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25 August 1944 Liberation of Paris |
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The breakout of Allied forces from Normandy, combined with further
landings in southern France (Operation Dragoon) in mid-August, made the German position in France
impossible to maintain. On August 19 the underground French resistance movement in Paris staged
an uprising against the German occupiers, leading Hitler to issue an order to the German governor,
General Dietrich von Choltitz, to burn the city to the ground. Von Choltitz instead concluded a
truce with the rebels on the 23rd, and two days later, when U.S. and French forces reached the
city, he quietly surrendered after some initial token resistance. After more than four years of
German occupation, France was free again.
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