When Francois Coulet, General Charles de Gaulle's civil administrator for Normandy, fired subprefect Pierre Rochet, collaborationist chief of police of Bayeux, bitter-end patriots cheered. They pointed out that Rochet was a cousin of Pierre Pucheu, the first high Vichyite officially condemned and shot for treason.
When Coulet let Rochet wander off without punishment, hinted that he might be given a job elsewhere in liberated France, bitter-enders raged. But moderates, who had long since won the day in Gaullist councils, decided that Vichyites should be coolly but firmly judged. A high French official in...