Foreign relations of Vichy France policy of keeping 2 million French prisoners of war in Germany, effectively as hostages. Although Vichy France was nominally in control of all of France--apart from Alsace Lorraine--in practice the Germans controlled over half of the country, including the northern and western coasts, the industrial northeast, and the Paris region. The Petain government in Vichy controlled the rest until October 1942, when Germany took it all over. At that point, the Vichy regime became entirely a puppet of the German occupiers. Germany wanted food, minerals, and industrial productions, as well as volunteers to work in German factories. Vichy was allowed
European theatre of World War II European theatre of World War II The European theatre of World War II, also known as the Second European War, was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe, from Germany's and the Soviet Union's joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 until the end of the war with the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe along with the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 (Victory in Europe Day). The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts (the Eastern Front and Western Front) as well as in a massive air war and in the adjoining