WI: Petain fights on

So, say Petain still comes to power in 1940, but his efforts to make peace with the Germans fall through (say he has significantly higher standards for what constitutes an amicable peace, or Hitler is even crazier and has plans for a General Plan West).

What are the effects of the Petain regime fighting on?
 
Less factionalism within France. Loyalty to the marshall kept many from joining up with the resistance degualle Giraud and the masquis alike.
 

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So, say Petain still comes to power in 1940, but his efforts to make peace with the Germans fall through (say he has significantly higher standards for what constitutes an amicable peace, or Hitler is even crazier and has plans for a General Plan West).

What are the effects of the Petain regime fighting on?
Probably the rape of France even worse than IOTL. The thing is the deal IOTL was an armistice that was purposely harsh, but was meant to be temporary until the British quit then a final deal would be worked out. Petain was willing to accept the harshness of the armistice due to how beaten the French military was IOTL even compared to the Germans in 1918, both because he understood that it was necessary for the Germans to feel they had gotten revenge for 1918 and because it was supposed to be temporary and within 6 months or so he'd be able to work out a favorable long term deal. Effectively it was short term pain to get a workable long term deal while preventing unnecessary suffering, as France really didn't have any way to limit German frightfulness if they continued to resist. Of course the fly in the ointment was that British didn't lose within 6 months and the nasty armistice deal continued for years and gave the Germans carte blanche to abuse it.

Also the other problem is Petain rose to power after Reynaud because he understood any continued resistance was futile and he was supposed to accept pretty much any deal he could so as to spare the French public from any further suffering that a totally conquering army like Germany's could inflict. France in 1940 was effectively where Germany was in 1945 minus the damage inflicted to achieve victory, so was on the brink of a unconditional surrender; Petain got them conditions to limit the bleeding, so it is hard to see what he would have turned down given that the alternative is that Germany has no rules at all for it's occupation and brutalizes France in the way that the Soviets did East Germany.
 
Probably the rape of France even worse than IOTL. The thing is the deal IOTL was an armistice that was purposely harsh, but was meant to be temporary until the British quit then a final deal would be worked out. Petain was willing to accept the harshness of the armistice due to how beaten the French military was IOTL even compared to the Germans in 1918, both because he understood that it was necessary for the Germans to feel they had gotten revenge for 1918 and because it was supposed to be temporary and within 6 months or so he'd be able to work out a favorable long term deal. Effectively it was short term pain to get a workable long term deal while preventing unnecessary suffering, as France really didn't have any way to limit German frightfulness if they continued to resist. Of course the fly in the ointment was that British didn't lose within 6 months and the nasty armistice deal continued for years and gave the Germans carte blanche to abuse it.

Also the other problem is Petain rose to power after Reynaud because he understood any continued resistance was futile and he was supposed to accept pretty much any deal he could so as to spare the French public from any further suffering that a totally conquering army like Germany's could inflict. France in 1940 was effectively where Germany was in 1945 minus the damage inflicted to achieve victory, so was on the brink of a unconditional surrender; Petain got them conditions to limit the bleeding, so it is hard to see what he would have turned down given that the alternative is that Germany has no rules at all for it's occupation and brutalizes France in the way that the Soviets did East Germany.
So it probably would require a Hitler intent on enacting a General Plan West.
 
Petain was committed to the Armistice, until in the winter of 1940-41 it was clear the nazi government was not going to negotiate a peace treaty anytime soon. The Armistice & Petain were very popular in 1940 as the French universally expected a peace treaty to be completed & 1941 & the end of the occupation. The first significant wave of disillusionment came during the winter when the French had to accept the occupation was going to drag out indefinitely. Close on the heels of that was the Japanese occupation of French Indo China. One of the core rational of the Armistice was the preservation of the empire. The German agreement/encouragment of the Japanese occupation was in direct violation of the Armistice terms. This was a stark reminder the nazis could not be trusted with any agreement.

That also signaled the failure of the 'neutralists' within Petains government. Aside from seeing FIC being slowly hijacked, expectations like the return of the PoW, a halt to looting French industry, withdrawal of the Gestapo, ect... were crushed. This led to the Collaborationists like Laval taking over, which alienated the Germanophobes.

The attack on the USSR in June 1941 was redundant proof of nazi untrustworthiness, and it lost the support of the French left for any sort of neutrality policy. At this point between the leftists and those who hated Germans Petains government had lost the effective support of near half the French population. Petain remained personally popular, but his policies were bankrupt and and ability to effective lead the French population declining. This situation continued through 1942, with morale of the citizenry slowly sinking. The invasion of North Africa by the Allies was the final blow. Petain failed to resist effectively the Allies, which the French facists & Germanophiles, anti English, and imperialists hated. He also failed to effectively resist the Germans and Italians. Which further disillusioned the pro Allied, the leftists, those who despised Germany, ect... When the dust settled the French army had ceased to exist in France, the police lost their independence, the Gestapo and Axis armies has set up shop eliminating the Unoccupied Zone. Petain remained popular with many, but they also recognized he had become a powerless old man who was still allowed to make speeches. As the winter of 1943 spun out the French resistance surged & became more than a marginal or incidental factor for the German occupation.
 
If I recall right Petain ordered the French delegation at the armistice negotiations to break off negotiations if Germany demanded either the French fleet or France’s colonies.
 
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