As the newly appointed commander of the Fifth Fleet, Spruance never imagined that he would have to face such a difficult problem just a few days after taking office.
"There's nothing that can't be said."
Gao Hongming said calmly: "General John thought that my words insulted him, and he wanted to arrest or even shoot me for this, so I proposed to fight him."
Spruance's eyes instantly became sharp, and he turned to look at Major General John: "Is that so, John?"
"Yes sir...but...but..."
"But what?" Spren was furious, stood up suddenly, slapped the table hard, and roared with a loud bang.
"What right do you have to arrest or even shoot our ally, and this ally is a major general with the same military rank as you? Please tell me!
Who gave you that right, the president or Congress?"
Spruance never expected that the cause of the incident was that John threatened to arrest or even shoot his allies.
Maybe these are just his angry words, but if this matter is not handled properly, the consequences will be extremely serious.
1942 was the most difficult year of the Anti-Fascist War. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan were at war in the Pacific. At the same time, the war also spread to Southeast Asia.
At the same time as the crisis in Myanmar occurred, the Burma Highway, the only channel connecting China and the international corridor, had to be suspended.
On the European continent, except for Switzerland and a few small countries, there is no independent country, and nearly 400 million people are under the iron heel of the Nazis.
On the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet Union was also retreating steadily and was about to be surrounded by the German army. In this most difficult time, it was also the time when the United States needed allies the most.
As the most populous country in Asia, China controls most of the Japanese army. Its importance to the United States is self-evident.
Now, John is actually clamoring to arrest and even shoot the assistant who just flew from China. What is the nature of this?
To put it mildly, this is a gaffe, but to put it more seriously, it is shaking the foundation of the Allied Forces.
Once the news reaches China or even Europe, what will your US allies think?
Oh... You even shoot your allies who have traveled thousands of miles to fight for you. Is this kind of thing done by humans? Is there anything else you can't do?
If this kind of thing is not handled well, it will lead to the disintegration of the Allied camp.
When he thought of this consequence, Spruance wanted to split John's head open to see what was inside his brain.
But anger is still anger, and things will eventually be resolved.
Spruance suppressed his inner anger and turned to Gao Hongming: "General Gao, I'm sorry that this happened.
For this, I solemnly apologize to you as the commander of the Fifth Fleet and promise that similar things will not happen in the future!"
After speaking, Spruance solemnly saluted Gao Hongming.
Upon seeing this, Gao Hongming returned the favor, "General Spruance, I can accept your apology. But I also have a request."
Spruance solemnly said: "Please tell me, as long as we can satisfy it, I will definitely agree."
Gao Hongming solemnly said: "General Spruance, according to the agreement between me and your government, I sent more than 5,000 of the best young men to travel thousands of miles to Guadalcanal to fight with your army against the Japanese.
But I don’t want them to be used as cannon fodder. You must know that they have parents, wives and children just like you.”
For example, just two days ago, General John issued an order to my men, asking them to launch a separate attack on the Japanese army in Tuluru Mountain tomorrow, but he did not provide any air support or artillery support, not even a bullet.
There are no supplies.
When I came to ask in person, General John's answer was to let us solve it ourselves.
It’s hard for me to believe that such a ridiculous order came from a general of your country. Could it be that in General John’s mind, the only value of my soldiers is to line up as targets for the Japanese?
Spruance looked at John in disbelief. Does this stupid guy know what he is doing?
Let a force without air cover, artillery support or even material supplies attack the Japanese positions. No rookie with more than three months of service would give such a stupid order.
"John..."
Spruance's voice was like the cold wind coming from an ice cellar, "Did you really give such an order?"
"Sir...I...I..."
Faced with the hard facts, John couldn't say a word.
Only then did he realize what a stupid thing he had done.
In fact, in the final analysis, things turned out like this because of the inherent pride and arrogance in John's mind.
You know, until now, the infamous "Chinese Exclusion Act" in the United States has not been repealed, and Chinese people still suffer from discrimination in the United States.
Caucasians inherently look down on Chinese people. In John's heart, as long as he can capture Turululu Mountain, it will be worth it even if all the soldiers from China die.
As for providing artillery fire or material assistance to the Chinese... I'm sorry... those are American taxpayers' money, so we should save what we can.
Originally, in John's opinion, this matter was not a big deal. Even if it happened, would those Chinese people still dare to question them?
But it was obvious that he had made a wrong calculation this time. The arrival of Gao Hongming, the rightful owner, made things obviously out of his control, and finally evolved into what it is now.
Seeing that John was hesitating and unable to speak, Spruance took a deep breath and said slowly: "John, as the commander of the Fifth Fleet, I am suspending your work now.
Then I will immediately report today’s events to General Nimitz and the White House, and recommend that you be removed from your post, and you can go out now.”