Maquis (World War II) advanced, the French Resistance rose against the Nazi occupation forces and their garrisons en masse. For example, Nancy Wake's group of 7,000 maquisards was involved in a pitched battle with 22,000 Germans on June 20, 1944. Some Maquis groups took no prisoners so some German soldiers preferred to surrender to Allied soldiers instead of facing maquisards. The Allied offensive was slowed and the Germans were able to counterattack in southeast France. On the Vercors Massif, the Maquis du Vercors rose up with some 4000 soldiers against the German occupiers, but was defeated with 600 casualties. When General De Gaulle dismissed
Maquis (World War II) mystique and discourse of l"e Maquis". Politically motivated anti-fascists, immigrant workers on the run, the "réfractaires" and Spanish Civil War veterans, along with the leniency of the Vichy administration's pursuit of "réfractaires", contributed to the emergence of an aggressive movement, with a combative discourse and a romantic mystique of rural revolt. The speed with which the term ‘"maquis"’ spread was astonishing, since the concept did not exist in January 1943. By June, maquis discourse made its way from south-eastern France to the plains of northern France. The Maquis eventually became the national service, due to the large influx of young