Liberation of Paris
Paris was liberated on 25 August 1944 after a week of street fighting between the French Resistance and German occupiers, culminating in the surrender of General Dietrich von Choltitz, who had defied Hitler's orders to destroy the city. The Free French 2nd Armoured Division under General Leclerc was granted the honour of entering the capital first, followed by de Gaulle himself, who marched down the Champs-Élysées to an ecstatic crowd on 26 August — a carefully staged image of French liberation through French hands, designed to establish the Free French government's legitimacy and deny credit to the communist resistance factions. De Gaulle's address — 'Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by herself, liberated by her people' — launched a national myth that somewhat obscured the complex reality of four years of occupation and collaboration. The liberation was a turning point not just militarily but politically: it ensured France would emerge from the war as a sovereign power, not a country under prolonged Allied military government.
- Year: 1944 CE
- Category: Military
