Editing Axis powers (section)

==Puppet states==
Various nominally-independent governments formed out of local sympathisers under varying degrees of German, Italian, and Japanese control were established within the territories that they occupied during the war. Some of these governments declared themselves to be neutral in the conflict with the allies, or never concluded any formal alliance with the Axis powers, but their effective control by the Axis powers rendered them in reality an extension of it and hence part of it. These differed from military authorities and civilian commissioners provided by the occupying power in that they were formed from nationals of the occupied country, and that the supposed legitimacy of the puppet state was recognised by the occupier ''de jure'' if not ''de facto''.<ref name="Lemkin1">{{cite book |last=Lemkin |first=Raphael |title=Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress |orig-year=1944 |year=2005 |publisher=Lawbook Exchange |location=Clark, NJ |isbn= 1584775769 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C&q=puppet+state+axis&pg=PA11 |access-date=24 October 2020}}</ref>

===German===
The collaborationist administrations of [[German-occupied Europe|German-occupied countries in Europe]] had varying degrees of autonomy, and not all of them qualified as fully recognized [[sovereign state]]s. The [[General Government]] in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied Poland]] was a fully German administration. In [[Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany|occupied Norway]], the [[Quisling regime|National Government]] headed by [[Vidkun Quisling]] – whose name [[Quisling|came to symbolize pro-Axis collaboration]] in several languages – was subordinate to the [[Reichskommissariat Norwegen]]. It was never allowed to have any armed forces, be a recognized military partner, or have autonomy of any kind. In [[History of the Netherlands (1939–1945)|the occupied Netherlands]], [[Anton Mussert]] was given the symbolic title of "Führer of the Netherlands' people". His [[National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands|National Socialist Movement]] formed a cabinet assisting the German administration, but was never recognized as a real Dutch government.

====Albania (Albanian Kingdom)====
{{Main|German occupation of Albania}}
After the Italian armistice, a vacuum of power opened up in [[Albania under Italy|Albania]]. The Italian occupying forces were rendered largely powerless, as the [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|National Liberation Movement]] took control of the south and the National Front ([[Balli Kombëtar]]) took control of the north. Albanians in the Italian army joined the guerrilla forces. In September 1943 the guerrillas moved to take the capital of [[Tirana]], but [[Fallschirmjäger|German paratroopers]] dropped into the city. Soon after the battle, the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|German High Command]] announced that they would recognize the independence of a [[greater Albania]]. They organized an Albanian government, police, and military in collaboration with the Balli Kombëtar. The Germans did not exert heavy control over Albania's administration, but instead attempted to gain popular appeal by giving their political partners what they wanted. Several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the regime. The joint forces incorporated Kosovo, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, and Presevo into the Albanian state. A High Council of Regency was created to carry out the functions of a head of state, while the government was headed mainly by Albanian conservative politicians. Albania was the only European country occupied by the Axis powers that ended World War II with a larger [[History of the Jews in Albania|Jewish population]] than before the war.{{sfn|Sarner|1997|p={{page needed|date=March 2012}}}} The Albanian government had refused to hand over their Jewish population. They provided Jewish families with forged documents and helped them disperse in the Albanian population.<ref name="Yad Vashem: Albania">{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205725.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031127122807/http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205725.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2003-11-27| title=Shoah Research Center – Albania}}</ref> Albania was completely liberated on November 29, 1944.

==== Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia ====
{{Main|Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|Government of National Salvation}}
The [[Government of National Salvation]], also referred to as the Nedić regime, was the second Serbian puppet government, after the [[Commissioner Government]], established on the [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|Territory of the (German) Military Commander in Serbia]]{{#tag:ref|Official name of the occupied territory translated from {{langx|de|Gebiet des Militärbefehlshaber Serbiens}}, a German occupied territory.<ref name="Hehn">[[#Hehn_1971|Hehn (1971)]], pp. 344–373</ref>|group=nb}} during [[World War II]]. It was appointed by the German Military Commander in Serbia and operated from 29 August 1941 to October 1944. Although the Serbian puppet regime had some support,<ref>{{cite book|last=MacDonald|first=David Bruce|title=Balkan holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian victim-centred propaganda and the war in Yugoslavia|year=2002|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=0719064678|page=142}}</ref> it was unpopular with a majority of Serbs who either joined the Yugoslav Partisans or [[Draža Mihailović]]'s [[Chetniks]].<ref>{{cite book |last=MacDonald |first=David Bruce |title=Identity Politics in the Age of Genocide: The Holocaust and Historical Representation |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-08572-9 |page=167 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QoNONBC5K8C&pg=PA167}}</ref> The Prime Minister throughout was General [[Milan Nedić]]. The Government of National Salvation was evacuated from Belgrade to [[Kitzbühel]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] in the first week of October 1944 before the German withdrawal from Serbia was complete.

