Father of France

Chapter 58 Men Must Protect Themselves
"The General Headquarters has decided to cross the Vistula River after the New Year and attack the German mainland. The time for revenge has come."

After sitting down, Beria issued orders on his own: "The industrial production tasks in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Magnitogorsk must be completed on time to ensure the smooth progress of the campaign. Ryasnoy, your task is very important."

Beria looked at Ryasnoy, the top official of the Soviet Gulag, who currently controlled a significant portion of the production, including industrial production in German prisoner-of-war camps.

"The mission will be completed without fail, Political Commissar Ryasnoy." He assured them crisply, "There will be no shortage of ammunition for the soldiers on the front lines, and the old story of Tsarist Russia will not be repeated."

Beria nodded solemnly, adjusted his glasses, and asked, "What were you discussing just now? There was no discipline at all."

When Beria spoke like this, he wasn't asking a question; rather, he was letting his subordinates bring up the problem themselves.

“There’s a French soldier in Moscow, an interesting little fellow,” Beria’s assistant, Merkulov, explained directly. “He was inspecting a German POW camp, and I was asking about this little fellow’s background when the General Political Commissar came in.”

"Is that all you're going to talk about?" Beria felt speechless and asked Koblov in a questioning tone, "Did you get it?"

“Got it.” Kobulov thought to himself that it was finally his turn. Holding the investigation report, he replied, “This French soldier who stayed in Moscow is not very old, but his family is not ordinary. His father was an officer in the former French colony of Syria. During the Syrian-Lebanese campaign, he launched a military coup, killed the Vichy French command, joined the Free French movement, and is now the commander of the French First Army.”

"Oh, he's quite an important figure," Belial said casually. "Since you've been given this opportunity to discuss it, it means it's worth discussing."

"After this little guy stayed in Moscow..." Merkulov explained Koman's comments about the heavy losses suffered by the Soviet Union and basic education, and finally said, "He now wants to inspect German POW camps and prepare to apply the labor reform system to German POWs in France. We are discussing whether to refuse."

Beria finally understood what his key aides were discussing and concluded directly, "A direct refusal is definitely not an option; if we do, it would only indicate that there's something wrong with the Gulag. Since it's just an inspection of the POW camps, there's no need for us to hide anything. Western European countries' hatred for the Germans isn't necessarily less than ours."

“Then I’ll make the arrangements.” Now that the General Political Commissar had reached a conclusion, Ryasnoy immediately showed that he was in line with his superior’s position. France and the Soviet Union had just signed a mutual assistance trade treaty, so it was indeed difficult to refuse. “Sverdlovsk’s industrial production has a lot of German prisoners of war, and the local environment is not too bad.”

There are many places with harsh environments in Bisverdlovsk. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Oblast, and Novosibirsk Oblast of Siberia, German prisoners of war suffered terribly from the local weather and had a higher mortality rate.

But that's not all. Siberia only ranked second in the Soviet Union. The first place was occupied by German prisoners of war assigned to mining in the Arctic Circle, the iron ore mines on the Kola Peninsula, and the Arctic Railway project, where the mortality rate was far higher than that of Siberia.

“This French soldier is very young. Could we seize the opportunity to win him over?” Beria thought of Koman’s father, who was a general in the French military, and looked at Merkulov.

“The young man is very wary, even suspicious of the female translators assigned to him,” Melkulov replied. “His thinking is also imperialistic. Although he is young and easily seduced by beauty, his vigilance is hard to shake off.”

Kobrov, a proper intelligence officer, offered his opinion: "I don't think it's appropriate to do this in our country. He will only lower his guard when he returns to France. Of course, it's not impossible to try. If that doesn't work, then we can activate the intelligence network we've established among the overseas diaspora."

Meanwhile, Pavlov kept a close eye on Koman, who was showing great interest in the Moscow Metro. Why was this French soldier riding the metro, and even going the whole way? Was the imperialists stealing secrets from the Soviet capital's metro network? Ignoring the NKVD officer with his face contorted with class struggle, Koman simply thought there were plenty of Russian women on the metro and wanted to experience the sights. He uttered a rare, honest exclamation: "So many beautiful women."

Pavlov felt his fists harden upon hearing this, but ultimately chose to pretend he hadn't heard it. "The Western Front is still at war, but you're enjoying some leisure time in Moscow."

"That's not something I can interfere with. The Germans concentrated 80 percent of their forces on the Eastern Front to resist the Soviet offensive, leaving only 700,000 troops on the Western Front. The Allied command's idea was very clear: when Germany collapsed, they would just send all their forces to take over German prisoners of war."

Koeman chuckled as he explained the tactical arrangements Germany made before its collapse in the first half of 1945. If it were made into a video, it would show that the entire Western Front remained stationary until February 1945, and then suddenly the Western Front and the Alps were breached by the Allies, leading to the mass surrender of German soldiers.

After the surrender, it was time to distribute the prisoners of war and rebuild. Otherwise, Koeman wouldn't have been idle. He rushed over when George Pidul was going to visit the Soviet Union.

He knew that three or four million German prisoners of war would soon appear, and that the United States, unaffected by the war, would not need to be rebuilt.

These prisoners of war will certainly be distributed to countries that need to rebuild. Of the three to four million German prisoners of war on the Western Front, France will receive at least one million.

These at least one million German prisoners of war needed a dedicated department to manage them, which was why Koeman applied to study the Gulag. The number of prisoners was too large, and currently only the Soviet Union had the experience to manage them.

While waiting for Lubyanka's recovery, Koman continued to wander around Moscow, and was even approached twice by women, which shows how rare a normal man was in the Soviet Union at that time. However, he refused both times, fearing that the Soviet Union might actually arrange some Russian women for him.

Lieutenant Coman, with a promising future, was still unwilling to give away his secrets. Although the Russian girl was very beautiful, she was not enough to extinguish his ambition.

Kobulov, the head of intelligence at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, muttered to himself upon receiving the report, "I knew it wouldn't work. This kid is extremely vigilant."

Before the Russian New Year, Lubyanka responded and allowed Koman to inspect the German prisoner-of-war camp in Sverdlovsk, Yekaterinburg, where the German prisoners of war were working in factories and were considered quite presentable.

Koman, who had been watching the Russian girls, finally received a reply and immediately applied to set off. This time, the NKVD officers traveling with him were two again: Pavlov and a female officer. Koman could understand the saying that men and women working together makes the work easier.

But as the female officer stretched, her unassuming yet magnificent figure still intimidated Coman, this French bumpkin.

"Aren't you afraid the buttons will pop open?" Koman looked out the window at the desolate snow scene. If the other party hadn't given him permission, he would definitely have brought a few embassy staff to protect him. The Soviet Union was too dangerous; a man abroad must protect himself.

(End of this chapter)