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The news that the German army was landing in Alakalu was flooding with reports of US aircraft into Washington, Recife, and the retreating Fifth Army. Everyone's face changed drastically...

As of the evening of September 9, the Fifth Army fought and retreated at a retreat of 30-40 kilometers per day. The forward is currently on the front line of Aispurada. The connection between the defender and the forward is very close. The distance between the front and rear marching is only more than 60, but the total number has dropped to only over 75,000. There are constant soldiers who have fallen behind due to air strikes, chasing, casualties or disappearing (the US name for fleeing or surrendering)

The following cluster led by Rommel was still reluctant to chase after it, but did not try to intersperse. During the forced pursuit, Rommel also lost more than 2,000 troops, but he did not want to give up. The Shoken cluster in the south began to rush forward after solving the troops of Roosevelt Jr. After landing north on a ship, the rest of the troops were deployed along the Brazilian plains. The daily propulsion speed was as high as 120-140 kilometers. Shoken had already instructed that each unit would only carry forward without having to take into account the marching sequence. Therefore, the order of the main pursuit group was quite chaotic.

The biggest obstacle to the advancement of the German mechanized troops is oil and supplies. These materials are available on ships, but they cannot be unloaded in the Port of Seguru or elsewhere. As the troops advance, the material centers set up in the rear will become farther and farther away. The German army does not have the ability to use American strategic air transport and use aircraft to ensure the supply of materials. Moreover, the German army in South America has only obtained more than 30 transport aircraft in total, which is impossible to provide sufficient supplies to tens of thousands of troops. Without fuel, it is impossible to catch up with the Americans by relying solely on infantry walking.

At this time, the German war experience played a role. Rommel's profound intention of letting most of the transport fleets go south and accompanying the troops north can be seen: he made the airborne divisions break into pieces, and took transport planes to airborne one by one according to the scale of the first-level combat group, and then they went to the front line to form an emergency material station.

The source of supplies for the military station is the materials on the freighter. They accompanied the army to move northward. When they encountered a "military station", they placed the oil and supply on the Xibei landing craft by crane. Then these guys who could land on the beach have now become the military station material delivery team. According to the instructions of the paratroopers, they roared at landing and landed on the beach and used primitive but timely methods to transport supplies to the troops. Each landing craft can transport at least 300 tons of supplies per day. The joint combat of multiple landing craft is completely enough to ensure the assault cluster operation of the troops, because the troops only consume fuel and supplies, and there is no ammunition, and the supply requirements are relatively low.

On the other hand, although the US military's supply operations were generous, it was completely consumed, half of the supplies and fuel carried by the Fifth Army itself, half of them were discarded or lost, and it had already begun to be in a hurry. Even on the way to escape, the American soldiers' demand for supplies was still higher than that of the Germans. In order to meet the needs of Patton's troops, Arnold was forced to mobilize precious transport planes that originally carried out strategic air transport to send supplies to Patton, and then matched with a large number of fighter jets, so that there were not enough fighter jets that were supposed to provide cover for the bombers.

All German pilots were muttering: "Admiral Arnold is a good man. He knew that we lacked record and were eager for points, so he sent four heavy transport planes to his door, making indelible contributions to the Luftwaffe's medal cause. May God bless him to always serve as the commander-in-chief of the United States Army Aircraft!"

The reason is the simplest: In the German evaluation system, shooting down a 4-carrier transport aircraft is calculated as 4 points, while shooting down a single-carrier fighter is calculated as 1 point. The problem is that no matter how weak the US fighter pilot is, it is always harder to fight than the transport aircraft. So now the pilots rushed forward and started fire and beat him up. Even if the US military engages in night air transport, they are not afraid. There are many Western-line night fighter aces in the Luftwaffe. They know the rules best. The results of shooting down at night are doubled. Lieutenant General Garland personally admitted that this principle is still applicable to Brazil.

Heinz Schnaufer is the first trump card of night fighters in the Luftwaffe. He has more than 70 shot-down records on the Western Front (mostly Halifax, Lancaster and other British heavy bombings, because the US military only likes to play daytime air strikes). This time, a large number of night fighter pilots led by him pestered Garland to Brazil, and the latter could not persuade them to bring more than 20 aces. As a result, Schnaufer alone killed 9 transport planes and 2 P-47 night fighters with radar in one breath in the two nights from September 7 to 8, and was unscathed!

Other night aces have also won many awards, ranging from one aircraft to 3-4 aircraft.

