Armistice Army

The map clearly shows the division of France as per all the historical realities of the era: Nazi Germany annexed Alsace Lorraine, and occupied northern metropolitan France and all the Atlantic coastline down to the border with Spain. That left the rest of France, including the remaining two-fifths of southern and eastern metropolitan France and Overseas France North Africa, unoccupied, and under the control of a collaborationist French government based at the city of Vichy, and headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain.

Article IV of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 allowed for a small French army — the Army of the Armistice (Armée de l'Armistice) — stationed in the Zone libre (Unoccupied France), and the French colonial empire overseas.[2] It was headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, hero of World War I. The function of these forces was to keep internal order and to defend French territories from Allied assault. The French forces were to remain under the overall direction of the German armed forces.

The Armistice Army was a limited force, created in July 1940, following the occupation of metropolitan France by Germany. The northern part of the metropolitan territory was occupied from June 1940 to November 1942 as a consequence of the Armistice, then, full metropolitan territory as a consequence of the Allied invasion of French North Africa (Operation Torch) and the Allied allegiance of the colonial French Army of Africa. Besides its limited regular army, the French State created irregular forces to fight the French Resistance and the communists; both considered enemies by Vichy and the German authorities.

The exact strength of the Vichy French Metropolitan Army was set at 3,768 officers, 15,072 non-commissioned officers, and 75,360 men. All members had to be volunteers. In addition to the army, the size of the Gendarmerie was fixed at 60,000 men plus an anti-aircraft force of 10,000 men. Despite the influx of trained soldiers from the colonial forces (reduced in size under the Armistice), there was a shortage of volunteers. As a result, 30,000 men of the class of 1939 were retained to fill the quota. At the beginning of 1942, these conscripts were released, but there were still not enough men. This shortage remained until the dissolution, despite Vichy appeals to the Germans for a regular form of conscription.

The Vichy French Metropolitan Army was deprived of tanks and other armoured vehicles and was desperately short of motorised transport, a particular problem for cavalry units. Surviving recruiting posters stress the opportunities for athletic activities, including horsemanship, reflecting both the general emphasis placed by the Vichy government on rural virtues and outdoor activities and the realities of service in a small and technologically backward military force. Traditional features characteristic of the pre-1940 French Army, such as kepis and heavy capotes (buttoned-back greatcoats) were replaced by berets and simplified uniforms.

The Vichy authorities did not deploy the Army of the Armistice against resistance groups active in the south of France, reserving this role to the Vichy Milice (militia), a paramilitary force created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy government to combat the Resistance; so that members of the regular army could defect to the Maquis after the German occupation of southern France and the disbandment of the Army of the Armistice in November 1942. By contrast, the Milice continued to collaborate and its members were subject to reprisals after the Liberation.

Vichy French colonial forces were reduced following the terms of the Armistice. Yet Clayton writes that German aims in Africa were in 1940 best served by continued French administration rather than intrusions by Spain or Italy. Thus the French secured an agreement for the continuation of the Army of Africa at a strength of 100,000, plus 20,000 military workers for North Africa. The permitted totals were increased in February and April 1941, after which the force reached 127,000 plus 16,000 goumiers.[3] In French West Africa the initial total was 33,000, made up of Tirailleurs, an artillery group, a cavalry regiment, and logistics units.

Forces elsewhere included almost 40,000 in the Army of the Levant (Armée du Levant), in Lebanon and Syria. Colonial forces were allowed to keep some armoured vehicles, though these were mostly obsolescent World War I Renault FT tanks.

