Iron Cross

"Promises can be changed. Churchill also promised to aid France at all costs - why did he leave those planes in the country? And after the Battle of Britain, he proudly claimed that he had resisted the pressure of the French..." Pétain became furious when he thought of this, "Also, after the Royal Navy fired on our warships, after the British seized our colonies in the Middle East, Madagascar, and Central Africa, this commitment It no longer exists. France can be deceived, but it cannot be deceived again and again. That is an insult to my intelligence.”

Darlan also chimed in and cursed: "It's true. The British are so useless. Sometimes I thank the Bismarck. It was he who sank the Hood in one fell swoop and avenged our Britannia."

"Do you know why I gave up the fight in 1940? Because I wanted to preserve some vitality for France. The result of the last war we fought to the end was that northern France was reduced to ruins, and a whole generation of young men and almost every French family were lost. All their relatives were killed or injured in the war. After the war, France's birth rate and population dropped a lot, and it has not recovered until now." Pétain suddenly showed an excited look, "France must not lose these 2 million young men, except for the young ones. Some are married but many are unmarried young people. The current demographics in France are typically more girls than boys, especially among the young population. If this continues for too long, it will affect the reproduction of the entire French nation, and even if it is. So what if you are married, if your husband is not around, it’s okay for one or two years, but what about five or eight years? With the characteristics of France, do you think French women can survive?”

Darlan was speechless: This is true. The armistice between France and Germany has only been two short years, and he has seen too many French women fall into the arms of the Germans. Compared with French men, Germans may not be so romantic, but Germans are strict and decisive in everything they do, which is more in line with the image of a tough guy. In difficult and difficult days like the war, Germans feel more secure than idle literary youths. As for national feelings, they can change. Since France was defeated so quickly in the summer of 1940 and surrendered so quickly, the loss of personnel except for prisoners was not significant. Unless someone in the family was killed in action, everyone's hatred of the Germans was not that strong. ——Otherwise, de Gaulle rather than Marshal Pétain would be more supported by the people. Apart from anything else, the order in Paris under the management of the Germans is much better than when it was managed by France itself, because the Germans are rigid and ruthless. Almost all of them died under the heavy blow.

"Of course, France still has some people in the colonies, but you don't want to see the descendants of the Sun King and Napoleon become a group of black Africans in the future, right? Or to take a step back, the reproduction of the next generation can no longer rely on us people, right? ?”

Marshal Pétain was satirizing the behavior of high-level government officials who were drunk and unscrupulously raising lovers. Darlan blushed, and it seemed that he could also be included in this category. However, he knew very well that although the French were tolerant of lovers, they could find lovers on a small scale, but on a large scale, the whole society would be in chaos.

"Darlan, let me give you a piece of advice. I don't say this to others easily, but you are an exception. You are the future leader of France that I am optimistic about..."

"marshal……"

"Judging from the current situation, this war will continue to fight for many years. It will not stop until one side is exhausted. France is by no means a simple revenge or cooperation - that is too shallow. We must work hard to preserve our national vitality. To recover, whether Germany or Britain and the United States win, this victory has nothing to do with France. The French must never join in this kind of fighting again. We must seize the opportunity of the war to quietly recover. What the Germans can do after the "Versailles Treaty" France People can do the same." Pétain was very emotional and spoke quickly and urgently. "The Armistice Agreement seems to be angry and humiliating from the standpoint of you and me as political leaders, but it is not the same for the people. A relief? In the past two years, their normal lives have not been disturbed too much. They live a more stable life than during the war. Isn't this a blessing? If we can expand this happiness and benefit more people, French people, what does it matter if we need to be broken into pieces?”

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

Admiral de La Pold is the commander of the French High Seas Fleet, which has a fleet of 5 cruisers and 13 destroyers including the flagship battleship Strasbourg. He has a personal relationship and work relationship with Darlan. The feud between them was well known, and Darlan was afraid that if he agreed to this condition, the other party would use it as a weapon to attack him.