The strategic air transport lasted for three days. Although it guaranteed the material demand for the Fifth Army for a week, the Land Airlines compensated more than 400 transport aircraft units and more than 60 fighter pilots for this. They were all experienced experts, which made General Arnold feel heartbroken and sleepless all night. It also made Rommel understand the head of state's instructions on the telegram: "The US military in Recife does not have to rush to eliminate it. They can take the opportunity to consume their pilots and transport troops to create convenience for the next stage."

This abnormal instruction gave the Air Force great gains.

Gauss, who is in charge of El Salvador, doesn't understand the point that the US military is: Since he has to escape to Recife regardless of the distance of hundreds of kilometers, why not find a place with favorable terrain to lurk, while gathering troops and waiting for supplies to fight a Brazilian encirclement battle? Waiting for Recife or other US troops to come and rescue it, isn't this better than being tired and lasting?

Of course, Patton also wanted to find a place to fight defensive wars. He believed that if this continues, the troops would be dragged down sooner or later, but no one agreed with this view. Everyone thought that once they were surrounded by the German army, it would be a dead end. Isn’t it proven that the last African battle? As soon as the Australian and New Zealand troops flew away, wouldn’t the other US troops in the encirclement surrender?

Patton's explanation was not convincing at all. He could only run with his troops, and he saw that the troops had changed from 110,000 to 100,000, and from 100,000 to 90,000, or 80,000, he didn't know that there would be tens of thousands left to Recife. Besides, is Recife safe? Clark was only 100,000 troops there. Why could the enemy that could not be stopped by the Fifth Army's 100,000 people be blocked in Recife?

But no one dares to say retreat, and no one can find a way to retreat safely.

Clark proposed a method: to attract the attention of the German army by Patton. He and Recife's 100,000 people could retreat to Venezuela before the German army came up, and to British Guiana. Brazil gave up completely, and even needed all the equipment and supplies. The kingly way was to withdraw 100,000 officers and soldiers. He calculated that if 2,000 transport planes were used to carry out this task, 30,000 officers and soldiers could be transported every day in just 4 days. If there was still time left, some of the supplies and light equipment could be transported away.

As for the tens of thousands of remaining troops, he could only help. Of course, one thing he said clearly: officers above major and above are valuable assets, and they must find a way to withdraw from the air.

But even he dared not report this method to the Joint Conference. He found a middleman and asked a family member of the Democratic Congressman to send the retreat plan to Truman, hoping that the president would consider this matter from the overall perspective.

Although Truman did not understand military affairs, the news revealed by his party members still shocked him. However, he maintained it on the surface. He pretended not to know who proposed the solution and said, "I understand, we will discuss it later."

"Your Excellency, if this matter is not handled well, I will go to court in the future, and I am very anxious about it."

"Give up the 5th Army? No! Can't do this!" Eisenhower immediately understood after hearing this, and jumped and scolded, "Is it the bastard Clark? He was determined to retreat! This is true in Africa! This is the case with the landing battle of El Salvador, and now he has to retreat again! Can he retreat to Venezuela now, where can he retreat next time the Germans force him over? Go to Florida? If the Germans approach Florida, will he want to go to the Great Lakes again?"

"Ike, don't be excited, I haven't agreed yet." Truman gritted his teeth, "I need to join the FC to tell me what does this German army mean in Arakalu? Will the Fifth Army not be able to return? Once the Fifth Army is finally destroyed, will the other units of Recife (actually belong to the Fifth Army) not be able to save them?"

"Your Excellency, this is not..."

"Ike, we must make the worst plan. If we only look at the problem halfway, and when things come, we find that this is not possible, then we will be the one who is in trouble in the end." Truman fell into a state of madness and yelled at the table, "I can accept anyone who wants to sacrifice, and I can expect it. The only thing I can't accept is that you tell me first that this is OK and that has hope, that will never happen. In the end, things will always develop in the worst direction. I cannot explain to Congress and the people."

He slowed down: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper at you, but I'm eager to know, what will be our worst consequences? Can we bear this consequence?"

Eisenhower sighed and told him the results of the emergency consultations of the Joint Conference today (September 10): We hope that George's troops can break the enemy's blockade in front of us and join our army with Recife. In this way, our army is expected to have more than 150,000 troops. Recife's fortifications and defense system are relatively complete and the materials are sufficient. We will rely on these fortifications for a long time to defend. The Navy has confirmed that by October, the Atlantic Fleet will recover some of its vitality. Two Essex-class ships have been built and are under sea trial and training. The other two Alaska armored cruisers (war patrols) will also be in service and will act with the New Jersey along with the fleet. They can restrain the German fleet, and then continue to increase troops to Brazil or cover the army's retreat according to the changes in the situation.
Chapter completed!