Occupation: The Ordeal of France 1940–1944

In this riveting new history of the Nazi occupation of France, Ian Ousby uncovers a reality more complex, more human, and ultimately more moving than the myths and legends that have emerged after the event. Resistance came late. DeGaulle's appeal in 1940 for France to fight on went largely unheard, and the Occupation was fourteen months old before the first German soldier was killed by resistants. As the Second World War dragged on the Germans' initial correctness gave way to brutality and exploitation, but it was not until defeats outside of France sealed the fate of the Third Reich that the Resistance truly made its presence felt, and even then it was never as universal as the French like to imagine.