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The terms of the June 1940 armistace between Germany and France divided France into an occupied and unoccupied zone, with a rigid demarcation or boundary line between the two. The Germans obrained
direct control three-fifths of France, including northern and western France and the entire Atlantic coast which was critical to the Ferman war effort against Britain. The Atlantic coast region provided air bases for the Luftwaffe air campaign and the Kriegesmarine U-boat capaign. The rest of France was left to be administered by the Petain's Government at Vichy. Provisions of the armistice, the "surrender on demand clause", was an obligation to arrest and turn over anyone requested by the Germans. Thus the Germans to persue any one they wanted even in the unoccupied or Vichy zone. Initially this included Jews, Communists, Socialists, as well as political officials who had been outspokingly critical of the NAZIs. France was forced to disband its army, except for a minimal force of 100,000 men for maintaining
domestic order. This was the same size force that Gerrmany had been allowed under the Versailles Peace Treaty. The 1.5 million French Prisioners of War (POWs) were to remain in Germanm prisoner of war camps. The French government agreed to stop military units from leaving France to fight with the British. France had to agree to pay for the cost the Germans incurred in occupying the country.
The Popular Front was the coalition of Communists, Socialists, and other left-wing political parties which developed emerged in France during the 1930s in reaction to the threat of Fascism, especially the rise of the NAZIs in Germany. The Popular Front won the elections of 1936 and Léon Blum became France's first socialist premier. The Depression was a major reason for the Popular Front's victory. The Popular Front's economic policy generally failed. The strikes of 1936 affected the Government's image. The Government decided not to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, the first Fascist military exploit in Europe. The Popular Front was not just a political movement, but rather a social and cultural movement as well. The movment's goal was to break down the trditional barriers that separated the highly compartmentalised society of France in the 1930s. As such, the Popular Front was reviled by traditional and right-wing elements in French society. Aftr the Germany victory in 1940, Blum and the Popular Front were blamed by Vichy politicians rather than the French military planners. While the Popular Front failed in many of its goals, the myth of the Popular Front has achieved legendary status in modern France. [Jackson, Popular Front]
The Germans proceeded to conquer virtually all of Western Europe. After a few months of the "Phony War", France's turn came. The Germans struck on a wide front against the neutral Netherlands, Belgiym, and Luxemburg. The terror bombing
of Rotterdam convinced the already hard-pressed Dutch Army to surrender. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) rushed north to aid the Dutch. The Germans then struck in the Belgian Ardenes which allowed them to avoid the formidable Maginot Line. The French and Belgians considered the Ardenes impassable to tanks. The Germans managed to
easily penetrate the rough terraine, crossed two substantial rivers, and the XIX Panzer Corps rapidly reached the English Channel--cutting the BEF off from the French and rendering the Maginot Line uselss. The French entrenched behind the Maginot Line simply could not cope with the exposive highly mobil style of Blitzkrieg warfare. The Panzers surrounded the Belgian Army which King Leopold III surrendered. The BEF was within Hitler's grasp. The Panzers were only a few miles south of Dunkirk and facing no serious opposition. Hitler ordered the Panzers to halt. Some believe that he hoped this gesture would help convince the British to comes to terms, other believe that is was just as it was described at the time, aneeded pause to regroup and prepare for a more coordinated assault. [Davidson, p. 408 and Fest, p. 630.] What ever the reason, this 48-hour respite allowed the British to organize a defensive perimter around Dunkirk and begin an almost miraculous withdawl. Nearly 340,000 men were evacuated from Dunkirk, including French and Dutch sholdiers. This is even more important that it sounds as akmost all if the British sholdiers were regulars and would form the corps of the future British Army that would play such an important role in the War. All of the BEF's equipment, however, was lost. Paris soon fell and the French signed a NAZI imposed armistace. The collapse of France after only a few weeks was a disaster of emense proportions. It was the French Army that had provided the bulk of the allied War Western Front in World War I. The German victory was no ccomplished with superior numbers or weaponry. In fact they had fewer men, tank, and planes. What they had was a superior tactical doctrine. The Germans were amazed to find, for example, that French tanks were not even equipped with radios, and a more disciplined fighting force. NAZI propaganda began to describe Hitler as " Der grösste Feldherr Allerzeiten " (the greatest field commander of all time). [Davidson, p. 483.]
