Vichy France

Vichy France (French: Régime de Vichy, lit. 'Vichy regime'; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), also known as the Pétainist regime (French: Régime pétainiste) and Pétainist France, officially the French State (État français), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of German victory in the Battle of France. It was named after its seat of government, the city of Vichy. Officially independent, but with half of its territory occupied under the harsh terms of the 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany, it adopted a policy of collaboration. Though Paris was nominally its capital, the government established itself in Vichy in the unoccupied "free zone" (zone libre). The occupation of.