Editing French Resistance (section)

===Beginnings of a coordinated resistance===
[[File:Huelgoat. Résistants 2ème guerre mondiale.JPG|thumb|Resistants from [[Huelgoat]].]]

From 1940 to 1942, the first years of the German occupation of France, there was no systematically organised Resistance capable of coordinated fighting throughout France. Active opposition to the German and Vichy authorities was sporadic and carried out only by a tiny and fragmented set of operatives.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=402–403}} Most French men and women put their faith in the Vichy government and its figurehead, Marshal Pétain, who continued to be widely regarded as the "savior" of France,{{Sfn|Davies|2000|p=20}}{{Sfn|McMillan|1998|p=135}} opinions which persisted until their unpopular policies, and their collaboration with the foreign occupiers, became broadly apparent.

The earliest Resistance organisations had no contact with the western Allies and received no material aid from London or anywhere else. Consequently, most focused on generating nationalist propaganda through the distribution of underground newspapers.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=406–407}} Many of the major movements, such as [[Défense de la France]], were primarily engaged in publishing and distributing their newspapers. Even after they became more intensively activist, propaganda and the cultivation of positive morale remained, until the very end of the war, their most important concerns.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=412}}

Early acts of violent resistance were often motivated more by instinct and fighting spirit than by any formal ideology,{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=414}} but later several distinct political alignments and visions of post-liberation France developed among the Resistance organisations. These differences sometimes resulted in conflicts, but the differences among Resistance factions were usually papered over by their shared opposition to Vichy and the Germans;{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=416}} and over time, the various elements of the Resistance began to unite.

Many of the networks recruited and controlled by the British and Americans were not perceived by the French as particularly interested in establishing a united or integrated Resistance operation, and the guerrilla groups controlled by the communists were only slightly more attracted by the idea of joining of a Resistance "umbrella" organisation. Nonetheless, a contact between de Gaulle's envoys and the communists was established at the end of 1942. The liberation of [[Corsica]] in September 1943, a clear demonstration of the strength of communist insurgency, was accomplished by the FTP, an effective force not yet integrated into the Secret Army and not involved with General [[Henri Giraud]], the Free French or the political unification of the Resistance.

The French Resistance began to unify in 1941. This was evidenced by the formation of movements in the Vichy zone centred on such figures as [[Henri Frenay]] (''[[Combat (French Resistance)|Combat]]''), [[Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie]] (''[[Libération-Sud]]'') and [[François de Menthon]], (''Liberté''), each of whom was, independently, an agent of the Free French. Formal consolidation was accomplished through the intervention of [[Jean Moulin]].

[[Prefect]] of [[Eure-et-Loir]] in 1939, Moulin was subsequently a part of the Air Ministry of [[Pierre Cot]]. In this context, he had forged a strong network of relationships in anti-fascist circles. Some time after November 1940, the idea of teaming up with his former colleague, {{ill|Gaston Cusin|fr|vertical-align=sup}}, to identify and contact a number of potential Resistance "centres of influence" occurred to him; but only during the summer of 1941 was he able to make the most critical contacts, including contact with Henri Frenay, leader of the movement not yet called ''Combat'' but still known as the {{ill|National Liberation Movement (France)|fr|Mouvement de libération nationale|lt=National Liberation Movement|vertical-align=sup}}. He also established contact with de Menthon and Emmanuel d'Astier. In the report he wrote for de Gaulle, he spoke of these three movements and entertained the possibility of bringing them together under the acronym "LLL".