Pétain sighed: "What else can he do? He can no longer control the High Seas Fleet. Our intelligence officers placed in the fleet told me that those officers and sailors secretly obtained a large amount of money by destroying oil meters and forging reports. Fuel, these ships are now filled with about half of the fuel, and if the conditions are right, they will flee to North Africa - doing so will mean that we have violated the armistice agreement first, and will surely suffer crazy retaliation from the Germans. The fleet will just leave with a slap on the butt. "But the French people will pay the price - we are defenseless at the moment."

Darlan lowered his head sadly: "Why did things become like this?"

"You have to know that almost all other senior officials, including Laval, are in favor of reaching this compromise with Germany. If you oppose it from the navy's standpoint, I can understand your mood, but this is not good for you. If in the future If you want to control the whole of France, you can't fight against these majority. Besides..." Pétain sighed, "The people are not as far-sighted as you think, let alone care about the future. They are more greedy for immediate interests. If they know it is you, If you oppose Germany's early repatriation of prisoners and hinder the reunion of your relatives in order to retain a fleet that has no practical significance, they will hate you to the bone. "

Darlan lowered his head and said nothing, and these words hit his weak point: Marshal Pétain seems to have a very limited time to continue to be in power, and there are very few backup candidates who can take over the highest position. Apart from him, Laval, who is obviously close to Germany and Laval, who has always vigorously advocated Franco-German cooperation, will obviously be favored by Germany. If he offends the entire senior management and the entire French people because of these unusable warships, I believe no one will approve of him as the supreme leader in the future. Head of state.

"If it is for the long-term interests of the French people...I..." Darlan struggled to squeeze out a sentence through his teeth, "I can agree to implement such a plan, but the warships in North Africa cannot be included."

"Of course, I'm not that stupid." Petain patted him on the shoulder, "I won't let your sacrifice be in vain. After the new defense division is formed, I plan to put the main troops and armored divisions in North Africa to defend our country. Colonies - they will all be under your command."

"Führer, good news, good news, your strategy is successful, the French have agreed to accept our conditions." Ribbentrop, with a cheerful face, proudly walked into Hoffmann's office and said in an extremely exaggerated tone, " The French are impatient for the prisoners to return home, and in order to avoid opposition from enemies at home and abroad, they are urging us to hand over the warships as soon as possible. "

"Very good." Hoffman waved his fist happily, "It finally worked."

"Dear Marshal, I'm sorry to inform you..." Hoffman made a face and continued to speak into the microphone, "You need to go on a business trip to the port of Toulon in France to receive all French warships. Yes, you You heard me right, today is not April Fool’s Day, everything I said is true.”

"Oh my God...Long live the Führer!" The only sounds from the receiver came from Redel's excited shouts and the sound of a chair overturning.

On October 26, the French High Seas Fleet commanded by Admiral de La Polde and the French Third Military Region Fleet controlled by Lieutenant General Andre Mathews, anchored in the port of Toulon, slowly lowered the French red and white ships. , blue tricolor flag, including the battleships Dunkirk and Strasbourg, the old battleships Provence, Oceania and the pre-dreadnought ship Condorcet, the seaplane carrier Commander Test, and the heavy cruiser A total of 5 battleships (old and new), 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers and torpedo boats, including the Corber, Algiers, Duplec, light cruiser Marseille, and Jean-de-Vieira. Nearly 70 warships, including 16 submarines, 7 communication ships, and 3 reconnaissance ships, were handed over to the German Navy.

In order to avoid irritating the national feelings of the French, all the German naval officers, including Marshal Raeder, did not raise their own flags when receiving the ceremony, nor did they make any loud noises or play music. Instead, they saluted the slowly lowering French flag. Then these warships (except for some that cannot be moved) slowly sailed out of the port of Toulon with the assistance of pilots and headed for the Italian naval base, where they will receive comprehensive inspections, modifications and maintenance, and will be unified into the merged German fleet. Italian Combined Fleet in the Mediterranean.

Looking at the slowly sailing fleet, Louis d'Estaing, the former sailor of the Strasbourg, burst into tears. His captain comforted him: "Don't worry, we will build more and better warships in the future, and Their sacrifice was not in vain. Large areas of territory, including Paris, were recovered, and hundreds of thousands of French families were reunited with their relatives. They died a worthy death..."

In October 1942, the once fourth navy in the world and the second largest navy in Europe came to an end. They witnessed the end of an era.