French Rebellion

Aftermath of riot in Paris before the rebellion began, 1953

* Greater Germanic Reich

* United States of America
* Kingdom of Italy
* Spanish State

The **French Rebellion** was a rebellion that began in 1953 and came to an end in 1958. The rebellion began as the Greater Germanic Reich was forced to take troops out of occupied eastern France to bolster their defences in the east during the West Russian War.

Initially the rebellion began as a series of protests and strikes, however events moved quickly and soon the French Resistance tried to take advantage of the public dissent and German weakness from the West Russian War. Despite some initial successes, the rebels were brutally suppressed as Waffen-SS units moved into French territory, while Joseph Darnand's Milice proved to be a key component in suppressing much of the rebellion in the far reaches of France.

## Prelude

### Germanic occupation

Following the Germanic success in the Franco-German War in 1940, the French State had been set up as a collaborationist government who would work with Germany against the Soviet Union, as well as providing much-needed funds to keep their war machine going in the East. The initial President of this new government was Philippe Pétain, who laid much of the groundwork for the collaboration while also managing to retain a degree of independence for France.

Following the death of Pétain in 1951, his Prime Minister Pierre Laval took office as the President, who appointed Jean Bichelonne to replace himself. This was in direct contradiction to a demand by the Germans that Marcel Déat, a pro-German collaborator, be made Prime Minister. However Laval was an expert at maneuvering the Germans and thus was able to get his way - though Déat was appointed Minister of the Interior.

### West Russian War

In late 1951 the Germanic economy suffered a large recession, which forced the Russians in the West Russian Revolutionary Front to take action. The Communist remnants east of the Urals launched an assault into Reichskommissariat's Moskowien, Turkestan, and Ural in early 1952, seeking to regain lost land from the Germans.

The power of this invasion shocked many within Germany who scrambled to halt the onslaught, however throughout their eastern Empire the remaining native populations launched their own rebellions as the occupation forces in each territory was further weakened. This weakness gave rise to hope among many of the resistance movements within France, especially as the German occupation forces began to dwindle and men were moved eastwards.

By 1953 the primary source of Germany's strength within France was the remaining collaborationist forces, in particular the Milice who numbered some 50,000 collaborators under the guiding hand of Joseph Darnand.

## Aftermath

### France

In the aftermath of the rebellion, the German reprisals against the French people were swift and harsh. Though the collaborationist government was maintained, many powers of the government were de facto given to the Commander of the German occupation forces - Otto Ernst Remer. As a reward for his loyalty throughout the war, and for the Milice fighting the rebels, Joseph Darnand was made the new President, while Marcel Déat was made Prime Minister under Darnand.

The Milice and SS Charlemagne led the reprisals against the rebels in what became known as the 'Brown Terror' - colloquially named to be reminiscent of the Revolutionary White Terror, with brown representing the fascist aspect of it. Around 40,000 rebels and their associates were summarily executed by the rampaging Milice, with only around 100 being taken to court.

### Brittany

During the rebellion, the French region of Brittany faced its own internal civil war as pro-German Breton nationalists, de facto led by Olier Mordrel and Neven Hénaff, fought against French nationalists and anti-collaborationist elements.