Topaz - Leon Uris [80]
“The French dream of superiority and a return to grandeur is to them like an hallucinatory drug.
“Enter Pierre La Croix. La Croix is a man eternally embittered by the humiliation of France’s defeat in the war. France’s mortification at the hands of the United States has made him vulnerable to those who would use his bitterness. La Croix’s weakness is a tool playing into Russian hands. Of course he is not a Communist, but he does Moscow’s job.”
The humiliation of France was a fact André Devereaux knew only too well, for he had been part of the early days of the Free French. In those days he had looked upon La Croix as a savior indeed. Yes, Boris Kuznetov had conducted his study well.
“France is defeated in Vietnam, Morocco, Tunisia, and, most devastating of all, Algeria. La Croix has inherited a paper tiger and a people weary of bloodshed and a hundred years of defeats on the battlefield.
“But La Croix knows his Frenchmen. Use the word ‘honor’ to a Frenchman and you have struck the core of his being. How beautiful the word.”
Kuznetov lifted himself from his wheelchair, stretched and paced along the table slowly.
“But his strength is questionable. Billions are poured into the French atomic force. As you know, gentlemen, no one takes the force de frappe seriously. La Croix must win his points by diplomatic blackmail. It is a game in which he is matchless. The core of French policy is to resist American domination. What more could Moscow ask for?”
The Russian returned to his chair and took up a volume from the table. The dust jacket read: The War Memoirs of Pierre La Croix. He opened the book to the first of many marked sections.
“I read you his words.” Boris adjusted his glasses, fingered down the page, looked quickly to the ININ people and back to the page. “ ‘In Russian eyes there could be no third power playing Vichy France against Fighting France. America believed herself in the position to direct the French nation after centuries of French experience. Russia understood the position of Fighting France perfectly and honored it by recognizing the Free French Committee.’ ”
Further in the volume, Kuznetov explained, were La Croix’s hurt, angry complaints against the Anglo-Americans for failure to recognize his Fighting French, for failure to consult them in planning strategy, for failure to arm them, and for having concluded international agreements concerning France without the consent and presence of the Free French.
“ ‘There certainly exists a kindred spirit between the French and Russians,’ ” Kuznetov read again, “ ‘the Russians being, in many ways, more in tune with a European hegemony and a union of Europeans than the Anglo-Americans.’ ”
Kuznetov closed the book. “Pierre La Croix has a long association with Russia, and in many ways feels the French, as fellow Europeans, are closer to the Russians than the Anglo-Americans.”
Boris set his glasses down, played with his knobby fingers. “Once you accept the fact that France is under the thumb of La Croix and once you understand his basic hatred of the Anglo-Americans, it is not too difficult to see what is going to happen. He has experimented with the force de frappe, the nonsense of creating a third force in the world, made by an alliance among Europeans, which France intends to dominate. He has bullied his partners around in the Common Market, which France has succeeded in dominating.
“He will attempt to make France the broker of a Pan-European union to include both the Eastern and Western blocs. But no one plays poker with the Soviet Union. We intend to use these weaknesses to our benefit. As Germany used Pétain, we intend to use La Croix. I predict that within five years he will personally take France out of NATO, for what grates his innards is the American, who he believes robs France of her true destiny ... or a sad old man’s illusion of it.
“Topaz is rotting the understructure of France. It is child’s play for the Soviet Resident in Paris to obtain intelligence. In France he inherits three million French