This silent footage shows scenes from the Liberation of Paris in 1944, and probably dates to August 26th, the day that Gen. Charles DeGaulle entered the city. The film begins with shots of civilians moving across hastily built barricades. At :26 (the title card says “A little clean-up”) signs of German occupation are removed by civilians and German signposts knocked over (:49). Pockmarked buildings are shown as well as anti-tank barricades (1:02) at Place Joffre. Barbed wire and a burning tank are shown (1:32). At 1:37, an L-5 Birddog aircraft lands on the Champs Elysee. At 1:55 shattered portraits of Hitler are shown to the camera. At 2:12 a title card notes that it is the 26th of August, and that Charles de Gaulle is seen in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. A G.I. marches with French women down the street while hordes of troops are seen. At 2:50 de Gaulle is shown in front of a troop of armored cars. At 3:11 flowers are laid at the grave of the unknown soldier at the Arch of Triumph while a band plays. de Gaulle lays flowers at 4:30 and salutes the French flag. At 6:12 masses of civilians celebrate in the streets and de Gaulle and the Free French Army parade through the city. Following them are American and British as well as other Allied forces. It was still a dangerous place to be: at 9:57 a title card notes that isolated gunfire erupted near the Place de la Concorde, and panicked people are seen escaping or moving towards cover. The wounded are removed at 11:15. More gunfire occurs at the 12:30 mark, as snipers in a tall building shoot down at the crowd. A perpetrator is removed at 12:58. At 13:10 an American tank sits in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral and de Gaulle is seen briefly once again.
The Liberation of Paris (also known as the Battle for Paris and Belgium; French: Libération de 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.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
