean. If anything goes wrong, the consequences will be disastrous. When the German troops landed on the British Isles before, the Allies had never been so panicked. After all, it was just a small troop landing, only tens of thousands of people. If the British army really mobilized the main force to go over, they could still easily deal with it. But Gibraltar is different. If it were lost here, something big would really happen. "How is it possible? Isn't there the main fleet of Britain and the United States here?" Meng Fan asked with a look of surprise on his face. He had always thought that with the main fleets of Britain and the United States stationed in Gibraltar, it should be impregnable. How could something happen suddenly? "Then I don't know." Cun Yunsheng shook his head helplessly. He is only making such speculation based on the current situation and past experience. He still doesn't know exactly what happened. But he had a strong feeling in his heart, "Anyway, something must have happened here, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why the European Expeditionary Force was formed at this time." In his opinion, only an extremely serious crisis in Gibraltar would make history more difficult. Diwei so urgently requested to form troops and rush to Europe to deal with it. "But if something happened in Gibraltar, why didn't Stilwell tell us directly?" Meng Fangli frowned and asked again with confusion on his face. He really couldn't understand. Since it was speculated that there might be a situation in Gibraltar that prompted the formation of the European Expeditionary Force, then why didn't Stilwell tell the truth directly? It was so secretive that everyone was confused. Fog. Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng couldn't help but fell into deep thought. Yes, he was also curious why Stilwell didn't explain the situation directly? There must be some reason for this, but he couldn't figure it out for a while. "Maybe it's a test." After thinking for a while, Cun Yunsheng said slowly, with a trace of helplessness in his tone. "What do you mean?" Meng Fanxiao became even more puzzled. He looked at the other party with wide eyes, eager to know what this so-called "test" was all about. "To test whether we should continue to obey his orders. After all, the Middle East Expeditionary Force has not made much progress. Maybe in Stilwell's eyes, he thinks we are behind everything." Cun Yunsheng explained helplessly. He knew in his heart that after the establishment of the Middle East Expeditionary Force, the combat operations and other aspects may not achieve the results Stilwell expected. Stilwell may wonder whether they are doing some tricks behind the scenes and deliberately not fully cooperating, resulting in Not going well. So this time, we used the establishment of the European Expeditionary Force to test whether they would still be obedient and obey the command. "Take a seat, the deployment of three divisions will definitely affect the entire war situation in Southeast Asia. Without these elite troops to suppress it, I'm afraid the Japanese army will come back." Meng Fan said with a worried look on his face. This was what he was most worried about. The Nanyang Task Force finally managed to defeat the Japanese army in Southeast Asia. The situation has just improved a bit. If the elite troops of three divisions are transferred away at once, the defensive strength here will be greatly reduced. The Japanese army will definitely take the opportunity to counterattack when they see the opportunity, and then all their previous efforts will be in vain. Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng also sighed deeply. He naturally knew that the deployment of troops would have a major impact on the war situation in Southeast Asia, but at the moment he could not refuse Stilwell's order. After all, he was still nominally under the command of Stilwell. If he really fell out with Stilwell because of this matter, it would probably not end well. And more importantly, Stilwell is very clear about the strength of the Nanyang Task Force. If there is a stalemate and Stilwell uses some tricks, the Nanyang Task Force may not have a good life in the future. . So now he is in a dilemma. He does not want to affect the war situation in Southeast Asia, but he does not dare to easily disobey Stilwell's orders. It is really sad.

"Furthermore, are three divisions really enough? That's Europe? There are millions, no, even tens of millions of troops gathered here, and just our three divisions can go there? I'm afraid they're not even qualified to be cannon fodder." ?" Meng Fangliao said helplessly with a wry smile on his face. He knew in his heart that the European battlefield was large-scale and extremely fierce. The troops invested by all parties were extremely large, and they were not at the same level as the situation in Southeast Asia. Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng nodded silently and did not refute, because he knew in his heart that what the other party said was indeed right. Sending just three divisions like this would not have much effect on the magnificent battlefields of Europe. Apart from anything else, if you want to be effective on the European battlefield, you must have an armored division, right? Armored force plays a vital role in modern warfare, whether it is assault or defense, it can play a key supporting role. Infantry divisions are also indispensable. After all, infantry is the most basic and largest combat force on the battlefield, and is responsible for various combat tasks. There is also an artillery division that is indispensable. The power of artillery cannot be underestimated on the battlefield, and it can provide powerful fire support for offense and defense. These three divisions do seem very powerful in Southeast Asia. They relied on the tactics of concentrating superior forces to attack the Japanese army one by one. However, the Japanese army was naturally unable to withstand their offensive due to reasons such as the dispersion of their forces. But the situation in Europe is completely different. Hundreds of thousands or millions of troops often participate in the battle. The two sides set up a posture and it is a large-scale corps battle. Tens of thousands of people to attack millions of people? This sounds like a long shot. Not to mention that the German army's air superiority on the battlefield is also quite obvious. It can dispatch hundreds of fighter planes at a time to bomb, straf and other attacks on the Allied forces in the air. This greatly restricts the Allied forces' actions on the battlefield. , survival is facing huge threats. At present, the advantages gained by the Allied forces in Europe are too few, and every step forward has to pay a huge price. Take the subsequent Operation Market Garden as an example. Cun Yunsheng remembered it clearly. At that time, the British Airborne Division was an elite unit, but as a result, it was defeated by the German second-line troops, oh no, it should be the third-line troops to be precise, because the German army stationed there was only a supplementary battalion of the German army. A group of people had just completed The newly trained soldiers inflicted heavy losses on the British army. The scene was really terrible. Thinking about it now, it is indeed a bit troublesome for tens of thousands of them to go head-to-head with the elite German troops. Maybe it will be like what Meng Fangliao said, and they will not even be used as cannon fodder. That is to say, dying in vain will not bring any substantial help to the entire war situation. Cun Yunsheng couldn't help but frown deeply when he thought of this, his face full of worry. "Tens of thousands of people are definitely not enough, it will take at least two to three hundred thousand people, and I have to go there in person." Cun Yunsheng shook his head and said. "Hiss, so many people?" Meng Fan couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. (End of chapter)