November 26th, 1941
French Concession, Shanghai - It's been several hours since the refueling and the usual checks have been made on the old small seaplane supposed to be used for the transport of the Administrator General at the time when Kouang-Tchéou-Wan was a small mark on the maps of China. But Hubert Fauntleroy Julian has to wait in his nice French pilot's uniform. Wait until his passenger, Captain Folliot, from the SR of the above-mentioned Territorial forces.
During this time, Captain Raphaël Folliot is just beginning to eat his heart out while listening to the empty politenesses exchanged by the participants of the long lunch served as a preamble to the big meeting decided on in urgency after the publication of the Fontenoy tract.
Ambassador Cosme, the Shanghai consul Reynaud, Lieutenant-colonel Tutenges, of the Intelligence Services of the Far East, accompanied by Captain Mingant, Mr. Chauvel, head of the Asia sub-direction at the Quai d'Orsay - heck, at the Rue Michelet - Mr. Fabre, director of the Police, and Major Colonna, head of the Shanghai garrison. As in the old days - well, as in the pre-war days - you have to wait until lunch is over and we go to the smoking room to talk about important things. The main topic of the meeting is no surprise to anyone: how to react to the arrival of a leading NEF figure in Shanghai? Because Fontenoy's leaflet is still making waves... And after the fake good mood of the meal, tensions resurface.
- Gentlemen," Reynaud begins, "we are here today to discuss the attitude to adopt towards the NEF delegation led by Bonnet, which will arrive in our city at the end of the week.
- Why not simply arrest him?" Fabre asks bluntly.
- It's just that... His meeting is taking place in the International Concession and not on our territory. We cannot afford any interference in foreign territory, especially at a time when tensions with Tokyo are high... Cosme wavers.
- He's a traitor!" storms Colonna. "Bonnet must get the punishment he deserves!
- I don't think the British and the Americans would object to an action on our part," Tuttenges reflects, "even if it would probably take some time to prepare and with our allies...
But Cosme does not give up on the legalistic (and diplomatic) point of view: "The Concession is an international territory. Not only under British or American administration. We must take into account the Russians, the Chinese from Chongqing, the Chinese from Nanking, the Germans, the Italians and, of course, the Japanese! We must not neglect anyone, and above all we must not offend anyone!
- It's true that the situation is complex," Chauvel acknowledges. "We can't afford to make things worse with the Japanese and push them definitively into the arms of the Germans and Italians when there is still a chance that they will get along with the Americans and the war will be a little further away from Asia.
- Please! Mr. Ambassador!" Folliot gets angry, tired of Cosme's procrastination (whom he had already met at the time of the fall of Peking and of Nanking, a few years earlier). I know that you owe your appointment in China to Georges Bonnet, when he was at the Quai d'Orsay, before the war, but that is no reason to want to do him a favor! There will be plenty of time after the war to find extenuating circumstances for those who chose the Laval regime. But today we are at war and Bonnet is on the side of the Enemy!
- On the side of our enemies in Europe, yes. But we are not in Europe. And the NEF is recognized, not only by Germany and Italy, but by Japan. And the United States still has diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan. It even seems that they have kept a representation in occupied France..." reminds Cosme, trying to keep his diplomatic composure as the red rose to his cheeks after Folliot's jab.
- The Rue Michelet asks us to show the greatest caution," adds Chauvel. "Our policy is to defend our interests in the region by limiting foreign interference until the situation... is clarified.
- In short, we are asked to play dead until Uncle Sam moves in one way or the other?" translates Fabre, caustically.
Mute, Ambassador Cosme and Deputy Director Chauvel keep their gaze fixed on the tips of their impeccably polished shoes. As a good master of ceremonies, Consul Reynaud takes over the reins.
- Good. An intervention against Bonnet can be ruled out. Even... secret," he adds, glancing at Tuttenges, Mingant and Folliot, "the string would be too big. So we'll let him speak next Sunday. What to do, then?
Mingant suddenly breaks his silence and, in a peremptory tone: "Let's use his own weapons!
- What do you mean?" asks Reynaud, taken aback.
- He used the postal service and the press, or at least the appearance of a press, by taking up the layout of his newspaper, which evoked a more tranquil time for the French in Shanghai. Let us do the same. Let's issue publications that include all of Bonnet's statements criticizing the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, or those criticizing Laval, Doriot, Déat, Bucard, in short, any member of the NEF who is a little known. Let's not hesitate to take them out of context, not to indicate their date. The idea is to discredit Bonnet and the NEF to limit their influence," explains Mingant.
- What is the current influence of the New French State in Shanghai?
