Liberation of Paris - Background

Background

Allied strategy emphasized destroying German forces retreating towards the Rhine, when the French Resistance (FFI) under Henri Rol-Tanguy staged an uprising in the French capital. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, did not consider Paris to be a primary objective. Instead, the U.S. Army and the British Army hoped to make it all the way to Berlin before the Soviet Army did, and hence put an end to World War II in Europe, before moving on to the Pacific to finish off the Japanese Empire.

Moreover, General Eisenhower thought that it was too early for a battle in Paris. He wanted to prevent another battle like the Battle of Stalingrad or the Battle of Leningrad, and he knew that Adolf Hitler had given orders to raze Paris. This city was considered to be of too great value culturally and historically to risk destruction in a battle. In a siege, it was estimated that 4,000 short tons (3,600 t) of food per day would be needed to supply the population of Paris, plus huge efforts would be required to restore its water supply, transportation system, electric power supplies, et cetera. Such tasks would require much time and large numbers of Allied soldiers and military engineers.

However, General Charles de Gaulle of the partially resurrected French Army threatened to order the French 2nd Armored Division (2ème DB) into Paris.

Paris was 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 and the highway system of Central France. Paris seemed to be the only place from which France could be governed. The overriding aim of the Resistance was to get rid of the Germans and to bound men of conflicting philosophies, interests, and political persuasions together. De Gaulle had organized the Free French Army outside of France to support his provisional government, but inside France, a large and vociferous contingent of the left wing (politically) challenged de Gaulle's leadership.

On 24 August, delayed by poor decision-making, combat and poor roads, the Free French General Leclerc, commander of the 2nd Armored Division, disobeyed his directly superior American field commander, Major General Leonard T. Gerow, and he sent a vanguard (the colonne Dronne) to Paris, with the message that the entire division would be there on the following day. The 9th Armored Company, composed mainly of veterans of the Spanish Civil War, equipped with American M4 Sherman tanks, M2 half-tracks, and General Motors Company trucks from the United States was commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne. He became one of the first uniformed Allied officers to enter Paris in 1944.