Vichy France - Post War

[Old Wombat]

Spinners' beautiful "Vichy France '46" P-40N got me to thinking....

What If; the Vichy Government survived the end of WW2 &, due to popular support locally, retained control of southern France as a separate country?

I assume they'd be on the outer, a bit like Franco's Nationalist Spain, but what sort of equipment would they have? Would they cooperate & work with Franco to pool resources & form a little Nationalist Bloc in south-west Europe? Would the former allies deal with them or would they need to be self-reliant? I'm pretty sure the Allies took all of the former (Vichy) French colonies but, if they didn't, would they have retained control over any of them? At least in the short term, until the late-1940's/1950's independence movements got up to speed.

Would this have changed the face of politics in northern France, with the north possibly being more socialist in response to the right-wing elements being drawn to the south?

What military vehicles/aircraft/ships would they have had between 1945 & now?



Guy

[Hotte]

When a peace between Germany and England / USA? (Hitler died on July 29, 1944)
But then German Bf 109 G / K or Ta 152
And a Kingdom of Italy (south) and in the north RSI Italy


Hotte

[NARSES2]

This is an interesting subject, and one that isn't to far fetched in my opinion. France has always seemed to be 2 countries to me. A Northern one and a Southern/South Western one although I'm not sure where you would draw the border. In that respect it's a little like Italy.

As far as I'm aware the Allies didn't "take" the Vichy West African colonies they just came over when Vichy collapsed however I'm not sure how Vichy survives after an Allied invasion of Southern France and a German defeat but hey this is WIF world.

You could have a separatist government in Southern France post war which then becomes similar to Franco's Spain if it manages to break away. It's a great idea but I can't get my head around the practicalities

Chris

[pyro-manic]

A civil war? Brief and bloody, starts when the French government tries to re-establish control after the Allied liberation (so late '44, early '45). American and British forces step in to calm things down and a new Vichy state is created to avoid further turmoil.

[Librarian]

An interesting area of contention would be Catalonia. Considering the brutal repression carried out there by Franco, that's where I suspect some serious tapas throwing would carry on.

[Father Ennis]

I think this highly unlikely as if the Vichy had started trouble,then the US Army would have sent Gorge Patton there to spend a day,maybe,two if he ran out of fuel "Stomping A Mudhole in their collective donkey".  And that would have been that.

[scooter]

I think this highly unlikely as if the Vichy had started trouble,then the US Army would have sent Gorge Patton there to spend a day,maybe,two if he ran out of fuel "Stomping A Mudhole in their collective donkey".  And that would have been that.

Hmm...there's an interesting idea.  Instead of Patton going to Bavaria as military governor, he heads to Vichy France as governor...and *doesn't* get into a fatal car accident.

Now...Korea kicks off, and instead of Ridgeway, Patton is called out of retirement to relieve MacArthur.  Oh the potential historical changes (And apologies on the eventual thread-jacking)