- Limited," replies Fabre. "The Shanghai people live in a world of their own, that's for sure. For them, the war is still only a European affair, and they have not really suffered the consequences. At most, they have had vague echoes of it. The rocambolical aspect of Le Grand Déménagement and the romanticism of Le Sursaut were even able to seduce them. In concrete terms, we have put the local Action Française under surveillance, because this movement has good press here. But as in France, it is cut in two because of its passionate patriotism, which leads to support Algiers, and its hatred for the Popular Front Chamber and for a government led in particular by Blum and Mandel, which led it to applaud Laval.
More generally, according to my services, Fontenoy's leaflet may have appealed to some Shanghai people. But they are relatively few in number. And among them, a good number did not approve of Bonnet coming here in the vans of the Germans and the Japanese. His message is already discredited. Finally, I would say that a very small part of our population would side with the NEF. But after the departure of the volunteers for Fort Bayard, it is also a minority, a much larger one, but a minority nonetheless, that is devoted to our cause.The rest, the majority of the population, will decide according to the turn of events, as is often the case.
For the time being, Captain Mingant's proposal seems to me to be quite appropriate.
A rumor of relieved assent spreads among the luxurious armchairs of the smoking room, but Mingant is not satisfied with this success: "For the time being, certainly! But what will happen when the Japanese attack? What will be our defense system here, in Shanghai, or elsewhere in China, like in Tientsin?
The blunt question casts a shadow. As if everyone had wanted to avoid asking it, knowing only too well the answer.
- We will fight! And we will make them pay dearly for any attack!" Colonna declares, sitting upright in his chair.
- To provoke a second Nanking!" exclaims Cosme with unfeigned emotion.
- Peking and Nanking were nameless butcheries. But after all, if the enemy attacked us, we would have to defend ourselves!" protests Folliot.
- The fact is that if we sent the most valiant of our men to Kouang-Tcheou-Wan is because our positions in Shanghai, Tientsin or Hankéou are not tenable. But we must hold on to them," Reynaud declares with conviction. "For many, the Sursaut and the Grand Demenagement now seem to have been the only possible way. But keeping France in the war used a lot of symbols. And what symbol could the French concessions in China have represented, vis-à-vis the rest of the world, if we had withdrawn from the region like the British? In Shanghai, the British represent a part of the International Concession. We are the FRENCH Concession. To withdraw is simply impossible. Unless we agree to leave this country, that is, to lose all credibility and influence in Asia. This may seem naive, gentlemen, but just by staying here, we have fought for France.
After a moment of impressed silence, Tuttenges resumes, in a calmer tone: "Before calling to arms, we should know how Japan would act against us, if a war should occur...".
Chauvel answers without hesitation: "In case of conflict, Japan will use... Sorry. Would use the NEF, to maintain a French administration in our concessions, at least at first. Do not forget that, according to their propaganda, they pose themselves as the defenders of an Asia that respects its word against lawless Western imperialism. So they must maintain an appearance of legalism."
- This brings us back to our initial question: how to fight against the influence of the NEF? The NEF supported by Japanese bayonets!" Reynaud rephrases.
There is a new silence, and Mingant breaks it with a little laugh: "Easy, Gentlemen! Let's overwhelm them! Let's drown them under the number!"
In front of the absence of reaction, he develops his remarks: "Director Fabre explained to us earlier that the majority of people will not oppose a political change, as long as long as their way of life is not disrupted. It's human nature. But as the director also pointed out, the number of NEF supporters in our concessions is relatively small, while there are many more Algiers supporters. If Japan attacks and the NEF's representatives as the head of the administration of our territories, they will have to face an administration that is infiltrated by networks of... Administrative resistance. These networks will be able to transmit to the Second Bureau all information, they will have a front row seat to spy on the actions of Laval's henchmen, but above all to know what the Axis is up to in Asia, at least on a diplomatic level. We will be overwhelmed by the military strength of our enemy, but we will not capitulate. We will continue to harm him."
- I am a soldier! I only joined the police because the Minister and the consul in Shanghai at the time asked me to. And now they're going to turn me into a...spy?" grumbles Fabre.
- This tactic involves sacrifice, Monsieur Fabre. Imagine if you kept your job under Japanese rule, or that you pretended to assist a Laval man put in your place. Couldn't you be very useful to France?
Everyone fqlls silent. The point is made. In order to defeat the NEF and trap the Japanese, everyone will have to infiltrate the administration of the French Concession. We only discuss planning and organization between the most convinced (Mingant, Chauvel, Tuttenges) and the most reluctant (Colonna, Fabre). This is the birth of the Mingant Network - or rather networks, as all the administrative layers of the Concession are concerned.
