Rise of Australia

Chapter 893 Paris is undefended

The quarrel between the war faction and the peace faction in France has been going on for decades.

But for now, the main war faction and the main peace faction each have several key figures, and the quarrel is also happening between them.

For the French people, the government's decisions also represent 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 back down from 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 truth is that simple and straightforward. The so-called war is just a game between some senior business politicians and capitalists.

For ordinary people, no matter how victorious the war is, it will only bring them endless casualties and sorrow.

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

It can be seen from the positions of these people that they are all at the top of the political and military circles, and by virtue of their qualifications, they enjoy high prestige and status in the political arena.

Looking at the war faction in France, the two most famous figures at present are Roman, the Undersecretary of Defense, who is the person who pushed France to declare war on Germany, and de Gaulle, who serves as the commander of the Armored Corps of the Paris Garrison.

No matter in terms of positions or status in the political arena, there is no comparison between the two representatives of the war faction and the representatives of the peace faction.

If the German offensive had not been too crazy and demonstrated their ambition to annex the entire Europe, I am afraid that the main militant faction would not have received the support of President Albert to launch a war against Germany.

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

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

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

Putting aside whether the Germans could break through the English Channel and successfully land on the British Isles, the losses caused by transferring the war to the British mainland would be enough to give the British government a headache.

What's more, once Germany annexes France, the combined power of Germany and France will be far from what Germany can currently match.

If the British Empire faced such a powerful enemy, even with Australasia's full assistance, I am afraid it would not be a match for Germany, which occupies most of the European continent.

Therefore, it became necessary to ensure France's loyalty to this war.

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

On August 1936, 8, Mark, the Australasian ambassador to the United Kingdom, asked to see the new British Prime Minister Churchill and made a surprising proposal, which was to use force to control France.

Churchill looked surprised, and then asked with great interest: "Mr. Mark, do you think we can control the French government just by relying on us?"

"Of course not." Ambassador Mark smiled and shook his head, looked at Churchill, and said with deep meaning: "Only the French can control the French government, and our obligation as allies is to help the French control the French government. ”

"Tell me more about it." Churchill nodded.

"I believe that you, Prime Minister, also know that the dispute within the French government over the war and peace has never ended. Especially after the French battlefield was defeated, the French military headed by Marshal Pétain and the French government headed by Prime Minister Laval both There is talk of ending the war with minimal cost.

With all due respect, 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 worse than Germany's. "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.

“Because of this, we must avoid such a bad situation for Europe.” Ambassador Mark continued: “Only when the French government takes a proactive attitude, can we ensure that Germany will not be so powerful.

Even if we have to offend the current French government for this, we will not hesitate. "

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

Both sides understand what they are thinking, and this matter is actually a win-win situation for the UK 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, then showed a serious look and said seriously: "

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

Judging from the current garrison situation in France, General Charles de Gaulle, commander of the Paris Garrison Tank Corps, is a staunch militant and controls a large army.

If there are any changes in the French government, we can support General 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 de Gaulle's hands becomes extremely important.

As mentioned before, France did not pay much attention to armored forces before World War II, which resulted in not many armored forces in France.

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

De Gaulle, who controlled this tank corps, also enjoyed a high status and reputation among the entire Paris garrison.

Coupled with Ron, the Undersecretary of Army in the French government, it is not impossible to unite to control the French government.

But the problem is that neither De Gaulle nor Ron is one step behind in terms of identity and status, and they are obviously unable to become the leader of the militarized French government.

"Ambassador Mark, even if de Gaulle can control the French government with our support, are you sure he can win the loyalty of all French troops?
Once we are unable to control all French troops, apart from pushing France completely to the German side, doing so does not seem to be able to change the situation of the war. "After Churchill thought for a moment, he raised his question.

Compared with the relationship between Britain and France, the relationship between Britain and Australia is obviously closer and closer.

