The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Liberation of Paris (Aug. 1944) - Apr. 20th, 2003

http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/98summer/blumenso.htm ^ | 1998 | MARTIN BLUMENSON

[SAMWolf]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

.

FReepers from the The Foxhole
join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time.

.

.................................................................................................................................

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Politics and the Military in the Liberation of Paris

The liberation of Paris in World War II illustrated better than most examples the close connection between politics and the military. On the Allied side, specifically for the Americans and the French, the political and operational motivations interacted in harmony as well as in conflict. How they played out is instructive.

Misunderstandings and cross purposes marred the scene. The French believed in the supremacy of politics over the military. The Americans, in accordance with strongly held tradition, concentrated on the clash of arms. The resolution of these national differences affected a long-standing friendship.

The story starts in June 1940, when the Germans entered and occupied Paris. They were a distasteful presence to the French for more than four years. Their ubiquitous street signs were constant reminders of the nuisances, difficulties, and eventual horrors they inflicted. They took and executed hostages. They imposed a curfew. They forbade the playing of jazz. Because of their restraints, petty and otherwise, the inhabitants looked forward with longing to see the Germans go.

The Allies first gave serious thought to Paris when they acceded to the political wish of General Charles de Gaulle, head of the French Provisional Government in London. The invasion planners added the 2d French Armored Division to the list of units scheduled to sail from England to the continent, "primarily so that there may be an important French formation present at the re-occupation of Paris." General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, promised to use the unit to free the capital.

General Jacques Leclerc, the wartime pseudonym of Philippe François Marie de Hautecloque, commanded the division. An aristocrat, he had served as a regular army captain in the disastrous campaign of 1940. After the French surrendered, Leclerc made his way to England and joined De Gaulle.

Leclerc burned with desire to expunge and avenge the French defeat. He was headstrong and impatient, possessed a formidable will, and generated an immense charisma. De Gaulle sent him to Chad, where he raised a column of troops. He took his men to Libya and routed Italian soldiers at Koufra. He then attached his outfit to General Bernard L. Montgomery's British Eighth Army and fought on its desert flank. Leclerc advanced rapidly in rank and gained a legendary reputation. Having operated more or less independently, he was ill-suited to the discipline of the chain of command.

Toward the end of 1943, De Gaulle instructed Leclerc to form the 2d French Armored Division. Leclerc pulled together a variety of elements, "a mosaic of peoples, races, religions, and political convictions." Free French from the United Kingdom and Syria, French North Africa and Equatorial Africa, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Moslems, and animists, communists, reactionaries, socialists, radicals, free thinkers, militant Christians, and Quakers all mingled in friendship. Animating them were hatred of the Germans, love of France, and the spirit of Leclerc, who imparted a sense of adventure. The men exhibited the exuberance of freebooters.

After training in Algeria, the division moved to England. The soldiers knew what they were expected to do. They could hardly wait. Anticipation of their mission made them difficult to control.



The French armored division arrived in Normandy on 1 August 1944, almost two months after D-Day, and was assigned to the Third US Army under General George S. Patton, Jr. A patrician who spoke fluent if ungrammatical French, Patton welcomed Leclerc warmly. He offered Leclerc the opportunity to fight immediately instead of waiting to liberate Paris. Leclerc jumped at the chance.

Patton attached Leclerc's division to the XV Corps, commanded by General Wade Hampton Haislip. An aristocratic Virginian who had been a student at the Ecole de Guerre in Paris, Haislip spoke French easily. Like Patton, Haislip was especially nice to Leclerc. Both Americans tried to make Leclerc feel at home.

Yet Leclerc was skeptical of Americans. His service with the British in North Africa had given him some anti-American attitudes. Like many British officers, Leclerc thought the Americans to be newcomers to the war and amateurs in execution. He was sure he saw battlefield problems and solutions instantly, whereas Americans required time and paperwork to grasp and work out situations. Part of Leclerc's outlook came from resentment. The French were the proprietors of France, yet the Americans, who were merely transients, were running the show.

Leclerc would try Haislip's and Patton's patience. He would get on the nerves of all his American superior commanders, Generals Omar Bradley at 12th Army Group, Courtney Hodges at First US Army, and Leonard Gerow at V Corps.

