Von Altendorf’s meeting with the Dutch Foreign Minister, Eelco van Kleffens, had been a cordial one. Relations between their two countries could only be described as excellent.
Since the European War the Dutch had prospered and their country had actually increased in size when the Flemish speaking northern part of Belgium had voted to become part of Holland. In 1941, a year after the end of the war, Germany had given its then vassal state, the option of regaining their independence, or becoming an autonomous state within the German Union. A referendum was to have been held in 1942 to determine their future course. All citizens over the age of twenty one could vote, and, similar to the newly introduced Norwegian and Danish voting system, those citizens with higher education or who paid higher taxes, had extra votes.
Unexpectedly, as the referendum date drew near, there had been calls from different sides of the political spectrum to delay the issue for a further year. It appeared that the vote was considered to be finely balanced, and both sides wanted more time to see if any possible future change in the economy or society would influence the vote. Up to now, April 1944, no new date for the referendum had been finalised.
Legally Holland still remained, in theory, a vassal state of Germany. In practice, the Dutch government controlled every aspect of running their country, including defence and foreign affairs. The German Governor-General was purely a nominal post with no actual powers other than ceremonial. Holland was in a similar situation to the dominions of Australia or Canada in the British Empire.
Von Altendorf now briefed his opposite number on his discussions with the French and British about their colonial empires. He cautioned van Kleffens on complacency. The Dutch East Indies was for the moment peaceful, stable and made no demands on the Dutch economy. However, German intelligence had ascertained that the opinion of the majority of Indonesians would probably change in favour of independence in the not too distance future.
This would be caused primarily by some French and British colonies being given their independence, as a result of which, nationalist feelings could be stirred up in other subject territories, resulting in insurgency movements becoming active.
Von Altendorf did not think the Dutch Caribbean possessions were a problem, but Suriname on the South American mainland, may become a source of unrest.
He had given the Dutch Minister something to think about.
The fifteen sub-Saharan French African colonies, which now included the former Belgian colonies of Congo and Ruanda-Burundi, took de Gaulle fourteen weeks of endless rambling discussions, cajoling, patient explanations, and hot and dusty travel, to complete. Transport in and between these countries had proved time consuming and exhausting due to primitive roads and transport systems. The food and water along the way played hell with de Gaulle’s digestive system and internal plumbing. He hoped he would never have to visit Africa again. He was physically and mentally exhausted.
The only major difference between agreements with these particular countries and the North Africa territories was that the transitional period would be four to five years instead of three. The present administrations of the African territories were, to say the least, somewhat inefficient and relaxed. They would require a great deal of work to effect any meaningful improvement.
De Gaulle privately prophesied much unrest and civil strife in future years for these countries. It was a deeply unsettled region and tribalism was rife. After two visits in two years his view was that France would definitely be better off out of it.
The British had agreed to merge French Somaliland with their own territory there. While they were not enthusiastic about acquiring new land, they saw the merits of one entity incorporating the adjoining British, French and Italian Somaliland territories.
Indochina was the next French area to be visited. But first de Gaulle holidayed in France for two weeks. He needed it after more than three months of frustrating and needlessly protracted discussions with African leaders and their tribal elders.
While holidaying in France, he came to realise the depth of feeling against him within the country. He was often the subject of abuse in the more right wing publications, and by some broadcasters on national radio. The haughty ex-General didn’t like it but dismissed it all as irrelevant. History would judge him, and conclude his actions were in the best interests of France!
Learning from his experiences over the past few months, de Gaulle had sent ahead several trusted assistants to lay the groundwork for agreements with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
In Indochina, Vietnam presented the most difficult challenge. The official Head of State was Bao-Dai, the current Emperor of Vietnam, who had reigned since 1926. He had no real powers in government and possessed no perceived significant abilities. However, using him as a central unifying figure, and with the assistance of the French colonial officials in the country, de Gaulle cobbled together a government of national unity in the space of two weeks.
A slight worrying factor was the activities of the Vietminh, the communist forces previously active in the countryside, under their able leader, Ho Chi Minh. With the elimination of communism in China, support for the Vietminh had withered, but they still lingered on as the only potential threat to a future government. De Gaulle promised the Vietnamese significantly increased military aid to eliminate this movement once and for all.
The new state of Viet Nam accepted France’s offer of independence.
It took a further two weeks each for Cambodia, and then Laos, to adopt the new policy with France. An exhausted de Gaulle could not wait to leave Indochina. He was under no illusion that the region would maintain stable governments over the longer term. This is not Europe!
In Paris he advised the President that the question of the much smaller and insignificant colonies in the Americas, Caribbean and Polynesia should be left in abeyance for a while. Perhaps until next year. France had enough on its plate at the moment.
Darlan concurred. Although he had never liked de Gaulle’s manner in the past, he conceded that the man had done an excellent job so far. Now it only remained for him to complete the process successfully.
The Chairman of Lufthansa’s board of directors had great pleasure in announcing that the airline’s fleet of Starflights now totalled ten, and a further ten would be delivered over the next three months. The aircraft had proved to be very popular with passengers and they were flying at an average occupancy of ninety one percent. The British built Rolls-Royce engines gave the airliner a faster cruising speed than any of its competitors, and at the same time they were more fuel efficient.
The airliner was an undoubted winner for Lufthansa, and would help them to achieve their ambition of becoming the world’s biggest airline before the end of next year.
The Starlight airliners were rolling off the production line at the rate of five to seven every week. Focke-wulf’s production was pre-sold for the next year. The aircraft was the most advanced civil airliner in the world. Throughout the factory there was a tremendous sense of achievement. Worker morale was ‘sky high’.
Germany was currently the largest aircraft producer in the world now that the British had scaled back on their military programmes. It was a position they intended to keep.
General Kesselring was well satisfied with the results of his work.