This week sees the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupiers during the Second World War. The Battle for Paris started with an uprising by the French Resistance against the German garrison on 19 August 1944 and lasted until the Germans surrendered on 25 August 1944.
On 24 August 1944 crowds of Parisians cheered as General Leclerc's 2nd French Armoured Division rumbled through the Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Élysées. American forces cleared the eastern part of the capital.
On 25 August General Charles de Gaulle, president of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, addressed the gathered crowds from the Hôtel de Ville. The following day he led a victory parade, interrupted by the last few German snipers. A huge combined French-US military parade was held on 29 August.
IBTimesUK looks back at photographs documenting the historic events of this momentous week.
Parisians reading leaflets posted by the French Resistance calling people to rebel against the Nazi occupationAFPParisians build a barricade at rue du Renard next to the Paris City Hall (Hotel de Ville)AFPGendarmes and a French resistance fighter keep an eye on the Seine during the Battle for ParisAFPMembers of the Free French Forces fight from inside the Paris Prefecture (police headquarters)GettyPeople inspect destroyed German military trucks in the 17th district as French and British flags appear at windows shortly before the liberation of the capitalAFPA French soldier fires from behind a small stone barricade in a Paris streetGettyGermans housed in the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, fearing that they may be shot, negotiate through the iron grille, while their officer holds a white flagGettyMembers of the French Resistance clear surrendering Germans out of buildingsGettyFrench resistance fighters carry a portrait of Hitler portrait ahead of a column of arrested German soldiersAFPFrench resistance fighters escort German soldiers on the Place de l'Opera in ParisAFPHuge crowds line the Champs Elysees as General Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division passes through the Arc du Triomphe, after Paris was liberated on August 26, 1944Jack Downey, U.S. Office of War InformationA Parisian offers a glass of wine to a French soldier of the 2nd Armoured Division of French general LeclercAFPGeneral Dietrich von Choltitz, the Nazi commander of Paris, signs the surrender of the Nazi troopsGettyA huge crowd gathers to cheer General de Gaulle at the Place de la Concorde, after the liberation of ParisAFPPeople cheer General Charles De Gaulle, President of French Committee of Liberation, as he passes by Place Concorde at the head of the Victory ParadeAFPA young woman kisses General Charles de Gaulle during the celebrations for the liberation of ParisGettyCrowds of Parisians celebrating the entry of Allied troops into Paris scatter for cover as a sniper fires from a building on the place De La Concorde. Although the Germans surrendered the city, small bands of snipers still remainedArmyGendarmes take cover behind cars as German snipers fire in a crowded section of Paris after the city was liberated by the AmericansGettySoldiers of the 4th US Infantry Division look at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, after the French capital had been liberatedJohn DowneyHigh ranking German officers seized by Free French troops are lodged in the hotel Majestic, headquarters for the Wehrmacht in the days of the Nazi occupationLovellA soldier of the Second French Armoured Division marches a group of German soldiers, captured in Paris, past the Arc de Triomphe as the French Tricolour flies overheadGettyTwo women, partially stripped, their heads shaved and with swastikas painted on their faces, are marched barefoot down the streets of Paris, to shame and humiliate them for collaborating with the GermansGettyParisians line the Champ Elysees to cheer the massed infantry units of the American army as they march in review towards the Arc de Triomphe, celebrating the liberation of the capital of France from Nazi occupationArmy
