Politics in Maquis
Politically, maquis were very diverse — from right-wing nationalists to communists and anarchists. Some Maquis bands that operated in southwest France were composed entirely of left-wing Spanish veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Spanish Civil War veteran Colonel Romero Giménez was a center democratic liberal operating from Bordeaux.
When Germans began a forced labor draft (Service du travail obligatoire, STO) in France in the beginning of 1943, thousands of young men fled and joined the Maquis. The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) helped with supplies and agents. The American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) also began to send its own agents to France in cooperation with the SOE and the French BCRA agents in Operation Jedburgh.
The British government also helped and supplied Charles de Gaulle to unify the Free French, resistance movement included.
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