Zone libre The zone libre ( , " free zone " ) was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during the Second World War , established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on June 22 , 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 the Vichy regime were severely limited . In November 1942 the " zone libre " was invaded by the German and Italian armies in Operation Attila , as a response to Operation Torch , the Allied landings in North Africa . Thenceforth , the " zone libre " and " zone occupée " were renamed the zone sud ( south zone ) and " zone nord " ( north zone ) respectively . Origins of the " zone libre " . On June 22 , 1940 , after the Battle of France , Marshal Wilhelm Keitel , representing the Third Reich , and General Charles Huntziger representing Pétain ' s government , signed an armistice at the Rethondes clearing in the forest of Compiègne , which stipulated in its second article : The line separating French territory into two zones was defined on a map attached to the treaty . This separation line took effect on June 25 , 1940 . It was thereafter referred to as the " ligne de démarcation " . French sovereignty persisted throughout the whole territory , including the " zone occupée " , Alsace and Moselle , but the terms of the armistice in its third article stipulated that Germany would exercise the rights of an occupying power in the " zone occupée " Extent of the " zone libre " . The " zone libre " constituted a land area of 246 , 618 square kilometres , approximately 45 % of France , and included approximately 33 % of the total French labour force . The " ligne de démarcation " passed through 13 of the 90 departments : Of the other 77 departments , 42 lay entirely within the " zone libre " and 35 lay entirely within the " zone occupée " . The " zone libre " and Italy . On June 24 , 1940 , two days after the armistice with Germany , the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Italians at the villa Incisa in Olgiata near Rome , instituting a zone of Italian occupation . The Italian occupation zone concerned certain border areas conquered by Italian troops , including Menton . This zone was of limited importance , comprising 800 square kilometeres and 28 , 000 inhabitants . Four departments were partially covered by the Italian occupation : Alpes - Maritimes , Basses - Alpes ( Alpes - de - Haute - Provence since 1970 ) , Hautes - Alpes and Savoie . In addition , a demilitarized zone was established containing all French territory within 50 km from the zone of Italian occupation . The department of Corsica ( split into two departments since 1976 ) was neither occupied nor demilitarized by any provision of the armistice . The end of the " zone libre " . On 11 November 1942 , the " zone libre " was invaded by the Germans and Italians in Operation Attila following the allied landings in North Africa of Operation Torch . The " zone libre " became the " zone Sud " ( south zone ) from November 1942 onwards and was shared between the invading powers , with a region covering practically the whole area east of the Rhône passing to the Italians . After the capitulation of Italy at Cassibile was made public on September 8 , 1943 , the Italian armies retreated and the southern zone was united under German control . Other names for the " zone libre " . Until November 1942 the Germans called the " zone libre " " " Unbesetztes Gebiet " " or unoccupied zone . The " zone libre " was also nicknamed the " zone nono " by the French , shortened from " non occupée " ( unoccupied ) . The occupied zone accordingly became the " zone jaja " ( yes - yes zone ) . The " zone libre " was also called the " royaume du maréchal " ( the Marshal ' s [ Pétain ] ' s kingdom ) by the French author Jacques Delperrié de Bayac . Theories about the separation of the zones . For the historian Éric Alary , the partitioning of France into two main zones , " libre " and " occupée " , was partly inspired by the fantasy of pan - Germanist writers , particularly a work by a certain Adolf Sommerfeld , published in 1912 and translated into French under the title " Le Partage de la France " , which contained a map showing a France partitioned between Germany and Italy according to a line which partly matched that of 1940 . Henri Espieux suggests : " During the occupations , the Franks were separated from the Occitans by the famous demarcation line . We have long thought that the route of this line was suggested to Hitler by the romance language specialists in his entourage . "