Second Armistice at Compiègne
The zone libre (, "free zone") was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered by the French government of Marshal Philippe Pétain based in Vichy, in a relatively unrestricted fashion. To the north lay the "zone occupée" ("occupied zone") in which the powers of Vichy France were severely limited.