Sure enough, as Zhang Chi expected, when Zhang Chi saw MacArthur in the conference room, MacArthur nodded confidently to Halsey, but MacArthur couldn't help but be stunned when he saw Zhang Chi, he obviously didn't expect Halsey to bring Zhang Chi. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhang Chi glanced at the conference room, and couldn't help but be surprised...... There were not many people attending the meeting, including only seven of them, but all of them were lieutenant generals and generals, and only he was a colonel.

"Let me introduce you!" Halsey said to Zhang Chi: "This is General Nimitz!" ”

Zhang Chi looked at the white-haired general sitting on the left hand side in disbelief, and then hurriedly saluted Nimitz.

The reason why Zhang Chi was shocked was that he couldn't believe that he had met this legendary five-star superior in such an unprepared situation. On the other hand, Nimitz does not seem to be the protagonist of this meeting, because the chair is still empty...... So who will be the main character?

Nimitz smiled and leaned over, shook his flabby hand, and said, "Colonel, well done!" I've heard a lot about your achievements, and it's impressive! ”

"Thank you, General!"

That's when the protagonist of the meeting walked in...... It was a thin, old man with a thin face, his body was so thin that it looked like a humanoid skeleton, and his movements were a little sluggish, and he needed help even to sit on a chair.

Zhang Chi's head exploded with a "buzz", and although this was the first time he had met the old man, he still recognized him at a glance as the current President of the United States, Roosevelt...... You can often see his photos on TV and movies, but the photos are much more energetic than the reality.

In fact, if Zhang Chi knew more, he wouldn't be as shocked as he is now.

MacArthur's plan to attack Japan through the Philippines was unanimously rejected by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and MacArthur was almost the only one in the military who felt that a return to the Philippines was necessary. To overturn the decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, only Roosevelt could do it.

Halsey didn't tell Zhang Chi about this because even he didn't know, because the telegram only said that "an important person" organized the meeting, but Halsey guessed it.

"Gentlemen!" Roosevelt glanced at several of the generals present and stopped when he saw Zhang Chi, but he was not surprised, apparently Halsey had already reported it.

"First of all, I would like to pay tribute to you for your heroic fight on the front line! Thank you for your sacrifice for America! Roosevelt said: "It is well known that you have achieved remarkable results, and the Japanese are retreating in the next step of your offensive. However, this is not enough, we have not yet defeated the Japanese. Now, it's time to decide on the next stage of the course of operations against the Japanese, what do you think? ”

"Mr. President!" Nimitz replied: "After the discussion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, our next strategic plan is to continue to advance from the Central Pacific to the Japanese mainland, according to this plan, General MacArthur will first build a strong operating base in Mindanao to weaken the Japanese air power in the Philippines, but the rest of the Philippine Islands should bypass." This is obviously the fastest way to do this...... Out of pressure from the Germans on the North African front, we needed to resolve the war with the Japanese as soon as possible. ”

Roosevelt turned his gaze to MacArthur.

Zhang Chi felt that MacArthur had defeated the admirals at least one point...... The Admirals were full of maps, plans, manuscripts, and statistics of all kinds, and even Nimitz had a few papers on his desk, but MacArthur was empty, and he had nothing with him.

"Your Excellency!" MacArthur confidently said, "To put it bluntly, I think this plan is problematic. Militarily speaking, I believe that if we can recapture the Philippines, it will allow us to establish an air and sea blockade, cut off all supply and transportation from the south to Japan, and defeat the enemy's morale and force Japan to surrender. I oppose the Navy's idea of seizing the powerful enemy islands in the western Pacific first. First of all, the seizure of these islands will not cut off the enemy's supply lines and will not threaten the fundamentals of the Japanese, and we will pay a high price. At the same time, the islands themselves do not have enough resources to serve as our forward base, which adds a lot of pressure to our logistics. At the same time, I also think that it is very doubtful to attack Japan based on Taiwan, because according to my intelligence, the people in the region are hostile to the United States! ”

Objectively speaking, MacArthur's words are still very reasonable, once the Philippines is occupied, the terrain of the Philippines will be like a sharp knife to cut off the Japanese mainland from Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and other places...... You must know that a lot of the food and oil of the Japanese army came from these countries. And the occupation of the Mariana and Caroline Islands could not do this, because they were still far from the Japanese transport lines.

As for the issue of Taiwan, the Japanese army has colonized Taiwan for too long, and since the colonization of Taiwan, it has carried out imperial education, and at this time, the Japanese army even recruited and organized a Taiwanese Japanese army from Taiwan and participated in the Pacific War, so MacArthur's words are also correct...... The Taiwanese were hostile to the U.S. military, and the Philippines was a colony of the U.S. military (the Japanese did not really occupy the entire island until 1942), and the Filipinos were eager for the U.S. military to return to the Philippines and drive out the brutal Japanese. Therefore, there is a fundamental difference between the two in terms of "mass base".

"But, General MacArthur!" Nimitz retorted: "You must know that the Japanese have 300,000 troops in the Philippines, and the terrain in the Philippines is very complicated, and there are jungles everywhere, it is very difficult to seize the Philippines and achieve the goal of cutting off the supply and transportation lines of the Japanese army as you said!" ”

"The Japanese are already moving their forces to the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, aren't they?" MacArthur replied, "My plan is to ...... Some of the navy continued to posturing to attack the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, so that the Japanese continued to project their forces into these two islands, so that the Philippine forces would not have to worry about it! ”

Nimitz was speechless, because it sounded like a good plan.

"Again!" MacArthur continued: "It's one thing to get around an island. However, leaving behind a stronghold of an enemy as strong as the Philippines in your rear is bound to lead to serious instability in the rear, thus plunging yourself into an unnecessary crisis, which may wipe out all the gains made by our army! That's the most dangerous thing! ”

There was silence in the room, because MacArthur had a point.

(To be continued.) )