The alpine soldiers were happy to
finally approach the mountain refuge that was
going to be their base camp for their mission.
While all in excellent shape and being well practiced skiers, their heavy backpacks,
loaded with rations, ammunition and winter
survival gear, were starting to tire them and make them sweat. The one exception was Kin, who still looked as fresh as a rose and appeared to enjoy his trip, something that
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made Charles Jumonville wonder out loud to Samuel Benchetrit, who was just ahead of him.
‘’Look at Kin! He doesn’t seem to be tired one bit after this trip up the slopes.
How does he do that?’
‘’Charles, you should know by now that Kin basically has the energy of two or three of us combined. He may not be a genius but, physically, he is the perfect alpine soldier and possesses incredible endurance. It is as if he was born in these mountains.’
‘’I understand that he was born in the Dordogne Department, right?’
‘’Correct! Have you ever visited the Dordogne Department?’
‘’Uh, no! I am from Orléans.’
‘’Then, you should know that the Dordogne is a very hilly and densely wooded area, with lots of gorges, deep valleys and steep cliffs. It is an excellent place to do some vigorous excursions on foot. It also happens to be a beautiful region.’
‘’Oh! Maybe I should visit it one day.’
‘’You definitely could do worse, Charles.’
After another thirty minutes of hard slogging and climbing, the alpine soldiers finally arrived at the refuge proper, a wooden building that had obviously seen better days. Sub-lieutenant Louis Montreuil shone his flashlight across the façade of the two-story building and frowned.
‘’This refuge is in a rather poor condition, yet it was built only 25 years ago, if I refer to our briefings and documentation.’
‘’Yes, but my guess is that the owners of this refuge skimped on its maintenance, in order to maximize their operating profits.’ replied Master sergeant Marc Laurendeau.
‘’Places in it will be tight, considering that we are three times the number of persons it was built to accommodate. No wonder that there are talks of building a newer and larger refuge on this site.’
‘’Well, we better get in before those bums from the machine gun group grab the best places.’
To Montreuil’s disappointment, the 37 men of the machine gun group did manage to grab the best spots in the refuge first, as the company commander, Captain Robert Théoret, let the machine gunners in first. The men of the mortar group thus ended up being packed into one of the upper floor rooms of the refuge. That was
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however still better than if they would have had to pitch their tents outside, on the rocky terrasse next to the refuge. After piling their backpacks and skis in one corner of the room, the 21 enlisted men and NCOs of the mortar group laid their sleeping bags either on the double bunk beds of the room or directly on the wooden, creaky floor, then went to sleep, while their officer went to a command meeting called by Captain Théoret.
In the main ground level room of the refuge, where a wood stove had been fired up, Captain Théoret laid out a map on one of the wooden tables of the lounge and spoke to his five subaltern officers and one top senior NCO, Warrant Officer René Fonck.
‘’Alright, men. We will let our soldiers sleep for three hours before we will wake up the first of them who will have to go establish three observation posts across the Glacier du Milieu, near the slopes of the Aiguille d’Argentière and of the Aiguille du Chardonnet. We will erect a tent in each of those three locations here, here and here and will also build a snow wall around them in order to protect them from the wind and also to provide some cover to our soldiers manning those observation posts. Sub-Lieutenant Montreuil, you will send one of your two mortar detachments to this location at the foot of the Aiguille d’Argentière, in a spot where your men will be able to observe the ski trail passing by it. Lieutenant Charlier, your men will go install and man two observation posts here and here, next to the Aiguille du Chardonnet, with 400 meters separating the two posts, so that you could block the passage next to the Glacier du Milieu if need be. The rest of the battalion will also establish observation posts along the border, in order to cover every possible passage into France by smugglers. Our antitank and sniper groups will be kept in reserve, ready to reinforce our observation posts or to cut the path of smugglers if any of them are spotted. We will receive fresh supplies of rations via helicopter every two or three days, weather permitting. The men manning the observation post will be relieved each 48 hours after their camps have been established.
The idea here is to stay discrete and as much out of sight as possible, so that would-be smugglers won’t suspect our presence here and will then walk into our trap. Questions?
