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Vichy France in 1940–1942 was recognised by most Axis and neutral powers, as well as the United States and the Soviet Union. During the war, Vichy France conducted military actions against armed incursions from Axis and Allied belligerents and was an example of armed neutrality.
The Vichy authorities did not deploy the Army of the Armistice against resistance groups active in the south of France, reserving this role to the Vichy Milice (militia), a paramilitary force created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy government to combat the Resistance; thus, members of the regular army could defect to the Maquis after the German ...
The Government of Vichy France was the collaborationist ruling regime or government in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War.Of contested legitimacy, it was headquartered in the town of Vichy in occupied France, but it initially took shape in Paris under Marshal Philippe Pétain as the successor to the French Third Republic in June 1940.
As Paris was located in the occupied zone, its government was seated in the spa town of Vichy in Auvergne, and therefore it was more commonly known as Vichy France. While the Vichy government was nominally in charge of all of France, the military administration in the occupied zone was a de facto Nazi dictatorship, where the actual sovereignty ...
The Vichy French Air Force (French: Armée de l'Air de Vichy) of the French Air Force in the Levant was relatively strong at the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. But in 1940, many of the aircraft stationed in Syria and Lebanon were sent back to Metropolitan France. This left the Vichy French in the Levant with only a number of obsolete models.
After France surrendered, it became a Vichy force that fought the Allies from 1940 to 1942 at the battle of Mers-el-Kébir and in Operation Torch. It evolved into a rebel faction of the Vichy forces in 1942 and eventually merged with the Free French Forces prior to 1944 operations in mainland Europe.
The Tricolour Legion (Légion Tricolore) formed in France with Vichy support was later also absorbed into the LVF. [1] In early 1944, the unit again took part in rear-security operations. In June 1944, following the collapse of Army Group Centre 's front during the Red Army 's summer offensive , the LVF was attached to the 4th SS Police Regiment .
Then, 5,668 Vichy French soldiers defected to the Free French, and the armistice agreement led to the repatriation of 37,563 military and civilian personnel back to France. That somewhat disappointed de Gaulle, who had expected more to defect to his side.