CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER 120: COMPETING FOR TALENT

Cultural treasures must, of course, be protected—this is a must.

Just like when the French "protected" the treasures of the Old Summer Palace by shipping them back to France all those years ago.

In the name of all humanity, Pierre successfully placed those treasures in a safe place for "protection."

The only difference is, they were shipped out of France.

"The French will never see their artworks again, just like they can’t see their own ears."

After successfully removing more than 5,000 crates of artworks hidden in Château de Montal, Pierre did not immediately leave France. Instead, he directed the task force to continue collecting weapons on the battlefield.

"If we just sit at home and wait, we’ll never get the equipment. We have to take the initiative and follow closely behind."

In reality, it was possible to wait—wait for the weapons handed over by the Americans. But that would take time. In fact, they weren’t the only ones collecting weapons; the French were too.

The French army was armed with weapons supplied by the Americans. Having just reclaimed half their country, they were eager to get more weapons, so they set their sights on the equipment abandoned or captured from the Germans. The French were also scouring the battlefield for weapons, especially heavy equipment like tanks.

In this race to collect, even a slight delay meant the French would get their hands on the goods. In fact, the French were indeed ahead of the task force in their collection efforts—after all, this was France.

Even so, the task force managed to collect a total of 1,500 artillery pieces of 100mm caliber or above, and more than 600 tanks. Although over 200 of these were old French models like the R35 and S35, there were also more than 200 Panzer III tanks and over 100 Panzer IVs. Most impressively, they recovered a full 76 Panther tanks—the most powerful of the lot!

Although most of these tanks were incomplete and damaged—some even had armor-piercing rounds lodged in their hulls—through cannibalization and repairs, it would be possible to piece together at least a hundred or two operational tanks.

Of these, the Panthers were the most valuable to repair. Many of them had been abandoned due to mechanical failures, especially because the Panther’s main reduction gear was notoriously fragile and prone to breakdown. Most of these tanks were left behind due to gearbox failures.

Historically, the French collected several hundred Panther series vehicles across France. These included not only the Panther tanks themselves, but also Jagdpanther tank destroyers and Bergepanther engineering vehicles. However, most were incomplete, and only a handful could still run.

To get these German "Panthers" left in France back into service, the French had to employ what they called the "Frankenstein method": cannibalizing parts from scrapped vehicles to assemble nearly a hundred Panthers that could actually drive.

Unlike the French, however, when it came time for the second transaction in Switzerland, Pierre placed an order directly through Berlin for several hundred sets of Panther tank repair parts. The Germans agreed almost without hesitation—after all, saving a bit of gold was always a good thing. With German spare parts, those seemingly wrecked tanks could quickly be restored to like-new condition.

"Why do you need so many spare parts?"

Almost as soon as they met, Berlin asked curiously.

"As far as I know, all the Panthers we have in France combined wouldn’t use up that many parts."

"There may not be many in France, but there are plenty in Belgium, the Netherlands, and in the future, even more in Germany itself!"

This seemingly casual remark nearly made Berlin cough up blood—wasn’t this cursing Germany?

But at this point, who could say for sure?

Who knows?

Berlin replied, a little unwillingly, "Well, you’d better be prepared, because with the tungsten ore you’ve provided, our weapons production is far higher than before. By then, we’ll be able to field more tanks and planes on the battlefield..."

"That’s perfect. When the time comes, I can pick up even more tanks. To be honest..."

Pierre smiled slightly at Berlin and said, "Picking up abandoned equipment is a real treat. For just a little money, I can get a whole tank unit—it’s really great!"

For a moment, Berlin’s mood soured, but he quickly recovered and said, "Who can say what the future holds?"

I can!

As for whether the tungsten ore would enhance Germany’s war potential, Pierre wasn’t worried at all. What Germany needed now wasn’t just tanks and planes, but also the fuel to keep them running.

And not just fuel—they needed manpower. Even if they produced enough weapons, even if they were all cutting-edge technology, what about the people?

Over the past four years, Germany had already lost several million troops. With their manpower resources nearly exhausted, how could they possibly withstand the powerful Allied forces?

Ah, time waits for no one!

Thinking this, Pierre looked at Berlin and said,

"Next year. By next year, the situation will be clear. But for now, you might want to consider your family. I think you should bring them to Switzerland first—of course, only if you want to."

Pierre had always been generous with friends, and Berlin more or less counted as one. Their transactions had all gone very smoothly so far.

"If necessary, I can help you make arrangements in advance."

"Thank you,"

Berlin pressed his lips together and said.

"Maybe I can get my wife and daughter out, but my son..."

Shaking his head, Berlin said,

"He won’t leave Germany, at least not now. He will..."

He will die.

Pierre let out a helpless, long sigh, recalling that movie he’d once seen—when the Third Reich collapsed, hundreds of thousands of children perished with it!

"I understand..."

The atmosphere seemed a bit heavy at this moment. After a while, Berlin spoke again.

"Pierre, the list you asked for—we’re working on it now. If all goes well, I should be able to bring it to you by the end of this year or early next year."

Hearing this, Pierre couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement—more thrilling even than acquiring hundreds of tons of gold. With these talents, the future development of Borneo would be limitless.

You know, during the Soviet Union’s First Five-Year Plan, they only had about three thousand Russian experts, and that was enough to bring about initial industrialization for such a vast country—even if it wasn’t yet world-class. If those top German experts and scholars came to Borneo, industrialization would be just the beginning; it might even become a modern industrial nation.

In that instant, Pierre found it hard to stay calm...