No? Then go grab some sleep yourselves. You will wake up your first departing teams at three in the morning. I want our observation posts built and ready to operate by six.
That’s it, gentlemen: you are dismissed!’
Louis Montreuil felt some excitement as he went back upstairs to go sleep with his men: this was going to be the first truly operational mission of his young career, which had consisted up to now of a series of training exercises, with no live ammunition issued to
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his group up to now, except for a few target practice sessions during the past few months.
The Aiguille d’Argentière (3,901 meters), with the Glacier du Milieu, in the French Alps.
03:01 (Paris Time)
Sunday, November 27, 1955
Mountain refuge of Albert the First
‘’Alright, men, wake up! Keep the noise down while equipping yourselves, so that you don’t wake up the men of our other detachment.’
Awakened by Sergent Dubreuil, Kin rubbed his eyes before getting out of his sleeping bag. Contrary to most of his comrades, who insisted on sleeping fully dressed inside their sleeping bags in the erroneous belief that they would thus keep warmer that way, Kin wore only his shorts and socks while sleeping. Yet, he was now much warmer than his comrades who had slept fully clothed, something which attracted a question in a low voice from Charles Jumonville.
‘’How come you are not shivering while wearing only your shorts? You must have frozen all night, no?’
‘’Not at all, Charles! You and the others who sleep fully clothed are the ones who do things the wrong way.’
‘’How so?’
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‘’Because our sleeping bags are meant to reflect our body heat and thus keep us warm. By sleeping with your clothes on, you prevent your body heat from being reflected back at you. Furthermore, since your clothes were not completely dry, their humidity further defeated the design of our sleeping bags.’
‘’But what about my clothes? If I leave them outside my sleeping bag while I sleep, they will be frozen stiff in the morning.’
‘’Not if you place them between the inner and outer sections of your sleeping bag. Try that next time you go to sleep.’
What Kin didn’t say was that the French soldiers could have learned a lot from how Neanderthals like him had lived and survived in severe Ice Age weather for many tens of thousands of years. As for Kin himself, his Neanderthal physiology was perfectly adapted to cold climates, with a compact, stocky body which minimized body heat loss and with his large nostrils filtering the cold air of Winter.
Doing their best to keep the noise down in order not to wake up the other men of their mortar group, Kin and the other eight soldiers of Detachment Alpha got dressed and equipped, then quietly walked out of their room, their backpack, skis and weapons on them. Going down to the ground level, Sergeant Dubreuil had his men fill their thermos bottles with hot coffee before leading them outside, where they collected a large toboggan containing a winter tent and various supplies and tools. Kin did not complain when he and Philippe Bonséjour were designated to pull the toboggan: he and Philippe were the two strongest men of their detachment and it was only logical for them to pull such a load. Daniel Vaillant, the robust son of a farmer, was chosen to help guide the toboggan by holding on to its rear guide frame. With Sergeant Dubreuil in the lead, the group of nine men cautiously went down the rocky slope from the refuge’s terrasse before starting to cross the Glacier du Milieu. While complete darkness would have been ideal, the crossing of the glacier, with its multiple crevasses, was too dangerous to be attempted at night without lights, so the chasseurs switched on the lamps fixed to the front of their helmets, lamps which had been fitted with red filters in order to be less visible from a distance. With Dubreuil putting a premium on safety, their group took two and a half hours to cover the four kilometers between the refuge and the location chosen in advance for their future observation post. Their skis however helped them a lot by distributing their weight over a larger surface and also by helping the soldiers slide on the snow and ice instead of sinking in it at every step. The only true tricky moment came
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when they encountered a meter-wide crevasse in the glacier which they could not go around. They defeated it by having four men jump across first without their packs, then throwing those packs across by hand, a task at which Kin’s superlative strength proved again to be a boon to his sub-unit. Then, the toboggan was cautiously pulled across by the four soldiers who had already crossed, with the five other soldiers pushing and holding the rear frame. The whole operation took some twenty minutes, after which the nine soldiers continued on towards the foot of the Aiguille d’Argentière. On their way, Sergeant Dubreuil stopped for a moment to show to his men old tracks from multiple skiers who had gone across the glacier.
