Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis (French pronunciation: [maki] ) were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called maquisards, during World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class men who had escaped into the mountains and forests to resist conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire (STO; 'Compulsory Work Service') which provided slave labor for Germany. To avoid capture and deportation to Germany, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups.