Editing French Resistance (section)

==Nazi occupation==
{{Further|Zone occupée|German military administration in occupied France during World War II}}
[[File:Vassieux-en-Vercors Memorial de la Resistance img 5626.jpg|thumb|The cemetery and memorial in [[Vassieux-en-Vercors]] where, in July 1944, German [[Wehrmacht]] forces executed more than 200 people, in reprisal for the [[Maquis (World War II)|Maquis]]'s armed resistance.{{Sfn|Kedward|1993|p=180}}<ref name="Wehrmacht">{{cite web| url=http://www.fondationresistance.org/documents/ee/Doc00004-002.pdf |title=Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS et Sipo/SD: La répression allemande en Ireland 1943–1944 |author=Lieb, Peter |access-date=2011-03-07}}</ref> The town was later awarded the [[Ordre de la Libération]].<ref name="Vassieux-en-Vercors">{{cite web| url=http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/us_ville/vassieux.html| title=Vassieux-en-Vercors| author=Order of the Liberation| access-date=2008-01-18| archive-date=5 March 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305171647/http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/us_ville/vassieux.html}}</ref>]]
[[File:Lucien1.jpg|thumb|Identity document of French Resistance fighter Lucien Pélissou]]

After the [[Battle of France]] and the [[Second Armistice at Compiègne|second French-German armistice]], the lives of the French continued unchanged at first. The German occupation authorities and the Vichy régime became increasingly brutal and intimidating. Most civilians remained neutral, but both the occupation of French territory{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|p=44}}{{Sfn|Christofferson|Christofferson|2006|p=83}} and German policy inspired the formation of [[paramilitary]] groups dedicated to both active and passive resistance.{{Sfn|Kedward|1993|p=155}}

One of the conditions of the armistice was that the French must pay for their own occupation. This amounted to about 20 million [[German Reichsmark]]s per day, a sum that, in May 1940, was approximately equivalent to four hundred million [[French Franc|French francs]].{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=169}} The artificial [[exchange rate]] of the Reichsmark versus the franc had been established as one mark to twenty francs.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=169}}{{Sfn|Kedward|1991|p=5}} Due to the overvaluation of German currency, the occupiers were able to make seemingly fair and honest requisitions and purchases while operating a system of organized plunder. Prices soared,{{Sfn|Furtado|1992|p=156}} leading to widespread food shortages and malnutrition,{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=442}} particularly among children, the elderly, and members of the working class engaged in physical labour.{{Sfn|Mercier|Despert|1943}} Labour shortages also plagued the French economy because hundreds of thousands of French workers were requisitioned and transferred to Germany for compulsory labour under the ''[[Service du Travail Obligatoire]]'' (STO).{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=50}}{{Sfn|Hayward|1993|p=131}}{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|p=443}}

The labour shortage was worsened by the large number of French [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] held in Germany.{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=51}} Beyond these hardships and dislocations, the occupation became increasingly unbearable. Regulations, censorship, propaganda and nightly curfews all played a role in establishing an atmosphere of fear and repression.{{Sfn|Kedward|1991|p=5}} French women consorting with German soldiers angered many French men, though often the women had to do so to acquire food for themselves and their families.{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|p=8}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=336}}

[[File:Oradour-sur-Glane-Streets-1306.jpg|thumb|The ruins of [[Oradour-sur-Glane]], in the [[Limousin (region)|Limousin region]] of the ''[[Massif Central]]'']]

As reprisals for Resistance activities, the authorities established harsh forms of [[collective punishment]]. For example, the Soviet resistance in August 1941 led to thousands of hostages taken from the population.{{Sfn|Herbert|2000|p=138}} A typical policy statement read, "After each further incident, a number, reflecting the seriousness of the crime, shall be shot."{{Sfn|Herbert|2000|p=139}} During the occupation, an estimated 30,000 French civilian hostages were shot to intimidate others who were involved in acts of resistance.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=1}} German troops occasionally engaged in massacres such as the [[Oradour-sur-Glane massacre]], in which an entire village was razed and almost every resident murdered because of persistent resistance in the vicinity.{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|pp=56–57}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=546}}

In early 1943, the Vichy authorities created a paramilitary group, the ''[[Milice]]'' (militia), officially led by [[Pierre Laval]], but operated by [[Joseph Darnand]] to combat the Resistance. This group worked alongside German forces that, by the end of 1942, were stationed throughout France.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=230–231}} The group collaborated closely with the Nazis, similar to the [[Gestapo]] security forces in Germany.{{Sfn|Duarte|2005|p=546}} Their actions were often brutal and included [[torture]] and [[execution]] of Resistance suspects. After the liberation of France in the summer of 1944, the French executed many of the estimated 25,000 to 35,000 ''miliciens''{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=230–231}} for their collaboration with the Nazis. Many of those who escaped arrest fled to Germany, where they were incorporated into the [[Charlemagne Division]] of the [[Waffen SS]].{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=568–569}}