Paris fell June 14. Churchill offered a union of France and Britain. The French Government rejected the offer. [Freidel, p. 337.] French Prime Minister Reynaud resigned on June 16 and was replaced by Marshall Pétain, the hero of Verdun in World War I. Pétain immeduately asked for an armistace on June 17. France capitulated June 22. Hitler had found the railroad car in which the Germans had signed the armistace in 1918 and the armistace was signed at Compiègne. France was out of the War and Britain now faced the Germans alone. The terms of the June 1940 armistace between Germany and France divided France into an occupied and unoccupied zone, with a rigid demarcation or boundary line between the two.
General Charles de Gualle rejected the armistace as well as the Pétain Vichy Goverment. He formed the French National Committee and fled to England. The Committe was to become the Free French movemnent. A French reader writes, "Général de Gaulle was not very well understand by President Roosevelt and Primeminister Churchill. Genéral de Gaulle is still highly respected in France. Oone finds
his name everywhere . He is for us the real France in his independance, shining through the world. He is the father of our nuclear force; the friendly Franco-German; and peace in the world. President Chirac admired Général de Gaulle.
Still to day some anti-American French mentality is coming of this problem, but all the French are aware that the French-American friendly is for ever."
The Germans obrained direct control three-fifths of France, including northern and western France and the entire Atlantic coast which was critical to the Ferman war effort against Britain. The Atlantic coast region provided air bases for the Luftwaffe air campaign and the Kriegesmarine U-boat capaign.
The NAZIs occupied the north and Atlantic coast of France. These were the areas most critical for persuing the war against Britain. It also cut France off from their former ally. The rest of France was left unoccupied to be administered by the Pétain's Government at Vichy. This was wssentially central and southern France. As Paris was in the occupied zone, the capital of unoccupied France becme Vichy where Pétain set up his government. The terms of the armistace, however, conferred effective control to NAZI authorities, although the foot print of the German military was much less conscipious. The terms of the armistae was severe, but not draconian as was the occupation in Poland. Many French people had expected much worse from the NAZIs. Except for Jews, Communists, and vocal anti-NAZIs, life in the unoccupied zone could at first continue relatively normally. This did not begin to chnge until the NAZIs began demanding conscript labor for war industries in the Reich (May 1942) and the Allies launched Operation Torch (November 1942). The NAZIs responded to Torch by occupying the unoccupied zone.
Provisions of the armistice, the "surrender on demand clause", was an obligation to arrest and turn over anyone requested by the Germans. Thus the Germans to persue any one they wanted even in the unoccupied or Vichy zone. Initially this included Jews, Communists, Socialists, as well as political officials who had been outspokingly critical of the NAZIs. France was forced to disband its army, except for a minimal force of 100,000 men for maintaining domestic order. This was the same size force that Gerrmany had been allowed under the Versailles Peace Treaty. The 1.5 million French Prisioners of War (POWs)
were to remain in Germanm prisoner of war camps. The French government agreed to stop military units from leaving France to fight with the British. France had to
agree to pay for the cost the Germans incurred in occupying the country.
The Royal Navy began World War II with only 9? battleships, a fraction of the World War I Grand Fleet. Italy's fleet of fast modern battleships and carriers already
outnumbered the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. The French batleships if they had fallen into German hands would havegiven the Axis the striking power to confront
the Royal Navy. Churchill's most difficult decission upon becoming First Lord of the Admiralty was the order he gave to neutralize the French fleet. A British
squadron was dispatched to Oran where the French fleet had sought shelter. The French fleet was given the options of joining the British in the fight against the NAZIs,
imobiling their vessels, or destruction. The French rejected the British demands and the British opened fire. Only the French battleship Strassbourg survived. French publicopinion was outraged. The attack proved useful to help strengthen the Vicy regime. It was also extensively used in NAZI propaganda. Churchill was to say it was the most difficult decesion he ever took. While an agonizing decesion, Britain in fact had little choice. If Germany could have gained control over the French battleships, the British command of the seas and ability to maintain its Atlantic lifeline would have been seriously compromised.
