Hitler's War Against the French Resistance

In 1941, a year after France formally surrendered, Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French forces, appointed Jean Moulin to coordinate the various resistance movements that had sprung up all over France. His mission was to unify the diverse and often fragmented resistance groups into a more cohesive organization. He successfully brought together various resistance factions under the umbrella of the National Council of the Resistance (CNR), which was a crucial step toward creating a united front against both the Nazis and the Vichy French regime. Since the start of the Occupation, the Germans realized that resistance to their rule was inevitable. With this in mind, they went about establishing total control of France, not only through the German Army forces stationed in the country, but using the entire Nazi security apparatus. From 1941 onwards, the Germans began to encounter frequent and increasingly more damaging acts of resistance, which required not only intelligence and counter-intelligence work, but the launching of raids and small operations. The intensity of partisan attacks began to increase even more in 1942. This level of resistance grew even greater in 1943. By then, the partisans were selectively challenging local German garrisons and collaborator forces in the French countryside. By the beginning of 1944, the Resistance, or Maquis as it was also known, became bolder, even establishing so-called Free-French republics in various regions of the country. Employing primary source documents from several archives, author Antonio Muñoz has produced a one-volume study that fully covers the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in France from 1940 through to 1944. Hitler’s War Against the French Resistance, 1940-1944 is a valuable reference source for those who wish to study the guerrilla and anti-guerrilla struggle during the Second World War.