Editing Milice (section)

==Membership==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-107-24, Frankreich, Einsatz gegen die Resistance.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Captured men, with hands behind their heads|Resistance members captured by the Milice, July 1944. One of the ''miliciens'' is armed with a captured British [[Sten]] gun.]]

Early Milice volunteers included members of France's pre-war far-right parties, such as the [[Action Française]], and [[working-class]] men convinced of the benefits of the Vichy government's politics. In addition to ideology, incentives for joining the Milice included employment, regular pay and rations, the latter of which became particularly important as the war continued and civilian rations dwindled to near-starvation levels. Some joined because members of their families had been killed or injured in Allied bombing raids or had been threatened, extorted or attacked by [[French Resistance]] groups. Still others joined for more mundane reasons: petty criminals were recruited by being told their sentences would be commuted if they joined the organization, and Milice volunteers were exempt from transportation to Germany as forced labour.<ref>Paul Jankowski, "In Defense of Fiction: Resistance, Collaboration, and Lacombe, Lucien". The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Sep., 1991), pp. 462</ref> Official figures are difficult to obtain, but several historians including [[Julian T. Jackson]] estimate that the Milice's membership reached 25,000–30,000 by 1944. The majority of members were not full-time militiamen, but devoted only a few hours per week to their Milice activities.<ref name="feldman">Matthew Feldman, 2004, Fascism: The 'fascist epoch', p. 243, {{ISBN|0415290198}}</ref> The Milice had a section for full-time members, the [[Franc-Garde]], who were permanently mobilized and lived in barracks.<ref name="feldman"/>

The Milice also had youth sections for boys and girls, called the ''Avant-Garde''.<ref name="feldman"/>