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

But for now, the main battle 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 represent their opinions. Yes, if the government had decided to resolutely resist the German attack, the French army would still have rushed to the battlefield one after another.

But if the government decides to back down from this war, there will also be a large number of French people who will embrace peace and give up the glory of the French more than 100 years ago.

It's as simple as that. The so-called war is nothing more than a game between some senior business politicians and capitalists.

For ordinary people, no matter how they win, the war brings them only endless casualties and grief.

The key figures of the main peace faction include the Minister of the Army, Field Marshal Petain, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Ganmalin, and the current Prime Minister Reival.

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 main war faction in France, the two most famous figures at present are Vice-Minister of Defense Roman, that is, the person who pushed France to declare war on Germany, and the other is Charles de Gaulle, who served as the commander of the armored corps of the Paris garrison.

Whether in terms of position or political status, there is no comparison between the two representatives of the main battle faction and several representatives of the main and peace factions.

If it weren't for the frenzied offensive of the Germans, who showed their ambition to annex all of Europe, I am afraid that the main war faction would not have won the support of President Albert to launch a major war against Germany.

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

In such an environment, the most tense 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 itself would not be in much danger. But if even France had fallen, the next target of Germany's attack would definitely be the British Empire.

Not to mention whether the Germans could break through the English Channel and successfully land on the British Isles, the loss of transferring the war to the British mainland alone was enough to give the British government a headache.

Moreover, once Germany annexes France, the power of the union of Germany and France is far from being comparable to that of Germany at present.

If the British Empire faced such a formidable enemy, even with the help of Australasia, it would probably not be a match for Germany, which occupied most of the European continent.

Therefore, it became necessary to guarantee France's loyalty to the war.

How can France's loyalty to the war be guaranteed? The eyes have to be on the main battle faction in France.

On August 2, 1936, Australasian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark, asked to meet with the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and made a startling proposal to control France by force.

Churchill looked surprised, and then asked with great interest: "Mr. Mark, do you think that we alone can control the government of the French?" ”

"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 duty as allies is to help the French control the French government." ”

"Tell me more." Churchill nodded.

"I believe that Your Excellency the Prime Minister, as you know, the dispute between the main war and the main peace within the French government has not ended. Especially after the French battlefield was defeated and retreated, the French military headed by Marshal Petain and the French government headed by Prime Minister Reival were all circulating the saying that the war would end at the minimum cost.

IMHO, if the French had flinched in this war, the British Empire would have been the next target of Germany's attack, and in an even worse situation than Germany. Ambassador Mark said blandly.

"If the French surrender, I'm afraid the whole of Europe will not be spared." Prime Minister Churchill frowned and asked rhetorically.

"That's why we want to avoid such a bad situation for Europe." Ambassador Marc continued: "Only if the French government is the main fighter can we ensure that Germany is not so strong.

Even if we want to offend the current French government for this, we will not hesitate to do so. ”

"Tell me about your plans, Ambassador Mark." Churchill pondered for a moment, then nodded.

Both sides understand what each side is thinking, and this is actually a win-win for the UK and Australasia.

"It's just a contingency plan, and I naturally hope that the contingency plan will never be implemented." Before stating his plan, Ambassador Mark first explained with a smile, and then showed a serious look and said seriously: "

As soon as we become aware of any intention by the French government to surrender, we all have an obligation as allies to help France get back on the track of the war.

Judging from the current situation of the French garrison, General de Gaulle, the commander of the tank corps of the Paris garrison, was a staunch main battle faction and controlled a large army.

If there is any change in the French government, we can support General de Gaulle for temporary control of the French government, militarize France, and encourage the whole of France to resolutely resist Germany. ”

Churchill had no doubts about what Ambassador Mark had said. If you want to control the French government, the tank army in the hands of de Gaulle becomes extremely important.

It was also mentioned earlier that France did not pay much attention to armored forces before World War II, which led to the fact that there were not many armored forces in all of France.

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

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

Coupled with the French government's undersecretary of the army, Ron, it is not impossible to unite to control the French government.

But the problem is that neither de Gaulle nor Rohn are one level behind in terms of identity and status, and obviously cannot become the leader of the militarized French government.

"Ambassador Mark, even if de Gaulle, with our support, were he able to take control of the French government, are you sure he would be able to secure the allegiance of all French troops?

Once we are unable to get hold of all the French troops, it seems that this will not change the situation of the war except to push France completely over the side of Germany. Churchill pondered for a moment before asking his own question.

