To be fair Devon, Vichy France had actually been introducing anti-Jewish laws without prodding and I think declared war on the British. I forget. The Danes at least dragged their feet and stuck to producing food while snubbing the Germans. The French collaboration meant the Germans didn't need hundreds of thousands to hold down the country as occupational troops and administrators. Plus they did send tens of thousands of Frenchmen to me used as laborera. I would blame Laval, but from what I have read he was actually looking out for the good fo France for years and had been constantly sabotaged (in a manner of speaking) in trying creating a front against Germany. Not sure about Petain, who I think may have been some doddering old aristocrat. Then again, he probably was Laval. Privately seething and hoping for the Germans to be burned alive.
True, but again Vichy existed by the will of the Nazis. How likely would the French have been to support the Vichy government had German Soldiers NOT been on French soil?
Vichy, without German support, would have been torn down by angry Frenchmen in a day. The collaborators were never a majority or had the popular support of a majority in any democratic sense.
Vichy made it easier, but obeying the will of a foreign power is basically conquest, no matter how cooperative or uncooperative some of the locals are.
Denmark was conquered. France was conquered. Doesn't matter how many or how few soldiers were on the ground, it was an occupation.