On August 19, 1944, 70 years ago the battle for Paris began. After four years of German Occupation the Allies had landed and were approaching. Seizing the time, Parisians staged strikes that erupted all over Paris and the battle to re-claim the city began.
On June 14, 1940 the Wehrmacht had marched into Paris and millions of Parisians fled. Only to return and suffer four years of Occupation.
The Battle for Paris lasted eight days.
The first shots fired in the Battle for Paris were Tuesday, August 19. On that day Paris’s police, (then and now photo)having sought what safety there could be in the police headquarters – the Préfecture de police began to fire at German soldiers and tanks down below on Boulevard Saint Michel and on the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Cara - Tuesday
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Thank you, Cara, for this great reminder.
ReplyDeleteAux armes, citoyens!
See it here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSWLanP-Nxo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Thanks for the memory, Cara!
ReplyDeleteThe temporal experience of history is kind of interesting: things that happened before you were born (or before you were old enough to be really aware of them) always seem to be the same distance in the past. Time moves SO slow when you've very young, that 10-15 years earlier is FOREVER, and time passes SO fast when you're old that those long ago times don't seem any further in the past than when you were young. Everett's Law of Frozen Time.
Thanks, Cara, that in juxtaposition with a recent Newsweek story really hit home. As Peter, Paul & Mary sang, "When will they ever learn..."
ReplyDelete