Figure 1.--Metz is located in northeastern France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Is the capital of the Lorraine region. Within in months of the German 1940 victory it was annexed to the Reich. Alsace Loraine was only the beginning of the German territorial demands on France. Althouigh Hitler turned East, NAZI think tanks were assessing what to do in France. The plans that evolved were to move the borders of the Reich west by annexing the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France. The threat of these projects were useful in keeping Vichy in line. But had the Germans won the War, Hitler could have drawn the border where ever he wanted and moved and or eliminated populations as he saw fit. The rest of France not annexed was to be slot into several small regional states that would no longer pose a threat to the Reich. Here a Frebch boy plays with a German target after the Americans liberated Mertz as part of the Allied drive to the Rhine. During the German occupation he would have had to speak German. The press caption read, "Target seves as a toy: Once used as a target in a German shooting gallery in Metz, a cardboard model of a Russian soldier now acts as a toy for this little French boy. Model was one of several found when the town was liberated." The boy seems to have acquired German army boots. The photograph was dated December 6, 1944. A week after the photograph was taken, the Germans struck in the Ardennes to the north of Metz. Photographer: Charles Haacker.

The critical error of Vichy was that Pétain and his colleagues did not appreciate the full depravity of Hitler and the NAZIs. Pétain thought he could carve out a role for France in a NAZI-dominated Europe. It does not seem to have occured to them that a regime capable of killing Jews could just as easily kill French Christians. One can ask what the options were. One option of course was colaboration which is what Vichy did. They even cooperate in the Holocaust. And Vichy did this. Vichy not only did not object to the rouding up of Jews, but passed anti-Semetic laws modeled on the NAZI Nuremberg laws and put the French police at the disposal of the German authorities to track down and deport Jews. The other option was to form a government-in exile. The French fleet would have been a major aid to the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. France coukld have resisted from its colonies. Vichy chose not to do so and essentially left France at the mercy of the NAZIs. And we know that mercy was not a strong point 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, but it did not have to cooperate in the process. 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. It is also likely that France would have been broken up into several smaller states on as regional basies such as Britainy and other regions. The NAZIs early on seized Alsaise-Loraine including the stratehic city of Metz and reincorporated it into the Reich. What the NAZIs had in mind for France began in Belgium and northern France: Reichsgau Flandern, Reichsgau Wallonien, District of Brusselsm and the (Reichskommissariat Belgien und Nordfrankreich. The French département of Moselle, renamed 'CdZ-Gebiet Lothringen', was added to the Gau Saarpfalz (November 30, 1940) and was renamed Gau Westmark (December 7, 1940). 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. We know what the NAZIs had in mind for Eastern Europe--Generalplan Ost. Precisely what they would have done in Western Europe is less clear. It probably would not have been as draconian as the fate planned for the Slavs and Balts, but there is little doubt that it would have been dreadful. Vichy may have provided some relief from NAZI oppression, but the cost for the French had the NAZIs won the war would have been very high indeed. Hitler would have dictated France's future. It would be up to Britain and America to save France while the French themselves colaborated with the NAZI.

Created: 10:11 PM 8/21/2013
Last updated: 10:12 PM 8/21/2013