Marshall Henri-Philippe Pétain was a hero of France in World War I. He led the heroic French defense at Verdun, the singlme most horific battle of world War I. The French stopped a massive German assault. An elderly Pétain was voted premier of France by a fleeing French assembly as the German Wehrmacht took Paris and poured into central France. He aigned an armistace with NAZI Germany 8 days after becoming premier. Britain and France had an agreement that there would be no seprate peace. The British realized that the French Army was defeated, but he did not expect the French to sign a peace treaty and colaborate ith the Germans in the war effort. Pétain set up his government in Vichy, a resort city in southern France. One historian described him as as becoming "a despised puppet" of NAZI Germany. This was not the case. He was at the time very popular with the French people during the occupation. He portrayed France's defeat as the fault of Communists and cosmopolitans, a code word for Jews rather than poor military leadership. A military leader himself, he was not about to place the blame on the French Army, a still widely repected institution in France. Pétain sought to institute a social revolution. with he called a National Rvolution, by focusing on patriotism and rooting out left-wing, comopolitan influences. Pétain like many French saw the NAZIs as having won the war. If the French Army could be defeated in weeks, how could anuone resist the NAZIs. Thus Pétain sought an accomdation with the NAZIs. After the British attack on the French fleet, he was willing to collaborate with the German war effort, he drew the line, however, at participating in an committing French soldiers to Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. When the Allies liberated France in 1944, Pétain escaped to Germany. After the NAZI surrender in 1945, Pétain was returned to France. He was tried and found guilty of treason. He sentenced to prison for life and died in prison 6 years later in 1951.
The Pétain Government after signing the armistace with the NAZIs on June 22 set up a governmnt in Vichy for the sector of southern France that was not occupied by the Germans. The Vichy Government was officially established on July 12, 1940. Cooperation with NAZI Germany was a necessary precondition. The Vichy regime in many ways cooperated with the NAZIs. Vichy officials after the War maintined that provided a "shield" against what would have been even more severe measures by the NAZIs. The increasing verdict of historians was that Vichy was more the story of collaboration with the NAZIs than a shield protecting the French people. [Curtis and Paxton]
Pétain replaced Paul Renaud as premier on June 17, 1940. His first objective was to end the War and bloodshed. His larger goal was to establish a long-term political relationship with NAZI Germany. Stunned with the collapse of the French Army, Pétain saw an armistice as necessary to stop further bloodshed and to begin the creation of a relationship with a Germany. Pétain, Laval, and other Vichy associates believed that the NAZIs would quickly defeat Britain and establish Germany as the dominant country in Europe. Some Vichy politicans used the term "une Europe allemande--a Europe dominated by Germany. Despite the humiliating defeat, Pétain and his Vichy associates convinced themselves that France, as a colonial power and a major European power would be potentially useful ally to Germany in the new NAZI-dominated European order, un nouveau ordre européen. Pétain soketo the French people made a speech on the radio October 11, 1940. He mentioned the possibility of France and Germany working together once the War ended. (At the time only Britain was actively fighting the NAZIs.) Pétain in his speech used the term "collaboration", associating the word with the idea of working with Germany in the post-War era. This was the origin of the word "collaborationist" that had such negative connotations after liberation in 1944. Pétain and Laval saw collaboration with the NAZIs as the way in which France might secure a place at the table with Germany in Europe once the War was over. Collaboration for Pétain was a wy that France could establish it's good faith and willingness to accept Germany's role as the dominant force in Europe. Pétain saw collaboration as the only way of advancing France's interests. Pétain's primary concerns were the return of 1.6 million French POWs, the safety of the French population, a reduction in the war indemnity, and Vichy's sovereignty over Occupied and Unoccupied zones. Collaboration for Pétain was needed to ensure that his Government was given time to rebuild France based on the principles of Vichy's National Revolution. The French people were shocked by the defeat of the French Army. The Popular Front and the Third Republic were thoroughly discredited. Thus Pétain and his right-wing allies wee able to initiate their ideological reforms of French society.
Vichy persued collabration as a matter of policy. Pétain and his Vichy Government, however, were not an entirely free agent. The German having defeated the French army had insisted on provisions in thar armistace convention that compeled French cooperation ith occipation authorities. Article 3 required France to cooperate with the German military authorities. The Germans had the right and ample power in the Occupied zone.
German Propaganda Minister, Dr. Josef Goebbels, provided in his diary a fairly accurate assessment of Vichy. "I have received a confidential report about a talk which one of our special informants had with Pétin. The situation at Vichy, according to this report, is exactly as it was characterized in my recent entry. Vichy desires neither a Bolshevik nor a complete German victory. Pétain, according to our informant, is absolutely vigorous in mind and body. He is the real force behind the policy of watcheful waiting. He would far prefer to have Germany and the Soviet Union grind each other to pieces and bleed each other hite, thereby enabling France to resume the status of a great power, at least to a certain extent. The French are certinly cuttung into their own flesh and, when the war us ended, will have to pay the piper for having mintained a wauting attitude far too long. [January24, 1942--Goebbels, p. 42.]