With the French on the left and an American armored division, the 5th, on the right, the XV Corps pushed north toward Argentan to close what became known as the Argentan-Falaise pocket, the maneuver to surround the Germans in Normandy. Ahead lay an upland forest, difficult terrain, and Haislip instructed his armored divisions to go around it, the French on the left, the Americans on the right.



In a defiant or thoughtless, yet inexcusable, gesture of disobedience--perhaps because Leclerc had never before commanded a division in combat--Leclerc disregarded Haislip's order. He sent his elements around the left side, through the forest, and around the right. The latter troops preempted a major road reserved for the Americans and blocked their movement to Argentan, which was undefended.

During the six hours it took Leclerc's men to complete the maneuver, the remnants of three panzer divisions arrived in Argentan and assumed defensive positions. They turned back the XV Corps and kept the Americans and French out of the town.

On the outskirts of Argentan, the French division found itself on the southern jaw of the Falaise pocket. Paris was 100 miles away. Leaving Leclerc where he was, Patton, on the following day, 14 August, sent half of the XV Corps eastward toward the Seine River. Leclerc was exasperated. Did no one understand the importance of his mission? Asking Patton when the French could go to Paris, he explained, "It is political."

Patton needed Leclerc to contain the Germans at Argentan, and he bluntly told Leclerc to stay put. Patton's diary entry for the following day, 15 August, reads as follows: "Leclerc came in very much excited. He said, among other things, that if he were not allowed to advance on Paris, he would resign. I told him in my best French that he was a baby and . . . that I had left him in the most dangerous place [on the front]. We parted friends."



Leclerc wrote to Patton on the next day, 16 August. Argentan, he said, was quiet. It was probably time for him to regroup for movement to Paris. Patton wondered in his journal whether Leclerc would obey orders.

At Patton's headquarters that evening, Leclerc found Bradley there on a visit. Bradley and Patton both assured Leclerc of their respect for his ultimate place in the scheme of things.

Understanding why he had to remain at Argentan, Leclerc worried. American troops were closer to Paris than he was. On 19 August, Haislip's XV Corps crossed the Seine River, 25 miles below Paris. Walton Walker's XX Corps at Chartres and Gilbert Cook's XII Corps at Orleans were 50 and 75 miles from the capital. If Eisenhower had to liberate Paris quickly, would he be able to use Leclerc?

The departure of Haislip's corps headquarters and the shift of Patton's army to the east brought Leclerc new superior officers. The headquarters of Hodges' First Army and of Gerow's V Corps took charge of Argentan and Leclerc. Neither American spoke French. Neither was concerned with Leclerc's special role.


DeGaulle,Choltitz,Leclerc

To become acquainted with Leclerc, Hodges invited him to lunch on 20 August. All Leclerc could talk about was Paris. Hodges was disgusted. Yet on his own initiative he generously noted in his diary his intention to let Leclerc liberate the capital if the mission fell to Hodges.

On 21 August, the Falaise pocket closed and Leclerc, no longer required at Argentan, decided to fulfill his task. That evening he sent 150 men in ten light tanks, ten armored cars, and ten personnel carriers toward the capital. If the Allies moved into Paris without the French division, this small contingent was to go along as representatives of De Gaulle's Provisional Government and the French Army.

Writing to De Gaulle, Leclerc regretted his inability to dispatch his entire division. "Unfortunately," the Americans regulated the fuel they furnished him. And "the rules of military subordination" prohibited him from independent action. Ordering the small group to Paris was already a serious infraction.

On the following morning, 22 August, Leclerc sent an officer to explain to Gerow, his immediate superior. Gerow had by then received a message asking why French troops were outside their authorized boundaries. Was Gerow unable to control them?



Before Leclerc's emissary could speak, Gerow presented him with a letter for Leclerc. "I desire to make it clear to you," Gerow had written, "that the 2d 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 flew in his light plane to Hodges' First Army headquarters, the echelon above Gerow. Leclerc learned that Bradley was conferring with Eisenhower on Paris. Hodges was awaiting word on the outcome of the meeting. Leclerc decided to wait there too.

Eisenhower had concluded that it was best to defer the liberation. Taking Paris would delay operations against the Germans elsewhere. Seizing the capital might destroy the place and its historic and cultural monuments. Diverting food and coal to the city's inhabitants on humanitarian grounds would hamper the Allied pursuit of the Germans fleeing toward their homeland. The possibility of ending the war quickly might vanish. Bypassing Paris, going around the city, and waiting for the isolated German garrison to surrender made military sense.

