longer.blue

Today in history: 82 years ago today, Paris was liberated from the Nazi occupation. Such a simple sentence, and yet such a complexity of events leading up to it. On August 15, the Free Forces of the Interior (FFI), the largest of the Resistance groups in occupied France (and largely led by Communists, a fact that is not irrelevant) declared an uprising against the Germans. Up went the barricades (a Paris tradition), out came the weapons (Frederic Joliot-Curie, a Resistance member, used his chemistry knowledge to create self-igniting Molotov cocktails that didn’t require a wick), and the fight began, while Resistance radio operators sent pleas to the Allies for reinforcements. Eisenhower and his staff had no plans involving Paris - they had Patton’s Third Army rolling for the Rhine and that was the plan. And such was Ike’s response to Charles de Gaulle when told of the Paris uprising. De Gaulle didn’t like that much. 1) the Allies were talking about Paris as though it was Just Another City. 2) He knew (as most of the Allies did) that Hitler had given orders for the destruction of Paris in the event it looked like the Allies were taking it back. 3) He didn’t want the Commies in the FFI to get the credit for liberating Paris. 4) Nor did he want the Americans or British to get said credit. So De Gaulle went and had a chat with Philippe de Clerc, the commander of the 2nd French Armored Division attached to the American Army. De Clerc had a word with his subordinates, and they spent the next three days scrounging all the ammunition and gasoline they could get their hands on - and the morning of August 20, they detached themselves from the American army and headed for Paris. After some pungent language at SHAEF headquarters (and more pungent language at Third Army headquarters - Patton was *not* happy at this diversion of his supplies), Eisenhower ordered the US 9th Infantry Division to follow the 2nd French Armored and give them support. So, the Resistance is engaged in street fighting inside Paris. Two divisions of Allied troops are approaching Paris. Hitler gives the order for the destruction of Paris... and the commander of the German forces in Paris, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz, ignores that order. The 2nd French Armored Division reached the outskirts of Paris on the morning of August 24th and basically, without any real plan, headed straight for the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall). While taking massive casualties (they lost 36 tanks in the assault on Paris, the largest number lost by any single division in any battle), by nightfall they had captured the Hôtel de Ville. As the 9th Infantry Division filtered into the city, von Choltitz declared a cease-fire, and on the morning of the 25th, he surrendered the city to the French. (And then followed one of the more shameful episodes of the war, in my opinion. A victory parade was held down the Champs-Elysee, with the troops being showered with flowers by the grateful citizens of Paris. Except most of the troops in the parade were Americans and Brits wearing French uniforms. Why? Because with France being occupied, the Free French Army was mostly composed of troops from the French colonies in Africa. Which meant they were black. And since the US Army was still segregated, with African-Americans relegated to support roles and not allowed in combat, Eisenhower basically went to de Gaulle and said “you owe me” for diverting troops to the liberation of Paris, and convinced him that showing black soldiers involved in the liberation of Paris might cause resentment in the American ranks, not to mention wouldn’t play well in the newsreels back in the USA. So the bulk of the Free French Army got cheated out of their parade, and Allied troops who hadn’t even been involved got a parade, all so the parade would be lily-white for the benefit of the cameras. 😡)