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Maquis (World War II)
Encyclopedia
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
bands of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
's Service du travail obligatoire
Service du travail obligatoire
The Service du travail obligatoire was the forced enlistment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of French workers to Nazi Germany in order to work as forced labour for the German war effort during World War II....
(STO) to provide forced labour for Germany. In an effort to escape capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized; initially fighting only to remain free
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
, these bands eventually became active resistance groups.
Meaning
Originally the word came from the kind of terrain in which the armed resistance groups hid, the type of high ground in southeastern France covered with scrub growth. Although strictly meaning thicketThicket
A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large amounts of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in the shelter of the maternal plants.In some conditions the...
, maquis could be roughly translated as "the bush
The Bush
"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...
".
Members of those bands were called maquisards. Eventually the term became an honorific that meant "armed resistance fighter". The Maquis have come to symbolize the French Resistance.
Operations
Most maquisards operated in the mountainous areas of BrittanyBrittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and southern France, especially in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
and in Limousin
Limousin (province)
Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
. They relied on guerrilla tactics to harass the Milice
Milice
The Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
and German occupation troops. The Maquis also aided the escape of downed Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
airmen, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and others pursued by the Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
and German authorities. Maquisards usually relied on some degree of sympathy or cooperation from the local populace. In March 1944, the German Army began a terror campaign throughout France. This included reprisals against civilians living in areas where the French Resistance was active. The Maquisards were later to take their revenge in the épuration sauvage that took place after the war's end.
Most of the Maquis cells — like the Maquis du Limousin
Maquis du Limousin
The Maquis du Limousin was one of the largest Maquis groups of French resistance fighters.The region of Limousin was an active area of resistance since 1940. Edmond Michelet distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes on June 17, 1940. It is considered to be...
or the Maquis du Vercors
Maquis du Vercors
-In fiction:The maquis du Vercors is depicted and veterans act in Pierre Schoendoerffer's Above the Clouds 2002 feature film, and in the third season of the British TV programme Wish Me Luck, which first aired in 1990.-See also:...
- took names after the area they were operating in. The size of these cells varied from tens to thousands of men and women.
In French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, the local resistance fighting the Japanese since 1941 was backed up by a special forces airborne commando unit created by de Gaulle in 1943, and known as the Corps Léger d'Intervention
Corps Léger d'Intervention
The Corps Léger d'Intervention was a Pacific War interarm corps of the Far East French Expeditionary Forces commanded by Général de corps d'armée Roger Blaizot and using guerrilla warfare against the Imperial Japanese Army who occupied French Indochina since 1941...
(CLI). They were supplied by airlifts of the British Force 136.
Politics in Maquis
Politically, maquis were very diverse — from right-wing nationalists to communists and anarchists. Some Maquis bands that operated in southwest France were composed entirely of left-wing Spanish veterans of the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
When Germans began a forced labor draft (Service du travail obligatoire
Service du travail obligatoire
The Service du travail obligatoire was the forced enlistment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of French workers to Nazi Germany in order to work as forced labour for the German war effort during World War II....
, STO) in France in the beginning of 1943, thousands of young men fled and joined the Maquis. The British Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) helped with supplies and agents. The American Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) also began to send its own agents to France in cooperation with the SOE and the French BCRA
Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action
The Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action , commonly referred as the BCRA was the World War II-era forerunner of the SDECE, the French intelligence service...
agents in Operation Jedburgh
Operation Jedburgh
Operation Jedburgh was a clandestine operation during World War II, in which personnel of the British Special Operations Executive, the U.S...
.
The British government also helped and supplied Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
to unify the Free French
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
, resistance movement included.
Food
In the Maquis they usually ate fruit and berries from the mountains and hunted with their guns, although they did not like using the guns because the Gestapo in the region might have heard them and they would have been caught.Role
During the Allied invasion of NormandyOperation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, the Maquis and other groups played some role in delaying the German mobilization. The French Resistance (FFI Forces Françaises de l'Interieur for "French Forces of the Interior
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation...
") blew up railroad tracks and repeatedly attacked German Army equipment and garrison trains on their way to the Atlantic coast. Thanks to coded messages transmitted over the BBC radio
Radio Londres
Radio Londres was a radio broadcast from 1940 to 1944 from the BBC in London to Nazi occupied France. It was entirely in French and was operated by Free French Forces who had escaped the German occupation...
