As early as 1940, the Ain Department in southeastern France, near the Alps, elected to resist the German invasion. Close to Lyon and Switzerland, it became the heart of the resistance's organization, against Vichy and then the Germans from 1943. With the influx of evaders from forced labor in Germany, the first Maquis camps appeared. But the guerrillas avoided large concentrations of men, and it became necessary to find isolated farms to shelter them. A network of camps was set up in 1943 in the mountains. Despite numerous German attempts to exterminate them, the number of troops continued to increase. Having joined the official French Forces of the Interior (FFI) in 1944, the Maquis organized themselves into small fighting groups. The maquis of the Ain thus brought together men and women from diverse backgrounds in the Bugey mountains, around a common ideal: liberation and total victory.