"Promises can be changed, and Churchill promised to aid France at all costs - why did he leave those planes at home? After the Battle of Britain, he triumphantly declared that he had resisted the pressure of the French...... "Petain was furious at the thought of it," and that this commitment no longer existed after the Royal Navy had opened fire on our warships, and after the British had seized our colonies in the Middle East, in Madagascar, and in Central Africa. France can be deceived, but not again and again, that is an insult to my intelligence. ”

Darlan echoed and scolded: "Indeed, the British are too much of a thing, and sometimes I thank the Bismarck, who sank the Hood in one fell swoop and avenged our Britannia." ”

"Do you know why I gave up in 1940 and kept fighting? Because I want to save some vitality for France, the last war we fought to the end ended up in the north of France turned into a ruin, and then lost a whole generation of young men, almost every French family had relatives killed and injured in the war, and the birth rate and population of France fell a lot after the war, and it has not recovered until now. "France must not lose these 2 million young men, many of whom are unmarried young people, except for a small number of married people, and the current population of France is typical of women more than men, especially among young people." If it lasts too long, it will affect the reproduction of the entire French nation, and even if it is married, the husband is not around, and it is no problem for a year or two. What about five or eight years? With the national characteristics of France, do you think French women can survive? ”

Darlan was silent: it was true, the Franco-German armistice had only been two years. He had seen too many French women throw themselves into the arms of the Germans. Compared with French men, Germans may not be so romantic, but Germans are more in line with the image of tough guys, and they feel more secure than the literary youth who are hangers in the difficult and difficult days of war. As for national feelings, this thing will change, because France was defeated too quickly in the summer of 1940 and surrendered so quickly. The losses were not great except for the prisoners, and unless someone in the family was killed, the hatred of the Germans was not so strong - otherwise De Gaulle was more popular with the people than Marshal Petain. Don't say anything else. The order in Paris was much better under the German administration than when the French were in charge of it themselves, because the Germans were rigid and merciless, and the hooligans, thieves, gangsters, and gangsters who roamed the streets and swept them repeatedly were almost extinct under the heavy blows of the Germans.

"Of course, France still had some population in the colonies. But you don't want to see the Sun King and Napoleon's descendants turn into a bunch of black Africans, do you? Or take a step back. The reproduction of the next generation can no longer depend on us people, right? ”

Marshal Pétain was satirizing the drunken and unscrupulous behavior of his lover in the upper echelons of the government, and Darlan blushed as if he could be included in this range. However, he knew very well that although the French were tolerant of lovers, it was okay to find lovers on a small scale, and the whole society would have to be chaotic on a large scale.

"Darlan, I give you a word of advice, which I will easily not say to others. But you are an exception, you are my favorite, future leader of France......"

"Marshal ......"

"Judging by the current situation. This war will be fought for many years, and it will not stop until one side is exhausted, and France is by no means simply revenge or cooperation - that is too shallow, we must strive to preserve the vitality of the nation in order to recover, whether Germany or Britain and the United States win, this victory has nothing to do with France, the French must not join this kind of fight again, we must seize the opportunity of the war to recover silently, and the French can do the same what the Germans can do after the Treaty of Versailles. "Pétain's emotions were very excited, and he spoke quickly and urgently, "The Armistice seems to be angry and humiliating from the standpoint of you and me as political leaders, but is it not a relief for the people? Isn't it a blessing that for two years their normal life has not been disturbed too much, and that they are living a more stable life than during the war? If we can extend this happiness and benefit more French people, what does it matter if we need to be crushed? ”

"Your Excellency, I ......," Darlan was almost shaken in his heart, but he mustered up the courage to ask, "what is General de Laporte's attitude towards this?" ”

Admiral de Laporte was the commander of the French High Seas Fleet, with a fleet of five cruisers and 13 destroyers, including the flagship battleship Strasbourg.

