Who or what is Case Anton?

Case Anton is the codename given to the military occupation of Vichy France carried out by Germany and Italy in November 1942.

Vichy France was a nominally independent state that had come into being shortly after the armistice signed in June 1940 following the successful German invasion of France. Hitler’s motivation for permitting a nominally independent French state to exist after the armistice was that Vichy would be a practical way of denying the use of the French colonies to the Allies. There was always the possibility that this puppet-state arrangement would prove unsatisfactory for the Germans and so, in December 1940, they drew up contingency plans under the codename of Operation Attila. Case Anton updated the original Operation Attila, including different German units and adding Italian involvement.

After the Allied landings in French North Africa on 8 November 1942, the rationale for a nominally independent French state disappeared and there was the risk to the Germans of an exposed flank on the French Mediterranean. So Anton was implemented: Hitler gave orders for Corsica to be occupied on 11 November 1942 and Vichy France the following day.