Riom

Town on the River Ambène, in the Puy-de-Dôme département of central France; population (1990) 19,300. It was the scene in World War II of the ‘war guilt’ trials of several prominent Frenchmen, between February and April 1942, by the Vichy government. The accused included the former prime ministers Blum and Daladier, and General Gamelin. The occasion turned into a wrangle over the reasons for French unpreparedness for war, and, at the German dictator Hitler's instigation, the court was dissolved. The defendants remained in prison until released by the Allies in 1945.