Chapter 46: Aug 1944 Liberation of Paris

This chapter is actually the second half of the previous chapter covering the Battle of Paris and the uprising of the French resistance against their Gestapo masters.

After reading a lot of different accounts of the Liberation of Paris, I have reached a conclusion that the entire affair was more political rather than military in nature.

General De Gaulle was probably the most insubordinate son of a bitch in history with the way that he ignored his orders from General Eisenhower and decided all on his own to divert the Free French forces straight into the heart of Paris and confront the Germans despite their preparations to destroy the city if attacked. In point of fact there were not very many French soldiers in the ranks of the attackers as most of them were foreigners that were mostly Spanish survivors of the Spanish Civil War against the Hitler-backed Franco in Spain. It has been documented that the majority of the attackers were dark-skinned North Africans under French command because of their Colonial interests in those countries on whose territories the Allies chased the Afrika Corps out of that dark continent capturing almost a half million men in the process.

The French resistance did a lot to initiate the uprising by starting a general strike and then using that ploy to hinder the German movement withdrawing from the city as fast as possible to avoid being cut off from the fatherland by the fast-moving allied forces. The German general in charge was at first determined to follow his Fuhrer’s orders to destroy the city completely and he supervised the placing of demolitions at key points of interest in the city. He had a change of heart with the fast developing situation in the Normandy area and the movement of almost two hundred thousand allied troops sweeping up from the south of France catching the city between a rock and a hard place.

The fact that there were two distinct factions in the French resistance with one adhering to the General De Gaulle plan for post-war France and the other one far more progressive and committed to the cause of Communism as the road to follow for the post-war government complicated the issue but they were all united in wanting the Germans and the Gestapo gone and justice finally served for the people of France.

The roadblocks that the resistance setup were easily brushed aside by the armored forces of the German Wehrmacht quickly retreating from a bad situation despite orders from the Fuhrer to fight to the bitter end and destroy the city. The German general in charge was all too happy to see them depart and take all elements of the Gestapo with them. That way, they could not interfere in his plans to surrender as soon as the first attackers crossed the rivers and entered into the city itself.

Vengeance was swift and the French populace that supported the resistance brought the females that had slept with the German officers to the street corners. They shaved their heads and made them wear cardboard signs around their necks advertising their treason against France. They were forced to shout out their sins against downtrodden civilians subjugated in a constant state of semi-starvation. They lived a life of luxury whilst they had anything they wanted from their new German friends.

Many of the German appointed bureaucrats were arrested and would suffer the same fate as the Vichy government bureaucrats that were still remaining inside of Vichy France. A large number of the Vichy officials had been deported to Germany by the Gestapo after the Italian defections from the Axis forces and the movement of Allied forces into the island of Sicily and then into Southern Italy getting close to Vichy France. Some of them committed suicide and others were tried after the war for their war crimes against the Jewish civilians, both French and foreign.

Of course, it was General De Gaulle that started the whole business about making the Liberation of Paris a primary objective of the Allies despite being overruled again and again at joint meetings to end the war in Europe as quickly as possible. He was more than willing to risk the destruction of Paris in order to set the stage for his eventual takeover of the French government and shamelessly used the blood of fallen allied soldiers to take a prominent place in the three days of parades and celebrations that followed the surrender of the city.

Now, Eisenhower was required to send large shipments of food and other logistical material to Paris to show his support for the French populace.

In an interesting sidelight of the celebrations for the Liberation of Paris from the Germans, none of the British contingent was invited to participate in any of the parades and the North Africans were also ordered to not be in the parade for ethnic reasons because their skin color would be disquieting to the onlookers expecting an image of a true French soldier in a French military unit attached to the allied cause.

The German general was wise enough to surrender to the lead elements of the French 2nd Armored Division because he knew their treatment would be in accordance with accepted military standards. He was smart enough not to even consider surrendering to the members of the resistance because the Gestapo was far too quick to torture and execute them whenever the opportunity arose.

De Gaulle won his objective of taking over the government of France and not leaving it in the hands of some joint economic task force based on allied planning. He eventually assumed the mantle of President and showed his true colors by disassociating himself and his nation from NATO and forming his idea of a “Force de Frappe” with nuclear ambitions of his own making.

Today the French nation is fighting a new kind of war with religious fanatics resorting to terror tactics to change the direction of the entire country. The historic Notre Dame Cathedral that withstood the dangers of World War II is severely damaged by an accidental fire and has a government that is unresponsive to the needs of its rural areas in dire economic straits because of poor financial planning by the bureaucracy. Yet the average French citizen appreciates the history of American military might that drove the Nazis from their homeland and helped rebuild the infrastructure with the Marshall plan after World War II.