Racial laws were introduced in all occupied territories with immediate effects on Jews and Roma people, as well as causing the imprisonment of those opposed to Nazism. Several concentration camps were formed in Serbia and at the 1942 Anti-Freemason Exhibition in Belgrade the city was pronounced to be free of Jews (Judenfrei). On 1 April 1942, a Serbian Gestapo was formed. An estimated 120,000 people were interned in German-run concentration camps in Nedić's Serbia between 1941 and 1944. However the [[Banjica Concentration Camp]] was jointly run by the German Army and Nedic's regime.<ref name="Israeli2013">{{cite book|author=Raphael Israeli|title=The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M66fG2bhi1AC&pg=PA31|access-date=12 May 2013|date= 2013|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-4930-2|page=31}}</ref> 50,000 to 80,000 were killed during this period. Serbia became the second country in Europe, following Estonia, to be proclaimed Judenfrei (free of Jews). Approximately 14,500 Serbian Jews – 90 percent of Serbia's Jewish population of 16,000 – were murdered in World War II.

Nedić was captured by the Americans when they occupied the former territory of Austria, and was subsequently handed over to the Yugoslav communist authorities to act as a witness against war criminals, on the understanding he would be returned to American custody to face trial by the Allies. The Yugoslav authorities refused to return Nedić to United States custody. He died on 4 February 1946 after either jumping or falling out of the window of a Belgrade hospital, under circumstances which remain unclear.

====Italy (Italian Social Republic)====
{{Main|Italian Social Republic}}
[[File:Italian social republic map.png|thumb|{{legend striped|#fefa9f|#c1e79c|Italian Social Republic (RSI) as of 1943}}{{legend|#c1e79c|German military operational zones ([[OZAV]]/[[OZAK]]) under direct German administration}}]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-311-0926-07, Italien, italienische Soldaten.jpg|thumb|left|RSI ([[Italian Social Republic|Repubblica Sociale Italiana]]) soldiers, March 1944]]

Italian Fascist leader [[Benito Mussolini]] formed the Italian Social Republic (''Repubblica Sociale Italiana'' in [[Italian language|Italian]]) on 23 September 1943, succeeding the Kingdom of Italy as a member of the Axis.

Mussolini had been removed from office and arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III on 25 July 1943. After the Italian armistice, in a [[Gran Sasso raid|raid]] led by German paratrooper [[Otto Skorzeny]], Mussolini was rescued from arrest.

Once restored to power, Mussolini declared that Italy was a [[republic]] and that he was the new head of state. He was subject to German control for the duration of the war.

===Joint German–Italian client states===
<!-- Puppet states section should include only states that were officially independent countries, and not simply local administrations of occupied territories. -->

====Greece (Hellenic State)====
{{Main|Axis occupation of Greece|Hellenic State (1941–1944)}}
[[File:Greece Prefectures 1941-44.png|thumb|Greece, 1941–1944]]
Following the [[German invasion of Greece]] and the flight of the [[Greek government in exile|Greek government]] to Crete and then Egypt, the [[Hellenic State (1941-1944)|Hellenic State]] was formed in May 1941 as a puppet state of both Italy and Germany. Initially, Italy had wished to annex Greece, but was pressured by Germany to avoid civil unrest such as had occurred in Bulgarian-annexed areas. The result was Italy accepting the creation of a puppet regime with the support of Germany. Italy had been assured by Hitler of a primary role in Greece. Most of the country was held by Italian forces, but strategic locations ([[Central Macedonia]], the islands of the northeastern Aegean, most of [[Crete]], and parts of [[Attica]]) were held by the Germans, who seized most of the country's economic assets and effectively controlled the collaborationist government. The puppet regime never commanded any real authority, and did not gain the allegiance of the people. It was somewhat successful in preventing secessionist movements like the [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] [[Roman Legion (1941–1943)|Roman Legion]] from establishing themselves. By mid-1943, the [[Greek Resistance]] had liberated large parts of the mountainous interior ("Free Greece"), setting up a separate administration there. After the Italian armistice, the Italian occupation zone was taken over by the German armed forces, who remained in charge of the country until their withdrawal in autumn 1944. In some Aegean islands, German garrisons were left behind, and surrendered only after the end of the war.