The popular view of Vichy in France today is that Vichy was a dark period of occupation by the hated Germans. Marshall Pétain is seened as a flawed, aging figure foisted on them by the Germans and those arounf Pétain as traitors. The heros of this period are seen as DeFualle and resistance leaders. This was not, however, how Vichy was viewed by the French at the time. Pétain was an extremely popular figure. A popular song of the time was "Maréchal, nous voilà!" Most French people saw Pétain as successfully avoiding the full horror of NAZI occupation. In a sence they were correct. The NAZI occupation regime, except for the actions against Jews, was generally more correct than in other countries. France was the only conquered country with which Hitler bother to sign an armistace. The armistace as discussed above was severe, but not draconian. We are not sure why Hitler showed a degreee of generosity. The most likely explanation was a desire to come to terms with the British. Most young French people who study the Vichy period are shocked at the popularity of Vichy and of the level of colaboration. Many post-War leaders collaborated to varying degrees, even President Mitterand. Many French people saw Pétain's National Revolution as a needed revival of French values, a nostaslgic return to an era of France's greatness. His emphasis on the Catholic Church appealed to many. Church leaders were critical of the left-ward drift of the Third Republic, especiaslly the Popular Front. They echoed the charges the Church made of decling public morals. Churches attendance increased. Even military figures picked up this theme. General Wegand himself charged, "France deserved her defeat; she was beaten because, for half a century, her government banned religious instruction in schools." [Duquesne, p. 27.] Of course such an explanation averts the more obvious charge of military incompetence. When Cardinal Gerlier claimed that "Pétain is France and France today is Pétain," the French people generally agreed (November 13, 1940). The British attacks on the French fleet and bombing raids at first strenthened Vichy. An odd fact is that the British and Amnericans bombed France more than the Germans. The popularitly of Vichy began to decline only after two years of occipation. Here there were several factors involved.
The critical error of Vichy was that Pétain and his colleagues did not appreciate the full depravity of Hitler and the NAZUS. Vichy left France at the mercy of the NAZIs. The demand for French workers showed that Vichy could not really protect the French people. The NAZIs looted and exploited France during the occupation. Again Vichy was powerless to prevent this. What would have happened to France had the NAZIs won the War we can not know for sure. Continued and perhaps expanded economic exploitation as as a colony is France's likely fate. We do know that the NAZIs viewed France differently than the British and Scandinavians. The Jews were the obvious targets during the occupatipon. There most probably would have been further racial actions in a NAZI controlled Europe. Just what that wouldhave involved in France is unclear. It probably would not have been as draconian as the fate planned for the Serbs, but there is little doubt that it would have been dreadful. Vichy did provide some relief from NAZI oppression, but the cost had the NAZIs won the war would have been very high indeed.
Pétain and his associates knew about NAZI anti-semitism, they were not fully aware of the extent to which the NAZI-worldview was goverened by race, or the NAZI concept of race. Hitler had never traveled outside of Austria and Germany, except to northern France in World war I. He was convinced tha France was a debased nation. NAZI proaganda made a great deal out of the Black African soldiers that served in the French Army. Images of the forlorn, defeated French Army certainly must have further influenced Hitler's view of France. For Hitler, Britain with its Anglo-Saxon population was a much more attractive ally for Germany.
One of the few instance where Marshal Pétain is known to have stood up to Hitler and the NAZIs was over the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler tried to recruit both Generalismo Franco in Spaon and Marshal Pétain in France to his anti-Bolshevick crusade. Both Franco and Pétain refused. (Although Franco did supply one division of volunteers.) Germany invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941). It launched th most titantic military campaign in history. In retrospect it proved to be the turning point of World War II. The failure of the Wehrmacht to defeat the the Red army before the Winter changed the complexion of the War and the premise upon which the Vichy regime was based. Pétain had based his regime on the inevitability of a NAZI victory. A the fortunes of the German military declined so did the popularity of Pétain and Vichy.
