Liberation of Paris
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The liberation of Paris was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armistice of 22 June 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France.
Parisians line the Champs Élysées for a parade conducted by the French 2nd Armored Division on 26 August 1944.
A truck painted with the marks of the FFI and the V for Victory
25 August – Armoured vehicles of the 2nd Armored (Leclerc) Division fighting before the Palais Garnier. One German tank is going up in flames.
German soldiers at the Hôtel Majestic, headquarters for the Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, the German High Military Command in France. They requested that to made prisoner only by the military and surrendered to Battalion Chief Jacques Massu of the 2e DB.
Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque was a Free-French general during the Second World War. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as le maréchal Leclerc or just Leclerc.
A Char B1 tank. French tanks were usually given names by their crews.
Serment de Koufra, plaque in Strasbourg
Route of the 2e Division Blindée 1944-45