Father of France

Chapter 107 Patton is all about connections
During their few days in West Berlin, the two discussed the integration of the aviation industry with both military and civilian applications. Koeman didn't actually have the knowledge to discuss this with a professional, but luckily he had met one.

Given France's current technological level, even if they were to miraculously develop a mainline passenger aircraft, profitability would be a distant prospect.

Britain, with its greater colonial legacy than France, was still held hostage by the United States, with its Comet airliner severely restricted. France, with an even weaker foundation, would be suicidal to compete with the United States in the mainline airliner market.

For France at that time, mainline passenger aircraft, including supersonic aircraft, were a dead end; only regional passenger aircraft in the niche market had a slightly higher success rate.

There weren't many opportunities for France to exert its influence, and the Soviet socialist bloc would certainly choose Tupolev.

In the free world, the United States holds an overwhelming advantage, while in the other world, France's ability to make Airbus a success is nothing short of a miracle and can be considered the greatest achievement of France's independent and autonomous path.

"France's colonies are mainly in Africa. Being able to travel between Paris and Algiers without refueling would be considered a success." Koeman was quite lenient with Brunov Bader's initial demands; as long as the air transport between Algiers and Paris could be guaranteed, future development could be discussed later.

Currently, it seems that the Christian soldiers and their families recruited by France around French Syria will ultimately end up in Algeria.

Although Koeman was not in Paris, he had already heard the news that Christians in Syria had begun packing their bags to immigrate.

"If Germany had a market it could control, the world war would not have broken out," Brunov Bader lamented, expressing regret that Germany's rise to power came too late.

If someone said that to officers from other countries, they would probably be in serious trouble. Fortunately, Koeman didn't care about such things. He had already protected Himmler's daughter, so why would he care about such sarcastic remarks?

"What Germany wants is not just the market, or rather, not only the market, but also hegemony over the European continent. This is a matter of life and death for Britain." Koeman grinned, once again displaying his honest reactionary style, and said, "Fortunately, Germany has been eliminated, and the next opponent is the Soviet Union."

Before the Potsdam Conference, most of Brunov-Baad's team had already been located by the French and brought into the French-occupied West Berlin along with their families. This team and the materials they preserved were under Koeman's control and would contribute to the development of the French aviation industry in the future.

"The British still want to balance the Soviet Union?" Not everyone can't see what kind of people Britain is. Brunov Bader has a kind of contempt for Britain.

"Don't you understand the British way? That's their instinct." Coman chuckled. Even if there's no profit to be made, the British will still try to get involved and see what's going on. "But I believe that in the future, Britain will become an insignificant island, which is a good thing for all European countries."

Perhaps in preparation for the Potsdam Conference, relations between the occupying forces in Berlin became much closer, and even travel between occupied zones became much smoother. Most of the members of Brunov-Baad's team entered West Berlin without being questioned.

Koeman decided to leave Berlin with this group of aviation experts when the Potsdam Conference was held. France was not a participating country in the Potsdam Conference, so he would definitely not be able to get any attention from it. It would be better to do something useful at this conference.

It is believed that no one will try to undermine unity during the meeting, and the chances of passing through the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany smoothly without being intercepted will be greatly increased.

Before he could put his plan into action, General Patton was recalled to the United States. Upon his return, Patton was treated as a triumphant hero, and he was quickly surrounded by flowers, ribbons, and cheering crowds.

Patton was invited to give speeches in various places on numerous occasions. In these speeches, Patton fully demonstrated his heroic bearing and military demeanor. He always strode onto the stage with a warrior-like gait, expressing his views in a powerful and resonant voice with an unquestionable tone.

American media gave Patton extremely high praise, but Patton didn't match it. His speech was filled with rhetoric suggesting that the US military should continue to actively prepare for war, as if he were a warmonger conducting war mobilization. This rhetoric wasn't widely reported, but biased reporting on Patton still spread throughout Europe.

Given that the Potsdam Conference was approaching, Koeman felt that recalling Patton at this time was intentional, to prevent Patton from making any inappropriate remarks during the Potsdam Conference, which was meant to demonstrate unity and friendship.

Captain Armand's company was responsible for covering Coman's operation from beginning to end. They watched Coman and Brunov-Bad board the train and said before boarding, "The Potsdam Conference has nothing to do with us French. It's not a matter for Churchill, Truman, or Stalin."

"The Potsdam Conference will be remembered in another way." Koeman suddenly recalled a famous scene: Churchill was giving his opinion at the Potsdam Conference, but he lost the national election. As a result, in the middle of the conference, the new Prime Minister Attlee replaced him and became the Prime Minister representing Britain at the conference.

As long as the Potsdam Conference is mentioned, Churchill's famous scene will be brought up. As for what consensus was reached at the Potsdam Conference itself, no one cares about it compared to Churchill's resignation.

The train traveled through a false sense of unity, arriving in Stuttgart. Beyond Stuttgart lay the territory controlled by French troops. The formal division of the four-power occupation zone might not be determined until the Potsdam Conference, but the general boundaries had already been set.

Koeman concluded his short trip to Berlin, where he saw the ruins of the thousand-year-old imperial capital and took some photos to bring to Gudrun Himmler.

Gudrun Himmler is still under surveillance, but French judicial officials have visited several times. Koeman reappeared and expressed his concern, grabbing the little dragon rider's hand and asking anxiously, "They didn't do anything to you, did they? You're so beautiful."

“No.” Gudrun Himmler rolled his eyes at Koeman and asked, “How was your trip to Berlin? Was it badly damaged?”

Koeman took out the photos he had prepared and showed them to Gudrun Himmler. "I took some photos because I was afraid you would miss home. Berlin was under occupation, but it has recovered some of its former prosperity."

Of course, he couldn't tell the other party about the rampant black market and frequent adult business transactions. Although Gudron Himre was stronger than the average girl, Koman would still avoid rubbing salt into the wound.

After staying with Gudrun Himmler until sunset, Koeman left and headed straight for the garrison command. After get off work, he called home, reported his findings from Berlin, and got straight to the point: "Father and General Patton must have a good relationship, right?"

"It's alright." General Dragon's First Army had also briefly entered Bavaria, and he himself had been to Munich, but he returned to Paris after a short stay.

Therefore, the two met a few times. While they could not be said to have a deep friendship, General Dragon had listened to Patton's hostile remarks about the Soviet Union on several occasions and hummed and hawed as he expressed that they made sense.

"I'm prepared to bring an artistic baptism to America if I can get through to them. But as a soldier, I can't just go to another country without a reason." Koeman felt that he needed to find a backer to help him with his efforts to get French people to pay for his intellectual property, but the relationship between the US and France was not the same as that between the US and Britain, and finding a backer was not so easy.

After much thought, the only thing Patton could use was the fact that he had met Admiral Dragon a few times during his brief time in Bavaria.

"Let's examine the US arms sales situation. The military does have some needs for weapons acquisition right now. However, it won't be for too long; you can't stay in the US for an extended period," General Dracon replied. France does indeed have many outdated weapons, and acquiring technology from Germany is one approach, but there are also voices advocating for the acquisition of US military technology.

(End of this chapter)