France was also a miracle in World War II, when the world's first army was beaten by the Nazi blitzkrieg, and the backbone of the French was almost broken. Contrary to what we imagined, France did not rise up in the face of adversity to defend the territorial and sovereign integrity of the country, but gave up completely and turned to Pétain with infinite hope. Especially after Churchill ordered the destruction of the French Navy, the French expected more and more from Petain.

As for the Free France led by Charles de Gaulle, well, at first it did not have much influence and good reputation in France itself, and a considerable number of French people considered de Gaulle to be a groveling traitor to England, and the Petain government announced that de Gaulle was sentenced to death in absentia.

Anyway, the French were immediately inexplicably surprised, because they soon discovered that Petain was not a good bird, and Vichy France soon became a centralized, oppressive, anti-democratic government, a Nazi follower. In May 1942 alone, Vichy France drove 250,000 domestic laborers to work in Germany, while 600,000 French were forced to work in Nazi factories. To make matters worse, after the decisive Allied victory in the Mediterranean in 1942, the Nazis took over the originally "autonomous" southern part of Vichy France, disbanding the Vichy French forces and replacing them with secret police called the "Milice" (French-speaking militia).

It was in this context that Free France and the French underground resistance began to flourish. But frankly, these underground resistance groups are a mix of dragons and snakes, and there are all kinds of people. Some are indeed national heroes, but there are also a considerable number of ruffians, terrorists and even traitors. Lacking a common political ideal, most of these mixed resistance activists joined the resistance out of hatred of the Nazis, and in many cases went their separate ways.

To complicate matters further, they also exhibit strong racist tendencies - hatred of foreigners, especially Germans. Many young French people believe that the ostensibly confident and arrogant Germans are full of hypocrisy, and they are especially disgusted with the flattering "Schleuh" arms of local girls, and they are even more angry at certain French cinemas and restaurants that serve Germans.

Of course, among the various French resistance groups, the Jews are absolutely indispensable. Because Vichy France followed the Nazis in persecuting the Jews, the living conditions of the Jews in France also took a sharp turn for the worse, and in order to escape the persecution, the Jews either fled into the mountains and forests or had to join the resistance.

Interestingly, the Church also played a role in the French underground resistance, as Germany was Protestant, while France was the home of Catholicism. In order to resist the invasion of these pagans, the local priests in France also joined the resistance to the Nazis.

However, these were all petty fights, and in addition to the organizations led by de Gaulle and his political opponents, the French Communist Party was the real leader of the French Resistance. Especially in this time and space, because the Soviet Union's policy towards Germany was completely different from that of history, the French Communist Party played an extremely important mainstay role.

Some comrades may ask, why do you say that the French Communist Party is the mainstay of the French Resistance in this time and space? Isn't it historical?

Historically, the French Communist Party has also played a very important role, but it is still much worse than this time and space. The reason is also very simple, historically, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the "Non-Aggression Pact", and the two companies partnered to carve up Poland, in order not to "anger" Hitler, Comrade Iron was also appeased to Germany. At that time, the Comintern even instructed the French Communist Party not to target Germany. This dealt a heavy blow to the French Communist Party, and a considerable number of French Communist Party members even quit the party in anger.

Of course, this is history, in this time and space, although the Soviet Union and Germany also had deals, they did not do so out of line. Naturally, there was nothing wrong with the instructions of the French Communist Party that were not directed against Germany. On the contrary, at Trotsky's behest, the French Communist Party made it clear from the beginning that it would fight the Germans to the end, especially after the surrender of France, the French Communist Party was angry and protested, resolutely refused to accept this result, and immediately began to form its own armed forces with the support of the KGB, and was the first to start firing at the Nazis.

In the past two years, thanks to the continuous support of a certain immortal, the French Communist Party has developed and grown very rapidly, initially pulling in about 100,000 guerrillas, and there are liaison stations of the French Communist Party in every city and village in France. For example, before the Allied troops landed in Normandy, the French Communist Party provided a lot of valuable information, which cleared the way for the Allied landing.

Let's put it this way, the current French Communist Party is much stronger than the historical French Communist Party, widely active in every inch of France, engaged in intelligence in the cities, and fought guerrillas in the countryside, which made the Nazis and the Milice of Vichy France anxious!

In Paris, for example, the French Communist Party has grown to more than 10,000 members, and as many as 100,000 outlying activists and resistance groups. It can be said that the whole of Paris is under the surveillance of the French Communist Party.

For Li Xiaofeng, if he wants to block Britain and the United States, the French Communist Party is an indispensable force, and with the influence of the French Communist Party in Paris, it is polite to say that as long as he raises his arms, he can make Paris change its master.

Of course, the French Communist Party alone is not enough to dig a hole for Britain and the United States, after all, although the French Communist Party has great influence, it has nothing to say to Britain and the United States, and only De Gaulle can negotiate conditions with Britain and the United States on behalf of France, so this time we must have a good chat with De Gaulle.

