Father of France

Chapter 100 The Enemy on Capitol Hill

“This mission is quite dangerous,” Koman said, mimicking the synthesized voice from his memory, “but I’m willing to accept the challenge. After all, I chose you.”

Gudrunhimlai smiled faintly, seemingly having recovered somewhat from the pain of losing his father.

Koeman decided to give Gudrun Himmler some time to adjust. "I won't interfere with how you communicate with your mother. But there's one thing I must make clear now: your identities cannot be hidden. If you try to hide them, you might have to live in anonymity for decades. It's better not to hide your identities. After this short interrogation, you will regain your freedom."

Those German war criminals who fled to South America lived like rats in the sewers; this was definitely not a good way of life.

Although Gudrun Himmler was young, his strong mental fortitude came into play, and he nodded in agreement, saying, "You don't need to worry that I can't accept reality; that would be cowardly."

"I am indeed worried, but I trust you." Koman put on a restrained expression of unrequited love. If he could see his own face, he might even think that he would be willing to become a live-in son-in-law.

Koeman decided to release Himmler's widow's name, but not hand her over. He had already completed his investigation, and Himmler's widow was unaware of Himmler's crimes, nor would she affect Germany's final solution.

Now that the trial is over, a final verdict must be reached: the crimes of the SS during the war have nothing to do with these two poor women.

Over the next few days, Koeman was rehearsing statements with Gudrun Himmler and her mother. "They will respond according to my version of events. They may be restricted in their personal freedom for a period of time, but it won't be for too long."

Koeman took out a stack of Swiss francs and handed it to Gudrun Himmler, saying, "You still need money to live, and this money can help you get through some difficult times in the future."

“You… even if I borrowed it,” Gudrun Himmler said, accepting the words at the last minute. “I will remember your help.”

"Is our agreement still valid?" Koeman didn't care whether or not he was helped; instead, he valued the general's previous promise.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Gudron Himmler's cheeks were flushed. He replied irritably, "It works. If you dare to do it, why shouldn't I?"

The interception of German fugitives would continue for some time, and Koeman obviously couldn't keep pretending to be on vacation in Austria. He consulted Gudrun Himmler, saying, "You should mentally prepare yourself for when you can reveal your identity, so that I can have some time to prepare."

"Where are you taking me and my mother?" Gudrun Himmler didn't distrust Koeman, but it was better to ask him some questions.

“In the French-occupied territories of Germany, it’s easy to arrange things.” Koeman didn’t tell Gudrun Himmler that he wanted power through his father, but he vaguely mentioned that he was more than just a lieutenant. Arranging Gudrun Himmler’s life in the French-occupied territories was easy; as long as the French occupying forces were dealt with, arranging life for two people was a breeze.

After calming down Gudrun Himmler, Koeman returned to the checkpoint. They had been living quite comfortably for the time being. After all, this was just a small border town, unlike Vienna, which was full of conflicts between the occupying forces of various countries due to the division of resources and occupied territories.

The division of Austrian occupation zones was actually easier to resolve. What truly caused the Allies to disagree was the division of German occupation zones, which involved the ownership of eastern German territory.

From the perspective of Britain and the United States, the Soviet Union had already gained a great advantage by occupying almost half of Germany's territory. They believed that appropriate concessions should be made on other issues, but the Soviet Union did not see it that way.

The Soviet Union had its own logic, which was that compared to the territory of Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union had suffered a great loss.

Poland and Finland were originally inseparable parts of Tsarist Russia. The fact that the Soviet Union, after suffering such heavy casualties, was still unable to recover the lost territories of Tsarist Russia and still wanted to preserve the independence of Poland and Finland was an unprecedented consideration for the overall situation.

Therefore, in order to make up for the sacrifices made by the Soviet Union, the division of Polish territory from Germany must be recognized.

Poland was a victorious nation in a certain sense, and it would be completely unacceptable for a victorious nation to lose half of its territory.

The Soviet Union could not annex Poland, and Poland, which did not want to maintain its state of affairs, harbored hatred towards it. So, it could only try to find a solution by targeting Germany.

Poland was a victorious nation, while Germany was a defeated nation. Was it excessive for a defeated nation to cede territory?
Moscow considered this reasonable, so although it occupied half of Germany, the Soviet Union did not think it had gained a great advantage and that it was only right to cede German territory to compensate Poland.

