Time has entered 1944. This is the most important year of World War II. Several major battles will determine the future!
On January 5, Li Junhao held his first high-level military meeting since taking office in the first conference room of the Marine Corps Headquarters Building. All department heads and chief officers of each unit attended the meeting.
After the meeting began, the new acting chief of staff, Major General Richard Sutherland, first announced a piece of not-so-good news: Navy Lieutenant Colonel Holland M. Smith, who was originally affiliated with the Navy and led the Third and Fifth Amphibious Forces on the expedition. General, separated from the sea and land sequence, plans to take up the full-time position as commander of the Pacific Fleet Naval Landing Force.
Everyone in the conference room looked at each other, and they were all surprised by the news. Lieutenant General Smith just left the sea and land like this? This was unacceptable to many generals.
Li Junhao glanced at the people in the conference room and said: "You are all older than me, and you should know a saying that is often said in the army, which is called 'the soldiers who make the camp strong and the water flows'. While new recruits are constantly being added, the veterans will also Leave!
"Of course, Lieutenant General Smith's departure this time is not to retire, but because he feels that the Navy has more prospects. I personally don't agree with his choice, but I can respect it!
"Here, I would like to confirm, do you generals have similar ideas? If so, bring it up and I will sign your release - your naval rank is still useful. The navy is also expanding now, and it will be in the past. You have a good future and I won’t stop you!”
Hearing what he said, the conference room suddenly became silent. No one said anything at this time. Everyone was embarrassed. Even if you really have an idea, it's not good to go quietly. It's so embarrassing to bring it up on this occasion! Unexpectedly, Lieutenant General Smith said hello and left without even attending the meeting. Wasn't he just afraid that his face would not look good?
After ten minutes, when no one answered, Li Junhao continued: "In that case, let me announce the latest reorganization order..."
His final decision was that in addition to the Gurkha Division, which was renamed the 10th Marine and Land Division, and would be directly under the headquarters, the 70,000 new recruits who had completed training would be mixed with the 125,000 veterans, plus the 58,000-strong 101st Group Army. brigades, organized into five amphibious combat corps.
The First Army, the commander of which is concurrently served by himself, is under the jurisdiction of:
Directly affiliated units - Special Operations Battalion (formerly part of the 102nd Special Operations Regiment), Reconnaissance Battalion (formerly the Special Operations Battalion directly under the 104th Division), Combat Defense Battalion (formerly the Third Amphibious Force Defense Battalion), Communications Battalion (newly formed), Lu Hangying (newly formed).
The 11th Brigade - the 111th, 112th, 113th, and 114th Battalions of Infantry (formerly the 1st Infantry Regiment of the 1st Marine Division), the 115th Tank Battalion (formerly the 1st Tank Battalion), the 116th Artillery Battalion (formerly the 10th Artillery Regiment) The 117th Engineer Battalion (formerly the 1st Engineer Battalion), the 118th Service Battalion (formerly the 1st Service Battalion, the 1st Transportation Battalion, and the 1st Medical Battalion).
12th Brigade - 121st, 122nd, 123rd, 124th Infantry Battalion (reorganized from the 5th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Marine and Land Division), 125th Tank Battalion (newly formed), 126th Artillery Battalion (newly formed), 127th Engineer Battalion ( The former 1st Engineering Battalion), the 128th Service Battalion (formerly one each of the 1st Service Battalion, 1st Transportation Battalion, and 1st Medical Battalion).
13th Brigade - 131st, 132nd, 133rd, and 134th Infantry Battalions (adapted from the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Marine and Land Division)...
The 14th and 15th brigades were the 111th and 112th brigades of the original 101st Group Army...
In this way, each brigade has 10,000 people, plus 5,000 troops directly under the army, for a total of 5.5 people in the army.
…
According to this rule, the second to fifth armies were formed, with a total of 275,000 people.
Commander of the Second Army, Major General Julian Smith (former commander of the Second Marine Division).
Commander of the Third Army, Major General Roy S. Geiger (former commander of the Third Amphibious Corps).
Commander of the Fourth Army, Major General Alexander Archer Vandergrift (former commander of the 1st Marine Division).
Commander of the Fifth Army, Major General Harry Schmidt (former commander of the Fifth Amphibious Corps).
This time the formation of the amphibious force has eliminated the division and regiment levels, compressed the levels, and used advanced communication equipment to make the command process flat and efficient!
This model has a basis for the future, but it is extremely advanced in this era. The generals at sea and land do not understand it very well, but in the face of the commander's strength, no one dares to jump out to refute, even those who are already on the Pacific Islands Veterans who had been fighting for a year did not dare, because they all had tragic victories and knew how difficult the Japanese army was. However, Commander Pan Sen killed 400,000 Japanese soldiers in a row on the battlefield in Southeast Asia! ——
After arrangements have been made for the formation of the main force on land and sea, the next step is to change the overall equipment.
Li Junhao's face is not ordinary. Now that he has spoken, M1911A1 pistol, M1L sniper rifle, M2L carbine, M3 submachine gun, M87C shotgun, M1919A6 light machine gun, M2 heavy machine gun, M20 75mm recoilless rifle, second Weapons such as bazooka rocket launchers were delivered like a stream of water, as were other M4 and M3 tanks, various armored vehicles, and heavy artillery!
In addition, he emphasized the communication guarantee. The communication battalions directly under the military headquarters are equipped with the latest battlefield radar vehicles. Voice radio stations are spread to the company level, and walkie-talkies are spread to the squad to form a communication network.
Each army's newly built army aviation battalion is equipped with the latest UH-1 "Huey" multi-functional helicopters, which are used for battlefield reconnaissance, air support, emergency rescue and other tasks. They are new equipment and new tactics that the sea and land have never had contact with.
Many of these equipment are the latest products. The manufacturers have just started mass production and the production capacity has not been improved. Even Li Junhao cannot guarantee the equipment of one million troops for the time being, but it is not a big problem to guarantee the replacement of 275,000 troops. , but orders from other military services will have to wait a while!
If the officers and soldiers of the sea and land felt that the new commander was too young and had some doubts about his ability before, now they were all convinced! In the eyes of the officers and soldiers, Commander Panson has amazing energy and has acquired the latest and most powerful equipment. From now on, the situation of backward sea and land equipment will be gone forever!
Soon, everyone heard that the Army, which was also undergoing a large expansion, sent people to the Sea and Land Command to discuss and ask for the equipment replaced by the Sea and Land Command - the expansion was too fast and there was no supply of weapons and equipment! This is completely the opposite of the previous situation. The Army is here to pick up the junk from the land and sea! Relieve your anger!
In addition, after Li Junhao took office, the salary allowances of the navy and army officers and soldiers were raised to the average level of the navy and the army, which was twice as high as before. This is something that the previous 17 commanders have not achieved!
For the U.S. military, personal income and weapons and equipment are the two most important items. At this time, both of them were solved by the new commander. No matter how young he is, he is loved by the officers and soldiers!
In this way, in just over three months, Li Junhao won the hearts of the Marine Corps!
(End of chapter)
