Primary Sources: 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 German-occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Phillipe 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.

France and Britain had both declared war on Germany two days after the invasion of Poland in September 1939. A phony war ensued, until 1940, when the Nazis invaded and overran northern France, forcing the British from the continent. France formally surrendered. Germany sent two million French prisoners of war to forced labor camps in Germany. Wikipedia

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