Editing Maquis (World War II) (section)

==Operations==
[[File:Maquis Haute Savoie.jpg|thumb|''Maquisards'' (Resistance fighters) in the [[Hautes-Alpes]] département in August 1944. Third and fourth from the right are two SOE officers. Second from right is probably [[Christine Granville]].]]
Most maquisards operated in the remote or mountainous areas of [[Brittany]] and southern France, especially in the [[Alps]] and in [[Limousin (province)|Limousin]]. They relied on [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]] to harass the {{lang|fr|[[Milice]]}} (the Vichy militia) and German occupation troops. The Maquis also aided the escape of downed Allied airmen, [[Jews]] and others pursued by the [[Vichy France|Vichy]] and German authorities. Maquisards usually relied on some degree of sympathy or cooperation from the local populace. Most of the Maquis cells—like the [[Maquis du Limousin]] or the [[Maquis du Vercors]]—took names after the area they were operating in. The size of these cells varied from tens to thousands of men and women.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=577}}

In March 1944, with the Allies gaining ascendancy, Maquis groups intensified their operations. In reaction to their weakening power, the occupiers and Vichy collaborationists began a terror campaign throughout France, enacted by German military units and the {{lang|fr|Milice}}.{{sfn|Ousby|1999|p=275}} This included reprisals by SS troops against civilians living in areas where the French resistance was active, such as [[Oradour-sur-Glane massacre|the Oradour-sur-Glane]], [[Maillé massacre|the Maillé]] and the [[Tulle massacre]]s. The Maquisards exacted their revenge, both at the time with reactive atrocities{{sfn|Ousby|1999|p=275}} and later in the {{lang|fr|[[épuration sauvage]]}} ({{lit|savage purge}}: 'savage' or 'wild' intended to indicate it was undertaken before the rule of law was reestablished) that took place after the war's end.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=577}}

In [[French Indochina]], the local resistance fighting the Japanese since 1941 was backed up by a special forces airborne commando unit created by de Gaulle in 1943, and known as the [[Corps Léger d'Intervention]] (CLI). They were supplied by airlifts of the British [[Force 136]].