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

More importantly, the British Empire could carry out certain measures and means against France, but for Australasia, which was thousands of miles away, the British did not have too good means to defend against it.

This also meant that Britain and Australasia could only maintain good relations until the end of the war, even if Australasia was already a certain threat to the British Empire.

Compared with the future threat of Australasia, it was the German threat that was most serious to the British.

Australasia was only a threat to the British Empire, but Germany was already a threat to the British and had a good chance of influencing British hegemony and domination in Europe.

No matter how powerful Britain is, the British mainland is only made up of three large islands outside the European continent.

Because of such a special geographical location and environment, it is easy for the hegemon of the European continent to exert a huge influence on Britain, and this influence can easily be turned into a threat.

"What did Prime Minister Churchill think of Weygang?" Ambassador Mark asked with a smile on his face.

"Maxim Weygand?" Churchill nodded, and he also knew something about the famous Wei Gang.

Maxime Weygand, currently a French general, deputy head 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 and faction, and he already has a great reputation in World War I. By the end of World War I, Weygand was already chief of staff to Supreme Commander Foch and was promoted to general of the French army.

Weygand is now 69 years old and semi-retired in the French Army. Although semi-retired, Weygand still had prestige in the French army as an army general.

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

What's more, because Weygand is approaching the age of 70, his control over the French provisional military government will also be greatly reduced.

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

In this way, whether Wei Gang was the main battle faction or the main peace faction, he could not influence the actions and plans of the French army in the future.

As long as it can be ensured that the French army is the main battle, some small actions of the French government, Britain and Australasia can be solved.

"Nice proposal." After hearing the whole plan, Churchill first nodded, looked at Ambassador Mark with a slightly appreciative look, and said: "But we need an opportunity to act, at least until the French government does not show extreme ideas and ideas, and we should wait for the opportunity for the time being." ”

"Of course." Ambassador Mark nodded, and said as a matter of course: "The Australasian army will be ready at any time to help General de Gaulle and Minister Roman take control of the French government."

Prime Minister Churchill, we need a unified code to ensure that our armies on both sides can move quickly at short notice to take control of the French government as quickly as possible. ”

"Let's just use winter." Churchill nodded and said casually: "Napoleon the Great, who once wanted to unify Europe, fell in winter, and 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, it was clear to both parties that the meeting was actually adding a layer of protection to the United Kingdom and Australasia.

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

At this meeting, President Albert showed what he had always been able to do, which was to hesitate and help the left and the right.

However, because the representatives of the French Lords and Peacers crushed the Mains faction in terms of seniority and status, the momentum of the Lords and Peacers faction at this meeting was far greater than that of the Mains faction.

At the meeting, the current Prime Minister Reival said with a serious face: "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask you a question, that is, what did the war bring to France?"

Some people may say that if we lose this war, France will face the danger of annihilation.

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

So far in the war, the number of casualties among our soldiers has exceeded 700,000, and the death toll has exceeded 325,000.

Do we have to use the defeat of the last world war to end this war that was not necessary in the first place?

I propose that we negotiate with Germany separately and end this war with a relatively low loss, avoiding pointless attrition with Germany.

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

Reival's words can be said to have spoken to the hearts of many French lords and factions.

Of course, it was nice to say that they did not want to see the French casualties, and to say that they were already afraid of the terrible fighting power of the German army.

Putting aside Reival in the political arena for the time being, some of the representatives of the Lords and Factions, such as Petain and Gammerin, who were already famous in World War I, are now also turning into the arms of the Lords and Factions?

In any case, this is indeed a sad feeling for the French government and the French people. Considering the glorious history of France more than 100 years ago, this is even more sad.

To borrow a phrase from Robert Falchick, a pioneer in the history of armored warfare, it is best to describe it: "When France was in dire need of a warrior, all the warriors of the past chose to be a deserter." ”

Not to mention the impact on history, the present of this world alone has had a very significant impact on the layout of the defense line in Paris, France.

In the proposal of the Lords and Peacers, they actually mentioned abandoning the defense line of Paris and adopting the so-called "Paris without defense" plan to show their sincerity to Germany and win the opportunity to negotiate peace with Germany.

Paris is undefended!

This is an incredible and unimaginable sentence for the French before.

If it were the current British government that London should not be defended, I am afraid that most British officials would slap the proposer.

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

In the midst of arguments and arguments between the pro-peace officials, the proposal of "no defense in Paris" was agreed to 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 move, and they were to go south of Paris, ceding all the defensive lines north of Paris to the Germans.

Today's update is sent, thank you brothers for your support, and start tomorrow!

(End of chapter)