Although horrified at the collapse of the French Army, many French people could not help admire the Germans and this included the children. For the most part the Germans behaved relatively correctly in France, atleast in comparison to their barbarous behavior in the East, and this also affected public attitudes, especially during the early years of the occupation. A French reader writes, "The Germans were critical of our attitude toward children. Though we pampered them bit too much and that organized youth group activities like their Hitler Youth were not adequately developed. In the city parks, the children continued to play as usual, even in the German presence. In the school nothing was changed. The Germans were very fond of our clothes, food, and culture."
Vichy initiasted significant educational reforms. Vichy increased state subsidies to Catholic schools. Many anti-clerical measures of the Third Republic were repaled. The educational program in state schools was revised permitting religious instruction. The teachers, however, except for Jews held their jobs. Many believing in separation of church and state were shocked by this development. Vichy educational policy like the Church leadership itself stressed values like discipline and submission to authority. These same themes were also adopted by Vichy youth groups.
Vichy officials cooperated with the NAZI Holocaust. Vichy appllied NAZI anti-Jewish rgulations, including seizure ofJewish property and expelling Jewish children from French schools. The most shameful single act was assistance in rounding up over 80,000 foreign and French Jews as part of the Holocaust in concentration camps so they could be shipped to the death camps in Poland. vichy even ran camps in France with apauling death rates. The experiences of Jews in France in a sad chapter of French history. [Klarsfeld] Historians have difficulty understanding how French institutions like the Church, civil service, and legal profesion did not resist Vichy's Aryanisation process. One historian argues that in times of crisis and danger, people naturally become cautious, even cruel rather than heroic. [Curtis]
One subject that we have not yet been able to properly assess is the extent to which Vichy France economically supported the NAZI war effort. We know that Vichy supported the German war-effort. we do not know how effective that support was. Pétain on October 24, 1940 met with Hitler at Montoire. At that meeting Pétain and Laval discussed Franco-German cooperation. They were unable, however, to get any commitment from Hitler on key issues such as the post-War border of France and the return of the French POWs. Hitler had not yet made up his mind on these issues. The fact was that Hitler had little respect for France or the potential benefits of a French ally. He had convinced himself that the War was already won. The ally he really wanted was Britain. Vichy did make an important economic contribution to the German war effort, but it seems limited in terms of the potential economic potential of France.
Vichy after the armistace with Germany adopted an official policy of neutrality. Even so, Vichy supported the NAZI war effot. The French industry supplied the Germans and French workers were consprited to work in Germany. There was a level of cooperation with the Germans beyound economic support. Vichy was allowing German U-boats in the Indian Ocean to resupply at Diego Suarez. Admiral Darlan provided logistical support to the German military in Tunisia and Syria (May 27-28, 1941). Vichy officials after the Totch invasion of North Africa offered to create a Légion tricolore in which French soldiers would fight with the Germans in Tunisia (November 1942). The Germans rejected the Vichy offer. The rejection was consistent with NAZI failure to consider Vichy an ally. Doubtless the possibility of such units defecting to the allies must have been another consideration. Vichy's primary concern was to avoid combat in France and the inevitable destruction of French cities and civilian casualties. For this reason, Vichy was willing to resist by force the Allied Torch invasion of its North African colonies. This meant open conflict with the Allies. Germany's reversals in russia and North africa led to an adoption of "Total War". The German economy ws finally put on a total war footing. More French workers were demanded from Vichy. Frenchmen were permitted to join the Waffen-SS (July 22, 1943). Few did so, but more importantly Laval was granted permission to create aprar-military Fascist force--the Milice. The Milice proved vital to the Whrmacht in confronting the increasingly effective Resistance. A small number of Frenchmen joined the NAZI war effort. A Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchevisme (LVF) was formed in the Occupied Zone. About 10,000 men volunteered and were deployed on the Eastern Front in Grman uniforms against the Red Army. This was common practice by the NAZIS who consistently deployedmen recruited in the West to the Eastern Front, not trusting them to fight against the Western Allies. The small numbers of men involved testify to the declining popularity of Vichy and the growing hatred of the Germans. The LVF eventually became a Wehrmacht infantry regiment. After the allies liberated France, the LVF fought in Germany as part of the SS Charlemagne division.