More importantly, the British Empire can take certain measures and means against France, but for Australasia, which is thousands of miles away, the British do not have any good means to defend themselves. This also means that until the end of this war, Britain and Australasia can only maintain good relations, even if Australasia already poses 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 only has the potential to pose a threat to the British Empire, but Germany has already posed a threat to the British and is likely to affect British 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.

Because of such a special geographical location and environment, the European continent's hegemons can easily exert a huge influence on Britain, and this influence can easily turn into a threat.

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

"Maxim Weygand?" Churchill nodded, knowing something about the famous Weygand.

Maxime Weygand is currently a French general, deputy chairman of the French Supreme Military Council, and director of the Army.

Wei Gang's resume is comparable to that of several guys from the Lord Peace Sect, and he was already famous in the First World War. In the late stages of World War I, Wei Gang was already Chief of Staff to Supreme Commander Foch and was promoted to General of the French Army.

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

If the French government is successfully occupied and Wei Gang is asked to serve as the commander-in-chief of the provisional military government, there will not be much problem in stabilizing the overall situation.

More importantly, because Wei Gang is approaching 70 years old, his control over the French provisional military government will be greatly reduced.

This is exactly in line with the expectations of Britain and France for him, which is to be a commander-in-chief on the surface. In fact, the military power of France is still handed over to the main war faction.

In this way, regardless of whether Wei Gang was a war or peace advocate, he could not affect the subsequent actions and plans of the French army.

As long as it can be ensured that the French army is the main battle force, Britain and Australasia can solve the problem with some small actions by the French government.

"It's a good proposal." After hearing the whole plan, Churchill nodded first, looked at Ambassador Mark with a slight admiration, and said: "But our actions need an opportunity, at least when the French government does not show extreme initiative. And before thinking, we should wait for the opportunity."

"Of course." Ambassador Mark nodded and said matter-of-factly: "The Australasian 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 on both sides can move quickly in a short period of time to control the French government as quickly as possible. "

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

Although this brief discussion did not bring anything to Australasia and the United Kingdom, both parties participating in the meeting knew that this meeting actually added a layer of protection to the United Kingdom and Australasia.

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

At this meeting, President Albert showed his usual ability, which is to hesitate, to help the left and to the right.

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

At the meeting, current Prime Minister Laval said with a serious face: "Everyone, I would like to ask you a question, that is, what did the war bring to France?
Some may say that if we fail in this war, France will face the crisis of national annihilation.

But I want to say that if we continue to insist on this war, France will also be in danger of extinction.

As the war continues, the number of casualties among our soldiers has exceeded 70, and the death toll has exceeded 32.5.

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

I propose to negotiate separately with Germany to end this war with lower losses and avoid meaningless attrition with Germany.

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

Laval's words can be said to have touched the hearts of many French peace factions.

Of course, the good thing is that they don't want to see the unnecessary casualties in France. The bad thing is that they are already afraid of the terrifying combat effectiveness of the German army.

Leaving aside Laval in the political arena, some representatives of the peace faction, such as Pétain and Gamelin, who were already famous during the First World War, have now switched to the arms of the peace faction, 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 sad.

The words of Robert Falchik, a pioneer in historical research on armored warfare, can best be used to describe it: "When France was in desperate need of a warrior, all the former warriors chose to be deserters."

Let’s not talk about the impact on history. Looking at the current world, it has already had a very significant impact on the layout of France’s 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 undefended" plan to show sincerity to Germany and gain the opportunity to negotiate peace with Germany.

Paris is undefended!
For the French people before, this was such an incredible and unimaginable sentence.

If the current British government proposed that London be undefended, I am afraid that most British officials would slap the proposer.

But the problem is that the people who made the proposals are in France, and the people who make the decisions are also in France.

In the arguments of the peacekeeping officials, the "Paris without defense" proposal was agreed by the majority of officials, and President Albert announced that it would be implemented immediately.

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

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(End of this chapter)