Zone libre
Encyclopedia
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
based in Vichy
Vichy
Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It belongs to the historic province of Bourbonnais.It is known as a spa and resort town and was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944.The town's inhabitants...
, in a relatively unrestricted fashion. To the north lay the zone occupée
Zone occupée
The zone occupée was the area of France where German occupying troops were deployed during the Second World War after the signature of the Second Armistice at Compiègne...
("occupied zone") in which the powers of the Vichy regime were severely limited.
In November 1942 the zone libre was invaded by the German and Italian armies in Operation Attila
Operation Attila (WW II)
During World War II, Operation Attila was a plan for the Nazi occupation of Vichy France. This plan was drawn up in 1940 in case the French rejoined the Allies or in case of an Allied threat to the south of France....
, as a response to Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, the Allied landings in North Africa. Thenceforth, the zone libre and zone occupée were renamed the zone Sud (south zone) and zone Nord (north zone) respectively.
Origins of the zone libre
On June 22, 1940, after the Battle of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II...
, representing the Third Reich, and General Charles Huntziger
Charles Huntziger
Charles Huntziger was a French Army general during World War I and World War II.Born at Lesneven , he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1900 and joined the colonial infantry. During World War I he served in the Middle Eastern theatre. He was chief of staff of operations of the Allied Expeditionary Force...
representing Pétain's government, signed an armistice at the Rethondes clearing in the forest of Compiègne, which stipulated in its second article:
The line separating French territory into two zones was defined on a map attached to the treaty.
This separation line took effect on June 25, 1940. It was thereafter referred to as the ligne de démarcation.
French sovereignty persisted throughout the whole territory, including the zone occupée, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, but the terms of the armistice in its third article stipulated that Germany would exercise the rights of an occupying power in the zone occupée
Extent of the zone libre
The zone libre constituted a land area of 246,618 square kilometres, approximately 45% of France, and included approximately 33% of the total French labor force. The ligne de démarcation passed through 13 of the 90 departments:- Basses-Pyrénées (Pyrénées-Atlantiques since 1969)
- Landes
- GirondeGirondeFor the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
- DordogneDordogneDordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...
- CharenteCharenteCharente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
- VienneVienneVienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...
- Indre-et-LoireIndre-et-LoireIndre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
- Loir-et-CherLoir-et-CherLoir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...
- Cher
- AllierAllierAllier is a department in central France named after the river Allier.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.In 1940, the government of Marshal...
- Saône-et-LoireSaône-et-LoireSaône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
- Jura
- AinAinAin is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation...
Of the other 77 departments, 42 lay entirely within the zone libre and 35 lay entirely within the zone occupée.
The zone libre and Italy
On June 24, 1940, two days after the armistice with Germany, the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Italians at the villa Incisa in Olgiata near RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, instituting a zone of Italian occupation. The Italian occupation zone concerned certain border areas conquered by Italian troops, including Menton
Menton
Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France ....
. This zone was of limited importance, comprising 800 square kilometeres and 28,000 inhabitants. Four departments were partially covered by the Italian occupation: Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes is a department in the extreme southeast corner of France.- History : was created by Octavian as a Roman military district in 14 BC, and became a full Roman province in the middle of the 1st century with its capital first at Cemenelum and subsequently at Embrun...
, Basses-Alpes (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence since 1970), Hautes-Alpes
Hautes-Alpes
Hautes-Alpes is a department in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range.- History :Hautes-Alpes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
and Savoie
Savoie
Savoie is a French department located in the Rhône-Alpes region in the French Alps.Together with the Haute-Savoie, Savoie is one of the two departments of the historic region of Savoy that was annexed by France on June 14, 1860, following the signature of the Treaty of Turin on March 24, 1860...
.
In addition, a demilitarized zone
Demilitarized zone
In military terms, a demilitarized zone is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more military powers , where military activity is not permitted, usually by peace treaty, armistice, or other bilateral or multilateral agreement...
was established containing all French territory within 50 km from the zone of Italian occupation. The department of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
(split into two departments since 1976) was neither occupied nor demilitarized by any provision of the armistice.
The end of the zone libre
On 11 November 1942, the zone libre was invaded by the Germans and Italians in Operation AttilaOperation Attila (WW II)
During World War II, Operation Attila was a plan for the Nazi occupation of Vichy France. This plan was drawn up in 1940 in case the French rejoined the Allies or in case of an Allied threat to the south of France....
following the allied landings in North Africa of Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
. The zone libre became the zone Sud (south zone) from November 1942 onwards and was shared between the invading powers, with a region covering practically the whole area east of the Rhône
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
passing to the Italians. After the capitulation of Italy at Cassibile was made public on September 8, 1943, the Italian armies retreated and the southern zone was united under German control.
Other names for the zone libre
Until November 1942 the Germans called the zone libre "Unbesetztes Gebiet" or unoccupied zone. The zone libre was also nicknamed the zone nono by the French, shortened from non occupée (unoccupied). The occupied zone accordingly became the zone jaja (yes-yes zone). The zone libre was also called the royaume du maréchal (the Marshal's [Pétain]'s kingdom) by the French author Jacques Delperrié de Bayac.Theories about the separation of the zones
For the historian Éric Alary, the partitioning of France into two main zones, libre and occupée, was partly inspired by the fantasy of pangermanist writers, particularly a work by a certain Adolf Sommerfeld, published in 1912 and translated into French under the title Le Partage de la France, which contained a map showing a France partitioned between Germany and Italy according to a line which partly matched that of 1940.Henri Espieux suggests: "During the occupations, the Franks were separated from the Occitans by the famous demarcation line. We have long thought that the route of this line was suggested to Hitler by the romance language specialists in his entourage."
See also
- German occupation of France during World War II
- Zone occupéeZone occupéeThe zone occupée was the area of France where German occupying troops were deployed during the Second World War after the signature of the Second Armistice at Compiègne...
- Second Armistice at Compiègne (between France and Germany)