Chapter 32—The Eagle Descends on Paris (I)

On July 28th, as usual, the morning glow was like a flame hanging in the sky, and it was another sunny day.

The air is still cool with the morning dew, the morning sun casts irregular spots of light on the neat avenues through the leafy plane trees along the streets, the Seine flows serenely, the gray wild pigeons begin their daily morning journey, and the sound of birdsong lingers in the air.

It seems that today, as usual, will be an ordinary and ordinary day again.

But in fact, when the first rays of sunlight shine on the city, this day is already destined to leave its traces in history, and it is an extraordinary day that has been determined by fate.

Today's Paris wakes up much earlier than ever, and proud Parisians don't wait for the sun to hit their warm and comfortable beds before getting out of bed with their sleepy eyes rubbed as they are accustomed to.

Before the sun had time to radiate its warmth, groups of citizens had already appeared in several streets in the center of Paris, gathering in the gardens on both sides of the streets and in the open-air cafes that opened early, greeting each other and chatting with each other.

From the sound of breath one after another, it can be heard that many of them did not sleep at all last night. Everyone was talking about the same topic, and that was the German invasion of the city.

The news that Paris received the day before yesterday is really difficult to describe the feeling of the French side when it learned of this news, and it is difficult to summarize it with mixed feelings.

The Parisian military and political leaders wanted to run to the Eiffel Tower and shout a few times to express the resentment that had accumulated during this period, and the hateful Germans had finally had enough and were willing to enter the city.

In order to share their happiness with the citizens, the Paris authorities decided to let the citizens of Paris know the news as soon as possible, although the process was very complicated, because the Paris radio station had not yet been repaired, the Paris city government mobilized all the media forces that could be mobilized, and even used all the notices at the grassroots level, and finally let everyone know the news they had been waiting for for a long time before the evening of the same day.

Paris was boiling that night, many entertainment venues, cafes, bars, dance halls, and even theaters announced that all purchases that night would be half discounted, so Parisians reveled like a holiday all night.

It's not that Parisians have forgotten their nationality, it's not that they want to betray their country for glory. Rather, the taste of abandonment was so unpleasant that the emotions they had been suppressed for two weeks were finally released.

In the past two weeks, they have tried various methods to position themselves, but they have all failed.

They had wanted to fight the invading army to the end as patriots, and they wanted to gain support from their own government, but they were disappointed.

The French government has completely abandoned their capital, and the citizens of Paris.

Marshal Pétain even sent a telegram in the name of the government of the French Third Republic in order to avoid further provoking the German side in the context of the upcoming armistice negotiations. The telegram ordered the citizens of Paris to cooperate actively with the Germans for the sake of the future of the French nation, and sternly warned that any resistance in the meantime would be declared an offence.

What is even more outrageous is that Pétain has completely cut off the information channel between Paris and the outside world, and even Lieutenant General Dantz does not know what the situation outside is now, and now he has to listen to the radio for all he knows about the outside world.

And the French government's radio station is completely unreliable, except for a lot of war reports that now idiots know to be bragging, which is calling on the French to exercise restraint and obey the government's orders and arrangements.

And they don't seem to have the slightest interest in the current situation in Paris, and there is no support or concern for the Parisians on the radio, as if there is no such thing as Paris in the world, which makes the Parisians really sad, how to say that this was once the capital of France. In the end, it was the Germans who broadcast the radio and brought a few words from Paris from time to time.

Although Lieutenant General Dantz, who kept his head clear, suppressed Pétain's stunned telegram, he did not announce it to all the citizens of Paris, as Petain had ordered in his telegram, knowing that the consequences of such a release could be a mutiny or a popular insurrection.

However, this thing was not suppressed in the end, and several judicial officials who were almost stupid by this order still poked out this humiliating order, and it was spread all over the city of Paris.

Fortunately, Dantz underestimated the patience of the Parisians, and the riots did not take place, but the image of the French government was on the verge of bankruptcy in the eyes of the Parisians.

However, before the storm had passed, news spread through the streets that the government had withdrawn the municipal reserves and food from Paris, so that the current reserves of Paris were almost at the bottom, and General Dantz was preparing to restore the food rationing system.

The Parisians are finally outraged, in the eyes of the government, are they like abandoned pets, who picks them up and who raises them? The Parisians were completely chilled by the current French government.

Thus, a series of anarchic farces followed, with a hundred schools of thought and a red uprising, and the Parisians were very busy during that time.

But when the citizens of Paris returned home exhausted and exhausted, a sense of helplessness arose.

What the hell are you, Frenchman? The government has kicked itself at Germany. German? He has the blood of the proud Gauls in his veins, and he will not agree with this point of view, not to mention whether the barbaric invaders identify with him. What's more, now the Germans don't seem to have much interest in Paris, it seems that the Germans don't want the city either, and Paris seems to be abandoned by both sides.

The most glorious and beautiful city in the world, the capital of France, the brightest pearl of Europe, sounds like a joke now.