, each Maquis group was alerted of the impending D-Day by listening for seemingly meaningless messages such as "the crow will sing three times in the morning" or any other pre-arranged messages read in a continuous flow over the British airwaves. As Allied troops advanced, the French Resistance rose against the Nazi occupation
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
forces and their garrisons en masse. For example, Nancy Wake
Nancy Wake
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, AC, GM , served as a British agent during the later part of World War II. She became a leading figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and was one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen of the war.-Early life:Born in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand in...
's group of 7,000 maquisards was involved in a pitched battle with 22,000 Germans on June 20, 1944. Some Maquis groups took no prisoners so some German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
soldiers preferred to surrender to Allied soldiers instead of facing maquisards. Captured Maquis faced torture, death or concentration camps, where few survived.
The Allied offensive was slowed and the Germans were able to counterattack in southeast France. On the Vercors plateau
Vercors Plateau
The Vercors is a range of plateaux and mountains in the départements of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac and Isère...
, a Maquis group fought about 8000 soldiers under General Karl Pflaum and was defeated with 600 casualties.
When De Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
dismissed resistance organizations after the liberation of Paris, many maquisards returned to their homes. Many also joined the new French army to continue the fight.
Equipment
The Maquis heavily relied on airdrops of weapons and explosives from the British SOESpecial Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
, SOE parachuted agents in with wireless sets (for radio communication) and dropping containers with various munitions including, but not limited to Sten
Sten
The STEN was a family of British 9 mm submachine guns used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War...
guns, Pencil detonators, plastic explosives, Welrod
Welrod
The Welrod was a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed pistol devised during World War II at the Inter-Services Research Bureau , based near Welwyn Garden City, UK, for use by irregular forces and resistance groups...
pistols (a silenced specialised assassination weapon favoured by covert operatives) and assorted small arms (pistols, rifles and sub-machine guns).The Maquis also used German weapons captured throughout the occupation, the MP40
MP40
The MP 38 and MP 40 , often called Schmeisser, were submachine guns developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by paratroopers, tank crews, platoon and squad leaders, and other troops during World War II.-Development:The MP 40 descended from its predecessor, the MP 38, which was in turn based...
, being very common, a French Resistance Fighter is quoted saying " They are as common as hookers on the streets of Paris, and they get about as much action".
Customs
It was standard practice among the Maquis to identify members by wearing a Basque beretBeret
A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....
because it was common enough not to arouse suspicion but distinctive enough to be effective.
Notable maquis
- Maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-JuraMaquis de l'Ain et du Haut-JuraThe Maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-Jura were a group of maquis fighters in the French resistance during World War II.On 11 November 1943, the Maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-Jura, on orders from Colonel Henri Romans-Petit, took possession of the town of Oyonnax in the Ain departement, and paraded up to the...
- Maquis de Corrèze
- Maquis de FontjunMaquis de FontjunThe Maquis de Fontjun was a one of the maquis networks of French resistance fighters against the German occupation during World War II. The Fontjun maquis was active in the west of the Hérault département, between Saint-Pons and Béziers....
in the HéraultHéraultHérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790... - Maquis des GlièresMaquis des GlièresThe Maquis des Glières was a Free French Resistance group, which fought against the 1940-1944 German occupation of France in World War II. The name is also given to the military conflict that opposed Resistance fighters to German, Vichy and Milice forces....
in the French Alps - Maquis du Grésivaudan in the French Alps
- Maquis du LimousinMaquis du LimousinThe Maquis du Limousin was one of the largest Maquis groups of French resistance fighters.The region of Limousin was an active area of resistance since 1940. Edmond Michelet distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes on June 17, 1940. It is considered to be...
in Massif centralMassif CentralThe Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux.... - Maquis de Lozère directed by the German antifascist Otto KühneOtto KühneOtto Kühne was a German communist militant, who led a maquis group of German antifascist fighters in the French region of Lozère in 1943 and 1944 during World War II....
- Maquis du Mont MouchetMaquis du Mont MouchetThe Maquis du Mont Mouchet were a group of French resistance fighters during the Second World War. Based at Mont Mouchet, its goal was to delay the convergence of German forces in the south of France with those in Normandy, in order to aid the Allies in the reconquest of France.The Germans, having...
en AuvergneAuvergne (région)Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not... - Maquis de SaffréMaquis de SaffréThe Maquis de Saffré was one of the maquis groups of French resistance fighters active in the Loire-Atlantique region, in the triangle formed by the communes of Héric, Nort-sur-Erdre et Saffré....