Pétain sighed: "What else can he do?" He was going to lose control of the High Seas Fleet, and the intelligence officers we had planted in the fleet told me that the officers and sailors had smuggled in large quantities of fuel by destroying the fuel gauges and falsifying reports, and that the ships were now about half filled with fuel, and that they would flee to North Africa under the right conditions—that would be tantamount to breaking the armistice in the first place, and that we would be subjected to frenzied retaliation by the Germans. The fleet will pat itself on the ass and leave, but the French people will pay for it - at the moment we are unarmed. ”

Darlan hung his head sadly: "How did it turn out like this?" ”

"You must know that almost all other high-ranking officials, including Reival, are in favor of reaching this compromise with Germany, and if you oppose it from a naval standpoint, I can understand your feelings, but it will not be in your favor, and if you are to take charge of all of France in the future you cannot confront these majorities, and ...... more," Pétain sighed, "the people are not as far-sighted as you think, and they are more interested in the future, if they know that you are opposed to the early repatriation of prisoners by Germany in order to preserve a fleet that is of no practical significance." Hinder the reunion of relatives, they will hate you to the core. ”

Darlan bowed his head and said nothing, this hit his soft underbelly: Marshal Petain seemed to have a very limited time to continue in power, and there were very few reserve candidates to take over this highest position, except that he was Reival, and Reival, who was obviously pro-German and had always vigorously advocated Franco-German cooperation, would obviously be favored by the German side, and if he offended the entire high-level and the entire French people because of these unusable warships, I believe that no one would approve of his appointment as supreme head in the future.

"If it is for the long-term interests of the French people...... I ......," Dar Lang squeezed a sentence out of his teeth, "I can agree to such a plan, but the warships of North Africa cannot be included." ”

"Of course, I'm not that stupid." Pétain patted him on the shoulder, "I will not let you die in vain, and when the new defense division is formed, I am ready to put the main forces and armored divisions in North Africa to defend our colonies - they will all be under your command." ”

"Führer, good news, good news, your strategy has worked, the French have agreed to accept our conditions." Ribbentrop walked into Hoffman's office triumphantly and said in an exaggerated tone, "The French are anxious to see the prisoners go home, and in order to avoid opposition from their enemies at home and abroad, they urge us to proceed with the transfer of the warships as soon as possible." ”

"Very good." Hoffman shook his fist in delight, "Finally it worked." ”

"Dear Marshal, I'm sorry to inform you......" Hoffman grimaced, continuing into the microphone, "you need to make a business trip to the French port of Toulon to receive all the French naval ships. Yes, you heard it right, it's not April Fool's Day, and what I said is true. ”

"Oh my God...... Long live the Führer! The only sounds of Raeder's excited shouts and the tip of a chair could be heard through the earpiece.

On October 26, the French High Seas Fleet under the command of Admiral de Laporte and the fleet of the French Third Military Region under the command of Vice Admiral André Matthews slowly lowered the French red, white and blue flags anchored in the port of Toulon, including the battleships Dunkirk and Strasbourg, the old battleships Provence and Ocean, the former dreadnought Condorcet, the seaplane carrier Commander Test, the heavy cruisers Colbert, Algiers, Duplex, light cruiser Marseille, A total of 5 battleships (old and new), 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers and torpedo boats, 16 submarines, 7 communications ships, and 3 reconnaissance ships, including the Jean-de Vieira, were handed over to the German Navy.

In order not to provoke the national feelings of the French, all the German naval officers, including Field Marshal Raeder, did not raise their flags, nor did they make a big noise and music, but saluted the slowly lowering French flag, and then the warships (except for some immovable ones) slowly sailed to the port of Toulon with the assistance of the pilots, and headed for the Italian naval base, where they were to be fully inspected, refitted, and maintained, and were to be joined by the combined German-Italian Mediterranean fleet.

Looking at the slowly moving fleet, Louis d'Estaing, the sailor of the former Strasbourg, wept bitterly, and his captain comforted him: "Don't worry, in the future we will build more and better warships, and they did not die in vain, large territories, including Paris, have been recovered, and hundreds of thousands of French families have been reunited, and they have died as they ......deserve."

In October 1942, the curtain came down on the world's fourth-largest navy and Europe's second-largest navy, and they witnessed the end of an era. (To be continued.) )