The Germans maintained a large occupation force in France. The inevitable result was a substantial number of children fathered by German soldiers. One estimate suggests 50,000 through May 1943. Himmler thought that the children of a French woman with a German soldier could produce suitable children for "Eindeutschung". Although not as entusiastic as with the children fathered by German soldiers in Norway, Himmler still saw the French children as "valuable German blood". The SS opened a Lebenborn home near Chantilly called Westwald. There were disagreements amomg the French as to how to deal with these children. Many were hostile. The widow of French General Huntzinger argued that they should be integrated into the French society. Despite the stigma of having a German boy friend, the women involved reportedly avoided the Lebensborn at Westwald because the SS insisted that the babies be given up for adoption in Germany.
The collapse of the French Army was a catacysmic event for the French people. There were many trends in popular thought. Some were derermined to resist. These were realatively small in number, especially in the early years of occupation when the NAZIs seemed unbeatable. Ther was xenophobic view toward foreigners. The French Right was able to give vent to its anti-Semitim. The Church could also scapegot Jews and blame than for modernization. There was wide-spread condemnation of the Third Republic and even show trials of officials. Fear of the NAZIs and Milicie were also factors. In addition, as in Germny, many French benefitted from actions against the Jews in a variety of ways. (Jean-Paul Sartre, for example, obtained a teaching position with a Jewish professor was dismissed. His wife Simone de Beauvoir worked for Vichy's Radio Nationale. [Curtis]
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that the Allies needed to open a Second Front to take pressure off the hard-pressed Red Army reeling under the German summer offensive driving toward Stalingrad and the oil-rich Caucauses (July 1942). Joseph Stalin demanded an invasion of Europe. Wisely Roosevelt and Churchill targetted French North Africa. American General George Marshall, in many ways the architect of the American victory, was opposed to Totch, considering it a diversion. Roosevelt insisted. While Montgomery's victory at El Alemain often receives more attentiin, it was the Torch landings that were the decisive action. The Amercan and British landings in North Africa sealed the fate of the Axis desert campaign. Even if Rommel had broken through to Suez, he would have been forced to turn west to deal with the Allied landings in French North Africa. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Allied commander to oversee the Torch Landings. The Allies driving east from their Moroccan and Algerian beachheads linked up with the Brish advancing west (November 1942). Although Hitler rushed reinforcements to Tunisia, the end result was the first major defeat of a German Army by the Western Allies.
Joseph Darnand in July 1941 created a right-wing collaborationist military group, Service d'Ordre Legionnaire. The organization strongly supported Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain and his Vichy government. At the time the Germans had just invaded the Soviet Union with brutal effectiveness and it looked like the NAZIs would dominate Europe. Darnand offered to assist the Germans and Vichy officials round up Jews and to help fight the still nascent Resistance movement. The Service d'Ordre Legionnaire in January 1943 was reorganized into the Milice Française becoming in effect the secret police of the Vichy Government. The Germand gave Darnand the Waffen SS rank of Sturmbannfuehrer. The SS had been a strictltly Aryan German organization when the War began. As the tide of war began to turn against the Germans, the SS began accepting foreigners in its military wing the Waffen SS. Darnand for his part took a personal oath of loyalty to German Führer Adolf Hitler. The Milice began as a 5,000-strong special police force of the Vichy government. Darnand greatly expanded the Milice and by 1944 it reportedly totaled 35,000 members. The Milice greatly assisted the Gestapo in its efforts to root out the resistance. Without French collaborators this pricess would have been much more difficult. Unlike the regular French police, the miliciens like the Gestapo had no quams about using brutal means to gain the information they desired. Paul Touvier was another Milice leader.
The Communists after the War claimed to be the hear of the ressistance to the NAZI occupation. Is it true that they played a very important role in the armed resistance. The role of the Communists, however, is much more complicated. The Communists joined with the democratic parties to opose Fascism in the Popular Front (1936). This chanhed dramatically, however, when Stalin approved the Non-Agression Pact with Hitler (August 1938) which made possible the dismembermentb of Poland and the launching of World War II. This made Stalin and Hitler virtual allies. The French Communists following directives from Moscow, endorsed the Non-Aggression Pact. The French Communists did not begin to resist the German occupation until the NAZIs invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941).