‘’This is the main trail used by sports skiers and mountain climbers to cross this glacier and get to either the various summits or passes of this area. We will have to make sure that we have a good direct view of that trail from our observation post. I can see a large rock outcrop some 200 meters to our front that will be ideal to cut the wind for our tent. A little extra effort and we will soon be able to drop our packs and erect our tent.’
That encouraged his soldiers, who renewed their efforts and soon stopped behind the big rock outcrop, which rose a good three meters above the snow and ice. Dubreuil surveyed quickly the site before grinning to his men.
‘’This will be perfect for our post. Master corporal Fortier, Corporal Benchetrit, you will start building a snow wall at the edge of that rock, in order to provide some protection from the wind for our men who will be observing our surroundings. The rest will erect our tent under my supervision. Let’s get to work, men!’
Half an hour later, with their tent now up and with part of their supplies and equipment being transferred inside, Kin approached Dubreuil with a suggestion.
‘’Sergeant, how about building a snow wall around our tent, so that the wind could not blow it down or damage it?’
Dubreuil only had to think for a second before nodding his head and smile to Kin.
‘’A good idea, Comeau. Use the men who are not doing anything at the moment to help you.’
‘’Thank you, Sergeant!’ replied Kin before going to collect a shovel and a few men. Dubreuil watched him as he walked away.
‘’Decidedly, this Kin was made to be a chasseur alpin: it is as if he was born in the middle of ice and snow.’
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01:48 (Paris Time)
Thursday, December 3, 1955
Mortar group’s observation post
Southwest slopes of the Aiguille d’Argentière
Kin was on watch duty with Hunter First Class Maurice Panetton, an outgoing, friendly and likeable young man from Lyon, as their group was ending the first week of their mission. Up to now, there had been little activity in the area, this time of the year seeing few tourists or mountain enthusiasts traveling around this region. A three-day-long snowstorm had also contributed to the low level of activity around. Despite the long routine observation work, Kin was enjoying this mission in the Alps, which reminded him of his youth in the Dordogne of the Ice Age era. His companion, seemingly a bit bored, then made a comment while still scanning the area around their observation post.
‘’At least, we can see quite well at night, thanks to the reflection of the moonlight on the snow. It would probably be much harder to spot anyone coming while following these rocky slopes.’
‘’True, but even then, we have Sergeant Dubreuil’s night vision scope to help us spot suspicious activity. I…’
‘’What? Do you see something, Kin?’
‘’Uh, maybe. Can you pass me the night scope?’
Panetton quickly took the scope, a cylindrical object about the size of a beer can, out of one pocket of his winter parka and gave it to Kin, who raised it to his right eye and looked through it for a few seconds before giving it back to his companion while pointing in one direction.
‘’Look in that direction, some 300 meters away: there is a group of seven skiers approaching from the direction of the border. They wear big packs and are all dressed in white camouflage outfits: those are not tourists or sportsmen. You better go wake up Sergeant Dubreuil, and quickly.’
A few seconds of looking through the night scope convinced Panetton that Kin was right.
‘’You are right: tourists and sportsmen don’t travel around here at night and they never dress only in white clothes. Those bozos are definitely wearing winter camouflage.’
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Panetton gave the scope back to Kin before going quickly in their tent, allowing Kin to further examine the newcomers. The more he saw of them, the more he grew suspicious about them. Even if legitimate travelers would be skying around at night like this, they would at least be using a few flashlights in order to avoid any possible crevasses which could be along their way. Those men however used no lights at all and could have slipped by the observation post unobserved if not for Kin’s exceptional nocturnal eyesight, another common trait in Neanderthals. Then, the approaching men seemed to hesitate and stopped while looking in Kin’s direction. Kin, surprised by this, instinctively looked behind him and nearly swore out loud: someone had lit a flashlight inside the tent, which made it light up like a Chinese paper lamp, making it easily visible from a long distance at night. Then, the flashlight inside the tent was shut off but the damage had already been done. Looking back at the group of seven men, Kin saw that they now had resumed skying, this time at a much-accelerated pace. Furious, Kin, quickly walked to his tent and spoke through its canvas fabric.
