Father of France

Chapter 13 The Missing Four Years

"When General de Gaulle came to Damascus, he also agreed."

General Dragon nodded. When de Gaulle came to Damascus seeking support, he didn't talk much about the war with Lieutenant Colonel Dragon. They mainly talked about the post-war period, which included the purge of French collaborators.

But even so, that's all in the past. Now that France is liberated, if we were to proceed with the purge of French collaborators as Coman suggested, there might be some problems, and even de Gaulle might no longer support it.

"So we need to act faster and more drastically, and get rid of those who are unworthy of their positions." Coman could sense Admiral Dragon's concern; the window of opportunity to eliminate traitors was very short.

As for how much support de Gaulle could provide, Corman recalls that de Gaulle's first term as president was not very long, mainly because the Fourth French Republic was a parliamentary system.

The Fourth Republic, a parliamentary system, can be considered a precursor to the political fragmentation of many parliamentary countries that followed.

As a revolutionary holy land and a pioneer of institutional reforms, France has stepped into all sorts of pitfalls in its systems, and was the first to do so. The change of government in the Fourth Republic was basically the same as the speed at which Japan and Italy changed governments.

De Gaulle attempted to transform the parliamentary system into a presidential system, but became embroiled in a quagmire of political parties and ultimately resigned in protest.

If Koeman had made good use of de Gaulle's year-plus presidency, it would have been more than enough.

General Dragon had been supporting de Gaulle, who had no troops and was being threatened by General Giraud. Now it was time for him to reciprocate. Only by targeting groups with no vested interests on the mainland could the movement to purge traitors be ensured to remain undisturbed.

Not to mention the pitfalls of the system, France also falls into the pitfalls of various theories. France was the first country in modern times to believe in Malthusian population theory.

While European powers were vying for colonies around the world, France experienced slow population growth in modern times. During the reign of the Sun King, France was the most populous country in Europe, including Imperial Russia.

France was the only country with a population of over 20 million at the time, but it was subsequently surpassed by Imperial Russia, Great Britain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. The Napoleonic era was a brief resurgence for France. After Napoleon, France's population entered a period of low growth. With the same level of technology, the side with a larger population has an advantage.

"Before I reach the mainland, could Father perhaps speak to General de Gaulle about the idea of ​​attempting to annex Sardinia?" Coman brought up the old topic again while walking with General Dragon.

"You know the chances of this are so slim, why do it anyway?" General Dragon may not be such a prodigy, but his years of military service were not for nothing. France knew Sardinia was important, but couldn't Britain and France see that too?

"Even if Britain and the US try to stop us, it's better for us to keep our distance from these two allies," Koeman replied nonchalantly. "Since World War I, these two countries have been taking sides and preventing us from weakening Germany. Their opposition this time is certainly not surprising. It's a good thing for France to have one more person see through the true colors of these English-speaking countries. There will definitely be concrete actions to be taken."

“Just say what you’re thinking.” General Dragon knew he couldn’t be viewed in the ordinary way, and their conversations were different from those between father and son. “Move the Sardinian people out now,” Coman said directly. “Once Father makes his move, I’ll go back and see the reaction at home. If we’re under pressure from Britain and the US, I believe General de Gaulle will step in to explain. This is also a test for Britain and the US; they owe France something after World War I.”

General Dragon didn't seem to have any psychological burden. Italy claimed it wouldn't be purged, but its quick alignment with the Axis powers didn't change the fact that Italy was indeed a member of the Axis powers.

Even if the annexation of Sardinia ultimately fails, this action is unlikely to be targeted.

“Then let’s start taking stock of the island’s residents and then relocate them.” Admiral Dragon proved at this point that the Allied generals were very easy to communicate with, but what the Allied generals didn’t know was that it was even easier to communicate with Coman.

"First, we need to take a count of young girls; they are the first group that should be controlled."

Faced with Admiral Dragon's expression that demanded an explanation, Koeman stated his reasoning: "Population must be divided into children, the working class, and the elderly. The working class is definitely the most valuable. The elderly have neither labor value nor reproductive value, so the cost and benefit are not proportional for them."

"Let's not even talk about children; they're an investment in the future. So, the workforce is the most valuable group at this stage, and this can be divided into men and women. From a gender perspective, before the age of thirty, the objective fact that men pursue women won't change. If we control the women of our age, men will naturally cooperate obediently."

Koeman didn't mention that doing so might lead to hatred, but given the objective reality that Italy and even the Axis powers were doomed to defeat, there wouldn't be any consequences.

General Dragon also felt that what Koman said wasn't entirely unreasonable, but in his memory, no other country seemed to approach the issue from the perspective of gender relations in this way. It always sounded strange, and he couldn't help but smile wryly, "It sounds so shameless."

"That's because you haven't met me yet. If you had, you would have been this shameless by now," Koman replied calmly. "If you can control a woman, dealing with a young man is much easier."

Koeman's shameless self-praise left Dragon feeling helpless on camera. Before he could say anything, Koeman continued, "We still need talent, which can be included in the population. What's left is industrial technology. France did indeed suffer four years of war after its homeland fell. War is fertile ground for technological innovation, but France missed those years. The advantage is that our population loss is not significant, but the disadvantage is that many academic and technological applications and innovations have to be started from scratch. Moreover, we objectively have a need for talent and technology. When advancing into Germany and Italy, we must be careful to plunder the talent of those two countries. I believe the United States has a similar plan."

Yes, there was. The United States had a special operation called Operation Paperclip, which was a secret U.S. program to recruit German scientists, engineers and technical experts. The aim was to acquire advanced German technology, especially in rockets, aviation, chemical weapons and medical research, and to prevent these talents from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union.

But Corman's ideas are different from those of the United States. He wants to make up for the academic and technological research that France has interrupted during the four years. He doesn't want to find a team in a particular field, but to improve French education. Wouldn't it be great to have university teachers from Italy or Germany come to France to teach secondary school?

“Some professors of classical literature and philosophy.” Admiral Dracon considered it for a moment; it was indeed something that would benefit France.

"Forget about liberal arts students, we need STEM talents." Koman curled his lip. To sum up this difference in a saying from Showa-era Japan, it was like recruiting liberal arts students first, letting them die first.

(End of this chapter)