Public domain World War II pictures

I must say, my comment was not meant to be offensive against the French military or the Marquis/resistance in general.

Dude,

Big difference living in an occupied country particularly one occupied by the Germans is very different to living in one that used to be. I never said I approved I just said without knowing the story one should not make sweeping...

Dude,

Big difference living in an occupied country particularly one occupied by the Germans is very different to living in one that used to be. I never said I approved I just said without knowing the story one should not make sweeping generalisations. There is a tendancy to sweepingly call the French cheese eating surrender monkeys. I see no real evidence that the French nation contained a higher proprtion of cowards and ne'er do wells than any other and to say it diminishes the sacrifice of many brave men and women.

Dude. I am from a previous occupied country, and i still dont clap my hands, when i see this image!!

For all of you brave heroes of the lap top who have never lived in an occupied country I give you this copied from the mass violence web page on France and it's occupation.

January 17, 22, 27 and 31, 1944: 5,500 people arrested due to...

For all of you brave heroes of the lap top who have never lived in an occupied country I give you this copied from the mass violence web page on France and it's occupation.

January 17, 22, 27 and 31, 1944: 5,500 people arrested due to repression measures were deported to Buchenwald; this number included almost 1,000 women, who were sent to Ravensbrück, the women’s camp near Berlin, in a single convoy, the biggest one to leave Compiègne. Geneviève de Gaulle was on board. Compiègne was literally emptied of most of its detainees. These trains were still supplying workers for the Kommandos of the concentration system, which were working for the Reich’s war economy; however, they were also linked to a transformation of the internment system in France. In December 1943, the decision had been made to make the Romainville fort the main transit camp for women due to be deported. Compiègne became a camp for men (which was why it was emptied of all its female detainees) (FMD, 2004; Th. Fontaine, 2005, 2007). **

January 20 and February 10, 1944: Three convoys left the Bobigny train station, heading to Auschwitz. The detainees rounded up in Bordeaux were deported on January 20; those from Poitiers and from Paris were sent off on February 3 and 10 (S. Klarsfeld, 1978-2001). ***

February 5-13, 1944: The German army launched operation “Korporal” against the Maquis in the département of Ain (P. Lieb, 2007). ***

February 12, 1944: Marshall Hugo Sperrle, deputy Supreme Commander for Western Europe, promulgated a decree ordering German soldiers to “return fire straight away” in case they were subject to a “terrorist” attack. “The houses where the partisans had found shelter were to be burned.” This was the “reference order” (or watchword) [« l’ordre de référence »] of the last few months of the Occupation. On March 4, 1944, the decree was supplemented “with an order from Marshall Wilhelm Keitel according to which the francs-tireurs who were bearing arms when they were captured should be shot, and not turned over to the military courts any more.” All those who were not caught red-handed were to be sentenced to death in quick trials, and executed promptly (P. Lieb, 2007: 176-178). ***

February 19, 1944: The members of the “Manouchian group” had a speedy trial. The German authorities decided to transform this judgment of the MOI’s action into a propaganda operation in order to discredit the Resistance, embodied by this army of “Jewish terrorists and immigrants sold out to England and to Russian Bolshevism.” (S. Courtois, D. Peschanski, A. Rayski, 1989) The struggle “against the gangs” was radicalized a little further. ***

March 2-3, 1944: The Germans rounded up almost 800 Jews in a massive operation in eastern France, especially in the départements of Meuse and Meurthe-et-Moselle (S. Klarsfeld, 1985-2001). ***