‘’Sergeant, those men have seen the light inside our tent and are now skying at double time down the slope.’
A pungent exclamation came out from Sergeant Dubreuil before he emerged from the tent, still only partially dressed.
‘’Show me where they are, Kin!’
‘’Yes, Sergeant!’
Going back to the snow wall of the observation post, Kin gave the night scope to his NCO while pointing in the direction where he could see the group of seven men.
‘’They are now about 250 meters from us, skying down the slope, Sergeant.
They are dressed in white winter camouflage and carry big packs. They were also not using any lights: these are no tourists, in my opinion.’
‘’You are right: these guys smell most suspicious. We may have to pursue them down the slope. Put your skis on while I alert our command post by radio.’
Excited at the prospect of seeing some action, Kin hurried to his skis, planted in the snow outside the tent, and put them on as more soldiers hurried out of the tent. Less than two minutes later, Sergeant Dubreuil, now fully clothed, also came to put his skis on while giving orders around him.
‘’HARCOUR, FORTIER, YOU STAY HERE AND CONTINUE TO OBSERVE.
THE REST, FOLLOW ME AND MAKE SURE THAT YOUR WEAPONS ARE LOADED.’
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Having already his skis fixed to his boots, Kin was the first man behind Dubreuil as their detachment hurried down the slope, hot on the trail of the group of seven suspicious men. Then, a few seconds later, a number of bullets whistled through the air, a second before a salvo of shots rang out in the night, making Sergeant Dubreuil swear out loud.
‘’THOSE BASTARDS HAVE AUTOMATIC WEAPONS! CHASSEURS, CHAMBER ROUNDS IN YOUR RIFLES!’
Dubreuil then spoke in the headset of the tactical radio he was carrying.
‘’Nine, this is Seven Alpha. We are now pursuing a group of seven men armed with automatic weapons who are fleeing down the slope past our observation post. We will need to have someone cut their path further down the slope… Seven Alpha, understood! ALRIGHT MEN, WE HAVE AUTHORIZATION TO RETURN FIRE BUT
HOLD YOUR FIRE UNTIL WE GET CLOSER.’
‘’SERGEANT, PERMISSION TO GO AHEAD AND TO THE LEFT IN ORDER TO
CUT THEIR PATH FURTHER DOWN.’
‘’DO IT COMEAU! VAILLANT, GO WITH COMEAU!’
Kin grinned on hearing that: Hunter First Class Daniel Vaillant was the best skier of the detachment and was not going to have any problem following close behind him. Leaving the line of seven soldiers with Vaillant, Kin started skying as fast as he could in the dark, taking extra risks in the process but with his performance boosted by the adrenaline rush he now felt. The occasional flashes from gunfire helped him keep track of where their enemies were and Kin soon found himself and Vaillant slightly ahead of the suspects and about 150 meters to their left, on parallel courses.
‘’Daniel, let’s gain another hundred meters ahead of these assholes, then we will turn hard right and stop to mount an ambush.’
‘’Got it, Kin!’
By the time that Kin decided to turn hard right, the other chasseurs under Sergent Dubreuil had started returning fire with their rifles. However, the volume of fire coming from the suspects was worrying Kin, who fully realized how outgunned his comrades were.
‘’Those assholes all seem to have assault rifles. Who the fuck could they be to have such armament? These are no ordinary smugglers.’
‘’They sure aren’t, Kin.’ agreed at once Daniel Vaillant. ‘’There, just ahead: there is a large rock that would give us excellent cover from enemy fire.’
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‘’Sold!’ replied Kin, who then bifurcated towards that rock. The two of them soon were crouching behind the rock in question and pointing their rifles. Thankfully, the moonlight reflecting on the snow illuminated sufficiently the incoming seven suspects to allow for aimed shots. Being the junior soldier out of the two, Kin then looked at Daniel Vaillant.
‘’Should we give them a warning before starting to shoot?’