===Japanese===
{{Further|Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere}}
The Empire of Japan created a number of client states in the areas occupied by its military, beginning with the creation of Manchukuo in 1932. These puppet states achieved varying degrees of international recognition.

====Cambodia====
{{Main|Japanese occupation of Cambodia}}
The [[Kingdom of Kampuchea (1945)|Kingdom of Kampuchea]] was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from 9 March 1945 to 15 August 1945. The Japanese entered the [[French protectorate of Cambodia]] in mid-1941, but allowed Vichy French officials to remain in administrative posts while Japanese calls for an "Asia for the Asiatics" won over many Cambodian nationalists.

In March 1945, in order to gain local support, the Japanese dissolved French colonial rule and pressured Cambodia to declare independence within the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]].<ref>Geoffrey C. Gunn, ''Monarchical Manipulation in Cambodia: France, Japan, and the Sihanouk Crusade for Independence,'' Copenhagen: Nordic Institute for Asian Studies, 2018, Part V</ref> King [[Norodom Sihanouk|Sihanouk]] declared the Kingdom of Kampuchea (replacing the French name) independent. [[Son Ngoc Thanh]] who had fled to Japan in 1942 returned in May and was appointed foreign minister.<ref name="DChandler">David P. Chandler, ''A History of Cambodia'', Silkworm 1993 {{page needed|date=January 2021}}</ref> On the date of Japanese surrender, a new government was proclaimed with [[Son Ngoc Thanh]] as prime minister. When the Allies occupied [[Phnom Penh]] in October, Son Ngoc Thanh was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese and was exiled to France.<ref name="DChandler" />

====Azad Hind====
{{Main|Indian National Army|Azad Hind}}
<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:INA Jubilation.jpg|thumb|[[Indian National Army]] soldiers in Asia]] --> 
The ''Arzi Hukumat-e-[[Azad Hind]]'', the "Provisional Government of Free India" was a state that was recognized by nine Axis governments, and accepted as part of the axis by the Japanese.<ref name="Gow et al1">{{cite book |last1=Gow |first1=I |last2=Hirama |first2=Y |last3=Chapman |first3=J |title=Volume III: The Military Dimension The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600–2000 |year=2003 |publisher=Springer |isbn=0230378870 |page=208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoyDDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Thailand%22+%22part+of+the+axis%22 |access-date=27 October 2020}}</ref>

It was led by [[Subhas Chandra Bose]], an [[Indian nationalist]] who rejected [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s nonviolent methods for achieving independence. The [[First Indian National Army]] faltered after its leadership objected to being a propaganda tool for Japanese war aims, and the role of [[I Kikan|Japanese liaison office]]. It was revived by the [[Indian Independence League]] with Japanese support in 1942 after the ex-PoWs and Indian civilians in South-east Asia agreed to participate in the INA venture on the condition it was led by Bose. From occupied Singapore Bose declared India's independence on October 21, 1943 . The Indian National Army was committed as a part of the [[Operation U-Go|U Go Offensive]]. It played a largely marginal role in the battle, and suffered serious casualties and had to withdraw with the rest of Japanese forces after the [[Battle of Imphal|siege of Imphal]] was broken. It was later committed to the defence of Burma [[Burma campaign 1944–45|against the Allied offensive]]. It suffered a large number of desertions in this latter part. The remaining troops of the INA maintained order in Rangoon after the withdrawal of Ba Maw's government. The provisional government was given [[Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands|nominal control of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] from November 1943 to August 1945.

====Inner Mongolia (Mengjiang)====
{{Main|Mengjiang}}
[[Mengjiang]] was a Japanese puppet state in [[Inner Mongolia]]. It was nominally ruled by Prince [[Demchugdongrub]], a [[Mongol]] nobleman descended from [[Genghis Khan]], but was in fact controlled by the Japanese military. Mengjiang's independence was proclaimed on 18 February 1936, following the Japanese occupation of the region.

