The French Militia, the “ ” (established in January 1943)—the armed wing of the Vichy government against the Resistance and an auxiliary force of the Gestapo—continued and intensified its hunt for Jews and all opponents of Nazism under the leadership of its secretary general, Joseph Darnand.
In 1944, with Liberation just around the corner, the French Militia rushed to carry out assassinations. All members of the resistance are being targeted, whether French or foreign.
The year was marked by a relentless crackdown on the Resistance.
Joseph Epstein, known as Colonel Gilles, military commander of the FTP in Île-de-France and the true pioneer of urban guerrilla tactics is one of the many victims of the Vichy regime. After being tortured, he was shot by a firing squad on April 11, 1944, at Mont-Valérien. Another 28 resistance fighters suffered the same fate.
Suzanne Spaak, a member of the MNCR and a Protestant who saved many Jewish children, was executed by the Gestapo thirteen days before the liberation of Paris.
