```
Once Pandora's box was opened, it could never be closed again. The dispute at the French Command in Aswan was just a minor episode; similar events continued to unfold in the Egypt Area.
How to surrender in a dignified manner became the focus of everyone's debate. It wasn't that the French generals were cowardly, nor that they lacked patriotism.
The senior officers knew the significance of the Egypt Area, but that didn't mean the rank-and-file could understand its importance to France. To most soldiers, the Egypt Area was just another colony, and losing it was no big deal.
If it was destined to be indefensible, then it would be better to give it up. After all, France had lost colonies before, some richer than Egypt, and life had gone on as usual.
With no military morale and a shortage of strategic resources, such a fight was surely unwinnable.