After the Allied invasion of French North Africa (Operation Torch) began, Adolf Hitler ordered the dissolution of the Armistice Army in mainland France on 26 November 1942. Some staff officers clung to the possibility suggested by Hitler to form an army of a new form. On December 23, Hitler finally put an end to this hope by declaring that "the creation of a new French Army [...] is out of the question."[4] The discovery of illegal arms stores had greatly undermined the confidence of the Germans in the French authorities.[5] A deadline of 23 January 1943 was imposed on the French Government: after this date, the commanders of the military regions involved were to be held personally liable. Throughout 1943, a continual stream of active officers passed through Spain to North Africa;[6] Some 12,000 civil or military personnel headed for North Africa.[6]

Despite the German Army's loss of confidence, resulting from the discovery of the camouflaged weapons depots, General Eugène Bridoux, who retained the title of Secretary of State for War, continued his efforts to reconstitute dependent armed units. But Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt refused, and the African Phalange was never to have any connections with a French military organization.[5] Pierre Laval did obtain from Hitler in Berchtesgaden, on April 30, 1943, the permission to create a small military force. The law was promulgated on 15 July 1943 and, on 23 July, Bridoux still managed to form the First Regiment of France composed of three battalions of infantry and cavalry on horseback and bicycle.[5] Designed to maintain traditions, the First Regiment took part in engagements against the Resistance; it eventually became part of the French Forces of the Interior.

The Vichy French Army was made up of 1 GMD, 2 GMD, North African and Indochina forces, and separately administered direct-controlled units:[7]

• ARL 44 — postwar French tank designed by members of the Armistice Army
• Government Army (Bohemia and Moravia)
• Guard (Vichy France)
• Liberation of France
• Security Battalions (Greece)
• Vichy French Military Division order of battle
• Vichy French Navy

• Clayton, Anthony (1988). France, Soldiers, and Africa. London: Brassey's Defence Publishers. ISBN 0-08-034748-7.
• Paxton, Robert (2004) [1966]. L'Armée de Vichy - Le corps des officiers français 1940-1944 (in French). Translated by Pierre de Longuemar. éditions Tallandier. p. 588. ISBN 2020679884. (réimpression=Le Seuil/Tallandier)

• Paxton, Robert O. (1966). Parades and Politics at Vichy: The French Officer Corps under Marshall Pétain. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691623924.
• Planchais, Jean (1967). Une histoire politique de l'armée: Volume 2: 1940-1967 - de De Gaulle à de Gaulle (in French). Vol. 2. Éditions du Seuil.
• Delpla, François (1996). Montoire Les premiers jours de la collaboration (in French). Paris: Éditions Albin Michel. ISBN 2-226-08488-6.
• d’Abzac-Epezy, Claude (1998). L'Armée de l'air des années noires: Vichy, 1940-1944 (in French). éditions Economica. ISBN 978-2717836899.
• de Wailly, Henri (2006). Syrie 1941, La guerre occultée (in French). éditions Perrin.
• Ehrengardt, Christian-Jacques; Shore, Christopher F. L'Aviation de Vichy au combat.
• Établissement de communication et de production audiovisuelle de la Défense (ECPAD), La photographie de l'armée de Vichy (1941-1943), lire en ligne.

Articles

• d'Abzac-Epezy, Claude (2001). "La rénovation de la formation militaire dans l'armée de l'armistice". Revue historique des armées. 223. Archived from the original on 2009-03-31..
• d'Abzac-Epezy, Claude (2012). "Armée et secrets, 1940-1942: le contre-espionnage de l'armée de Vichy". Bulletin de l'Institut Pierre Renouvin. 36: 45–56. doi:10.3917/bipr.036.0045..
• Bachelier, Christian (2000) [1993]. "L'armée française entre la victoire et la défaite". In Jean-Pierre Azéma; François Bédarida (eds.). La France des années noires. Vol. 1: De la défaite à Vichy (2nd ed.). Éditions du Seuil. ISBN 2020183072..
• Bachelier, Christian (2000) [1993]. "La nouvelle armée française". In Jean-Pierre Azéma; François Bédarida (eds.). La France des années noires. Vol. 2: De l'Occupation à la Libération (2nd ed.). Éditions du Seuil. ISBN 2020183072..
• de Longuemar, Pierre (2009). "En lisant l'ouvrage de Robert O. Paxton sur l'armée de Vichy et le corps des officiers français de 1940 à 1944". Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. 234 (2): 119–135. doi:10.3917/gmcc.234.0119..