Transitions

After Otto von Stülpnagel resigned in early 1942, Hitler appointed Carl‐Heinrich von Stülpnagel to serve as military commander, reorganized the German chain of command, placed the SS in charge of German reprisal policy, and installed a Senior SS and Police Leader (Höherer SS‐ und Polizeiführer or HSSuPF) in France. The new SS commander, Carl Oberg, negotiated an accord with René Bousquet, the Secretary General of (French) Police and adopted a laissez‐faire attitude with regard to reprisals. With security policy under SS control, Hitler and Himmler granted Oberg a degree of autonomy while serious resistance continued to decline. Carl‐Heinrich von Stülpnagel established a cordial relationship with SS counterparts and fostered cordial collaboration with the French government. Like his cousin and predecessor, Carl‐Heinrich opposed Hitler's methods, but he did not try to change German policy through the traditional chain of command and began to conspire against the entire Nazi regime. This chapter examines policy shifts associated with the arrival of two new German leaders and the advent of Pierre Laval's second administration.