The fall of France resulting from the Battle of France brought a humiliating armistice with Germany and the division of France into occupied zones and the nominally sovereign Vichy Government led by Henri-Philippe Petain. During the fall of France, a French army officer, Charles de Gaulle, was in London, and he used his absence as an opportunity to rally the French with a broadcast appeal on June 18, 1940, repudiating Petain, proclaiming that the war had not ended, and calling on all French men and women to resist the occupiers. De Gaulle emerged as de facto head of a Free French government in exile and leader of the Free French Forces, mainly consisting of French military personnel and a few ships that had evaded capture or that had not declared allegiance to Vichy. Also answering de Gaulle's appeal were French civilians still living in France who began organizing underground activities, including secret newspapers and networks for rescuing downed Allied airmen, and resistance cells, which engaged in various subversive activities, including sabotage and assassination. The terms underground and resistance are frequently used interchangeably. However, it is useful to distinguish between the essentially civilian resistance and the underground, on the one hand, and the more formally military Free French Forces on the other.

The earliest acts of resistance were mounted by secondary school students on July 14 (Bastille Day), and November 11 (the anniversary of World War I's armistice), 1940. Work-related sabotage and mass strikes began soon after in an effort to cripple production destined to serve Germany's war effort. Miners in Nord and Pas-de-Calais struck from May 27, 1941, to June 8, 1941. True armed resistance is usually said to have commenced on August 22, 1941, with the assassination of a German naval cadet, Alfons Moser. This resulted in the occupying army’s promulgation of a hostage policy, whereby French citizens, randomly chosen, were subject to reprisal--that is, execution--for violence perpetrated against German or Vichy officials. Though widely posted and publicized, the hostage and reprisal policy failed to stop additional attacks. On September 3, resistance members assassinated another German officer; three days later, the military government executed three hostages. Despite this, more assassinations took place, followed by more reprisals. On September 16, Adolf Hitler directed army chief of staff general Wilhelm Keitel to order commanders in France and the other occupied countries to regard human life of little value in these territories and to act with utmost violence against the resistance. Through Keitel, Hitler suggested that 50 or 100 hostages should be executed for each German soldier killed by resistance members. . .

Free term papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to buy a custom written research paper, term paper, or essay on Military Topics at affordable price. CustomTermPapers is the best solution for those who seek help in writing term papers, essays, and research papers related to Military Topics and other relevant topics.