Father of France

Chapter 41 Children's Rescue Committee

"The Italian Communists?" The command headquarters of the French Fifth Army, the British Eighth Army, and the US Fifth Army all uttered cryptic murmurs.

The armed uprising that broke out in Turin was not as exhilarating as the Allied forces on the Western Front had imagined. The Italian Communist Party was still stronger than the French Communist Party, although its armed forces were not as large as the French Communist Party's, but not by much. Its party strength was also greater than the French Communist Party's. Nominally, the Soviet Union was also an ally, but...?
Today's allies may be tomorrow's enemies. Hostility towards the Soviet Union has always existed, but it has been temporarily put aside in order to contain Germany.

Coincidentally, the armies of the United States, Britain, and France decided to wait and see if this so-called Italian Liberation Army was truly harmless enough.

The French Fifth Army's original destination for this campaign was Turin, and the Fifth Mountain Division had already approached Piedmont. However, it received orders from headquarters not to continue south. Not only the French army, but also the American troops that landed and the British troops that moved north seemed to slow down all of a sudden.

The overall will of the top leadership, which has a comprehensive view of the situation, will not affect specific local matters. As a result, Austa was not affected, and it did not even affect the children's play.

On a street corner, a little girl who looked only four or five years old was on the damp cobblestone ground, her chestnut curly hair smeared with wall dust. She carefully inserted a bunch of wildflowers into a bullet casing; the stems were so thin they were almost transparent.

He turned and took out two relatively flat planks, placing them on top of two stacks of bricks. "This is the dining table," he announced, then wiped one of the planks with his sleeve, a gesture befitting a gentleman.

The dull thud of leather boots on the cobblestones reached the ears of the two childhood sweethearts: "The Italian Liberation Army uprising in Turin, reportedly an armed group under the Italian Communist Party..."

As soon as the words fell, Coman, who was turning the corner, stopped in his tracks, and Martin also fell silent, watching the two children who seemed to be playing house. It was indeed a heartwarming scene to encounter this during wartime.

"Let's take another route, don't disturb the children." Seeing the two children staring at each other, Koman gestured to Martin and his comrades who were following him. They changed their route instead of taking a shortcut. After all, they were all adults, so how far could it be if they didn't take the shortcut?
"That's wonderful." Martin, who had just been talking about the Italian Communist uprising in Turin, seemed to have forgotten about the war that concerned him and lingered on the heartwarming scene.

“Indeed.” Koman also had a smile on his face. This time it wasn’t a persona, it was purely from the heart. His conscience had appeared again, which was rare for him.

The inability to be moved stems from a lack of experience. But children playing house, Koman may not know if this applies to most people, but he has indeed had such experiences. It's not a regret, as childhood sweethearts who can eventually become a couple are a minority.

Looking back, it's a warm memory, a great way to soothe the soul.

Besides that, one of the more vivid memories of his past life for Koman is that of a classmate who died young. Koman was the villain in this case, and he had beaten the classmate when they were in school.

Although his classmate died of uremia a few years later due to long-term unhealthy lifestyle, which had nothing to do with Koman himself, he felt a pang of regret when he heard others talking about it, because he was the first among his classmates to die from the disease. He felt that the school should not be a place where the strong bully the weak.

“There are omissions in our work,” Koman suddenly said to Martin. “Children are innocent. War has resulted in a large number of orphans. Adult men and women have the right to choose and can be responsible for their actions, but children are purely victims. I want to establish an organization to adopt orphans caused by war.” As soon as Koman spoke, his expression became peculiar. Unexpectedly, he had come to understand Dzerzhinsky’s feelings when he established the Cheka, to create a system for adopting war orphans.

"Doing this in Italy?" Martin's tone was full of surprise. Although Koeman's conscience was rare, it wasn't unheard of, but this was the first time he could recall seeing it displayed in such a way.

"There are over 200,000 German illegitimate children in France. While not all of them are illegitimate, most of them will certainly grow up in an environment of bullying and discrimination. This is human nature. I will not give any French traitors a choice, but a child's growth can be shaped, and there is a need to save them."

At first it was just a wild idea, but after speaking it out, Koeman adopted a confident tone: "After this incident of punishing the criminals and what happened on the streets of Marseille, the reputation of the young teachers is beyond question. If we start with the social consensus on child care, I dare not say that we can directly reverse public opinion, but at least nominally no one can say that this is wrong."

"Immediately count the number of orphans in Austa, and I'll go to the battalion commander to apply to the higher-ups." Koman had stumbled upon some children playing house and realized what needed to be done.

Moreover, the large number of illegitimate children born in wartime France could be used as an experiment in socialized parenting. In the event that France inevitably becomes a country with a birth rate of only 3%, his experience in trying out socialized parenting could be found.

Today it is just an abnormal move by the Antioch Youth Corps, a temporary department established, but in the future it could spread throughout France and become the French Children's Committee.

Fortunately, his life's efforts were not in vain. The old man had risen from major to general, giving Koeman an environment where he could reach the highest levels of government. Starting as battalion commander Celt, then division commander Duval, and finally the First Army Headquarters, the military police-style supervisory team transformed into a charitable children's adoption agency.

Koeman's unit's mission expanded from simply searching for Italian-speaking people to also include investigating the number of orphans and their living conditions in the war zone.

More than a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the offensive against Italy came to an end. The Turin uprising was eventually forced to withdraw because the French army occupied the mountains north of Piedmont, and the German-Italian forces near Turin were in danger of being completely annihilated, falling into the hands of the Italian Communists.

In this offensive, the French Fifth Army captured most of Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont, and the Allied forces advancing north also gained considerable spoils. Seventy percent of Italy's territory was now under Allied control. However, due to the arrival of winter and the need to replenish Allied losses, they were unable to further expand their gains, and the German-Italian forces retreated to several administrative regions, including Lombardy.

The fundamental reason was that if things continued this way, the Allied forces would face the same situation as Italy and Austria-Hungary in World War I, having to fire artillery at each other along the mountain ridges. Clearly, the Allied command was not psychologically prepared for this.

In just over a month, Corman established a children's aid committee to find children who had become orphans due to the war, while also sweeping away the pure Italian-speaking population of Valle d'Aosta, who would be relocated to France.

“One thousand and sixty-eight children under the age of ten, not including the statistics from the Piedmont-occupied zone.” Martin presented the statistics to Koeman. “Twenty thousand Italian-speaking people have been temporarily settled in the Alpine region of the country. If we hold another referendum, including the Italian-speaking population, we can still win.”

(End of this chapter)