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Lead book review

How the myth of Paris liberating itself was born

When De Gaulle persuaded Eisenhower to allow the French 2nd armoured division to lead a diversion into the city on 25 August 1944, it was his own political future he was thinking of

3 August 2024

9:00 AM

3 August 2024

9:00 AM

Paris ‘44: The Shame and the Glory Patrick Bishop

Viking, pp.374, 25

The liberation of Paris in August 1944, two months after D-Day, was one of the most highly publicised victories of the second world war, although it was of no military importance. General Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, originally planned to bypass the city altogether but was persuaded by General de Gaulle to allow the tanks of the French 2nd armoured division (the famous Deuxième Division Blindée – 2eDB) to lead a diversion into the city, backed by American infantry.

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