However, it was fine for the Soviet Union to think this way from its own perspective. Britain and the United States were not stakeholders; all they saw was half of Germany being occupied by the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Britain and the United States faced the challenge of the French provisional government, led by de Gaulle, vying for control of the French-occupied territories. France had deployed four army groups to attack Germany; regardless of the quality of the troops or the number of colonial soldiers among them, the sheer number of troops was undeniable, and France's contribution had to be taken seriously. De Gaulle's demands had already been recognized by the British government, with Prime Minister Churchill deciding to support France's legitimate claims. This wasn't a one-sided offer of benefits; in return, France also had to support Britain's partition plan: Britain would occupy most of the Ruhr region, while the United States would receive southern Germany, including Bavaria.

The victorious powers were engaged in fierce competition over the division of Germany, which led to the swift release of the division of Austria, but the division of the occupied territories of Germany remained stalled.

It seems that a solution acceptable to all countries cannot be found in the near future, especially when it comes to the Soviet-occupied territories. However, there is some great news for France: the four-nation occupation zone division in Berlin has been proposed first, before the division of the occupation zones in Germany as a whole.

This is a good start, marking a good beginning for the division of Germany. Koeman is very concerned about this matter and said to Alan, "We should go to Berlin next month. Can we say with a clear conscience that we fought a world war without even setting foot on Berlin soil?"

“You always have so many ideas.” Alan felt like he was in a moral vacuum, unable to keep up with Koeman’s train of thought. “Didn’t you say before that cities like Vienna might experience conflict? It seems like Berlin has more problems than Vienna.”

“That makes sense, but there are always exceptions.” Koeman rarely asks his comrades to make decisions together. The last time he asked Alan for advice was because of Gudrun Himmler. Obviously, Alan didn’t seize the opportunity and even teased Koeman.

Koeman has decided that once Gudrunhimle is settled, he will go to Berlin to try to retrieve the research team temporarily stored in East Germany, which is crucial for the French aviation industry.

Previously, Koeman had obtained jet fighter engines from Germany, but there was something even more important, which the French army simply couldn't obtain under the conditions at the time.

If the last time the French occupied Soviet territory, they didn't pay attention and slightly crossed the border, creating a fait accompli, then the Junkers bomber squadron in the Soviet-occupied zone was too far from the boundary line.

This team later manufactured the Baader 152 passenger plane during the East German period. It was a jet airliner independently developed by East Germany, using four Pirna 014 engines, and made its maiden flight in 4.

In fact, the aircraft and engine development teams mainly came from the famous Junkers aircraft company during World War II.

The Ju 287 bomber was designed as the prototype of the Baad 152 passenger plane. Baad's team is probably still unknown to the Soviet Union, because Baad was not the main designer of the Ju 287 bomber.

At this time, Bard was just a low-ranking engineer. Although he had information on the Ju 287 bomber, he was not able to take charge of the project independently.

For example, its status was roughly equivalent to that of the Mia Design Bureau, which was subordinate to famous design bureaus like MiG and Sukhoi in the 1950s.

Normally, in the 1950s, Bader would have used the design of the Ju 287 bomber to create the Bader 152 airliner, making the country the fifth in the world to manufacture jet airliners.

Koeman decided to save the team and add them to the French civil aviation industry.

France also had the Cliffsail jet airliner in the 1950s, but since it wanted to become a major power, it couldn't just keep one aircraft; the more related industries, the better.

In fact, a purely capitalist society is not compatible with the existence of a military industry. Currently, there are more than a dozen aerospace and military companies in the UK, and even more in the US, with dozens.

However, these Lockheed Martin competitors were ultimately either acquired or went bankrupt in round after round of bidding.

In every generation of U.S. Air Force fighter jet competitions, a number of losers would fall by the wayside. By the 21st century, Lockheed Martin was practically the only one left. In the end, Lockheed Martin, the ultimate winner, turned around and strangled the old men on Capitol Hill who never guaranteed the defense industry, raising prices on the spot and turning the serfs upside down.

Britain had to consolidate its military aviation industry due to its national strength, while the Soviet Union, although it had some design bureaus that were largely inactive for a long time, still retained their organizational structure.

Compared to these two countries, American military aerospace companies either go bankrupt or are acquired if they fail, with no safety net. By the time of fifth-generation fighter jets, almost only Lockheed Martin could hold on, and by the time of sixth-generation fighter jets, Trump could only pin his hopes on Boeing.

Boeing India has become the hope for saving the US sixth-generation fighter jet. The sixth-generation fighter jet has just started bidding, and the major Eastern power has already felt that the advantage is in its hands.

Despite the guise of streamlining administration and reducing government spending, the Capitol administration has not saved on defense spending and has instead caused numerous businesses to go bankrupt.

Koeman felt that if they could find Bud's team, they had to establish a nationalized military aviation enterprise.

(End of this chapter)