WI : Petain dead before 1940

[Yorel]

What would have happened if Marshall Petain had died shortly before the German invasion of France in 1940?

It's not impossible : Petain was born in 1856. He was thus already 62 when WWI ended and he was in his 80s in the late 1930s.

Anyway, what would be the consequences of this?

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Well, Laval might end up as Nazi puppet, but he'd have much less legitimacy than Petain. Also it would be ironic if the "Germany must be destroyed" man become the German puppet.

 

[johnjcakos]

Well, Laval might end up as Nazi puppet, but he'd have much less legitimacy than Petain. Also it would be ironic if the "Germany must be destroyed" man become the German puppet.

Agreed. Actually, in France Fights On http://francefightson.yuku.com/, they have Pétain falling into a coma in June 1940 and dying later in the same year. The French government goes to North Africa, and a rump French state is established by the Germans with Laval at its head.