In Grenoble, France, after the Allied forces liberated France from the Nazi Germans, young members of a fascist French militia led by Joseph d'Arnand were executed by firing squad by the Resistance. when France was liberated in August 1944, the French executed many of the militia members. When France was liberated in August 1944, the French executed many militias.
The Militia Francaise (French Militia, Milice), a political and paramilitary organization, was formed on January 30, 1943. It was set up by the Vichy government, supported by the Germans, to fight against the French Resistance during World War II. The official director of the militia was Prime Minister Pierre Laval. The man in charge and de facto leader of the operation was Joseph Darnand, the Secretary General. He assisted in the deportation of French Jews and resisters for deportation through summary executions and assassinations. The French Militia was the successor to Durnand's Security Forces (SOL) militia. The militia was the most extreme symbol of the Vichy regime's fascism. Ultimately, d'Arnand conceived of the militia as a political organization of the fascist party of the French state. The French militia frequently used torture to extract information and confessions from the people they interrogated. The French resistance movement considered the French Militia more dangerous than the Gestapo or the SS. The French militias were considered more dangerous than the Gestapo or the SS because they were native Frenchmen who understood the local dialect fluently, had extensive knowledge of the towns and countryside, and knew the local people and informants.
Early militia groups included France's pre-war far-right parties and the working class who sought the political benefits of the Vichy regime: jobs, wages, and rations. They joined after being intimidated and repressed by the resistance. By 1944, the militia ranged from about 25,000 to about 30,000 people.
The rival resistance killed about 25 militia members and wounded about 27 others between April 24 and November 1943. The militia killed conservative leaders and others in retaliation. The militias were active in the former areas under the Vichy government; in January 1944, they also settled in the areas occupied by Nazi Germany; in March 1944, the militias were unable to capture the resistance and German troops were called in.
Shortly after the formation of the Vichy government, the idea that Pétain had saved the people from the hardships of war became widespread, but the harsh cooperation with Germany aroused the antipathy of the citizens of Flannas, and from the fall of 1940, demonstrations and anti-government activities of the Resistance increased. After the Allied forces landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the formation was reversed in August 1944. The militias then rapidly disintegrated; after the liberation of Bari on August 25, the militias fled, but those who remained were brutally abused and massacred. The resistance was incorporated into the French inland units, which grew to about 100,000 men by October 1948.