Early March – mid-April, 1944: Due to a gradual increase in the deportation of members of the Resistance since spring 1943, in addition to the steady pace of the convoys deporting Jews from France – though this was not as fast as in 1942 – the year 1944 was characterized by a considerable number of departures. The variety of procedures leading to deportation was also striking, as the calendar of early spring 1944 shows.
Two convoys of Jews left Bobigny and headed to Auschwitz on March 7 (1,500 people were on this train; they had arrived at Drancy on February 10) and 27. On April 13, convoy 71 deported almost 1,500 Jews, including 148 children under 12 years of age; among these were some of those arrested at Izieu by Klaus Barbie, the head of the Gestapo in Lyon (S. Klarsfeld, 1984). Simone Jacob, who is now known as Simone Veil (a French magistrate and politician), was on this train. Nearly 2,000 Jews were also arrested in provincial France by the Gestapo, in order to form future convoys (S. Klarsfeld, 1985-2001). ***
After a pause in February, the convoys leaving Compiègne resumed on March 22 with a large train taking more than 1,200 men to Mauthausen. Almost 1,500 others were deported on April 6, also in the direction of Austria. On April 18, in accordance with the new rules governing transit camps in France, over 400 women were taken to Ravensbrück, this time from Romainville (Th. Fontaine, 2007). Convoys of NN prisoners and detainees found guilty by military courts were still being formed and sent inside the Reich; among these were four consecutive trains of female NN prisoners who were taken to the Aachen prison. On the same day that the second convoy left Compiègne en route to Mauthausen, 51 female NN detainees were taken from the Gare du Nord train station to the Aachen jail, remaining there for a few days before they were sent to Ravensbrück; 66 male NN prisoners were deported to Natzweiler, the only camp located within the 1939 French borders. At least 8 prisoners found guilty by a German military court in the occupied zone were sent to a prison in the Reich to serve their sentence. In March 1944, the first special trains took members of the Alliance Resistance network to the Alsatian camp of Schirmeck; until June, 120 of them were secretly detained there, and 106 of them were executed on September 1, shot in the back of the neck in the Natzweiler camp nearby (FMD, 2004). **

March 25 – April 15, 1944: As the German army took control of the Glières plateau in late March, operation “Brehmer” was launched against the maquis in Dordogne and Corrèze (A. Meyer, 2002; G. Penaud, 2004; P. Lieb, 2007). ***

April 7-18, 1944: The German army carried out a new operation against the maquis and the Resistance groups in Ain and Jura (A. Meyer, 2002; P. Lieb, 2007). ***

April 27, 1944: Over 1,600 prisoners arrested due to repression measures were sent from Compiègne to the Auschwitz concentration complex. It was the first massive convoy of members of the Resistance to be sent to the biggest camp of the “final solution” to the “Jewish question” since January 1943. But this time, this was not linked to the reprisal policy. It was more likely to have resulted from overcrowding in Buchenwald, the camp where the deportees of this convoy were eventually sent two weeks later (H. Clogenson, P. Le Goupil, undated). They arrived there on May 14, at the same time as another convoy that had left Compiègne two days earlier, carrying over 2,000 men. The day before, over 560 women had been deported to Ravensbrück (FMD, 2004). ***

May 15, 1944: Almost 880 men, all able-bodied adults, were deported on convoy number 73 from the Bobigny train station, as usual, but this time they were sent to Kaunas (Lithuania and Tallub (Estonia). “The presence of men only indicates that it may have been a reprisal convoy, like those of March 4 and March 6, 1943, or possibly that it was composed in response to an exceptional demand for workers for a vital economic sector.” (S. Klarsfeld, 1978-2001: 1837; Nous sommes 900 Français, 3 vol, 1999-2000)

Sure thing we don't know the story behind this particular image but usually these women did nothing wrong but having a relationship with a German.

Paul, mon ami - you may have seen my comments on the "related" 'photo to this. It is difficult to view what is happening in this picture as creditable. On the other hand, in the absence of evidence, it would be wrong to make any negative judgement...

Paul, mon ami - you may have seen my comments on the "related" 'photo to this. It is difficult to view what is happening in this picture as creditable. On the other hand, in the absence of evidence, it would be wrong to make any negative judgement overall on the "resistance" figures in this 'photo as regards their record overall. As you know, I have the greatest respect for French resistants. As regards the young woman - I am not very well informed on such matters, but can you offer clarification as to what the letter "M" painted on her forhead might signify ? I am reminded of the letter "A" carried by Nathaniel Hawthorne's character in "The Scarlet Letter", signifying "Adultress". Can you clarify what "M" might mean ? Best regards, JR.

How brave you both are to criticise people who you know nothing about in this picture. While I do not support their actions there were many brave people in the French (and any other) resistance movement. The girl could have betrayed and caused the death...

How brave you both are to criticise people who you know nothing about in this picture. While I do not support their actions there were many brave people in the French (and any other) resistance movement. The girl could have betrayed and caused the death of many. It is easy for us at our laptops to disparage people whose country was occupied by a brutal regieme.

They are so brave...
Just a bunch of pathetic cunts

Again i have only disgust and mockery left, towards these so called freedom fighters... Problably not brave enough to face the germans (while they were armed), but brave enough to mistreat a young girl!!