The Liberation of Paris
In watching the documentary today, I thought I’d look more into the details and the significance of the liberation of Paris towards the end of World War II…
Since June 14, 1940, the Nazis had gained control of Paris. It wasn’t until the 2nd Armored Division of the French Army and the 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. army liberated Paris on August 25, 1944.
After the Allies had invaded the coast of Normandy, they started heading inland to reach Paris. When they got there, however, there wasn’t much resistance from the Germans. In fact, General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, went against Hitler’s orders when the city was being liberated. Originally, Hitler wanted all of Paris’s landmarks burned and destroyed, but the general refused to carry out his wishes. He had planted explosives but never allowed them to be set off because he didn’t want to go down in history as the person who destroyed Paris.
Although the Allies had invaded Normandy in June, Commander Eisenhower decided that the liberation of Paris should be delayed in that they wanted to preserve resources. They concluded that they should wait until they could surround the city and liberate it when they couldn’t lose.
However, Eisenhower told de Gaulle on August 21 as the troops were nearing Paris, that he wanted to go past it, but de Gaulle urged him that it could be taken easily. Especially because Paris was very important to the French. There was also a worry that if they didn’t try and liberate Paris, then the communist faction would do it and a democratic government would not be able to be re-established.
The next day, Eisenhower went forward with the attempt to liberate Paris and they advanced on the city. Hitler had wanted Paris to be defended until the last man or, if they did have to surrender, Hitler wanted it to be in ruins. However, like I said earlier, the Germans didn’t really put up that much of a fight and Choltitz was arrested by French troops. This liberation was followed by the Germans signing an official document of surrender.
On August 26, 1944, de Gaulle and his troops led a victory parade down the Champs d’Elysees. It was one of the happiest days for everyone even though snipers were still present during the parade. This didn’t stop the Parisians from celebrating their newly liberated city. This showed promise for an overall victory and brought a great amount of hope and happiness to the Allies.
I find that so interesting that all the monuments in Paris were going to be destroyed by Hitler, and one man decided against it because of a rational decision which was hard to find in the german leadership during this time. I also find it insteresting that the Communist faction might have overthrown Paris and a democratic government would not have power.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/liberation-of-paris
This, along with the signing of the armistice and the day ww2 ended must have been the happiest days in all of human history. The relief and joy these people must have felt well deserved.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the Germans had planned to destroy Paris if they lost the City. I think that this shows just how ruthless the Wehrmacht is. I also think that it's interesting that a communist faction could have taken over Paris and prevented a democratic France from forming after the war. I think that this shows how even though the Allies and the Communists were working togather to try and fight the Germans they weren't really allies as much as mutual defence partners.
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