The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

At the same time, in the White Eagle Country, far across the ocean.

Since the famous Pentagon was only started last year, it is expected to be fully completed early next year.

Therefore, the White Eagle Army Department is currently still operating in a temporary building in King Square in the Special Administrative Region.

At this moment, Army Chief of Staff George is busy in his office preparing for the upcoming routine hearing.

The door was gently pushed open and George's personal secretary Louis walked in with a stack of documents.

George looked up and smiled. "Ah, good morning, Louis."

However, Louis did not respond with a relaxed smile. He put down the documents with a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"Those navy guys have been in big trouble lately. They've sent four Japanese aircraft carriers to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish."

Louis frowned, obviously worried about the upcoming hearing.

George sighed softly, he knew what his secretary was worried about.

Sure enough, Louis then imitated the tone of those reporters who always liked to mock the army and said:

"Those reporters will no doubt ask, 'Where was our Army while the Navy was beating up the Japs in the Pacific?'"

"Europe first, Asia later, this is the established strategy," George replied calmly, with a hint of firmness in his tone.

He glanced at the document in his hand that contained the results of the 8th Air Force's daytime bombing raids and continued, "Hans remains our greatest enemy. Defeating Hans is the key to ultimate victory."

Louis was a little indignant: "But the people won't understand this. They will just think that our army didn't punish the real enemy, the Japanese devils."

The young secretary complained unwillingly on behalf of his boss: "Even the airfield on Guadalcanal was captured by the Marines. Those ignorant guys will make fun of you again when the time comes."

"You don't know, those tabloids made up a story about you having a Japanese mistress to attract attention, so..."

At this point, Louis realized that he had been talking too much and quickly covered his mouth.

George put down the documents in his hand, looked up at his secretary, and explained with a tolerant smile:

"I understand the public sentiment and what journalists will say. But we cannot lose sight of the overall strategy because of momentary hatred."

Even if we prioritize defeating the Japanese now, if Hans seizes the opportunity to seize Europe, the interests of the United States will inevitably be harmed. His tone became more resolute. "On the contrary, once Hans is defeated, the total collapse of the Axis powers will inevitably follow."

Louis nodded slightly, still having doubts in his heart and feeling unfair for his boss.

George saw what the private secretary was thinking and smiled.

"The victory of the Guadalcanal Campaign will be accomplished by the Navy and Marine Corps. The Army's focus remains on North Africa. There are hundreds of thousands of elite Axis troops in North Africa. Our top priority is to complete Operation Torch and open the gateway to Europe."

Although George appeared calm on the surface, he was actually very bitter inside.

He knew very well that today's hearing would not be easy.

He could foresee the accusations that the Army was wasting taxpayers' money, that the blood of the young men who died at Pearl Harbor was shed in vain, and that he, as Chief of Staff, was slow to take action against the Japanese.

George knew that the mood among the people of White Eagle was extremely high after the Pearl Harbor incident, and everyone was looking forward to taking direct revenge on the Japanese.

"People are always accustomed to only looking at the enemy in front of them and forgetting that the greater threat lies behind them." George shrugged and concluded.

"Okay, okay." Louis smiled helplessly, "I hope those reporters can listen to me."

He handed the document to George and added softly, "In any case, just be prepared. I'm sure those reporters won't say anything nice."

George nodded slightly, took the document and began to look through it.

Suddenly, George stopped flipping through the papers. His eyes were drawn to a long letter from Stevenson and a thick stack of black-and-white photos. (World War II technology could scan and transmit black-and-white photos over long distances, but they were very blurry.)

After reading it carefully, his eyes gradually lit up.

"Look at these photos." He smiled and picked up a few to show Louis, "The rescued Allied pilots, the burning Japanese airfield, and the Japanese corpses scattered all over the camera."

George, beaming, shouted, "If any reporter dares to say the Army didn't do anything, I'll throw these photos in his face, hahahaha."

Although George was able to remain calm in the face of the reporters' humiliating questions, he had long wanted to fight back against those reporters, and the photos sent by Stevenson just gave him the "ammunition" to fight back.

Louis took a quick glance at the photos and asked hesitantly:

"But these achievements were made by the independent regiment that fought in Pegu, right? They were from the Qian country. How about we just take all the credit for them?"

George said without hesitation, with a hint of contempt in his tone:

"Didn't this unit achieve such brilliant results under the leadership of our Army General Stevenson? Didn't they accept our weapons assistance?"

George, who didn't know about the "deal" between Stevenson and Zhang Chi, thought that all these achievements were really Stevenson's credit.

"Our sarcastic 'Vegetarian Joe' is going to be famous this time!" He chuckled and continued to flip through the photos. "He quietly accomplished something great. He commanded the troops behind enemy lines and annihilated more than an entire regiment of Japanese soldiers, destroyed dozens of planes and tanks, and rescued hundreds of Allied prisoners of war.

"The most important thing is that he took photos of everything, and we have them!" George's tone gradually became excited, as if he had already seen the scene of reporters frantically scrambling for these photos at the press conference.

"I bet Stevenson and Marine Vandergrift are going to be on the cover of Time magazine soon."

George was well aware of the preferences of the mass media and could foresee that the news of the 1st Marine Division landing on Guadalcanal and Stevenson's defeat of the Fuso Army at Pegu would dominate the headlines.

With the overwhelming media coverage, Stevenson's achievements will undoubtedly win a place for the White Eagle Army again.

And as Army Chief of Staff, he will also be free from reporters' questions.

"What about Stevenson's request to increase material support for the Sindhu-Pegu theater, prioritizing the supply of new weapons and aircraft? Wasn't that previously prioritized for the North African battlefield?"

The private secretary pointed to the end of Stevenson's long letter.

George paused, looking away from the photo, lost in thought for a moment.

Due to the disastrous defeat at Pegu, the White Eagles focused their attention on the North African battlefield, so a large amount of aid supplies were directly sent to Alexandria.

But now the victory in Pegu once again proves Stevenson's ability.

"Give it to him. I agree in principle with his previous XYZ training plan," George said, his voice firm and relaxed. "Stevenson only wants a few tens of thousands of tons of supplies, enough for the mechanized troops in North Africa for a few days."

Among the supplies Stevenson requested, except for tanks, planes and the M1 Garand rifle specifically requested for Zhang Chi, all were old artillery and rifles from the last war. Compared with the powerful White Eagle Army, they were simply a drop in the bucket.

On the contrary, the equipment and supply needs of hundreds of thousands of mechanized Allied troops in North Africa far exceeded this amount of materials, occupying a large amount of shipping tonnage. As the chief of staff, George could meet Stevenson's needs by simply giving an order to squeeze out a few ships.

George patted the papers on the table and stood up.

His relaxed mood made his pace a little more cheerful.

"Let's go, and remember to take these photos with you," he said to Louis standing beside him. "I have a feeling we can win a great victory at today's hearing."

After saying that, he put on his military cap, adjusted his tie, combed his hair carefully, and after making sure every detail of his image was perfect, he left the office first.

"Yes, General!" Louis stood straight and saluted in a standard military salute.

He then quickly tidied up the documents and photos on the desk, making sure every victory was neatly filed in a folder. He then hugged the folder tightly to his chest and hurried to catch up with the chief of staff.