HS Gazette Des Armes No.30 - Weapons under the Occupation - Collaboration & Resistance

The defeat of 1940 and the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany quickly sparked a new conflict — an internal one this time — in which Collaborationist France, body and soul devoted to the Vichy regime, and groups of resistance fighters intent on preparing the liberation of the country would clash.

The German army's attack on the USSR in June 1941 unleashed a large-scale anti-Communist crusade that divided the country still further. Members of several collaborationist parties then put their ideology into action, joining the Wehrmacht, the French Milice or the Waffen-SS, while others went underground. All sought to arm themselves. And arms there were: the country was awash with them — hunting weapons, target shooting arms and sidearms alike. Scattered across the entire metropolitan territory, they were coveted by all.

The occupier sought to collect them in order to maintain control; the police forces, in the pay of Vichy, wanted them for their own security; and the resistance fighters recovered whatever they could find while awaiting the supply drops organised by the Allies. The authors present here all the weapons that were used during these "dark years" — whether those of the police forces loyal to the Vichy regime, those of Frenchmen serving in German uniform, or the weapons of the men and women who rose up to fight against the occupier.