Page "Nice" Paragraph 28

The first ” résistants ” to the new Regime were a group of High School seniors of the Lycée de Nice, now Lycée Masséna, in September 1940, later arrested and executed in 1944 near Castellane.

The first public demonstrations occurred on 14 July 1942 when several hundred protesters took to the streets along the Avenue de la Victoire and Place Masséna.

After November 1942 and the arrival of Italian troops occupying the city, a certain ambivalence remained among the population, many recent immigrants of Italian ancestry.

However, the resistance gained momentum after the Italian surrendered in 1943 when the German armies occupied Vichy France.

Reprisals intensified between December 1943 and July 1944 when many partisans were tortured and executed by the local Gestapo and the French Milice.

Nice was also heavily bombarded by the American aviation in preparation for the Allied landing in Provence ( 1000 dead or wounded and more than 5600 people homeless ) and famine ensued in the course of the summer of 1944.