France - Stephen P. Halbrook

2012] WHY CAN’T WE BE LIKE FRANCE? 1689
D. From the Occupation of Vichy France Through the Allied
Invasion
In response to the U.S. invasion of North Africa, German forces
occupied Vichy France on November 11, 1942. 307
The French
government, at the request of the German Commander in Chief
West, ordered the surrender of all weapons in private possession to
the pertinent prefects. 308
Apparently referring to enforcement by
Vichy French authorities, it was announced that the crime of
possession of arms would be tried by the Special Court and sentences
would be death or imprisonment. 309
French police in the previouslyunoccupied
zone engaged in brutal repression at the behest of
German authorities. 310
As the screws tightened, the danger increased that the Nazis would
dispense with the formality even of a secret trial and shoot anyone
who possessed a firearm on the spot. 311
The French Resistance was
becoming increasingly active, although its members were always short
of arms. 312
They started with a few civilian arms from before the war
and military arms left from the battles of 1940. 313
The Allies began
dropping arms by parachute, allowing the Resistance to escalate its
activities involving sabotage and even direct combat. 314
The Military
307. See WARNER, supra note 185, at 336.
308. See BRIEF DER KONTROLLINSPEKTION DER DWSTK, GRUPPE II AZ.:D, NR.
3110/43, AN DIE DEUTSCHE WAFFENSTILLSTANDSKOMMISSION WIESBADEN [LETTER
OF CONTROL INSPECTION OF DWSTK, GROUP NO. II: D, NO. 3110/43, THE GERMAN
ARMISTICE COMMISSION AT WIESBADEN], BA/MA RH 31/29 (Mar. 13, 1943) (Ger.).
309. See Le délit de détention d’armes sera jugé par le tribunal spécial qui
condamnera à mort on à la réclusion, LE MATIN (Fr.), Jan. 25, 1943, at 1.
310. See MAZOWER, supra note 224, at 438-41.
311. As provided by the January 12, 1943, order signed by Belgium Military
Governor Alexander von Falkenhausen: “Persons who are found, without valid
authorization, in possession of explosives and military firearms, pistols of all kinds,
sub-machine guns, rifles, et cetera, with ammunition, are liable in future to be shot
immediately without trial.” 6 INT’L MILITARY TRIBUNAL, TRIAL OF THE MAJOR WAR
CRIMINALS BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL 381 (1947), available
at http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/NT_Vol-VI.pdf. Commenting on this
order at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, French prosecutor M. Charles Dubost stated:
This order and others analogous to it continued to be executed even after
the allied landing in the west of Europe. These orders were even carried
out against organized forces in Belgium as well as in France, although the
Germans themselves considered these forces as troops to a certain extent.
Id.
312. See, e.g., HENRI FRENAY, THE NIGHT WILL END 202, 204, 332 (Dan
Hofstadter trans., 1976).
313. See OUSBY, supra note 245, at 241–42, 261.
314. See, e.g., FRENAY, supra note 312, at 231–32, 237–38, 311.