France under fire
Subtitle: German invasion, civilian flight and family survival during World War II
By: Nicole Dombrowski Risser
Series: Studies in the social and cultural history of modern warfare
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge
Language: eng
Number of pages: 312
ISBN-13: 9781107025325
Subjects: Civilian relief; Protection of civilians; World War, 1939-1945; History; Refugees; War; HISTORY / Military / General
Description: "'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 Second World War Blitzkrieg fighting tactics. 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"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction: no more 'behind the lines'; Part I. Civilians in the Line of Fire: 1. Securing the homeland; 2. Mothers move against military and bureaucratic entrenchment; 3. Pulling the plug on the city of lights; 4. Civilian survival on the open road; Part II. Refugees, Rights, and Return in a Divided Land: 5. Provincial towns feed and shelter refugees; 6. Paving the road for refugees' return; 7. German exclusions inaugurate a policy of ethnic cleansing in France; 8. Disappointment and despair in the occupied zone; Conclusion.