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?"