Was Vichy France a Puppet Government or a Willing Nazi Collaborator?

On August 12, 1941, French Marshal Philippe Pétain gave his full support to Nazi Germany. An excerpt from the article:

"On November 8, 1942, in the thick of World War II, thousands of American soldiers landed on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, while others amassed in Algeria, only to take immediate gunfire from the French. Needless to say, it marked the end of U.S. diplomatic relations with the Vichy government installed in France during WWII.

The invasion of North Africa—a joint venture between the United Kingdom and the United States known as Operation Torch—was intended to open up another front of the war, but the colonial power in the region was France, purportedly a neutral party in World War II. After all, France had signed an armistice with Adolf Hitler on June 22, 1940, within weeks of being overrun by German soldiers. Yet as the National Interest reports, 'Instead of welcoming [the Americans] with brass bands, as one sergeant predicted, Vichy France’s colonial forces fought back with everything they had.'”