The meeting place was Iceland, so as to avoid the sensitivity of de Gaulle's visit to Moscow and the fact that he would not be watched by the British in London. From the very beginning, Li Xiaofeng got straight to the point: "General de Gaulle, given that the time is ripe for the liberation of Paris, I think it's time to start a discussion on this issue. ”

De Gaulle also had a certain psychological preparation, the Russians called him a meeting, what other possibility was there besides trying to disgust Britain and the United States? Of course, de Gaulle did not rule out being taken advantage of, as long as the conditions of the Soviet Union were good enough, why not cooperate?

So he immediately asked: "Do you also think that the time is ripe for the liberation of Paris?" I believe that the liberation of Paris means the birth of a new France, of incomparable importance. ”

Li Xiaofeng also nodded again and again: "I agree with your statement, under the current anti-fascist situation, there must be a new government that can truly represent the French people to fulfill its responsibilities, and it is necessary to completely overthrow and abandon the puppet regime of Vichy France." Only then can France be truly liberated and free! ”

After clarifying this, the two old foxes had a little smile on their faces. Obviously, this premise satisfies both parties. De Gaulle's biggest annoyance now is the Vichy France, and as long as Vichy France still exists, then the Free France he leads will be unjustifiable. I had discussed this issue with Churchill and Roosevelt before, and Qiu Fatzi agreed to recognize his legal status, but Qiu Fatzi only paid lip service, and his actual support was still relatively weak. As for Roosevelt's side, he didn't give a letter just by humming haha, obviously not wanting to see him. This made de Gaulle very uncertain, after all, everyone can see that there is only one real master among the allies - that is, the US imperialists.

No matter what, if the US imperialists don't nod, it's useless for everyone else to nod. But de Gaulle's personal relationship with Roosevelt was really bad, and the Commander really didn't want to see him.

And now the Soviet side has expressed its willingness to support him, which means that two of the Big Three have already voted for him, so that the US imperialists must also weigh more, and with the support of Britain and the Soviet Union, De Gaulle will no longer be the De Gaulle of the past.

In essence, this would have had considerable political benefits for de Gaulle, and the accolades that came with the liberation of Paris could not be ignored, and if Paris was liberated under his leadership, he would be a great hero of France, which would provide him with important public support for establishing his legal status after the war.

Of course, this does not mean that de Gaulle gladly accepted Li Xiaofeng's proposal, but to be honest, this is still far away? As a nationalist, de Gaulle also had an account in his heart, and he was neither prepared to throw himself into full surrender to the United States and Britain, nor was he interested in kneeling and licking the Soviet Union. What he wanted to ensure was the independence and freedom of France, and he had to be sure that this cooperation with the Soviet Union would not have a long-term detrimental effect on France.

De Gaulle knew very well that at this time Britain and the United States and the Soviet Union were competing, and whoever could enter Germany first and occupy Germany would be the final victor. Judging from the current situation, both Britain and the United States and the Soviet Union are facing certain difficulties. In this case, whichever side he falls towards, which side will get the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Therefore, de Gaulle must look at the terms offered by both sides, who has better conditions, who can make France more profitable in the future, and who he will favor. And just now, it was just a temptation and a start. Now it is time to move on to the specific issues in depth.

De Gaulle quickly asked: "Paris is now under Nazi control, and there are only two possibilities for liberating Paris, one is to attack and threaten Paris by the Allies, and the other is to follow the example of Warsa and launch an armed uprising......"

Li Xiaofeng knows very well that the first one is pure nonsense, that is, it is proposed to make up the numbers, neither the Soviet Union nor France is capable of taking charge of Britain and the United States, and now that Britain and the United States have made up their minds, they are ready to leave Paris and go directly to Germany, how can they be willing to carry the burden of Paris?

To put it bluntly, what de Gaulle really wanted to say was later, in the second paragraph, so what did he mean by suddenly mentioning Warsaw? Well, the matter is actually quite obvious, de Gaulle is hinting at Li Xiaofeng: "What if Britain and the United States choose to sit idly by after the outbreak of the Paris uprising?" ”

De Gaulle was still afraid of being pitted, and once he encountered the same situation as the Polish footcloth, who would he go to cry to? At that time, not only did he not earn political prestige, but he could be sprayed to death by the people of Paris. Anyway, if the Soviet Union could not guarantee this, then he would definitely not have fallen into this pit.

Li Xiaofeng naturally knew what de Gaulle was worried about, but he thought that Paris and Warsaw were completely different. How is it different? Let's start with a few aspects, first of all, Paris's international status is different from Warsaw's. Even if France fell in World War II, but as the so-called emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, no matter how downtrodden France is, it is not comparable to Europe's footcloth. Let's put it this way, Paris's international political, economic, and cultural influence can completely blow up Warsaw, and Warsaw is not worthy of Paris to carry shoes.

The reason why the Red Army was able to ignore Warsaw was nothing more than bullying and wiping a footcloth. If it were Paris, would the Red Army still dare to go around it in a grand manner? If you really do that, I am afraid that international and domestic public opinion will drown the Red Army with saliva.

