Maquis (World War II) of sympathy or cooperation from the local populace. In March 1944, the German army began a terror campaign throughout France. This included reprisals against civilians living in areas where the French resistance was active, such as the Oradour-sur-Glane, Maillé and Tulle massacres by SS troops. The Maquisards were later to take their revenge in the "épuration sauvage" that took place after the war's end. Most of the Maquis cells—like the Maquis du Limousin or the Maquis du Vercors—took names after the area they were operating in. The size of these cells varied from tens to thousands of men and women.
Maquis (World War II) scrub growth called maquis shrubland. Although strictly speaking it means thicket, "maquis" could be roughly translated as "the bush". Historians have not established how this Corsican term arrived on the mainland of France; nevertheless, the Italian-derived word ‘"maquis"’ is commonly used to describe woods and scrubland on the island, and evokes an all-encompassing image of woods and mountains, whereas the more limited word ‘"garrigue"’ used in the south of France indicated [...] an inhospitable terrain, and the words ‘"bois"’ (wood), ‘"foret"’ (forest) and ‘"montagne"’ (mountain) were too bland. The term maquis signified both the fighters and their rural location. Members