
France under Fire
German Invasion, Civilian Flight and Family Survival during World War II
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
France under Fire
German Invasion, Civilian Flight and Family Survival during World War II
About this book
'We request an immediate favour of you, to build a shelter for us women and small children, because we have absolutely no place to take refuge and we are terrified!' This French mother's petition sent to her mayor on the eve of Germany's 1940 invasion of France reveals civilians' security concerns unleashed by the Blitzkrieg fighting tactics of World War II. Unprepared for air warfare's assault on civilian psyches, French planners were among the first in history to respond to civilian security challenges posed by aerial bombardment. France under Fire offers a social, political and military examination of the origins of the French refugee crisis of 1940, a mass displacement of eight million civilians fleeing German combatants. Scattered throughout a divided France, refugees turned to German Occupation officials and Vichy administrators for relief and repatriation. Their solutions raised questions about occupying powers' obligations to civilians and elicited new definitions of refugees' rights.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- France under Fire
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: no more “behind the lines” Total War, Endangered Civilians, and the French Exodus of 1940
- Part I: Civilians in the line of fire
- Part II: Refugees, rights, and return in a divided land
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index