Father of France

Chapter 27 Special Act for Military Personnel
"Very good." De Gaulle smiled upon hearing this. The establishment of the First Army of France made a significant contribution to the early Free French movement.

Therefore, de Gaulle always admired Dragon's initial efforts to restore order. Now was the crucial moment to incorporate the French Communist Party's armed forces. The return of a reliable army to the homeland would greatly reduce trouble.

"I heard the Prime Minister's Office is drafting a law on military marriages? To protect military marriages and stabilize military families." De Gaulle thought for a moment and said, "It will be announced as soon as it is completed. Newly recruited French soldiers will be included, but irregular armed forces will not be included."

The so-called irregular armed forces personnel, of course, refer to the illegal armed groups affiliated with the French Communist Party.

Henri Frey immediately understood that the First Army Group was returning to the mainland with military strength as its backing to intimidate the French Communist Party. The military marriage policy was intended to attract French Communist Party fighters, get them to serve in the real French army, and dismantle the French Communist Party's armed forces.

In the Bastille, Coman, who had just been promoted from a traitor, swaggered around. In this environment, there were quite a few ways to channel his pent-up anger.

"Was the old lady you met also a traitor?" Alain asked Chanel, who had already left the Bastille, what her political affiliation was. After receiving the answer, he scoffed, "How come there are so many traitors?"

"France has its own unique circumstances," Corman said in a tone that suggested he didn't understand. In the end, this situation boils down to France accepting its fate.

The First World War and the Second World War were completely different in nature. The outbreak of the First World War was unprepared for any of the countries involved. The participating countries had all engaged in diplomatic blackmail, mobilizing each other and hoping for the enemy to compromise. It was a hasty war that spiraled out of control.

Despite the brief mobilization, the top leaders of various countries were unprepared for how this war would take.

The hastily mobilized officers and soldiers all believed that the war would not last long, and then all the romanticism about war was worn away by four years of trench warfare.

During World War II, all participating countries, including France, knew that war was inevitable and were psychologically prepared for it. Even countries like Poland maintained a million-strong standing army to defend against German invasion. From the very beginning of the war, the participating countries were in a state of war.

Therefore, the claim that Germany did not fully mobilize is nonsense; the European belligerent nations had already made preparations for the outbreak of war before the formal commencement of the conflict.

The same applies to France. With a population of 39 million, the number of troops mobilized for the war has already been exhausted.

The Maginot Line was originally designed to force the German army to bypass Belgium, thus potentially containing the fighting within Belgian territory and preventing a repeat of the devastation that occurred in northern France during World War I.

As a result, the French army was cut in half on its way to the Belgian border. Two million French soldiers were sent to prisoner-of-war camps. More than five percent of the population became prisoners of war in less than a month. What was the point of fighting then? France did not lose more than two million soldiers in World War I.

After the Napoleonic Wars, France had entered a period of low population growth and had given up its ambition to contend for hegemony, shifting its foreign policy to befriending Britain.

After the Franco-Prussian War, France realized that it could not defeat Germany alone, so it began to court Imperial Russia.

These actions demonstrate that France knew that facing Germany alone would not end well.

World War I further reinforced this understanding, so when Dunkirk occurred, the entire French mentality collapsed.

The large number of French collaborators also reflects the French acceptance of defeat. Unable to defeat the Germans, cooperation with them wasn't an unavoidable option; resistance fighters like de Gaulle were a minority. However, if this were discussed openly, Alain might look down on the inhabitants of mainland France, so Corman could only gloss over the issue by citing the unique circumstances of France.

"Find out all the literary figures in prison, especially the pro-German writers." Koeman didn't want to argue with Alan about this, but he was quite adept at using one issue to cover up another.

Although the claim of German cultural aggression against France was a fabrication by Corman to prepare for France's subsequent social cohesion and baby boom.

However, this miscarriage of justice could also be used to his advantage. Coman was also a skilled boxer, and he could use this to his advantage to fight the Germans.

Aren't Germans known for having many excellent qualities?
Rigorousness is rigidity, honesty is presumptuousness, rationality is a lack of sexual tension, and self-reflection is a lack of self-confidence.

In the beginning, Corman's short stories were simply a way to feed French men shit, but now that he's started, he can't keep doing it on a small scale. He needs a professional team to do this. If things are done well, even a traitorous writer can transform into a tainted witness.

In the first stage, he wanted to make German men a part of European men's lives outside of Germany, so that when German men were mentioned, they would be seen as unfaithful, unromantic, taciturn, and lacking in humor, as trash in the marriage market. Even if Germany's economy developed in the future, this impression would remain.

As for the next stage, it hasn't been decided yet. This stage alone will take a considerable amount of time. He has decades to carry out cultural bullying against this defeated country. Secretary Yu Liang is right, what's the rush?
Upon learning that Dragon was already on his way back home, de Gaulle launched his first attack on the French Communist Party, starting with the definition of a French soldier.

That evening, at the provisional government headquarters, de Gaulle summoned his staff. The room was filled with so thick smoke that it was almost impossible to cut through it with your hand, but the general seemed completely unconcerned.

"Gentlemen," he tapped the table with his knuckles, "our army's morale is low, and the nation's cohesion is severely compromised. The Germans have taken our dignity, and now we must take it back."

Treasury Secretary René Privin cleared his throat: "General, our treasury is almost empty. Reconstruction requires funds, and the Americans—"

“The Americans will wait,” de Gaulle interrupted him. “First, we must address the human problem. Our soldiers need hope, and the nation needs newborns.” He stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to the crowd. “I have decided to issue a new decree: a special law for military marriages.”

There was silence in the conference room.

"What are the specific details?" the Interior Minister asked tentatively.

De Gaulle turned around, his eyes gleaming with determination: "Any active-duty military member who marries will receive a government-provided marriage allowance, priority housing allocation, and educational subsidies for their children. During their service, regardless of the reason, if a military member's spouse commits adultery, they will bear full responsibility. Any problems arising in a military marriage will be handled by a military court. Of course, we only recognize the French national army, not any particular party's; armed forces whose loyalty to any country is unknown are not included."

“This will require a huge amount of money,” the finance minister began to calculate again.

“Cheaper than war,” de Gaulle said coldly. “I want to see it take effect immediately.”

The special law on military marriages was immediately announced, and notices of the new law were posted all over the streets of Paris, sparking heated discussions among many citizens.

(End of this chapter)