‘’Did they give us a warning before starting to shoot at us? Let them have it!’
Kin nodded at that, satisfied, then aimed at the nearest incoming skier, who was firing his automatic rifle from the hip towards the pursuing soldiers behind him and while skying down the slope, showing some impressive winter combat skills in the process.
Taking careful aim, Kin then gently and progressively pressed the trigger of his Model 1949 rifle. The shot came out the way it was supposed to do, without warning. Kin’s target, squarely hit in the torso, fell to the ground and cartwheeled a couple of time in the snow before sliding to a stop, unmoving. Vaillant’s first shot was equally a success, downing another man. The five remaining skiers then split their fire between Kin’s duo and Sergeant Dubreuil’s team. As bullets zipped by his head, Kin took aim at another suspect and fired, bowling him over in the snow. Two more suspects then fell, at which time the two surviving suspects seemingly had enough and threw down their weapons before raising their arms high in the air and shouting in French.
‘’DON’T SHOOT! WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!’
‘’Yes!’ said Daniel Vaillant triumphantly while getting up on his skis. ‘’Let’s close in on them, Kin, cautiously.’
‘’I’m with you!’ replied Kin while also getting up. It took them only seconds before they arrived at the two suspects, who had been less than fifty meters from the large rock by the time they had surrendered. Daniel Vaillant then gave orders in a harsh tone to the two men.
‘’Get on your knees and keep your hands up! Kin, check them for any weapons which could still be on them.’
His rifle pointed, Kin approached the nearest man and quickly patted him down before making him take off his big backpack. Kin frowned on finding a loaded pistol and a knife on each of the two men.
‘’An automatic rifle, plus a pistol and a knife? These guys are walking arsenals!’
‘’Then, check their boots as well: they may be hiding pocket knives inside them.’
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Following Daniel’s advice, Kin did so and frowned on finding a switchblade inside the right-side boot of one of the suspects. Just at that moment, Sergeant Dubreuil and the rest of the detachment arrived and stopped in a semi-circle around the two suspects.
‘’Great job, Comeau and Vaillant! I will make sure that our company commander hears about this. What have you found on them yet?’
‘’A complete arsenal of automatic rifle, pistol and knives, Sergeant. This one even had a switchblade hidden inside one boot. Are all our guys okay, Sergeant? I don’t see either Jumonville or Bonséjour.’
Kin’s heart skipped a beat on hearing that, with Dubreuil answering Vaillant in a somber tone.
‘’Jumonville was hit and fell down. I told Bonséjour to stop and give him medical assistance. Benchetrit, Panetton, go check out the other suspects which were hit. Be careful: they may still be combative if still alive.’
‘’Yes, Sergeant!’
As Benchetrit and Panetton went back up the slope, Dubreuil bent down and grabbed the automatic rifle thrown down by one of the captured suspects and examined it quickly.
‘’Hum… A fully automatic Belgian FN FAL 7.62mm rifle. This is a very recent rifle which is being produced strictly for military customers. Where did these guys find such modern weapons? Did you search their backpacks yet, guys?’
‘’No, Sergeant!’ answered Vaillant, prompting Dubreuil in grabbing one of the two backpacks near him and opening it before inspecting its content with the help of his flashlight. What he found made him swear to himself.
‘’MERDE! This backpack is full of plastic bags containing a brown paste. I bet that this is opium. If I am right and if all of those assholes were transporting opium, then we have a fortune in illegal drugs on our hands. I better report this at once via radio.
Comeau, Vaillant, go up the slope and help Bonséjour take care of Jumonville. If Jumonville can be moved, then you will bring him back to the refuge.’
‘’On our way, Sergeant!’
Putting back on his skis, Kin then proceeded up slope with Daniel Vaillant, anxious about Charles Jumonville’s state. The two young soldiers were shocked to find Philippe Bonséjour dejectedly sitting on the snow next to an unmoving Jumonville.
‘’Philippe, why are you not caring for Charles?’ asked Vaillant. Bonséjour looked up at him with sadness.
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‘’Charles is dead: I couldn’t stop the hemorrhaging in time and he bled to death.’
