Chapter 8 - Confronting Italian Occupation

Summary

The Italian occupation of south-eastern France and Corsica between November 1942 and September 1943 has often been portrayed as relatively benign compared to the German occupation and the Italian occupation elsewhere. However, this chapter suggests that mounting Italian military and political weakness and the wounded pride of the Fascist regime caused the occupying forces to assert their authority with growing repression and violence. French responses to Italian actions were characterised by opposition, unwilling compliance and limited cooperation, with local authorities often clashing with Vichy. Efforts to defend French sovereignty varied across areas of policy and in response to differing levels of threat. French authorities made pragmatic choices, making concessions to one Axis government in one policy area in an attempt to defend against the other Axis government and maintain control over another policy area. The absence of any sustained collaboration or collaborationism meant that the trajectory of French responses to the Italian occupation was in the opposite direction to those relating to the German occupation.