Truman: Military reports next, please. We'll examine the services individually first and then discuss how to move forward. General Bradley, we'll start with the Army.
Bradley: Thank you, sir. Gentlemen, the United States Army and the armies of our allies are dangerously small.
As Director Lodge pointed out in his reports earlier, Germany has more infantry than we have divisions. Rather than pontificate on the readily apparent fact that we need more troops, I will discuss where our divisions are deployed currently.
We have five infantry divisions occupying the Bahamas. Japan still controls Long Island in the southeast of the archipelago but has no forces deployed there. Andros is the most important of these islands, as it has a small airbase, currently employed by Canadian aircraft.
Seven of our divisions occupy the Lesser Antilles, including one armored division, one motorized division and one division of marines. LXXII Corps is moving to the Virgin Islands--
Truman: Stop that nonsense.
Bradley: Yes, Mr. President. I strongly recommend we pull the mobile and marine divisions off of these islands and back to the mainland. These divisions are too valuable to waste in island defense.
Truman: Who made the decision to deploy those divisions to the Caribbean, Omar?
Bradley: I don't know, Mr. President. Things have been rather hectic at the War Department these past few months and those deployment orders seem to have fallen through the proverbial cracks. Hawai'i surrendering to the Japanese had everyone in a frenzy to defend our holdings.
Truman: I hope things have calmed down now.
Bradley: They have, Mr. President. A stern word or two from me brought things to order.
Truman: Very well, proceed.
Bradley: Yes, sir. Admiral Halsey commands a small squadron based out of Martinique. Chester can tell you the composition, I believe.
Nimitz: Two destroyers and four transports. Not much.
Truman: "Not much" pretty well sums up our whole navy at present. What's next, Omar?
Bradley: Three infantry divisions and one division of marines protect Guyana. As with the Lesser Antilles, I'd like to replace that marine division with a regular infantry division. We're going to need our amphibious forces for operations, not sitting in garrison.
My old command, First Army Headquarters garrisons British Honduras currently. I had General MacArthur take command when I left for Washington two days ago.
Truman: Probably the best sort of command for MacArthur, protecting a swampy backwater from the Mexicans.
Bradley: If you say so, Mr. President. Moving on, General Stillwell commands our Alaskan forces.
He has the dubious honor of commanding the largest concentration of American forces in the world, four divisions on Unalaska Island. All told, there are eleven divisions in Alaska and on the Aleutian Islands: seven of infantry, two of garrison troops, and two of marines. I will be cooperating with the Navy to bring the outlying divisions back to the mainland so we can begin strategic redeployment of the whole group. I have spoken with my counterpart in Canada, and he assures me the Canadian Army will gladly take responsibility for defending Alaska and the Canadian Pacific Coast if there are any enemy landings.
102nd Infantry is defending Newfoundland. We have a garrison protecting Bermuda and 44th Infantry is defending Greenland. Greenland is actually a fairly vital possession at the moment as it can serve as a base for operations against Iceland, a stepping stone for landing in England.
We have three divisions under General Collins in the Western Sahara. These divisions are vulnerable to attack from the Spanish and I would like to withdraw them, unless you object, Mr. President.
Truman: No objection from me, just try not to lose any loaded transports crossing the Atlantic.
Bradley: Yes, Mr. President.
Our only Pacific possessions are Palmyra, Jarvis and Christmas Islands, with two divisions currently defending them. I fear for their safety, if they are to remain on the islands. We have no airbase within thousands of miles and therefore cannot rely on naval bombers to protect the islands.
Truman: You have my permission to withdraw them as soon as transports become available, but those divisions rank lower in priority than reordering our Caribbean deployments and bringing the Aleutian garrisons back to the mainland.
Bradley: Thank you, Mr. President. I will issue orders accordingly. That concludes my reports, sir, unless you would like me to discuss the dispositions of forces in the contiguous states.
Truman: That won't be necessary, Omar. They won't be sitting in their current posts for long. Navy, next.
Nimitz: Yes, Mr. President. Gentlemen, the United States Navy is, for all practical purposes, nonexistent.
We have one fleet carrier, fittingly christened
USS Shangri-La.
Shangri-La is a fine carrier, but we need several more fleet carriers if we're to compete with the Japanese on anything like an even playing field. I should remind you all that the Japanese have thirty carriers to our one.
I will not be discussing force deployments today as I have instituted a fleet-wide reorganization. I've ordered every fleet unit to our naval base here in Washington so we can get a better look at our, admittedly weak, capabilities.
Truman: Not concerned about Japanese carrier strikes, Chester?
Nimitz: We have little to lose, Mr. President, and I am confident in the ability of the air force to defend our coastlines, at least until we can get some hulls into the water. I will be disbanding all of our submarines, as none of them are modern, and several of our destroyers will be scrapped as well. That will do it for me.
Truman: We'll discuss your naval production requests in a moment, but let's hear from Leroy first.
Grumman: Thank you, Mr. President. Gentlemen, we have the second largest air force in the world but, still, I am not proud to say that our air forces are the brightest spot in our military.
I have ordered the entire force to gather in the Southeast so we can reorganize and reallocate forces. For now, I can say that we will need to replace dozens of rocket interceptors in the future, in accordance with the President's directives. Additionally, I request at least eleven more squadrons of tactical bombers if we are to adequately support our ground forces with interdiction and ground attack sorties. That completes my report.
[end of transcript]
Reply With Quote
Muslims can rest easy, though, as Mecca still belongs to the Arabs. That color isn't very clear on the map.
); I especially like cabinet/NSC meetings, and I'd do the whole AAR that way if it wasn't so unwieldy. Thanks for reading. 
Originally Posted by AdmiralNelson
