The Rise of Australia

Chapter 893 Paris Is Undefended

The dispute between the war faction and the peace faction in France has lasted for decades.

But for now, the war faction and the peace faction each have several key figures, and the dispute also occurred between them.

For the French people, the government's decision represents their opinions. Yes, if the government decides to resolutely resist the German attack, the French army will still rush to the battlefield.

But if the government decides to retreat in this war, a large number of French people will accept peace and give up the glory of the French more than 100 years ago.

The fact is so simple and straightforward. The so-called war is nothing more than a game between some senior business politicians and capitalists.

For ordinary people, no matter whether the war is won or not, it will only bring them endless casualties and grief.

The key figures of the peace faction include the Minister of the Army, Field Marshal Pétain, the Chief of the Army General Staff Gamelin, and the current Prime Minister Laval.

From the positions of these people, it can be seen that they are all at the top of the political and military circles, and with their own qualifications, they enjoy a high reputation and status in the political arena.

Looking at the French war faction, the two most famous figures at present are Roman, the Deputy Minister of Defense, who pushed France to declare war on Germany, and Charles de Gaulle, the commander of the armored corps of the Paris garrison.

Whether in terms of position or political status, the two representatives of the war faction are incomparable with the representatives of the peace faction.

If the German offensive had not been too crazy, showing the ambition to annex the whole of Europe, I am afraid that the war faction would not have won the support of President Albert and launched a war against Germany.

Now, with France's decline in the war, the peace faction has regained the recognition of President Albert, and the whole of France has a tendency to become a peace faction again.

In such an environment, the most nervous should be the British Empire across the sea from France.

With France as the first line of defense against Germany, the British Empire's homeland will not face too much danger. But if even France falls, Germany's next target of attack will definitely be the British Empire.

Let’s not talk about whether the Germans can break through the English Channel and successfully land on the British Isles. The loss of transferring the war to the British mainland alone is enough to give the British government a headache.

What’s more, once Germany annexed France, the power of the combination of Germany and France is far beyond the current Germany.

If the British Empire faces such a powerful enemy, even with the full support of Australasia, it is probably not the opponent of Germany, which occupies most of the European continent.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to ensure France’s loyalty to this war.

How to ensure France’s loyalty to this war? The focus must be on the French war faction.

On August 2, 1936, Mark, the Australasian ambassador to the UK, asked to meet with the new British Prime Minister Churchill and put forward an astonishing proposal, that is, to control France by force.

Churchill was surprised, and then asked with great interest: "Mr. Mark, do you think we can control the French government alone?"

"Of course not." Ambassador Mark smiled and shook his head, looking at Churchill, and said meaningfully: "Only the French can control the French government, and our obligation as an ally is to help the French control the French government."

"Tell me more." Churchill nodded.

"I believe that you, Prime Minister, are also aware that the dispute between the pro-war and pro-peace in the French government has never ended. Especially after the French battlefield was defeated, the French military led by Marshal Pétain and the French government led by Prime Minister Laval were spreading the idea of ​​ending the war at the lowest cost.

Excuse me, if the French retreat in this war, then the British Empire will become the next target of Germany's attack, and the situation will be even more tragic than Germany." Ambassador Mark said calmly.

"If the French surrender, I'm afraid the whole of Europe will not be spared." Prime Minister Churchill frowned and asked back.

"That's why we have to avoid such a bad situation for Europe." Ambassador Mark continued: "Only if the French government is in favor of war can we ensure that Germany will not be so strong.

We will not hesitate to offend the current French government for this."

"Tell me about your plan, Ambassador Mark." Churchill pondered for a moment and finally nodded.

Both sides understood what they were thinking. This matter is actually a win-win situation for Britain and Australasia.

"This is just an emergency plan. I naturally hope that the emergency plan will never be implemented." Before telling his plan, Ambassador Mark first explained with a smile, and then showed a serious expression and said seriously: "

Once we detect any surrender of the French government, as France's allies, we are obliged to help France return to the track of war.

According to the current French garrison situation, General Charles de Gaulle, commander of the tank army of the Paris garrison, is a firm advocate of war and controls a large army.

If there is any change in the French government, we can support General Charles de Gaulle to temporarily control the French government, implement militarized management of France, and encourage France to resolutely resist Germany."

Churchill had no doubts about what Ambassador Mark said. If you want to control the French government, the tank army in Charles de Gaulle's hands becomes extremely important.

It has been mentioned before that France did not attach importance to armored forces before World War II, which resulted in a small number of armored forces in France.

The tank army of the current Paris Garrison is already a collection of most of the armored forces in France.

Charles de Gaulle, who controls this tank army, also enjoys a high status and reputation in the entire Paris Garrison.

Together with Ron, the Deputy Minister of the Army in the French government, it is not impossible to unite and control the French government.

But the problem is that both Charles de Gaulle and Ron are one level lower in identity and status, and obviously cannot become the leader of the militarized French government.

"Ambassador Mark, even if Charles de Gaulle can control the French government with our support, are you sure he can get the loyalty of all French troops?

Once we cannot control all French troops, doing so will not change the situation of the war except pushing France completely to the German side." Churchill thought for a moment before raising his question.

Compared with the Anglo-French relationship, the Anglo-Australian relationship is obviously closer and closer.

