The French Legion of Veterans (, or LFC) was a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

association established in

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

and Vichy's colonial territories in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Legion

Shortly after the French defeat, the newly established Vichy government inaugurated the French Legion of Veterans (''Légion française des combattants'') as a new unified association grouping French veterans of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It superseded a large number of pre-war veterans federations which had often been structured around specified political platforms of their own. Membership was extended in December of the same year to include veterans of the 1940 campaign, although most were still being held as prisoners of war in Germany. The Legion's remit was significantly expanded in August 1941. Non-veterans who sympathised with the Vichy region's project of " National Revolution" were permitted to join, and the legion was renamed the French Legion of Veterans and Volunteers of the National Revolution (''Légion française des vétérans et des volontaires de la Révolution nationale''). Marshall

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...

, chief of state, believed that the Legion was an important tool for the Vichy regime. He believed he had a particular rapport with other war veterans, having earned his reputation as commander at the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

in World War I. It may have been envisaged as a "

single party A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

" in a future authoritarian state after the end of the war. The Legion claimed an overall membership of 1,600,000 at its peak. As well as metropolitan France, it had sections active in Vichy-controlled colonies in

French North Africa French North Africa (, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is a term often applied to the three territories that were controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In contrast to French ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, and the Levant. As well as the main organisation, it also possessed a "supporters club" open to men and women called the Friends of the Legion (''Amis de le Légion'') and a youth movement called Young Legion (''Jeune Légion'') for male and female children aged 16 to 21. According to the historian David Littlejohn, the Legion was a failure for the Vichy regime. "Unwieldy, ill-organized, and embracing far too wide a compass of political conviction from those who welcomed it as neo-fascist to those who saw it as a mass patriotic resistance movement, the Legion as a 'single party' was an abysmal failure."

Legion

See also

References

Further reading