[SAMWolf]

Ernie Pyle
Liberating the City of Light

---

PARIS, August 28, 1944--I had thought that for me there could never again be any elation in war. But I had reckoned without the liberation of Paris--I had reckoned without remembering that I might be a part of this richly historic day.

We are in Paris--on the first day--one of the great days of all time. This is being written, as other correspondents are writing their pieces, under an emotional tension, a pent-up semi-delirium.

Our approach to Paris was hectic. We had waited for three days in a nearby town while hourly our reports on what was going on in Paris changed and contradicted themselves. Of a morning it would look as though we were about to break through the German ring around Paris and come to the aid of the brave French Forces of the Interior who were holding parts of the city. By afternoon it would seem the enemy had reinforced until another Stalingrad was developing. We could not bear to think of the destruction of Paris, and yet at times it seemed desperately inevitable.

That was the situation this morning when we left Rambouillet and decided to feel our way timidly toward the very outskirts of Paris. And then, when we were within about eight miles, rumors began to circulate that the French 2nd Armored Division was in the city. We argued for half an hour at a crossroads with a French captain who was holding us up, and finally he freed us and waved us on.

For fifteen minutes we drove through a flat gardenlike country under a magnificent bright sun and amidst greenery, with distant banks of smoke pillaring the horizon ahead and to our left. And then we came gradually into the suburbs, and soon into Paris itself and a pandemonium of surely the greatest mass joy that has ever happened.

*

The streets were lined as by Fourth of July parade crowds at home, only this crowd was almost hysterical. The streets of Paris are very wide, and they were packed on each side. The women were all brightly dressed in white or red blouses and colorful peasant skirts, with flowers in their hair and big flashy earrings. Everybody was throwing flowers, and even serpentine.

As our jeep eased through the crowds, thousands of people crowded up, leaving only a narrow corridor, and frantic men, women and children grabbed us and kissed us and shook our hands and beat on our shoulders and slapped our backs and shouted their joy as we passed.

I was in a jeep with Henry Gorrell of the United Press, Capt. Carl Pergler of Washington, D.C., and Corp. Alexander Belon of Amherst, Massachusetts. We all got kissed until we were literally red in face, and I must say we enjoyed it.

Once when the jeep was simply swamped in human traffic and had to stop, we were swarmed over and hugged and kissed and torn at. Everybody, even beautiful girls, insisted on kissing you on both cheeks. Somehow I got started kissing babies that were held up by their parents, and for a while I looked like a baby-kissing politician going down the street. The fact that I hadn't shaved for days, and was gray-bearded as well as bald-headed, made no difference. Once when we came to a stop, some Frenchman told us there were still snipers shooting, so we put our steel helmets back on.

The people certainly looked well fed and well dressed. The streets were lined with green trees and modern buildings. All the stores were closed in holiday. Bicycles were so thick I have an idea there have been plenty of accidents today, with tanks and jeeps overrunning the populace.

We entered Paris via Rue Aristide Briand and Rue d'Orléans. We were slightly apprehensive, but decided it was all right to keep going as long as there were crowds. But finally we were stymied by the people in the streets, and then above the din we heard some not-too-distant explosions--the Germans trying to destroy bridges across the Seine. And then the rattling of machine guns up the street, and that old battlefield whine of high-velocity shells just overhead. Some of us veterans ducked, but the Parisians just laughed and continued to carry on.

There came running over to our jeep a tall, thin, happy woman in a light brown dress, who spoke perfect American.

She was Mrs. Helen Cardon, who lived in Paris for twenty-one years and has not been home to America since 1935. Her husband is an officer in French Army headquarters and home now after two and a half years as a German prisoner. He was with her, in civilian clothes.

Mrs. Cardon has a sister, Mrs. George Swikart, of New York, and I can say here to her relatives in America that she is well and happy. Incidentally, her two children, Edgar and Peter, are the only two American children, she says, who have been in Paris throughout the entire war.

*

We entered Paris from due south and the Germans were still battling in the heart of the city along the Seine when we arrived, but they were doomed. There was a full French armored division in the city, plus American troops entering constantly.