Resistance groups in France played an important tole in the success of the D-day invasion. France surrendered to the German Army on June 22, 1940. The terms of the
armistace divided France into an occupied and unoccupied zone, with a rigid demarcation or boundary line between the two. Provisions of the armistice, the "surrender on demand clause", was an obligation to arrest and turn over anyone requested by the Germans. French soldiers escaped to England in the Dunkirt evacualtion. Other French soldiers, including General Charles DeGaulle, also reached England. DeGualle when he arrived in England made an inspiring radio speech where he proclaimed that "whatever happens, the flame of French Resistance must not and will not be extinguished." This was in fact the beginning of the French Resistance. Most French people thought that the Germans had weon the War and that resistance was futile. It looked at first like Britain, the only country still resisting the Germans, would also soon fall. The Germans banned political activity. They were most concerned about the Communists and Scocialists which had been the most critical of then. The
Gestapo in the occupied zone began arresting members of the Communist Party and Socialist Party. The Gestapo also demanded that Vichy authorities make similar arrests. As a result, many Communists and Socialists went into hising. The safest place was the rugged forests of the unoccupied zones. Some soldiers who refused to surrender to the Germans also hid in the forests. The men and women involved gradually formed into small units. Often the units were based on common political beliefs such as Communists or Free French. The groups also formed on geographic lines as the Germans made communications difficult. These groups, despite their political differences joined together to organize the Maquis. The success of the RAF in the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940) proved that the Geramns could be defeated.
Then the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941) meant that Britain no longer fought alone. The German losses before Moscow and the entry of the United States into the War (December 1941), changed the whole power ballance. The Germans no longer looked unbeatable and ressistance futile. Winston Churchill was a strong believer in unconventional forces. Thus when he became prime-minister he ordered that resistance movements in occupied countries be promoted and supported. The Ressiatance gradually movement grew in strength and began to organize small-scale attacks on German forces. These attacks were answered savegely with German reprisals on civilians. The Allies did not have the strength to engage the Germans militarily in 1941, but British Bomber Command carried out limited air attacks in 1941 which they escalted in 1942 as the Lancaster long-range bomber became available. The Resistance assisted Allied airman, still mostly British in 1942, shot down over France to
get back to Britain. When the American 8th Air Force joined the startegic bombing camapign in 1943, the Resistance also helped the American aviators. Usually they helped get the airmen to Spain whuch allowed them to return to England. General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote: "Throughout France the Resistance had been of inestimable value in the campaign. Without their great assistance the liberation of France would have consumed a much longer time and meant greater losses to ourselves."
The kind of mass murder conducted by the Germans in the East never occurred in France. One reason was NAZI racial attitudes toward the French. Another reason was French Vichy authorities collaborated with the German occupation. There were some notable exceptions. One was the SS masacre of the residents of Oradour sur Glane " in which men, women, and children were murded.
D- Day, the invasion of Normandy code named Overlord, was the single most important battle fought by the Western Allies in World War II. On the outcome of the battle hinged no less than the future of democracy and Western civilization in Europe. Failure at Normandy would have meant that the future of Europe would have been settled by the titantic struggle in the East between Hitler and Stalin, cerainly the two most evil men in European history. An invasion of France had been the primary goal of American military planners and President Roosevelt since the entry of America into the War in December 1941. Churchill was less convinced. And largely at urging, the first joint Allied offensive was in the
Meditteranean. The invasion was an enormous risk. All Allied victories in Europe were achieved by the weight of overwealing superority of men and material to badly over streached German forces. In France, the Allies faced some of the strongest units in the Gernany Army who would until several weeks into the battle be able to amass far superior forces. The Allies had to plan on naval and air superiority to protect the inital beach lodgements until powerful land forces could be landed and deployed. For over two years the Allies had been building a massive force in England which on June 6 was unleased on
Hitler's Fortress Europe. The Allies struck withbthe largest armada ever assembled. First paratroop landings inland and then at after dawn came British, Canadian, and
American landings on five Normandy beaches. It was a complete surprise, an incredible accomplishment for an operation of this scope and magnitude
The American capture of Cherbourg placed the first important French port in Allied control (June 27). While the Germans held in Normandy, a huge logistical enterprise was building up a huge army with emense capabilities. The Allies in the first 100 days after D-Day landed an incredible 2.2 million men, 450,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of supplies. This was a force that the Germans could not begin to match and their situation was rendered untenable by the virtual complete lack of air support. The Allied offensive broke the badly streachedGermans in July. British and Canadian troops under Montgomery finally captured Caen (July 9). The major break through came further south. Patton's Third Army after a concentrated bombing pierced the German lines with armoured thrusts near St. Lô and rapidly fanned out behind German lines. While American Sherman tanks were inferior to the German tanks, they were fastr and more numerous. Allied air power made it impossible for the Germans to contain the American offensive. German units were foirced to abandon their tanks and flee east. Efforts to surround an entire German
army failed when SS units held an escape rour open at Falaise, allowing a substantial part of the Germany forces to escape. American airpower, however, wreked havoc on the retreating Germans. I The Americans landed another force on the French Mediterranean coast between Marseilles and Nice (August 15). The German hold on France was broken. The Paris Ressistance rose up against the German occupation forces as Allied armour divisions raced toward the capital and crossed the Seine. French Forces of the Interior (FFI) attacked Germans retreating through the city. Hitler ordered the city to be destroyed. The German commander refused to carry out the orders. Allied forces entred the city (August 25). The Allies pressed north into Belgium and liberated Brussels (September 2).