The Inner Mongolians had several grievances against the central Chinese government in Nanjing, including their policy of allowing unlimited migration of Han Chinese to the region. Several of the young princes of Inner Mongolia began to agitate for greater freedom from the central government, and it was through these men that Japanese saw their best chance of exploiting Pan-Mongol nationalism and eventually seizing control of Outer Mongolia from the Soviet Union.

Japan created Mengjiang to exploit tensions between ethnic [[Mongols|Mongolians]] and the central government of China, which in theory ruled Inner Mongolia. When the various puppet governments of China were unified under the [[Wang Jingwei]] government in March 1940, Mengjiang retained its separate identity as an autonomous federation. Although under the firm control of the Japanese Imperial Army, which occupied its territory, Prince Demchugdongrub had his own independent army. Mengjiang vanished in 1945 following Japan's defeat in World War II.

====Laos====
{{Main|Kingdom of Luang Prabang (Japanese puppet state)}}
French Indochina, including Laos, had been occupied by the Japanese in 1941, though government by the Vichy French colonial officials had continued. The liberation of France in 1944, bringing [[Charles de Gaulle]] to power, meant the end of the alliance between Japan and the Vichy French administration in Indochina. On 9 March 1945 the Japanese staged a military coup in Hanoi, and on 8 April they reached Luang Phrabang. King [[Sisavang Vong|Sīsavāngvong]] was detained by the Japanese, and forced to issue a declaration of independence, albeit one that does not appear to have ever been formalised. French control over Laos was re-asserted in 1946.<ref name="Ivarsson & Goscha">{{cite journal |last1=Ivarsson |first1=Søren |last2=Goscha |first2=Christopher E. |title=Prince Phetsarath (1890–1959): Nationalism and Royalty in the Making of Modern Laos |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |date=February 2007 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=65–71 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20071807 |access-date=2 April 2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0022463406000932 |jstor=20071807 |s2cid=159778908 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

====Philippines (Second Republic)====
{{main|Japanese occupation of the Philippines|Second Philippine Republic}}
After the [[Battle of Bataan#Fall of Bataan|surrender]] of the Filipino and American forces in [[Bataan Peninsula]] and [[Corregidor Island]], the Japanese established a puppet state in the Philippines in 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guillermo |first=Artemio R. |title=Historical Dictionary of the Philippines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmgX9M_yETIC&q=Support%20Second%20Republic%20Philippines&pg=PA211 |access-date=22 March 2013 |year=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7246-2 |pages=211, 621}}</ref> The following year, the [[National Assembly of the Philippines|Philippine National Assembly]] declared the Philippines an [[Second Philippine Republic|independent Republic]] and elected [[José P. Laurel|José Laurel]] as its [[President of the Philippines|President]].<ref name="SSPI2005">{{cite book |last1=Abinales |first1=Patricio N |last2=Amoroso |first2=Donna J. |title=State And Society In The Philippines |series=State and Society in East Asia Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiOQdEzgP9kC&q=Support%20%22Second%20Republic%22%20Philippines&pg=PA160 |access-date=22 March 2013 |year=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-1024-1 |pages=160, 353 }}</ref> There was never widespread civilian support for the state, largely because of the general [[anti-Japanese sentiment]] stemming from atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/456399/Philippines/23718/World-War-II | title=Philippines | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date=January 22, 2014 |author1=Cullinane, Michael |author2=Borlaza, Gregorio C. |author3=Hernandez, Carolina G. }}</ref> The Second Philippine Republic ended with Japanese surrender in 1945, and Laurel was arrested and charged with treason by the US government. He was granted amnesty by President [[Manuel Roxas]], and remained active in politics, ultimately winning a seat in the post-war [[Senate of the Philippines|Senate]].

====Vietnam (Empire of Vietnam)====
{{Main|Empire of Vietnam}}
The [[Empire of Vietnam]] was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from 11 March to 23 August 1945. When the Japanese seized control of [[French Indochina]], they allowed Vichy French administrators to remain in nominal control. This French rule ended on 9 March 1945, when the Japanese officially took control of the government. Soon after, Emperor [[Bảo Đại]] voided the 1884 treaty with France and [[Trần Trọng Kim]], a historian, became prime minister.