40 Million Pétainists Vol 2 by Henri Amouroux

The second volume of Henri Amouroux's monumental history of the French people during World War II.

June 1940 - June 1941: The Myth of the Marshal Savior

This essential work explores:

• The Armistice of June 22, 1940: The French defeat and the signing at Rethondes
• The cult of Marshal Pétain: How 40 million French people acclaimed the victor of Verdun
• The establishment of the Vichy regime: The National Revolution and the French State
• Pierre Laval and collaboration: The beginnings of the policy of collaboration with Germany
• Daily life under the Occupation: Rationing, tickets, black market and resourcefulness
• The first anti-Semitic measures: The Jewish Statute of October 1940
• The Free Zone and the Occupied Zone: A France divided in two
• The beginnings of the Resistance: The first acts of refusal and disobedience

Henri Amouroux reveals with finesse how almost all French people, traumatized by defeat, initially placed their hope in Marshal Pétain. Essential analysis for understanding this period when the myth of the savior masked the realities of collaboration and Occupation.

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