, or simple lynching at the hands of résistants and enraged civilians.
Creation of the SOL
Joseph Darnand, who had taken part in the
Alpes Maritimes region, and then created the SOL, which attracted not only the most enthusiast proponents of collaborationism with Nazi Germany, but also criminals from the Nice
mafia. The SOL was extended to all of the South Zone and to North Africa on December 12, 1941.
This new organization was headed by Darnand,
Hitler, Pétain had advocated collaboration in an October 30, 1940 speech to the radio
. Others, commonly called pétainistes, advocated collaboration on ideological grounds: they supported Vichy's anti-Semitic laws which the regime had put in place on its own, without waiting for German orders. Joseph Darnand and the SOL, were at the spearhead of these ideological collaborationists, eagerly hoping for German victory in the war
Several leaders and SOL activists engaged themselves in brutal actions against imaginary or real opponents of Vichy, and started a wave of
denouncement which did not even spare the civil or religious authorities of the Etat français (name by which the Vichy regime called itself). Joseph Darnand, who headed the SOL, had based himself in Vichy. He was always supported by Pétain even in his more extreme cries in support to Collaboration. Darnand went so far that his "patriotism" came to be seen as treason, and shocked even others leaders of the Légion or of the Chantiers de jeunesse
(Youth Workshops) which were also in favor of Collaboration, but done in a "civilized" manner. Thus, it was decided to grant autonomy to the SOL on January 5, 1943, in order to take distance with the militia and at the same time grant it complete freedom of action.
Operation Torch and transformation of the SOL into the Milice
Following the November 1942
November 8, 1942 putsch", during which 400 poorly equipped Resistance
fighters single-handedly immobilised the XIXth Corps d'Armée vichyste for 15 hours, contributing to the immediate success of the Allies' landing in Algiers.
Thus, on January 5, 1943, the SOL was granted autonomy and transformed into the
Milice française (French Militia), created by a law issued by Pierre Laval
