France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

was one of the largest military powers to come under occupation as part of the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Western Front was a military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. After capitulation, France was governed as

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain. From 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of all of France except for Alsace-Lorraine, the Germans and Italians militarily occupied northern and south-eastern France. It was not until 1944 when France was liberated with the allied invasion restoring the French Government.

Topics

The following are articles about the topic of France during World War II'': *

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

and

Alpine Line The Alpine Line (french: Ligne Alpine) or Little Maginot Line (French: ''Petite Ligne Maginot'') was the component of the Maginot Line that defended the southeastern portion of France. In contrast to the main line in the northeastern portion of Fra ...

of fortifications and defences along the borders with Germany and Italy * French declaration of war on Germany—17:00 on 3 September 1939 * Phoney War, or ''drôle de guerre'' ("strange war"), the name given to the period of time in Western Europe from September 1939 to April 1940 when, after the blitzkrieg attack on Poland in September 1939, there was almost no fighting, and no bombs were dropped. ** Maxime Weygand, commander-in-chief; little military activity between the defeat of Poland in October 1939 and April 1940. **

Anglo-French Supreme War Council The Anglo-French Supreme War Council (SWC) was established to oversee joint military strategy at the start of the Second World War. Most of its deliberations took place during the period of the Phoney War, with its first meeting at Abbeville on ...

set up to organize a joint strategy against Germany * The

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

in May and June 1940, in which the German victory led to the fall of the Third Republic .

Vichy France

, the German client state established in June 1940 under in the non-occupied '' Zone libre'', officially neutral and independent until invaded by the Axis in November 1942 ** Marshal Philippe Pétain, Vichy's main leader **

Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occu ...

, head of government 1942-1944 **

Vichy French Air Force The Air Force (french: Armée de l'air), usually referred to as the Air Force of Vichy (''Armée de l'air de Vichy'') or Armistice Air Force (''Armée de l'Air de l'armistice'') for clarity, was the aerial branch of the Armistice Army of Vichy Fra ...

Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon The scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon was orchestrated by Vichy France on 27 November 1942 to prevent Nazi German forces from taking it over. After the Allied invasion of North Africa the Germans invaded the territory administered by Vic ...

** Service du travail obligatoire - the provision of French citizens as forced labour in Germany *Axis occupation of France: **

German occupation of France during World War II The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

- 1940–1944 in the northern zones, and 1942–1944 in the southern zone *** The Holocaust in France **

Italian occupation of France during World War II Italian-occupied France (; ) was an area of south-eastern France and Monaco occupied by the Kingdom of Italy between 1940 and 1943 in parallel to the German occupation of France. The occupation had two phases, divided by Case Anton in November ...

- limited to border areas 1940–1942, almost all

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

left-bank territory 1942-1943

Free France

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, the main leader * Free France (''La France Libre''), the provisional government in London who controlled unoccupied and liberated territories, and the forces under its control (''Forces françaises libres'' or FFL), fighting on the Allies' side after the Appeal of 18 June of its leader, General de Gaulle. **

French Liberation Army __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

(''Armée française de la Libération'') formed on 1 August 1943 by the merger of the FFL and all other Free French units, principally the Army of Africa ** French Forces of the Interior (''Forces françaises de l'intérieur'') elements of the Resistance loyal to London and under its operational military command ** Free French Air Force ** Free French Naval Forces **

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

and the National Council of the Resistance which coordinated the various groups that made up the resistance ** Japanese and Thai occupation of French Indochina - beginning with the Japanese invasion in September 1940 and with the Franco-Thai War which started in October 1940 * Liberation of France **

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

- the invasion of northern France by the western Allies in June 1944 **

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, th ...

- the invasion of southern France by the western Allies in August 1944 **

Liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germ ...

- the freeing of the French capital in August 1944 *

Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, also known as the Siegfried Line campaign, was a phase in the Western European campaign of World War II. This phase spans from the end of the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord, (25 August 194 ...

- advance (as the right flank of the western front) into Alsace-Lorraine in 1944 *

Western Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Allies of World War II, Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied ...

- invasion (as the right flank of the western front) of Baden-Württemberg in 1945

Topics

Vichy France

Free France

Further reading