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The Vichy Government (in French, called: Régime de Vichy or Vichy; at the time, called itself: État Français, or French State) was the de facto French government of 1940-1944 during the Nazi Germany occupation of World War II. The Vichy position that it was the de jure French government was challenged by the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle, and French governments ever since have held that the Vichy Government was an illegal one run by traitors. Initially it ruled an unoccupied zone in Southern France and some French colonies, but Nazi Germany invaded the zone under its control on November 11, 1942, in operation Case Anton. The authoritarian Vichy Government was headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, who was convicted of treason after the war. Vichy France, while officially neutral in the war, was essentially a Nazi puppet state which collaborated with the Nazis, including on the Nazis' racial policies. It opposed the Free French Forces, based first in London and later in Algiers. Vichy France was established after the country had surrendered to Germany in 1940 (see also: World War II). It takes its name from the government's capital in Vichy, south-east of Paris near Clermont-Ferrand.
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