In addition, the balance of power between Paris and Warsaw is also very different. For the Germans. Warsaw was an important fortress on the Eastern Front, and naturally it was heavily guarded by heavy troops, which made it hellish for the common people of Warsaw to launch an armed uprising. Paris is different, the Western Front should be considered the second line for Germany, and the German army's strength on the Western Front was tight, and it was impossible to take out heavy troops to defend Paris. At the same time, the underground resistance led by the French Communist Party was much more powerful than the footcloth in Warsaw, and the liberation of Paris was much less difficult. What's more, at this time, the main forces of the German army were pinned down by the Allies, and they had no time to take care of Paris.

Therefore, Li Xiaofeng thought that it would be much easier to liberate Paris, and even only needed 100,000 French resonance arms in Paris, and the Germans would have to take a break.

Of course, Li Xiaofeng also knew that these alone were not enough to fully impress de Gaulle, because the core issue of his concern was not the possibility of success, but the question of his personal status.

Li Xiaofeng immediately reassured de Gaulle: "The Comintern will be fully responsible for building a platform for communication between you and the French Communist Party." The French Communist Party is willing to play its role within the framework of the French National Liberation Council, as long as the future French government is willing to recognize the legitimacy of the French Communist Party and allow it to participate in the political life of France......"

De Gaulle could naturally understand what this meant, and it was nothing more than that as long as de Gaulle and his leader of the Free French Movement recognized the French Communist Party (after the surrender of France, the French Communist Party was declared illegal and forcibly ceased its activities), then the Soviet Union would make the French Communist Party and the armed forces led by it obey de Gaulle's orders. In a sense, this was tantamount to handing over the command of the armed uprising in Paris to de Gaulle.

This was naturally very important to de Gaulle, because it symbolized that the Soviet Union considered him to be the core of the French resistance, and this was too important to him.

In order to strengthen de Gaulle's confidence, Li Xiaofeng continued: "In order to help the Free France better carry out the liberation of Paris, the Soviet government is ready to provide the Free French army with 100,000 semi-automatic rifles, enough mortars and howitzers to equip five divisions, and 300 T-34 tanks. ”

De Gaulle was immediately stunned, the biggest pain for him was that the army had to rely on the snort of Britain and the United States, and the Free French army was almost a complete set of American weapons, except that the people were French, and there was really nothing of French origin. This is simply depressing and embarrassing for a nationalist.

Of course, de Gaulle thought further, in this world war, because France was defeated and surrendered early, he simply did not learn anything from the war. The military industry in France is still almost at the level of the pre-war period, and everything from military doctrine to technical weapons needs to be updated urgently. For example, in terms of armored strength, if France was still in the world's first group before the war, France at this time was already second-rate and running to the third-rate.

In fact, we can also see from the post-war history that the French armored troops, especially the tanks, were so miserable that they couldn't bear to look at them directly. At one time, it could only use the AMX-13 with a swinging turret to fill the façade, and had to rely on American military aid to provide the Patton series of tanks.

The gap is too big, and as an old armored soldier, de Gaulle naturally knew what the T-34 represented. The 300 T-34s not only meant that France could get rid of the constraints of American military aid, but also learn from the Soviet philosophy of tank design. As the fiercest and most brutal armored fighting on the Eastern Front, the Soviet T-34 had more than enough to learn from its French counterparts.

Anyway, the list of 300 T-34s was smashed down, and De Gaulle was a little dizzy, he didn't expect the Soviet Union to be so generous at all. At that moment, de Gaulle was genuinely overjoyed.

Some comrades may want to say Comrade Li Xiaofeng, you are too generous, right? 300 T-34s were given to France with an unclear position, what if the French openly defected to the United States and Britain in the future? Isn't that a meat bun beating a dog?

In fact, it is not so serious, the T-34 has already been given to the Americans before, the technical parameters are clear to Britain and the United States, and the level of secrecy is really not very high. What's more, 300 T-34s are nothing to the Red Army, when the Military Commission has already made a decision to replace the T-34 with the T-54/55 series, in the future the T-34 will be used by second-rate troops in the armored forces of the Red Army. What's more, the early version of the T-34-76 has greatly reduced both its technical value and its lifespan, so wouldn't it be good to maximize it while it still has a certain value?

Anyway, Li Xiaofeng's arrangement for the T-34 was established, and before the fifties, all the T-34-76s would be disposed of, whether they were given to friendly countries (such as the T Communist Party) or exported to earn foreign exchange, they had to be cleared. The size of the armored forces of the Soviet Red Army could not be too bloated.

As for the T-34-85, it can still be used slowly, after all, it is still relatively new, and the technical performance is not completely backward, and when the war breaks out in the Middle East, it can be exported to the Jews to earn some silver.

Anyway, since Li Xiaofeng proposed to give away the T-34, de Gaulle's attitude has changed significantly, although he has not yet agreed to Li Xiaofeng's proposal, but his attitude is much more positive than at the beginning of the meeting, and it is obvious that he has begun to move...... (To be continued.) )