Editing History of France (section)

==== Resistance ====
General [[Charles de Gaulle]] in London declared himself on BBC radio to be the head of a rival government in exile, and gathered the [[Free French Forces]] around him, finding support in some French colonies and recognition from Britain but not the United States. After the [[Attack on Mers-el-Kébir]] in 1940, where the British fleet destroyed a large part of the French navy, still under command of [[Vichy France]], that killed about 1,100 sailors, there was nationwide indignation and a feeling of distrust in the French forces, leading to the events of the [[Battle of Dakar]]. Eventually, several important French ships joined the Free French Forces.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Thomas |date=1997 |title=After Mers-el-Kébir: The Armed Neutrality of the Vichy French Navy, 1940–1943 |journal=[[English Historical Review]] |volume=112 |issue=447 |pages=643–670 |jstor=576348}}</ref> The United States maintained diplomatic relations with Vichy and avoided recognition of de Gaulle's claim to be the one and only government of France. Churchill, caught between the U.S. and de Gaulle, tried to find a compromise.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Viorst |first=Milton |title=Hostile allies: FDR and Charles de Gaulle |date=1967 |author-link=Milton Viorst}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haglund |first=David G. |date=2007 |title=Roosevelt as 'Friend of France'—But Which One? |journal=[[Diplomatic History (journal)|Diplomatic history]] |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=883–908|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2007.00658.x}}</ref>

Within France proper, the organized underground grew as the Vichy regime resorted to more strident policies in order to fulfill the enormous demands of the Nazis and the eventual decline of Nazi Germany became more obvious. They formed [[French Resistance|the Resistance]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kedward |first=H. R. |title=In Search of the Maquis |date=1993 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-1915-9178-5 |author-link=Rod Kedward}}</ref> The most famous figure of the French resistance was [[Jean Moulin]], sent in France by de Gaulle in order to link all resistance movements; he was captured and tortured by [[Klaus Barbie]] (the "butcher of Lyon"). Increasing repression culminated in the complete destruction and extermination of the village of [[Oradour-sur-Glane]] at the height of the [[Invasion of Normandy|Battle of Normandy]]. On 10 June 1944, a company of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, entered Oradour-sur-Glane, and massacred 642 men, women and children, all of whom were civilians. In 1953, 21 men went on trial for the Oradour killings; all but one were pardoned by the French government.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

[[File:American officer and French partisan crouch behind an auto during a street fight in a French city. - NARA - 531322 - restored by Buidhe.jpg|thumb|A Resistance fighter during street fighting in 1944]]On 6 June 1944, the Allies [[D-Day|landed in Normandy]], without a French component. On 15 August Allied forces [[Operation Dragoon|landing in Provence]], this time including 260,000 men of the [[First Army (France)|French First Army]]. The German lines finally broke, and they fled back to Germany while keeping control of the major ports. Allied forces liberated France and the Free French were given the honor of [[Liberation of Paris|liberating Paris]] in late August. The French army recruited [[French Forces of the Interior]] (de Gaulle's formal name for resistance fighters) to continue the war until the final defeat of Germany; this army numbered 300,000 men by September, and 370,000 by spring 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Funk |first=Arthur Layton |title=Charles de Gaulle: The Crucial Years, 1943–1944 |date=1959}}</ref>

The Vichy regime disintegrated. An interim [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] was quickly put into place by de Gaulle. The ''gouvernement provisoire de la République française'', or GPRF, operated under a ''tripartisme'' alliance of communists, socialists, and democratic republicans. The GPRF governed France from 1944 to 1946, when it was replaced by the [[French Fourth Republic]]. Tens of thousands of collaborators were executed without trial. The new government declared the Vichy laws unconstitutional and illegal, and elected new local governments. Women gained the right to vote.