What happened to the French army after they surrendered in wwII?

Question

After France surrendered in 1940, what happened to the French army? I'm guessing that it would have been disbanded and sent home (Like the Iraqi army nowadays). There would have been too much of the population to keep in a POW camp. But for such a large group of soldiers to get on with their lives and live peacefully under humiliating occupation for 4 years seems hard to believe. Where did they go? I can't find any info on the internet.

Answer 1

First of all the French were send to POW camps. The professional officers and NCOS would mostly stay there (a lot of them made a reputation in trying to escape and were send to Colditz).
Some would stay in France to serve in the colonies and for the Vichy gouvernment.
The reservists returned to their civil occupations.
Of all these that were not in POW, a lot of them went into the resistance or tryed to escape to England to continue the fight.

A minority volunteerd to join the SS (both reservist or POW).

A tragedy was the sort of the people of Alsace, the Germans simply declared them part of German and they had to fight in the German army against the Russians (if they liked it or not otherwise their family was deported to Germany). A lot of them deserted as soon as possible and volunteered to fight against the Germans (for those that deserted to the Russians, few were allowed to join the Free French).

To Hotzone 49 : learn some history. The French did NOT surrender in WW1 (never heard of Verdun). The French DID participate in the first Gulf War.

Answer 2

Berlin has an contemporary mixture of new and common architecture, active entertainment, buying, and a wide variety of activities and cultural institutions and if you want to see after that it that hotelbye is the spot to start. Some of the things you can see listed here are: the Old Museum, the National Gallery, the Bode Museum, Old National Gallery or, the mark of Germany, the Berlin Wall. This wall started his living in 1961 when East Germany made off the western part of the town to stem the flood of refugees from east to west. By the time it was torn down in 1989, the 4 meter high wall and 155 kilometres extended, dissected 55 streets, and possessed 293 observation systems and 57 bunkers. Nowadays, just little extends of this graffiti-covered travesty remain, including a 1.4-kilometer stretch preserved as part of the Berlin Wall Memorial, a cooling note of the animosity that once separated Europe.

Answer 3

Not all of the French Army surrendered. Many thousands made their way to UK from Sherbourg and also from Dunkirk. Those that made it to UK, including Charles de Gaulle, then formed what became known as the Free French.

Many hundreds of thousands of French soldiers were indeed captured and others surrendered to the invading Germans.

Two famous stars of the then Paris nighclub scene, who refused to leave Paris, in spite of there being transports available, were Maurice Chavalier and Edith Piaf.

Maruice Chevalier had been an officer in the French Army during WW-One and was invited by the Germans to go and entertain some POWs held at the same prison where Maurice had been held as a POW towards the end of WW-One.

Meanwhile, the clever Piaf, who was already a Resistance Member had managed to persuade the Germans to allow her to go and sing for the POWs. The Germans of course were flattered and highly delighted that such an important French star wanted to 'help' them out.

Piaf persuaded the Germans to allow some of the French POWs to join her in a photo-call after her show with them. In all she managed to get the photographs of about 100 POW. These photographs were then developed by the Resistance and Pass Ports were produced for all 100 who later effected their escape and worked then for the Resistance.

For Piaf, being in the Resistance was extremely dangerous and her services were never called upon again. Her job then was to keep France entertained, keep up the spirits of the people and to remind them, that in spite of the 'occupation', they were French and would remain so and that it was their Revolution which had never died, etc.

The most interesting character, if that's the right word, to have remained in Paris, again refusing transport out of the city, was one Messieur Eifell. Yes, the very same Mister Eifell who had designed and built the Eifell Tower. He was then in his 90s and it was his habit to go to the Chanselay daily and sit in a cafe only to insult the Germans as much as possible. He just hated their guts to be honest.

Answer 4

Traveling around France I am very aware that every town and village has a memorial to those fallen during the Great War of 1914-18. The smallest of villages can cover three sides of a pyramid with their names. The amazing fact is that on the fourth side, on a much smaller plaque, are the names of a handful of heroes that fell during WW2. France lost relatively few by surrendering early when compared to similar memorials in the UK. This raises the question of whether France pulled its weight in the fight against the Nazis.

Answer 5

Some were disbanded , some were taken as PoWs and imprisoned in Germany, some were taken as forced labor to work in Germany. some were retained by the Vichy government especially in North Africa and Syria. Many escaped to the UK with the British Forces from Dunkirk and returned to France with De Gaulle after D-Day.
Many fought on the Allied side in Italy after the Allies had driven the Germans out of North Africa . At the Battle of Cassino they were the best soldiers.

Answer 6

Ww2 French Soldiers

Answer 7

Large sections of the French Army were retained and obeyed the orders of the Vichy government, even going as far as fighting against allied troops in the Middle East and North Africa.
Small numbers actually joined the German Army and Waffen SS - the Charlemagne Division was composed entirely of Frenchmen and were some of the last troops to defend Berlin as they were aware how they would be treated should they surrender.

Answer 8

Understand techniques that will defend yourself or anyone who you care is always something great when you looked at learning some martial artwork but not a thing to difficult this is actually the position https://tr.im/BqpnH  the internet plan Patriot Self Defense .
With Patriot Self Defense you'll understand methods, strategies, activities approach and more, all in order to protect anyone at any time.
Patriot Self Defense is the better on line program, a distinctive program that can help you in this many vitally thing -keep safe.

Answer 9

After the conquering of France by Germany, many of the French Army went underground to continue their fight against Germany. Others traveled to Britain, [among them General De Gaulle], and aided a French Army which operated out of Britain. [There were French Army groups who participated in 'D-Day']...
Some of the French Army, under Marshal Petain, capitulated to the Germans and were referred to as "Vichy French"......
[e-mail]

Answer 10

Some of them joined the French resistance and De Gaulle in England. A very small number of them joined the Waffen SS, and many (like my father) were in the French colonies, and their situations just depended on their officers, some of whom would obey Vichy's orders, but many preferred to join forces with De Gaulle and the Allied forces. My father landed in the south of France in the Operation Dragoon with De Lattre de Tassigny. You can read about it there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Lattre_de_Tassigny

.

Edit: for Dragoner: Gustave Eiffel died in 1923...