Part 1-Chapter 2: Deciding the Future of France and the World
President Lebrun, at exactly 2:00 A.M returned to the Situation Room, escorted by several bodyguards. His ministers were waiting, all having prepared reports using the short time they had. Many were unsure if Lebrun was even serious about what he had said.
“ Thank you all for preparing reports for me in such a short time,” The President began, “ Prime Minister Sarraut, perhaps you would like to report to me on how we can change our government so we can convince people and the Parliament about the threat of Germany.”
“Sir, I hate the sound of change for that’s all I heard back-”
“Perhaps a change in government would suit you best Prime minister- you’re almost as old as the Third Republic! Leak to the Press that Germany is Remilitarizing the Rhineland, and that we have to put forward ‘temporary’ Emergency Measures,” Lebrun said with some enthusiasm.
“But sir the Third Republic is a Democracy!” The Prime Minister protested.
“Do It!” Lebrun said with a glare
The Cabinet at the Conference-Note the Move Towards Authoritarian, giving France a Social Liberal Government
The President then turned towards Foreign Minister Flandin
“My Old Prime Minister! So what problems does France have regarding foreign affairs?”
“Sir France is currently a member of the Allies, and has a nonaggression pact with Romania, The Soviet Union and Italy. We also guarantee the independence of several countries in Europe.” Flandin looked visibly nervous while talking.
“Who guarantees our independence?” Lebrun asked waiting to hear the names of all the democracies of the world.
“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Sir,” Flandin answered.
Lebrun quickly stopped thinking of the United States, Britain and Czechoslovakia, looking furious. “France is one of the main democracies of the world! And who is saying they’ll fight for us and protect us? The Communist Russians! Next report.”
France’s foreign commitments and treaties.
Minister of the Interior Marx Dormy was next to speak.
“Sir I can report that with a few more garrison divisions we could suppress any revolts that would break out in occupied Countries or back home in France. However Sir, a war would not be popular at all with most people.”
Lebrun did not appeared worried at all “I will give one division a high Priority, but as you will see with Vincent’s report which I saw earlier, we cannot afford to form many divisions right now.”
Armaments Minister Auriol quickly passed his report around and began to explain.
“As you can see here we will not be building any divisions, but instead factories! This will allow us to build up our industrial capacity for any future wars.”
The Production and Construction Orders for France
The Armaments Minister continued into where the industrial capacity of France was now going. “Sir most of our I.C is going into Supplies and Consumer Goods, so we can only effectively focus on the Garrison division.”
Lebrun was confident, however “Once the Rhineland is militarized by Germany, we will be able to gear up for war. The Chief of the Navy is next.”
All eyes now turned to Francois Darlan, who looked visibly upset and disappointed.
Darlan quickly started by saying “But I want aircraft carriers, battleships and battlecruisers…”
Lebrun rolled his eyes “Act like Raeder in Germany for once Darlan! You will get them soon enough- in the meantime think of the poor Kriegsmarine and their World-War One Battle Cruisers."
Everyone was silent as the cabinet thought about how lucky they were to not have the German Navy at their service. Darlan shed a tear thinking of the KMS Schleswig-Holstein.
Darlan quickly reconsidered what he said and got on with the report.
“Sir the French Navy is spread throughout the World, but our main fleet is in Brest under my command. We have the second largest navy in the Allies-”
Lebrun interrupted- “Well what did you think- Canada or Nepal had a larger Navy? Continue.”
“We also have many Battleships and Light Cruisers, and advanced Submarines that even Germany does not have.”
The French Navy in Comparison to other Allied Navies.
Lebrun now turned to Victor Denain, the Chief of the Air Force.
“Sir the French Air Force is partly modern, partly outdated. Most of our Fighters and Bombers are located in Tunis, Algiers, Paris or Marseille. Our most advance plane is the Amiot 143 Bomber. In a war with Germany we could have control in the sky above a battlefield.”
The French Air Force in comparison to our Allies
Finally Lebrun turned to his Intelligence Minister and the Chief of the Army, Maurice Gamelin.
Minister Paganon spoke first. “Sir we have many spies throughout the world, but not as many as the Abwehr. Our intelligence teams are concentrated in Italy and Germany, as well as several other small countries. We have no teams or networks currently in France, however.”
Lebrun quickly gave Paganon orders. “Change that then- and someone get me that report on Germany!”
The Intelligence Briefing on Germany, as well as the report of a spy network being set up to protect France itself.
Gamelin then started his briefing.
“Sir the French Army is outdated in many areas. Our Infantry is updated to only 1918 standards, and we have most Cavalry instead of Tanks, of which we only have two divisions. Most of the Army is in the Northeast.”
France has the largest Army in our Alliance, but it is Outdated.
Lebrun then spoke. “Based on your reports I will now set our technology goals and research.”
Armaments Minister Auriol then passed around a report.
The Research Projects Started in January in France
With the Conference Over, Lebrun got up, but motioned for his ministers to stay in their seats.
“I have an important set of maps I must show you that will explain what we are doing.”
With that he left, leaving his ministers more confused.
Europe, Soon to Change, in 1936
