Chapter 62 The German Conspiracy

By late January, the war was drawing to a close. Eager to return, Coman refused to take a plane, traveling instead by train to Odessa, and then boarding a ship via the Black Sea and Mediterranean route. He finally landed in Marseille, arriving back in Paris ten days later.

Without missing a beat, Coman headed straight to the Judicial Purification Committee, reappearing before his division commander, Duval. "Division Commander, Coman reporting for duty."

"Sit down, sit down. I heard you went with the troops to Italy," General Duval said, gesturing for Coman to take a seat and asking with interest, "Did you just get back to Paris? Have you been to see your father? Madame Adelaide has given birth to a baby girl; you have a little sister now."

"There's still time to go home tonight." Coman brushed aside the topic of the new family member, pulled a notebook directly from his pocket, and handed it over. "I accompanied the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Moscow to inspect the Soviet Union's reconstruction progress, the construction sites utilizing German prisoners of war, and the process of certain ethnic relocations. I believe these records will be helpful to France in the near future."

While speaking, Coman took out the journal and briefed the general on his gains during this period. "The Soviet Union has already deployed prisoners of war on a large scale to participate in post-war reconstruction. Through observation and study, I have accumulated a certain degree of experience, which I hope will help the country. I wonder how things have been going at home over the past three months?"

Ever since returning to Paris in September to purge Nazi collaborators, three or four months had already passed. Finding the process too lengthy, Coman had pushed Alan forward to take the blame while he went off to serve in Italy. Now, he had no real grasp of how far the purge had progressed.

"How have things been? Well, there's been a wave of divorces," Duval replied with a helpless sigh. "Including suspected illegitimate children, along with non-biological children screened out through the national blood bank project, the total number has reached two hundred and twenty-eight thousand. The Ministry of the Interior has been extremely busy lately."

"It seems French women are still remarkably loyal." Coman was by no means being sarcastic. First, excluding the estimated illegitimate children fathered by Germans, the number of marital infidelities amounted to only a little over twenty thousand.

He felt this figure was quite acceptable and entirely within reasonable limits.

Whether Duval thought Coman was being ironic or not, the establishment of the national blood bank had undeniably stirred up a massive storm among the populace.

Duval also leaked another piece of information concerning a major current case: the cultural aggression case. It was alleged that Germany had manipulated romantic relationships to fracture France's social consensus.

"The Germans are utterly shameless!" Coman flew into a rage, condemning the despicable and shameless nature of Germany right in front of his superior, pointing out how they had actually managed to fracture French unity through such a bloodless war.

It was almost as if he hadn't been the one to orchestrate that false accusation himself—though strictly speaking, he hadn't. He had merely provided Alan with some guiding advice; it was his comrade-in-arms who had executed it, and it had nothing to do with him, an exemplary young man who had traveled far away to the Soviet Union for investigation.

"This only just came to light. Let alone someone like me who has spent long periods in the colonies, even officials in the metropole are shocked. However, some voices point out that the evidence still seems somewhat insufficient to determine whether the Germans actually had such a plan." General Duval shook his head slightly, thinking to himself that people on the European continent certainly knew how to play games.

"Once we occupy the German mainland, we will naturally find the evidence." Coman showed not a shred of guilt, having already determined that the matter was linked to Germany. When the time came, he would simply find a couple of unlucky scapegoats on German soil to take the fall.

Having just returned to Paris, Coman was in no immediate rush to figure out every specific detail. He would see Alan tomorrow. He stayed at the Judicial Purification Committee until evening, at which point General Dragom, having learned of Coman's return, arrived in a jeep to pick him up and take him home. The two men sat in the back seat of the jeep in silence, not speaking until they arrived home and got out one after another.

"You have a little sister." Only then did General Dragom utter his first sentence. His gaze toward Coman was quite complex, perhaps tinged with a hint of embarrassment or guilt.

"The family has grown. A good thing." Coman yawned, displaying the exhaustion from his journey home, and tilted his head to ask, "Calculating the time, she should be out of the hospital by now. Is there anything you want me to say?"

Without waiting for General Dragom's reply, Coman walked in right behind him and saw Adelaide holding the baby. A smile instantly bloomed on his face. He made funny faces at the baby girl wrapped in swaddling clothes, showing no rejection toward General Dragom's young and pampered wife. "My little sister is very pretty. She will bring joy to this family."

"Thank you." Adelaide knew that in this household, Coman's attitude carried just as much weight as that of a male of equal status to herself and her husband. She was rather afraid of this stepson, even though Coman always wore a ready smile.

"What's there to thank? Father is the one who should thank you." Coman waved a hand dismissively, then looked at General Dragom. "I heard in Moscow that the Soviet army has already broken into the German mainland, only seventy kilometers away from Berlin. The Western Front shouldn't wait much longer either."

"Come upstairs with me," General Dragom said concisely, heading straight for the study upstairs. Before long, a map of Europe had been spread out across the desk.

Compared to the Eastern Front, where the Soviet army had pushed its lines five hundred kilometers westward over the past month, the lines on the Western Front had barely changed—perhaps with some minute shifts, but completely imperceptible on the map.

"Over at Allied Headquarters, Ike has also given his reply. The general offensive against the Siegfried Line is expected to begin early next month." General Dragom finished speaking and pointed to the Saar region. "Our objective remains the Saar region. We expect to deploy forty divisions for a frontal assault on the Saar."

Originally, the Saar region should have fallen into the hands of the Allies a little over two months ago, around the time the Ardennes Counteroffensive broke out.

However, the French had occupied the latrine without producing any output, piling up a mass of combat troops in the preset staging areas for the offensive against the Saar, yet showing no intention of actually launching an attack.

An operation that should have been a military triumph for General Patton was abruptly choked off by the French, with the consequence that the Saar region still remained in German hands.

"The old plan from the 1939 Saar Offensive?" Coman listened to General Dragom's briefing, finding similarities to the deployment of the Saar Offensive in the early stages of World War II, prompting his question.

General Dragom nodded, confirming it was indeed an old plan. "Forty divisions—virtually the entire strength of the First and Second Armies. Tassigny and I will coordinate. It certainly won't be entirely identical to the historical precedent; many things have changed. Mobile warfare is advocated in the army now."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Coman curled his lip, thinking to himself: Mobile warfare against an enemy stronger than oneself? The Maginot Line might not actually have been a mistake after all.

Yet the Maginot Line had already become a running joke; even if he didn't understand it, he couldn't voice it aloud. Summoning his energy, he asked, "When will our Youth Division accompany the attacking forces?"

"Once you finish handling the domestic affairs," General Dragom replied. "I believe in the combat will of the Youth Division, but it is reliable only in terms of will."

At this, Coman made no secret of his ambition to leverage paternal power for authority. "Can the banishments to Algeria begin now?"