By Thomas Pacey

On the 1 st of September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, two days later England and France declared war with Germany on the 3 rd of September. Germany invaded France on the 10 th of may 1940 and also the low countries. Germany invaded via the north eastern border.

On the 14 of June the Germans entered Paris (1940), The French people were shocked and it became apparent that the French leaders thought it was to late. Two days later the French government sought an armistice with Germany. The French people thought Philippe Petain would help them through the hard times as their leader due to many remembering how he saved France at the battle of Verdun in ww1. Petain believed that peace was the only option and thought that France could not take another war after ww1 and also was the only option to end suffering of the civilians. On the 22 nd of June the armistice was signed, Hitler ordered that it be signed in the same railway carriage, that was shipped all the way to France, that Germany had surrendered to the Allies in ww1, he did this out of anger of the loss of ww1. As seen in the previous slide, Germany occupied northern France and it became known as ‘The occupied zone’ and Petain was allowed the rest of the Country, mainly south, to Govern. This zone became known as Vichy France. (This name was chosen as it was the Town in Southern France where Petain established his government.

Horrifyingly the Jewish civilians in ww2 Vichy France were treated awfully and with no respect. Not only did the Germans round them up and send them on trains to concentration camps (where over 6million Jewish died). The Vichy government ordered it’s officers to collaborate with Germany in these awful actions. I think many of the people in charge ordered this out of fear from the Germans as they were scared such things may happen to them. The Jewish who stayed in France un-detected or Just lucky weren’t allowed basic rights. They were not allowed out in public, most shops had to ban Jewish customers which lead to Jewish only shops being set up in Secret and the Jewish weren’t allowed to use any form of Transport or Travel purposes open to the public.

The French colonies were allowed to be kept the same though the Vichy Government was to be made the ‘official’ governing power in all of them.

Many French people were angered though still by the War and did not want to give up fighting and on the 16 th of June when the armistice was signed a virtually unknown man called Brigadier Charle De Gaulle sent a radio Broadcast to France campaigning for people to sign up to the ‘Free French’ force. Charle De Gaulle had escaped to London in ww2 for safety after he realized the French defeat. He had been a commander in the initial defensive against Germany. (In detail: he was smuggled to England by the RAF for his safety). He made more broadcasts telling the French people to listen to him and follow him in his French Resistance force. Initially his broadcasts had little effect and the Vichy government marked him as a traitor. Eventually thought He did succeed in raising forces and by mid August 1940 he had rallied 2000 men in Britain. They took inspiration from Joan of Arc and formed a flag to fly under..

Among the Free French were many ex-soldiers who became very skilled fighters. Thirteen of them were Pilots and joined the RAF and fought in the Battle of Britain.

Britain were keen to back the Free French forces and when the British General realised an oncoming threat after the Vichy government armistice of the French naval forces becoming under German Control. British leaders ordered for the ships to be sunk or de-mobilized. So on the 2 nd of July 1940 the British sunk the French ships, 1300 French sailors were killed by their ‘ally’. Colonies joining the Free French: De Gaulle sent a representative to the Colonies of Equatorial Africa. The representative was know as Le Clerk. His first successes were in Chag and French Equatorial Africa where he persuaded them to join the Free French, Also soon after this De Gaulle had gained British support in West Africa (thought these west African attacks were sent packing by the Vichy French).

Gabon was further secured in November after fighting with Vichy troops. Many of these Free French troops were called the French Foreign Legion and were keen along with the British to fight Rommel and Germany in the North African dessert. Also in Chad Free French and Long Range British forces attacked southern Libya. De Clerk replaced the general who died in this Fighting and lead 3000 troops into Lybia.

Many brave acts from Free French and Colonial soldiers followed in the Africa wars supporting the British against Germany and Vichy France. At one point Free French troops were pinned to the Ground in a cut of base and defended it with only 3000 troops against an entire German crack force of panzer tanks. This battle lasted 2 weeks and eventually 2,700 of the troops escaped after the Germans had been repelled enough.

In France more Civilian Free French fighters attempted to help the Jewish prisoners by blowing up train lines to concentration camps, sabotaging power lines and generally making it harder for the Germans. If any of these forces were found they were instantly killed as they were marked as traitors.

The French Resistance Completely helped the War effort on the Allied side and the men were eventually recognised as heroes and brave fighters once the war was over. Thanks for Listening and Watching Thomas Pacey