Collaboration was a term that Marshall Petain introduced. It did not at first have a sinister connotation. Rather most French people still in shock at the Germany victory were inclined to support Petain and his Vichy regime. At the time there seemed no altrnative. As the Germans experienced military reverses, French attitudes began to change. The increasing severity of German occuption, especially the conscription of French workers for work in the Reich was a major factor. Vichy and collaboration continues to be a veey sensitive subject in France. Collaboration took many forms. Some French actively helped the Germans hunt down Jews, including Jewish children, and members of the Resirance. A number of French women collaborated by falling in love with German soldiers. There is of course a vast differece between the two extreems and many levels of collaboration in between. There were a variety of summnary actions in the heat of Liberation. In improvisated local actions during the first weeks after the Liberation. About 1,000 persons are believedcto have been executed, mostly by the Communists. Many women had their hair shaved publically or were otherwise humiliated. Theor primary crime was liasons with German soldiers. A French Provision Government was formed (August) and very quickly took action to prevent such summary executions. [Lottman] Many were arrested and tried for collaboration after the War. Officers of the Vichy Government were some of targets of these procecutions. Admiral Darlan was sentenced to death. Marshall Petain was sentenced to a long jail term. The Gaullists nurtured a myth that the great majority of the French people bravely resisted the Germans.
Gaullist claimed that the French people never accepted the Vichy regime as a legitimate French Government. Gradually it has become increasingly clear that the bulk of the French people, shocked by the collapse of the French army and thinking that the War was lost, sought accompdation with the NAZI occcupiers and looked upon Marshal Philippe Pétain with reverence. [Curtis] For years, any questioning of that myth was highly controversial.
The film by Marcel Ophuls "Le chagrin et la pitié" (The Sorrow and the Pitty) (1969) was commissioned by French Government-controlled television, but the documentary on French life during the occupation proved so embarassing that officials were afraid to broadcast it. In the end the project could only be completed through German and Swiss financing. It is an extremely powerful documentary showing how popular Marshall Pétain was and how most French people sought accomodation with the NAZIs. Scenes from World War II and the Vichy era France are intertwined with contemprary interviews. Ophuls decided to focus on one small town.
The Gaullist myth that Vichy was an ilegitimate government that was not supported by the French people was important in the post-War aftermath. It would have affected the claim to power of the Free French movement. DeGaulle maintained that there was no support for Vichy and that the Frech people supported his Free French movement. This might have meant that the British and French would have played a role in creating a new French Government as President Roosevelt had wanted. DeGualle always claimed that had largely liberated itself though the Ressistance and the Free French. In fact the Allies were aided by a valliant, but numerically small French Ressistance. In the end, with liberation Free French seized control of the French Government. France ws given an occupation zone in Germany and a seat on the courts that judged NAZI war criminals.
Curtis, Michael. Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy French Regime (Arcade, 2003), 419p.
Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.
Duquesne, J. Les Catholiques français sous l'occupation (Paris: Grasset, 1966).
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage Books: New York, 1974), 844p.
Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Rendezuous with Destiny (Little Brown: Boston, 1990), 710p.
Goebbels, Joseph. ed, Louis B. Lochner, The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943 (Doubleday: New York, 1948), p. 566.
Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944.
Jackson, Julian. The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-38 (Cambridge University Press: 1990), 369p.
Klarsfeld, Serge. French Children of the Holocaust (1996).
Lottman, Herbert R. The Purge: The Purification of French Collaborators after World War II.
Paxton, Robert.
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