Military history of France during World War II
From 1939 to 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Nazi Germany. In 1940, the German forces defeated the French in the Battle of France. The Germans occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Philippe Pétain established itself in Vichy. General Charles de Gaulle established a government in exile in London and competed with Vichy France to position himself as the legitimate French government, for control of the French overseas empire and receiving help from French allies. He eventually managed to enlist the support of some French African colonies and later succeeded in bringing together the disparate maquis, colonial regiments, legionnaires, expatriate fighters, and Communist snipers under the Free French Forces in the Allied chain of command. In 1944, after the Allies had landed in Normandy and the southern front moved from North Africa across the Mediterranean into Italy and Provence, these forces routed the German Army, and Vichy officials fled into Germany.
General Charles de Gaulle and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1944
The French SAS's motto is the translation of the British SAS's: He who dares, wins.
Brigadier Mike Calvert, Commandant SAS Brigade, at the ceremony marking the passing of 3 and 4 SAS (2 and 3 Regiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes) from the British to the French Army at Tarbes in southern France (1945).
Arms of General Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division involved in the battle for Paris
The Maquis were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called maquisards, during the German military administration in occupied France during World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class, men who had escaped into the mountains and woods to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire which provided forced labor for Germany. To avoid capture and deportation to Germany, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups.
Members of the Maquis in La Tresorerie
Maquisards (Resistance fighters) in the Hautes-Alpes département in August 1944. Third and fourth from the right are two SOE officers. Second from right is probably Christine Granville.
Members of the Maquis resistance group. Notice the berets they are wearing.
Geographic organization of the French Resistance