World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseHearing the news of success of Operation Dragoon landings in southern France, the French started to stage general strikes as early as 15 Aug 1944. Three days later, barricades began to be set up around the city, and fighting between French fighters and German troops climaxed on 22 Aug. The fighting eventually led to the loss of 1,500 resistance fighters and civilian lives. Even though the Allies had long avoided bombing the French capital, morale of German General Dietrich von Choltitz's troops were low, demoralized from the tales of the rapid Allied advance from the Normandy region.

ww2dbaseGeneral Dwight Eisenhower, the American commander of all Allied forces in Europe, was initially adamant against taking Paris. Being a military commander, he avoided the possibility of having to set up an civilian administration to deal with the city's population while he also had a war to carry out. He originally planned to besiege, but not attack, Paris, letting its defenses fall as Germany was defeated; he would only enter the city, he noted later, if he detected major starvation among the Paris population as a result of the siege. Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle, however, had a different view. He demanded intervention, threatening to break away from Eisenhower's command and attempt to take Paris on his own should Eisenhower continue to avoid the French capital. In the interest of harmony among top Allied leaders, Eisenhower caved in to de Gaulle's demands; after all, the general uprising of resistance fighters in the city, if anything like the effective counterparts in Brittany, should make the task a bit easier while minimizing damage to property and lives.

ww2dbaseEisenhower gave the task of taking Paris to General Omar Bradley, who chose to use French General Jacque Leclerc's Second Armored Division to make contact with the German garrison in Paris. The French Second Armored Division was a veteran unit from the North African campaign, and most importantly politically, French in ethnicity. The American Fourth Division was also dispatched to assist, together with a British contingent.

ww2dbaseAgainst Adolf Hitler's specific orders, von Choltitz chose not to fight for Paris. He began evacuating the city in secret before the Allies arrived, as observed by Allied intelligence. On 23 Aug, elements of the US Army 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron rode ahead of French tanks, and reached the outskirts of Paris by the evening of 24 Aug. Noting that the light German resistance had been eliminated, the cavalry made way for the French troops, which entered the city at dawn of 25 Aug. Just behind them were American troops from the 12th Infantry Regiment, which arrived at Notre Dame by 0830. By 1530, Allied troops were gathered at the Arc de Triomphe. The official unit history of the US Army 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, which entered the city ahead of the 12th Infantry Regiment, noted that the men "received uninhibited and enthusiastic greetings of the Parisienes and Parisiennes,... Morale was never higher."

ww2dbaseGeneral von Choltitz surrendered to Leclerc on 25 Aug, the same day the Allies entered the city. Also on that day, de Gaulle moved his headquarters into the War Ministry in Paris at the approval of Eisenhower; de Gaulle's French forces paraded down the Champs-Élysées on 26 Aug. De Gaulle and made a public speech from the Hôtel de Ville, politically legitimizing his claims as the liberator of France. The transcript of the speech is as folows:

ww2dbaseActing as the ruler of Paris, de Gaulle requested two American division to remain in Paris to assist him in maintaining order. Arriving in Paris on 27 Aug, Eisenhower understood de Gaulle's needs but could not spare the men necessary from the front. Instead, what the American Supreme Commander did was that he marched the American 28th Infantry Division through Paris, and led the troops eastward to the front lines. "Because this ceremonial march coincided exactly with the local battle plan", Eisenhower recalled in his memoirs, "it became possibly the only instance in history of troops marching in parade through the capital of a great country to participate in pitched battle on the same day." General Bradley stood by de Gaulle on the review stand during the victory parades to symbolize American contributions to the liberation of France.

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1.  Hobilar says:
18 Sep 2007 06:38:10 AM

The famous US writer, Ernest Hemingway, would swashbuckle his way through World War II in much the same fashion as he had done in numerous conflicts before. Hemingway was not one of those pressmen who were happy to sit far behing the battlefield simply basing their reports on the Armys official communiques. He would regularly get heavily involved with the men at the front, often making things happen, and then writing his own experiences of events.

When in August 1944, with the Allied armies poised to move into Paris, Hemingway became slightly frustrated at the delay in entering the French capital. Borrowing a car he drove unprotected into Paris a whole day before the official liberators. In fact he could have been beaten into Paris by another War correspondent, Sam White of the Evening Standard, but the latter decided to personnally liberate the famous French brasserie La Coupole instead.

4.  Alan Chanter says:
22 Aug 2018 12:29:30 AM

Sam White (1913–1988) was a foreign correspondent who worked for the London Evening Standard in Paris.[1] He was born in Ukraine, and grew up in Australia where he was a member of the Communist party as a student. He is most famous for working at the Crillon Bar. He wrote a book on Charles de Gaulle (De Gaulle, ISBN 0-245-54213-2, 1984).
An MI5 file on White which reveals the intelligence agency suspected him of being a Communist was recently opened at the National Archives at Kew.[2] He is famous for the adage 'Write about statesmen as though they are nightclub singers, and the latter as though they are politicians. That way you get to the truth about their real personalities and it makes for amusing copy. (Wikipedia)