More importantly, the British Empire can take certain measures and means against France, but the British do not have any good means to defend against Australasia, which is thousands of miles away.

This also means that before the end of this war, Britain and Australasia can only maintain a good relationship, even though Australasia has already posed a certain threat to the British Empire.

Compared with the future threat of Australasia, the current threat from Germany is the most serious for the British.

Australasia may only pose a threat to the British Empire, but Germany has already posed a threat to the British and is likely to affect Britain's hegemony and rule in Europe.

No matter how powerful Britain is, the British mainland is only composed of three large islands outside the European continent.

Precisely because of such a special geographical location and environment, the hegemon of the European continent can easily have a huge impact on Britain, and this impact can easily turn into a threat.

"What does Prime Minister Churchill think of Weygand?" Ambassador Mark asked with a smile on his face.

"Maxim Weygand?" Churchill nodded, and he also knew something about the famous Weygand.

Maxime Weygand, current French general, deputy chairman of the French Supreme Military Council, and director of the army.

Weygand's resume is comparable to that of several guys in the peace camp. He was already famous in World War I. In the late World War I, Weygand was already the chief of staff of the supreme commander Foch, and was promoted to general of the French Army.

Weygand is currently 69 years old and is already semi-retired in the French Army department. Although he is semi-retired, Weygand still has prestige in the French army as an army general.

If the French government is successfully occupied and Weygand is invited to serve as the commander of the interim military government, there will be no big problem in stabilizing the overall situation.

More importantly, because Weygand is close to 70 years old, his control over the French interim military government will be greatly reduced.

This just meets the expectations of Britain and France for him, that is, to be a commander in chief on the surface, and the actual military power of France is still handed over to the war camp.

In this way, whether Weygand is a war camp or a peace camp, he cannot affect the actions and plans of the French army in the future.

As long as they can ensure that the French army is in the main battle, the small actions of the French government can be solved by Britain and Australasia.

"Good proposal." After listening to the whole plan, Churchill nodded first, looked at Ambassador Mark with a slightly appreciative look, and said: "But our actions need an opportunity, at least before the French government shows extreme peace-loving ideas, we should wait for the opportunity temporarily."

"Of course." Ambassador Mark nodded, and said as a matter of course: "The Australasia army will be ready at any time to help General de Gaulle and Minister Roman control the French government.

Prime Minister Churchill, we need a unified code to ensure that our armies can act quickly in a short time and control the French government as quickly as possible."

"Let's use winter." Churchill nodded and said casually: "Napoleon the Great, who once wanted to unify Europe, fell in winter, and I believe that the current German army will also fall in winter."

Although this brief discussion did not bring anything to Australasia and Britain, both parties attending the meeting knew that this meeting was actually adding a layer of protection to Britain and Australasia.

As expected by Australasia and the United Kingdom, a few days later, the French government held a cabinet meeting to discuss France's next decision.

At this meeting, President Albert showed his ability all along, that is, hesitating and helping the left and the right.

But because the representatives of the French peace faction crushed the war faction in terms of qualifications and status, the momentum of the peace faction was far greater than that of the war faction.

At the meeting, the current Prime Minister Laval said with a serious face: "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask you a question, that is, what has the war brought to France?

Perhaps some people say that if we fail in this war, France will face the crisis of national extinction.

But I want to say that if we continue to insist on this war, France will also face the crisis of extinction.

So far in the war, our soldiers have suffered more than 700,000 casualties and the death toll has exceeded 325,000.

Do we have to end this unnecessary war with a failed victory like the last world war?

I propose to negotiate with Germany alone to end this war with a lower loss and avoid meaningless consumption with Germany.

Let the British fight Germany. Since we have no plan to compete with Britain and Germany, why should we participate in this war? "

Laval's words touched the hearts of many French peace advocates.

Of course, to put it nicely, they did not want to see unnecessary casualties in France, and to put it bluntly, they were already afraid of the terrifying combat effectiveness of the German army.

Leaving aside Laval in the political arena, some representatives of the peace advocates, such as Pétain and Gamelin, who were already famous in World War I, have now turned to the arms of the peace advocates, haven't they?

In any case, this is indeed a tragedy for the French government and the French people. Considering France's glorious history more than 100 years ago, this is even more tragic.

It is best to use a sentence from Robert Folchik, a pioneer in the study of armored warfare history, to describe it: "When France urgently needs a warrior, the former warriors choose to be a deserter. ”

Let’s not talk about the impact on history. Just talking about the current situation in this world, it has had a very significant impact on the layout of the French Paris defense line.

In the proposal of the peace faction, they actually mentioned abandoning the defense line of Paris and adopting the so-called "Paris is not fortified" plan to show sincerity to Germany and strive for the opportunity to negotiate peace with Germany.

Paris is not fortified!

This is such an incredible and unimaginable sentence for the French before.

If it is like the current British government that proposes that London is not fortified, I am afraid that most British officials will slap the proposer.

But the problem is that the person who proposed the proposal is in France, and the person who makes the decision is also in France.

In the arguments of the peace faction officials, the "Paris is not fortified" proposal was agreed by most officials and was announced by President Albert to be implemented immediately.

At the same time, most of the troops north of Paris began to mobilize. They will go to the south of Paris and give all the defense lines north of Paris to Germany.

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