During World War 2, what was the STO?

The STO (Service du travail obligatoire = "Compulsory Work Service") was the forced enlistment and deportation to Germany of 600,000 to 650,000 French workers between June 1942 and July 1944. The STO was created under laws and regulations of Vichy France, but it was used by Nazi Germany to compensate for its loss of manpower as it enlisted more and more soldiers for the Eastern Front. French forced laborers were the only nationality to have been required to serve by the laws of their own state rather than by German orders. This was an indirect consequence of the autonomy negotiated from the German administration by the Vichy government. France was the third largest forced labor provider, after the USSR and Poland, and was the country that provided the largest number of skilled workers. The STO accentuated the movement of French public opinion against the Vichy regime and contributed to the Resistance.