Demarcation line (France)

The French Demarcation line, or the green line, was the boundary between the free zone (la zone libre- became the Southern Zone in November 1942) and the zone occupied by the German Army (la zone occupée- became the Northern Zone in November 1942). It was fixed at the Armistice of June 22, 1940 after the fall of France. In German, the line is known as the Demarktionslinie, often contracted to Dema-Linie. This demarcation line was also called the green line because it was marked green on the joint map produced at the Armistice Convention.

Article 2 of the Armistice of June 22, 1940
"To assure the interests of the German Reich, the French territory north and west of the line marked on this map will be occupied by German Troops. The territories which are not already in the hands of German troops will be immediately occupied after the conclusion of the present convention."

- Second Armistice at Compiègne

The line
Covering nearly 1,200 km, the demarcation line crossed thirteen departments: Basses-Pyrénées (Pyrénées-Atlantiques since 1969), Landes, Gironde, Dordogne, Charente, Vienne, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Allier, Saône-et-Loire, Jura and Ain. Out of a total of 90 departments, the German Army occupied 42 entirely, 13 partially, while 35 were not occupied. The line spanned from the Swiss to the Spanish border.

Marshal Philippe Pétain's regime did not know the exact route of the line until the end of 1941. In practice, the occupiers regularly modified the route at the request of local authorities.

Goal of the line
The goal of the demarcation line was to distinctly separate and to create a border between the occupied and non-occupied zones of France. Three-fourths of the wheat and coal production in France occurred in the occupied zone, as well as nearly all the steel, textile and sugar production. While not formally part of occupied Europe, the non-occupied was heavily reliant on Germany.

It was only possible to cross the line legally by obtaining an identity card (Ausweis) or a free-movement card (Passierschein) from the occupation authorities after many formalities. The Vichy Regime did not offer permanent free-movement cards; only Pierre Laval had this privilege.

Administrative organization
The French bureaucracy had to be reorganized. For example, gendarmeries were created in the non-occupied parts of divided regions. The disorganization of the country was amplified by other demarcation lines: la Northeast Zone, the line which isolated Alsace and Moselle (annexed on October 18, 1947) from the restricted zone.