- Maquis de Saint-MarcelMaquis de Saint-MarcelThe Maquis de Saint-Marcel was a force of French resistance fighters, 3000 men with 200 Free French SAS , during World War II operating in Brittany, Morbihan...
in BrittanyBrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain... - Corps Franc du Sidobre (Tarn)
- Maquis La TouretteMaquis La TouretteThe Maquis La Tourette was one of the maquis groups of French resistance fighters during the The Maquis La Tourette was one of the [[Maquis |maquis]] groups of [[French resistance]] fighters during the...
in the Hérault created by Jean Bène - Maquis de VabreMaquis de VabreThe Maquis de Vabre were an organisation of French Resistance fighters in the east of the Tarn department during the Second World War, which was gradually built up by local militants. They were officially recognised in December 1943, affiliated to the Armée secrète under the name Maquis Pol Roux...
(Tarn) - Maquis VallierMaquis VallierThe Maquis Vallier was one of the maquis groups of resistance fighters during World War II. The maquis operated in the north of the Var département, particularly in the Verdon valley....
(Var) - Maquis du VercorsMaquis du Vercors-In fiction:The maquis du Vercors is depicted and veterans act in Pierre Schoendoerffer's Above the Clouds 2002 feature film, and in the third season of the British TV programme Wish Me Luck, which first aired in 1990.-See also:...
in the French AlpsFrench AlpsThe French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions.... - Maquis des VosgesMaquis des VosgesThe Maquis des Vosges were groups of French resistance fighters in the Department of the Vosges during the Second World War. They were associated through an amalgamation of different resistance groups roughly when the Conseil national de la Résistance was created on 27 May 1943...
- Maquis de RieumesMaquis de RieumesThe Maquis de Rieumes was one of the maquis groups of French resistance fighters during the Second World War.In 1942, the Juge d'instruction of Muret, André Reboul, along with other patriots, founded the group which in 1944 would become the Maquis de Rieumes.In 1943, the group reinforced itself and...
in the Haute-GaronneHaute-GaronneHaute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The... - Corps Franc de la Montagne Noire in the Montagne NoireMontagne Noire* Not to be confused with the Montagnes Noires in Brittany.The Montagne Noire is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central in the border area of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departments...
(AudeAudeAude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
, TarnTarnTarn is a department of 5,758 km2 in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France, named after the Tarn River. It was formed in 1790 of the three dioceses of Albi, Castres and Lavaur, belonging to the province of Languedoc. In 1906, the population was 330,533...
, Haute-GaronneHaute-GaronneHaute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...
)
- Meo Maquis (IndochinaIndochinaThe Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
)
In popular culture
The science fiction franchise Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
prominently featured a resistance group called the Maquis
Maquis (Star Trek)
In the American Star Trek science-fiction franchise, the Maquis are a 24th Century paramilitary organization or terrorist group first introduced in the 1994 episode "The Maquis" of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who subsequently also appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and...
.
The game Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution is a third-person shooter handheld game developed for Sony's PlayStation Portable. It was announced on July 15, 2008 at Sony's E3 press conference and released on March 12, 2009 in Japan, March 17, 2009 in North America, March 20, 2009 in Europe and March 26, 2009 in Australia...
features a resistance group called "Maquis".
See also
- Francs-Tireurs et PartisansFrancs-tireursFrancs-tireurs – literally "free shooters" – was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War...
(FTP) - French Forces of the InteriorFrench Forces of the InteriorThe French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation...
(FFI) - Free French ForcesFree French ForcesThe Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
(FFL) - Chant des PartisansChant des PartisansThe Chant des Partisans was the most popular song of the Free French during World War II.The piece was written and put to melody in London in 1943 after Anna Marly heard a Russian song that provided her with inspiration. Joseph Kessel and Maurice Druon wrote the French lyrics. It was performed by...
- Spanish MaquisSpanish MaquisThe Spanish Maquis were Spanish guerrillas exiled in France after the Spanish Civil War who continued to fight against the Franco regime until the early 1960s, carrying out sabotage, robberies , occupations of the Spanish Embassy in France and assassinations of Francoists, as well as contributing...
- Vang PaoVang PaoVang Pao was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. He was an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.-Early life:...
"Meo Maquis", Indochina WarsIndochina WarsThe Indochina Wars were a series of wars fought in Southeast Asia from 1947 until 1979, between nationalist Vietnamese against French, American, and Chinese forces. The term "Indochina" originally referred to French Indochina, which included the current states of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In...
leader of Hmong peopleHmong peopleThe Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China... - Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...