It is not the Middle Ages, Paris is landlocked, and it is not dependent on other countries, so Paris cannot be a city that survives and develops alone, although some stupid fellows who are short of oxygen in their brains have made speeches on the street calling for the declaration of Paris duli and the like, but all those with sound brains scoff at this.

Parisians are now finally feeling the mood of Alsace and Lorraine, and this feeling of not belonging is very uncomfortable and can drive people crazy.

Now that the Germans were finally entering the city, there was always a sense of loss in the hearts of the Parisians, who did not carry a kind of sadness of farewell to their homeland and the lament of abandonment in the celebration of that night.

But now that it's a foregone conclusion, and life has to go on, let's start getting used to life under German management today.

But what the Germans were like, and what was the army that had destroyed half of Europe, the citizens of Paris came to the place notified by the city government early to wait for the arrival of the Germans.

At 7:40 a.m., the Champs-Élysées were already lined with Parisian citizens watching the German army enter the city, and the scene was noisy, with citizens talking loudly about the upcoming ceremony, many people were still holding coffee bought from roadside cafés, munching on cigarettes and breakfast, and various vendors selling snacks and cigarettes were shuttling back and forth in the crowd.

It seems that after more than two weeks of siege, the nerves of the Parisians have been sharpened. Now they look more like a parade to a big circus than an invasion of the invaders.

In order to maintain order, the Parisian side mobilized all the inspection troops, and the French inspectors, wearing barrel hats and black uniforms and black shiny riding boots, patrolled back and forth, sweating profusely to drive back the citizens who kept rushing out of the sidewalk to look forward.

At that moment, the sound of aircraft engines sounded in the air, and everyone looked up at the sky.

It didn't sound like a big plane, the engine sound was very crisp and rhythmic, and then the source of the sound appeared in everyone's sight in an instant, and a "white stork" painted with the iron cross emblem passed lightly over the Champs-Élysées. This light liaison reconnaissance plane flew low and slowly, and for the first time the citizens of Paris saw a German plane from such a close distance, the crowd could not help but stir.

"Look, she looks like she wants to land!" A citizen shouted loudly.

Indeed, the "White Stork" slowly circled in the air, and then slowly lowered its altitude along the Champs-Élysées, as if it wanted to land on this street.

The Champs-Élysées is 70 meters at its narrowest point and 120 meters at its widest point, making it a veritable "avenue". As long as the pilots are skilled, this light plane will have no problem landing here, as long as you are careful not to hit the tall plane trees on either side.

The plane slowly lowered in altitude, the nose slowly leveled, and the plane taxied against the center line of the street as if it were being towed by an orbit, and a smile appeared on the pilot's face, and everyone could see that it would be a perfect landing.

But an unexpected accident happened at this time. At the moment when the wheels of the plane touched the ground, on the side of the street less than two hundred meters in front of the plane, a small figure suddenly rushed out, and it was still running towards the center of the street at a fast speed.

Everyone present was stunned by this sudden occurrence, and the citizens who saw this scene couldn't help but let out a burst of exclamation.

No one knew how the child had managed to get out into the street from under the nose of the Inspector, and no one knew why the child had done it, and the only thing everyone knew now was that a tragedy was going to happen in front of them.

At this moment, a reacting Frenchman rushed out of the street and rushed towards the child, he wanted to stop the tragedy, but everyone next to him knew that it was too late.

The plane was gliding towards the child, the engine was still running, and two propellers as sharp as machetes were approaching the small figure, and the timid man had closed his eyes and did not dare to look any further.

The Frenchman had already pounced on the child, and he tried to turn away to save the child's small body, but he also found that it was too late, and the rapid propeller of the plane was already close in sight.

The Jingcha desperately held the child and turned around and knelt half-in, hoping to use his body to block the injury for the child in his arms, although he knew that his ** was no different from a piece of paper in front of the propeller of the plane, but he still subconsciously did it.

The people stared blankly at the touching and tragic scene in front of them, and they burst into a second exclamation.

But before their exclamations could end, things suddenly took a turn again, and then the exclamation was drowned out by louder cheers.

Just when the plane was less than ten meters away from the two people in the middle of the road, with a piercing engine roar, the iron-gray "white stork" actually rose from the ground again, roaring over the head of the kneeling Jingcha, the violent hurricane blew off the cap of the Jingcha, and the light liaison plane struggled to slide forward for a distance of more than ten meters before smashing back to the ground again.

This time it was not as chic as when it landed before, because the front nose was lifted too violently, the plane had stalled, and this landing was more appropriate to use the fall.

The light "White Stork" now looked like a clumsy albatross bouncing crookedly on the ground and gliding forward, and with a string of metal cracks, a sturdy landing gear was finally broken by the tremendous force of the fall, and the plane suddenly flipped sideways to the ground, and with a piercing friction sound, the plane turned ninety degrees on the ground and then came to a sharp stop.

Everyone present stared blankly at the plane that was still emitting wisps of green smoke in front of them, and they couldn't say a word in shock.

But as everyone gradually woke up from the thrilling scene just now, first a few quick reactions, then a few nearest citizens, and finally almost all the Parisians present rushed towards the German ** machine that fell on the Champs-Elysees.