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The French Resistance (French: La Résistance) was a collection of groups that fought the Nazi occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime in France during the Second World War.
The Resistance movement received an important infusion of strength in June 1941, when Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union brought the French Communist Party into active participation in the anti-German struggle.
On November 11th 1942, German forces occupied the whole of France. This meant that the whole country was occupied and the attitude of the north quickly transferred itself to the south. The German attack on Russia – Operation Barbarossa – led to many French communists joining the resistance movement.
After the fall of Paris in 1940, French Gen. Charles de Gaulle called for resistance to the Nazis. From military sabotage to civilian clandestine activities, the French answered and resisted mightily.
The French Resistance is a topic much examined by French historians searching to understand and highlight what was a small but fierce minority in France who operated in secret to actively resist and sabotage the Nazi invaders during WWII. The defeat of the French by the German Army in 1940 surprised the international community and left France ...
When France surrendered to Germany on 22 Jun 1940, those who resented Germany occupation and the Vichy government formed cells that collectively were named the French Resistance. Some groups were violent in nature, aiming to hurt or kill the German occupiers; these were called maquis.
In August 1944, an uprising by French resistance fighters forced the Allies to intervene Adolf Hitler wanted Paris razed. Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted his troops to stay out of the city.
The armistice that ended the fighting between French and German armies was signed on 22 June 1940; at least 92,000 soldiers died at the front and 1,850,000 are imprisoned by the Germans; France was cut into different zones. One zone belonging to the German occupation and another zone, defined as ”free”, was under the administration of the ...
On Gallica, find a large array of documents on the French Resistance (1940-1944) during the Second World War: the monograph of Henri Michel, a work from the Documentation française on France in 1945, notably its internal wars, the poster of General de Gaulle's appeal of June 18, 1940, a leaflet from the Resistance and a copy of the clandestine ...
The Royal Navy’s attack on the French naval force at Mers-el-Kebir in northwest Algeria on July 3, 1940, ostensibly to prevent it falling into German hands, resulted in the deaths of 1,300 French sailors and engendered much bitterness against Winston Churchill—and anyone touting support from Britain.