‘’Merde!’ said Kin on hearing that. ‘’Charles was a nice guy. What do we do now?’
‘’We will have to carry his body back to the refuge for evacuation.’ answered Vaillant. ‘’However, we will need more men and our toboggan for that. Kin, you better go inform Sergeant Dubreuil about this.’
‘’On my way!’ replied Kin before turning around and starting to sky down the slope. A mere minute later, he stopped next to his detachment leader and spoke to him in a subdued voice.
‘’Jumonville is dead, Sergent: he bled to death.’
‘’MERDE! MERDE!’ swore the NCO before throwing a dark look at his two prisoners. Nex, he grabbed the handset of his tactical radio and spoke in it.
‘’Seven, this is Seven Alpha: situation report. We suffered one dead soldier, while five suspects are either dead of gravely wounded, while two more suspects are in custody. The suspects were armed with automatic rifles and were carrying large packs full of drugs. I request support for casualties and prisoner evacuation, over.’
There was a bit of a delay before he got an answer on the radio.
‘’Seven Alpha, I copy your report. Instructions will follow in a couple of minutes.
In the meantime, gather together the casualties and keep watch on your prisoners, over.’
‘’Understood, Seven!’
Next, Dubreuil looked at his men and gave a series of orders.
‘’Comeau, return to where Bonséjour is and help him carry Jumonville’s body to here. The others will gather the bodies of the dead smugglers and assemble them here.
Fortier and Panetton, you stay here with me and keep a close watch on these two pieces of shit. Let’s move!’
Kin immediately skied back up the slope to where Bonséjour and Vaillant stood next to their dead comrade, where he told them about Dubreuil’s orders before the three of them grabbed Jumonville’s body by its feet and hands, then slowly skied down the slope with their morbid load. Dubreuil gave a sad look down at his dead soldier before speaking to Kin and Philippe.
‘’Our company command post called back a minute ago. Our machine gun and antitank sections will come join us with empty toboggans, so that the dead could be brought to the refuge, along with our two prisoners. Once they will be here, we will
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resume our observation post duties. In the meantime, we will erect a snow wall around our position, in order to cut the wind while we wait for the reinforcements.’
The soldiers then got busy, with Kin helping to build a U-shaped shoulder-high snow wall around their position. Once the wall was completed, the soldiers sat behind it, protected from the cold mountain wind. The two prisoners and the six dead however stayed out of the wall’s protection as they waited for other chasseurs to arrive. Some two hours later, 43 soldiers led by Captain Robert Théoret arrived at their location while it was still dark. The dead were then placed in the empty toboggans brought by Théoret’s group and were solidly tied in place, while the weapons and backpacks of the smugglers were loaded on three other toboggans. As for the two prisoners, they were made to put back on their skis and were tied with long ropes to soldiers before the whole group skied away towards the refuge. As it disappeared into the darkness, Dubreuil looked at his five remaining soldiers in the location and gave a curt order.
‘’Alright: time to return to our observation post and resume our watch duties.’
Kin, near the tail end of his detachment, gave a last look towards where Captain Théoret’s group had disappeared, thinking about his lost comrade, then started skying back to their tent.
13:49 (Paris Time)
Saturday, December 5, 1955 ‘B’
Headquarters of the 27th BCA, Galbert Barracks Annecy, Haute-Savoie
Alerted by the soldiers guarding the main gate of the barracks, Lieutenant-colonel Laurent Genest greeted the senior Gendarmerie officer as the latter was introduced in his office, shaking hands with him after they exchanged salutes.
‘’Lieutenant-colonel Laurent Genest, commander of the 27th BCA. Welcome to Annecy!’
‘’Thank you, Colonel. I am Commandant Jean Pierrefond, from the Gendarmerie’s provincial prefecture. I came to brief you on what we found to date about the smugglers your soldiers stopped.’
‘’Aah, that will certainly interest me to the highest degree, Commandant Pierrefond. But let’s sit down in this sofa. Would you like some coffee or tea?’
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‘’A strong cup of coffee would be appreciated, Colonel: we have been working long hours lately while investigating this case.’
