Overview

July 1940 saw the collaborationist Vichy regime replace the French Republic after the country suffered heavily at the hands of the German onslaught during the Second World War. So began a period of betrayal, refusal and heroism. While most were convinced by the regime, a small number sought to make a stand in whatever way they could, despite fear and mortal danger. From railway workers and couriers to guerrilla fighters and foreign agents, each played their part in destabilising Marshal Petain's poisonous regime. Here Robert Pike casts new light on the Resistance and its members, using unique first-person accounts and newly translated archival records to highlight how ordinary people - men and women, young and old - refused, protested, fought and ultimately became heroes of the Resistance. 40 b/w illustrations

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9780750985529

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Reviews

Pacey and engaging, this study explores the drama and complexity of the German occupation and resistance, highlighting moral ambiguities, deceit, betrayal and violence. A fascinating contribution to the field. -- Robert Gildea ``Using the pioneer work of local French historians in tracking down ex-Resisters, and doing his own interviews, Robert Pike has produced a book on the largely rural Dordogne full of specific names and places and pulsating with action and detailed stories.'' -- Rod Kedward By focusing on a single area of France - the Dordogne - Robert Pike has not only produced a meticulously researched and valuable contribution to the history of the German occupation, but a reminder of how courageously and selflessly many ordinary French men and women behaved. -- Caroline Moorehead

'Pacey and engaging ... a fascinating contribution to the field.' -- Robert Gildea 'A meticulously researched and valuable contribution to the history of the German occupation.' -- Caroline Moorehead A vivid and evocative account ... Robert Pike is to be applauded for bringing these stories to a wider readership. -- Hanna Diamond 'A moving account of the darkest and brightest period in French history.' -- Matthew Cobb 'Pulsating with action and detailed stories.' -- Rod Kedward

'Pacey and engaging ... a fascinating contribution to the field.' -- Robert Gildea 'A meticulously researched and valuable contribution to the history of the German occupation.' -- Caroline Moorehead A vivid and evocative account ... Robert Pike is to be applauded for bringing these stories to a wider readership. -- Hanna Diamond 'A moving account of the darkest and brightest period in French history.' -- Matthew Cobb 'Pulsating with action and detailed stories.' -- Rod Kedward Excellent ... A detailed, well-written and eminently readable book that will be of interest to any student or scholar of Vichy and the Occupation years. -- David Lees * MODERN & CONTEMPORARY FRANCE *

Author Information

ROBERT PIKE is a graduate of the University of Exeter in History and French. His fascination with the German occupation of France and the Vichy period led to him tracking down former Resistance members and trawling official archives and secondary histories in order to understand the Resistance from the ground up. His quest to tell the stories of the few that acted, and the many others whose actions still remain shrouded in mystery, begins with Defying Vichy.

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