Why is Petain considered a traitor to France?
HENRI PHILIPPE PETAIN, (1856-1951), French general who was honored as a national hero for his defense of Verdun during World War I but who was convicted after World War II of dealings with the enemy while head of the collaborationist Vichy regime. The son of peasants, he was born on April 24, 1856, in Cauchy-a-la-Tour. He graduated from the French military academy at St. Cyr in 1887 and attended the Ecole de Guerre, where he later taught. At the outbreak of World War I he was merely a colonel and near retirement. Also, he had attracted unfavorable attention because he rejected the army’s official doctrine that furious infantry attacks would always overcome defensive resistance. Savior of Verdun During the first months of the war, Petain fought well and advanced rapidly in rank. By the middle of 1915 he was a full general in command of the Second Army and had won the trust of his soldiers because he was careful not to waste their lives in futile assaults. In February 1916 he was ordered
