Government of Vichy France

Common card · No. 310146

The Government of Vichy France was the collaborationist ruling regime or government in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Of contested legitimacy, it was finally headquartered in the town of Vichy in occupied France, but it initially took shape in Bordeaux under Marshal Philippe Pétain as the successor to the French Third Republic in June 1940. The government remained in Vichy for four years, but was escorted to Germany in September 1944 after the Allied invasion of France. It then operated as a government-in-exile until April 1945, when the Sigmaringen enclave was taken by Free French forces. Pétain was permitted to travel back to France (through Switzerland), by then under control of the technically illegal Provisional French Republic, and subsequently put on trial for treason.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Buache, Philippe (1700-1773). Cartographe Delisle, Guillaume (1675-1726). Graveur, Public domain