World War II: The Liberation of Paris

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On August 21, when British troops swept into Argentan and took over from V Corps, Gerow moved his units into assembly areas for rest. Leclerc decided to act. That evening he sent about 150 men in 10 light tanks, 10 armored cars and 10 personnel carriers toward the capital. This small contingent was to reconnoiter the routes to Paris. If the Allies decided to enter the city without the 2nd French Armored Division, these few men were to accompany the liberating troops as representatives of de Gaulle’s provisional government.

Leclerc wrote to de Gaulle that evening. Unfortunately, he said, he could not send the bulk of his division to the capital because the Americans furnished him with food and fuel and also because of what he called ‘the rules of military subordination.’ Sending the small group toward Paris, however, was already a serious insubordination.

On August 22, Leclerc sent an officer to explain to Gerow the rationale for what he had done. Gerow had already received a testy message from Patton’s Third Army headquarters, wanting to know what French troops were doing outside of their authorized First Army area. The message implicitly questioned Gerow’s ability to control one of his units.

Gerow presented Leclerc’s officer with a letter for the French general. ‘I desire to make it clear to you,’ Gerow wrote, ‘that the 2nd French Armored Division is under my command for all purposes and no part of it will be employed by you except in the execution of missions assigned by this headquarters.’ He directed Leclerc to recall his detachment. Unwilling to do so, Leclerc hastened to the First Army headquarters. There he learned that Bradley was conferring with Eisenhower on Paris. Leclerc decided to wait.

Earlier Eisenhower had decided to defer the liberation of Paris. Taking the city would delay the advance toward Germany and might result in the destruction of the French capital and its historic and cultural monuments. Furthermore, there was a scarcity of food and coal in the city. Diverting these materials from the combat troops to Paris on humanitarian grounds would complicate an already difficult supply situation.

Adolf Hitler wanted Paris defended to the last man. The city’s 70-odd bridges were to be prepared for demolition. Paris, Hitler instructed, must not fall into the enemy’s hands except as ‘a field of ruins.’

The military commander of Paris, General of Infantry Dietrich von Choltitz, had erected strong defenses outside the city that were manned by about 20,000 troops. Another 5,000 men remained inside the city. Choltitz, however, had no intention of seeing Paris destroyed. He loved its physical beauty as well as its cultural significance. He was appalled by the destruction he could unleash. Had fate selected him for infamy as the man who had devastated the French capital? He hoped not.

Sarcastically, he explained to his superiors that he had placed three tons of explosive in the cathedral of Notre Dame, two tons in the Invalides, one in the Palais Bourbon. He was ready to level the Arc de Triomphe and clear a field of fire. He was prepared to destroy the Opera and the Madeleine church. He planned to dynamite the Eiffel Tower and use it as an entanglement to block the Seine. At dinner with his staff one evening, he said, ‘Ever since our enemies have refused to listen to and obey our Führer, the whole war has gone badly.’

Paris was also the prize in a contest for power within the French Resistance. The city was the hub of national administration and politics, the center of the railroad system, the communication lines and the highways. It was the only place from which the country could be governed. The overall aim of the Resistance, to get rid of the Germans, bound men of conflicting philosophies and interests together. But there were political differences among them. De Gaulle had organized the Resistance outside France to support his provisional government. But inside France, a large and vociferous contingent of the left contested de Gaulle’s leadership.

De Gaulle had named General Marie Pierre Joseph François Koenig head of the Resistance and placed him under Eisenhower’s command. Rumors of civil unrest in Paris and talk of a liberation initiated by the inhabitants prompted Koenig to try to stop activities that might cause social and political upheaval. A revolt in Paris might provoke bloody repression by the Germans. A bloody insurrection could place de Gaulle’s opponents in power. Civil disorder might grow into full-scale revolution.

Despite Koenig’s instruction, the approach of American troops promoted patriotic excitement in the city. By August 18, more than half the railroad workers were on strike and the city was at a standstill. Virtually all the policemen had disappeared from the streets. Several anti-German demonstrations took place, and armed Resistance members appeared openly. The German reaction was less than forthright prompting small, local Resistance groups, without central direction or discipline, to take possession the very next day of police stations, town halls, national ministries, newspaper buildings and the Hôtel de Ville.

There were perhaps 20,000 Resistance members in Paris, but few were armed. Nevertheless, they destroyed road signs, punctured the tires of German vehicles, cut communication lines, bombed gasoline depots and attacked isolated pockets of German soldiers. But being inadequately armed, members of the Resistance feared open warfare. To avoid it, Resistance leaders persuaded Raoul Nordling, the Swedish counsel general in Paris, to negotiate with Choltitz. That evening, August 19, the two men arranged a truce, at first for a few hours, then extended it indefinitely.

The arrangement was somewhat nebulous. Choltitz agreed to recognize certain parts of Paris as belonging to the Resistance. The Resistance, meanwhile, consented to leave particular areas of Paris free to German troops. But no boundaries were drawn, and neither the Germans nor the French were clear about their respective areas. The armistice expired on the 24th.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, World War II

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