"It had made the silence impossible."

It was still early when the headline hit Paris.

"APPEASEMENT IS NOT PEACE.

A FRENCH SOLDIER'S WARNING"

The bold black type screamed across the front page of Le Figaro, delivered with the morning bread.

It wasn't an editorial, nor a leaked intelligence memo.

It was something rarer, an open letter to the Republic, written not by a politician or pundit, but by a serving officer.

By noon, it had crossed cafés, barracks, ministries, and classrooms.

By night, it was burning like a signal fire across Europe.

But it hit hardest at home.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Laval stood at his window overlooking the Seine.

A folded copy of the newspaper rested on his desk, the final paragraph underlined in pencil:

"We are not witnessing peace. We are witnessing preparation."

His aide hovered in the doorway, uncertain whether to speak.

Laval waved him in.

"He signed it?"