The farthest we got in our first hour in Paris was near the Senate building, where some Germans were holed up and firing desperately. So we took a hotel room nearby and decided to write while the others fought. By the time you read this I'm sure Paris will once again be free for Frenchmen, and I'll be out all over town getting my bald head kissed. Of all the days of national joy I've ever witnessed this is the biggest.

[lilylangtree]

HAPPY EASTER AND MAY GOD BLESS!

[Valin]

God bless the French...Cause I have no use of them.

As an aside I heard on one of the talking head shows this morning that French exports to America are declining.

"Ain,t that a shame"
my tears fell like rain.
ain't that a shame,
you're the one to blame."

[SAMWolf]

Our Military Today
Bush Attends Easter Services
With POWs

FORT HOOD, Texas - President Bush (news - web sites) visited the nation's largest military base Sunday to attend Easter church services and meet with two helicopter pilots who were held as prisoners of war Iraq.

Bush was attending services at the 4th Infantry Division Memorial Chapel. Joining him were Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, 30, of Orlando, Fla., and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, Lithia Springs, Ga., and their families.

The Apache helicopter pilots were forced down in Iraq on March 24. They were rescued, with five other American POWs, on April 13 in northern Iraq after Iraqi captors abandoned their posts ahead of advancing American troops.

The pilots, with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, returned to Fort Hood late Saturday, just after the five other soldiers got back to Fort Bliss in Texas. Bush planned to meet privately with the pilots.

Some 42,000 troops are normally based at Fort Hood. But almost half the soldiers at the Army installation have been deployed to the Iraq region, a base spokesman said.

Bush is taking an Easter vacation at his 1,600-acre ranch outside the central Texas town of Crawford. He took a helicopter to the Army base, which is about 50 miles south of the ranch.

His parents, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, joined the president and first lady Laura Bush at the base. Also in the group were the president's mother-in-law, Jenna Welch, and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice

. By SCOTT LINDLAW

President Bush salutes as he and first lady Laura Bush and Laura's mother Jenna Welch arrive at Fort Hood, Texas to attend Easter church services at the 4th Infantry Division Memorial Chapel Sunday April 20, 2003. Bush is visiting the nation's largest military base Sunday to attend church services and to meet with two freed POWs and their families who are attending the same service. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)


Former President George H. W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush arrive at Fort Hood, Texas to attend Easter church services with President Bush at the 4th Infantry Division Memorial Chapel Sunday April 20, 2003.

[SAMWolf]

Good. Maybe their friends the Germans and Russians can make up the difference in what we stopped buying from them.

[SAMWolf]

Our Military Today
Bush Meets the POWs

President Bush, center, shakes hands with Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, left, and Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, right, both former POW's , after attending Easter church services at Fort Hood, Texas at the 4th Infantry Division Memorial Chapel Sunday April 20, 2003. Bush visited the nation's largest military base to attend church services and to meet with the two freed POWs and their families who were attending the same service.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

[SAMWolf]

For all the Ladies who visit the Foxhole:



Click on the Easter Bonnet

[Victoria Delsoul]

"Christ the Lord is Risen Today"

The Resurrection

Matthew 28

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You must say, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks so much, Sam. I love old songs, the singers sound much better than today's singers.

Hope you're having a great Easter Sunday.

[SAMWolf]

Good Afternoon, Victoria. Happy Easter.

Wife's gonna hijack the machine for a while so I'll see everyone in a a while.

[Victoria Delsoul]

See you later, Sam.

[snippy_about_it]

[SAMWolf]

OMG! Is that an Italian Beef Sandwich!!!

[snippy_about_it]

It's supposed to be, yes. It was either that or flowers.

:)

[SAMWolf]

I'll trade you the flowers for the Italian Beef!!!

[snippy_about_it]

It's a deal. I thought you'd prefer it that way.

The tulips are lovely, thank you.

Close your eyes now and enjoy the Italian beef. :)

[SAMWolf]

Thanks. I can almost taste it.

[SpookBrat]

Thanks for the thread today SAM. I learned a lot, like I do everyday. I have always enjoyed history, but your threads make me realize how ignorant I am. I was unaware of the "French Resistance" details.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Don't worry Spooky.

For the most part "French Resistance" is an oxymoron.

After the lieration everyone was "in the Resistance" the truth is most of the French either collaborated with the Germans or just accepted them as the Government in power even though they resented them.

[SpookBrat]