‘’Then, let me order some coffee before we talk.’
Genest took a few seconds to go see his secretary and order two cups of espresso coffee before joining Pierrefond on the well-used sofa occupying a corner of his office.
‘’So, what have you learned about the bastards who killed one of my men?’
‘’Quite a few things, much of it rather alarming, Colonel. First off, those seven smugglers were all ex-Italian mountain troops and were well trained in alpine operations and conditions.’
Genest straightened up on hearing that, not liking the implications of that revelation.
‘’Ex-Italian Army mountain troops? And for whom did they work for now?’
‘’We are still investigating that but we strongly suspect that they worked for a big Mafia boss based in Turin, who specializes in drug and arms trafficking.’
‘’And about arms, where and how were they able to get FN FAL assault rifles, a recent model still in limited circulation?’
‘’Please keep this to yourself, Colonel, but a shipment of FAL rifles was stolen and disappeared in Belgium some nine months ago. We suspect that the same Turin Mafia boss who was employing those ex-Italian Army troopers instigated that arms theft.’
‘’And how many such rifles were stolen if I may ask?’
The Gendarmerie officer hesitated for a moment before answering Genest.
‘’A bit over 900 FAL rifles, plus spare parts and extra magazines. We are still trying to find them but our hopes of doing so are quite low.’
‘’And my soldiers have only semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns.’ said Genest, sounding discouraged. ‘’My men will thus be at a severe disadvantage in terms of firepower in any armed encounters with those Italian smugglers. Do you know if we could expect more such attempts at cross-border crossings, Commandant Pierrefond?’
‘’We are afraid so, Colonel. This drug-smuggling business is too lucrative to be abandoned by this Mafia leader because of one failed attempt. The Justice Minister thus requested the Defense Minister to continue your unit’s support to my prefecture. By the way, the other battalions of the Alpine Corps have also been solicited in that aspect.
Hopefully, that Mafia boss will tire of this and will switch to other things.’
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‘’Hopefully but unlikely, as you said. Alright, my men will keep patrolling the Alps until further notice. By the way, do you know if those Italian smugglers may transport other things than drugs across the Alps?’
‘’While they presently concentrate on drug smuggling operations, which are very lucrative, they were known to occasionally carry contraband weapons, mostly pistols and submachine guns. It is also rumored that they have stocks of hand grenades as well.’
‘’Better and better! Then, I better reposition my sub-units and bring forward my own heavy weapons. Damn! I never thought that our Alps could be one day turned into a battlefield.’
‘’We also hope that this won’t happen, Colonel: my own gendarmes are poorly equipped to face such a severe threat. Unfortunately, we are afraid that the coming of Spring will only augment this threat, with the terrain then becoming easier to cross.
Well, that’s about all that we presently know about, Colonel.’
‘’And I thank you for the information, Commandant. But please, have a cup of coffee before you leave.’
Pierrefond happily agreed to that and actually drank two cups of espresso coffee before he got up from his sofa, imitated by Genest, and shook hands with him.
‘’Again, thank you for your precious help, Colonel. You can be proud of your men: they performed admirably.’
‘’Thank you, Commandant Pierrefond. We will continue to do our best to support your gendarmes.’
‘’And that support will be greatly appreciated, Colonel. Thank you for receiving me and have a good day.’
‘’And a good day to you as well, Commandant.’
Accompanying Pierrefond out of his office first, Genest then returned to sit behind his desk, deep in thoughts about what the gendarme officer had revealed to him.
This business of modern military weapons in the hands of smugglers disturbed him to no small degree. On the other hand, using heavy weapons in terrain like the Alps was fraught with risks. For one thing, the use of explosive munitions could well trigger deadly avalanches, which would care little who they would sweep down the slopes once triggered. There was also the matter of arranging for a proper periodic troop rotation along the border, so that he would not burn out his soldiers if this crisis went on for more
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than a couple of months. With the Christmas season approaching, that part of the problem would soon make itself felt.
10:14 (Paris Time)
Friday, December 23, 1955 ‘B’
