Meaning
Originally the word came from the kind of terrain in which the armed resistance groups hid, the type of high ground in southeastern France covered with scrub growth. Although strictly meaning thicket, maquis could be roughly translated as "the bush".
Members of those bands were called maquisards. The term became an honorific that meant "armed resistance fighter". The Maquis have come to symbolize the French Resistance. They helped British agents in sabotage, spying, and misinformation.
Read more about this topic: Maquis (World War II)
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