LIBERATION OF PARIS

Liberation of Paris

On August 25th, 1944, the long-occupied French capital erupted in celebration as Free French armored columns and American infantry rolled into Paris. Days of street fighting and an uprising by the French Resistance had weakened the German garrison, but it still possessed the firepower to devastate the city. Instead of obeying scorched-earth orders, the German commander chose to surrender, and soldiers of the French Second Armored Division and the United States Fourth Infantry Division accepted the capitulation. For Allied troops who had fought through the Normandy hedgerows and across the open country of France, entering the city symbolized how far they had come since the landings in June. The liberation of Paris also eased political tensions within the Allied coalition by restoring a French government on French soil. Strategically, it secured a vital communications hub as the drive toward the German border accelerated.