Maquis (World War II)

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The Maquis (French pronunciation: [maki] ) were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called maquisards, during World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class men who had escaped into the mountains and forests to resist conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire (STO; 'Compulsory Work Service') which provided slave labor for Germany. To avoid capture and deportation to Germany, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups. They had an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 members in autumn of 1943 and approximately 100,000 members in June 1944.

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