Traque impériale et répression impossible? Vichy face aux Français Libres du Tchad

Abstract

This article aims to examine the methods used by the Vichy regime to contain the expansion of gaullism in the French colonial empire. Chad rallied de Gaulle and Free France on 26th August 1940. The trauma of an unexpected military defeat, the bitterness of being demobilized without fighting, the fears of starvation and colonial riots played a great role in the success of this collective disobedience. The dissidence of Chad and its consequences was a fait accompli. Vichy did not have the material, the resources and the military means to punish this colonial dissidence immediately. On 25th September 1940, the Dakar fiasco had been a humbling setback to Gaullist hopes of rallying French Occidental Africa. The French Empire was therefore disunited and the Free French were now considered as enemies and traitors according to Petainist criteria. This article analyses the repression that followed against dissident soldiers and administrators from the Free French Chad in the African colonies as well in metropolitan France. It will also show how its own special courts’ lack of efficiency constrained Vichy to organize merciless coercion against their families.