Father of France

Chapter 28 Mitterrand

Along with the bill, a conscription order was also announced. The provisional government issued the conscription order to expand the French army's strength, also in preparation for the next phase of operations in Germany.

One of the provisions in the conscription order was that liberal arts students would be given priority. During World War I, France's mobilization speed and efficiency exceeded that of Germany, which had a larger population. This was by no means without cost.

The mobilization of all people without discrimination depleted a generation of French people. Many students who were expected to shine brightly in various universities died on the battlefield. One battle wiped out 80 percent of the taxi drivers in Paris at the time.

It's important to understand that in 1914, even in Paris, the capital, very few people had the opportunity to drive. Being a driver was an extremely high-paying job, and a single battle wiped out all the drivers in Paris.

Many university departments were wiped out, causing the status of the European Mathematical Center in Paris to plummet after the war.

This time, the provisional government was smarter and couldn't let revenge get the better of them like it did in World War I. After all, there were still British and American troops. They could beat a dog when it was down, but they absolutely couldn't get bitten by the dog.

Germany was already at its wit's end, and France needed to preserve its strength as much as possible to prepare for the postwar period; useful talents should not die in vain on the battlefield.

In a small café near the Sorbonne, literature teacher Pierre Durand is having breakfast with his fiancée, Claire Martin. Claire pushes the day's newspaper in front of Pierre, pointing to the headline.

“Look at this,” she whispered, “maybe our chance has come.”

Pierre adjusted his glasses, carefully reading the report about military marriage laws. Sunlight streamed through the glass window, casting a soft halo around his blond hair. He finished reading, looked up, a complex light flickering in his blue eyes. "You mean you want me to join the army?"

Claire took his hand. With chestnut curls and gentle brown eyes, she was a music teacher at a nearby elementary school.

“We’ve waited two years, Pierre. Your father still doesn’t approve of our marriage because my family isn’t wealthy, and you’ve only been working for a short time.”

Her voice trembled slightly. "Now the government has promised housing and job security for military families. We can have our own homes now. The radio says that Germany has mobilized adult men aged sixteen to sixty, and the newspapers say the war will end in six months at most. Everyone says this is an opportunity; I see long lines at the recruitment centers."

Claire wasn't lying, but sometimes the eyes can be deceiving. Isn't it easy to find someone to queue up?
Many of the people queuing up were actually young teachers acting as substitutes, and after finishing their queue, they would go to the next recruitment point to continue queuing.

However, some information is true. Germany is indeed mobilizing all men aged sixteen to sixty, and the situation looks dire. Even keyboard warriors on the streets of Paris have come to this conclusion.

Pierre didn't answer immediately. He remembered the photograph his father had hung in the living room—his young father in military uniform standing beside a tank, smiling broadly. It was a pre-war photograph; later, his father brought back from the battlefield only a lame leg and bottles of brandy.

But facing Claire's expectant gaze, Pierre's expression slowly hardened. "Okay! Let's get our marriage certificate right away."

Men are capable of anything for women, and Pierre saw it too. The newly introduced special law guarantees that the marriages of married soldiers are not threatened, so he decided to go to the battlefield and give it a shot.

The White Feather Movement has always existed, albeit in different forms at different times. With the efforts of the provisional government, the French army began to rebuild. Although a considerable number of men remained in German prisoner-of-war camps, the first step in rebuilding the French army had been taken. The armed forces under the French Communist Party were also shaken; after this law was enacted, these non-state-recognized armed groups found themselves in a very awkward position.

At the Paris train station, the 1st Armored Division of the 1st Army of France arrived in loyal Paris. The 1st Army Commander, Dracon, and his troops disembarked at the same time, and the train station became very crowded.

The headquarters guards surrounded General Dragon and his family, mainly Dragon and his wife, Lady Adile, who was of equal status and heavily pregnant, making it easy to be careless.

As soon as he stepped out of the train station, Cuomo looked around and ran in one direction. A group of soldiers wearing Lorraine cross masks were standing opposite him. The leader's posture was not very formal, with one foot sticking out as if he were at ease. He had a large Damascus steel knife at his waist. Cuomo didn't need to see his face to recognize his brother.

"Brother, you've come to pick us up!" Como ran up to Coman enthusiastically, his face beaming with joy.

"Have you been behaving well lately?" Koman reached out and touched his younger brother's head, then looked at Admiral Dragon approaching, raising his head slightly with pride.

General Dragon did not stop, walking through the soldiers of the Youth Division, and said without turning around, "Comman, let's go together."

In the Bastille, Alain was fiddling with a wire when the interrogation room door opened. Two soldiers escorted in a prisoner, who immediately clenched his thighs together upon seeing the wire, his expression one of extreme terror.

"Seen it before? How boring." Alan knew at a glance that someone had already used this trick. People are always innovating in the areas of torturing others. He threw the wire aside and said, "Want to escape trial and become a witness for the prosecution? If you want, we can talk. Of course, even if you become a witness for the prosecution, you have to plead guilty first. Whether you submit a confession or not depends on your performance."

Alan was even prepared to scare the other party with his violin, but seeing the other party's trembling reaction, he knew that a comrade had probably used it before.

The conversation went very smoothly, and Alan left the interrogation room in half an hour. He then bumped into Martin, who had been elusive lately. He was taken aback, then became furious. "I thought you were dead."

Martin, holding a stack of files, was unfazed by Alan's furious outburst. "Tobacco is important too. I'm back now, working on compiling interrogation files on Vichy French officials."

Judging from Martin's mental state, he was in good spirits, but Alan was still upset, saying, "It takes so long to produce cigarettes."

“It doesn’t need to take that long. I also spent some time helping the commander find temporary housing.” Martin calmly indicated that he was also very busy, but knew how to balance work and rest. “Our unit doesn’t seem to be short of manpower, right? You can arrange for people to work in four-hour shifts and not let the prisoners sleep. Even an iron man would confess.”

Martin felt that his comrade's working methods were problematic. Why did he insist on doing everything himself? If they were really short-handed, they could have prisoners interrogate other prisoners; there might even be some unexpected gains.

"Mitterrand, whom Koeman mentioned once, even talked about his own bedwetting as a child in less than nineteen hours."

(End of this chapter)