The landing ultimately proved to be a success. Hitler at first refused to reposition his troops gathered further north at Calais, considering the Allied landing to be merely a feint designed to draw troops away from Calais so as to make Patton's invasion easier (there was, of course, no such Patton invasion). For days Hitler hesitated before he finally came to the realization that this was the massive assault that the Germans had long been expecting. But by that time the Allies were well planted in Normandy and moving inland fairly quickly.

Several problems however complicated the Allied advance. The British were expected to liberate the city of Caen almost immediately. Their landing had been largely unopposed, but in reaching the outskirts of Caen the Germans showed themselves prepared to put up a major fight.  Consequently, this key hinge point took two months to bring under Allied control. Also the farms of Normandy were outlined not by fences but by huge, thick centuries-old hedges that gave the Germans great defensive opportunities and made progress of the Allied tanks and infantry almost impossible, until an immense steel fork was created to be placed on the front of the tanks, allowing them simply to plow through the hedges. With that innovation, the advance against the Germans proceeded much more quickly.

At one point a huge German army was nearly surrounded by the advancing Allies. But failure to close quickly a gap in the circle allowed most of the Germans to escape and reorganize further east against the Allied advance. Nonetheless, the Germans were tiring and running out of men and supplies. At this point (August) the Allied move across France towards Germany was advancing quickly.

The decision to liberate Paris rather than head directly to a Rhine crossing The decision to head from Normandy straight to Paris seemed a logical idea - especially to the French. But Eisenhower had other thoughts. Supplies were short. The Allies had only the shore landings at Normandy to bring supplies ashore and had not yet captured a major French seaport where they could bring in the masses of supplies needed to support the offensive against the Germans. Thus Eisenhower wanted to waste no effort to get to the German border defenses at the Rhine as soon as possible, certainly before the autumn season ended (and bad weather would bog down the Allied offensive) and then head quickly on to Berlin. The hope was to bring Hitler to defeat in Berlin before Christmas. To divert forces to remove the Germans from Paris (rather than just encircle them and slowly strangle them to submission) would be costly in terms of supplies, and would delay considerably the effort to get across the Rhine before the bad late fall weather set in. But there were other considerations that weighed heavily in favor of a direct effort to liberate Paris. The French Resistance, including tens of thousands of irregular militia or Partisans, stood ready ... though greatly divided among themselves politically in a range of various subgroups loyal to different commanders. The biggest divide within the Resistance was between the Communist Partisans, led by Henri Tanguy, and the Free French Partisans led by an uneasy Free French alliance of General Charles de Gaulle and General Jacques Phillippe Leclerc (the Americans and British had favored Leclerc rather than the self-promoting de Gaulle, with whom they had constant difficulties). Tanguy and his Communist Partisans stood ready not only to expel the Germans, but bring Paris (and thus France) under Communist dominion. That was something that neither the Americans nor the British wanted to see happen. Thus they were forced to support de Gaulle in his move to get himself and some of his Free French army into Paris to join the Free French Partisans before Tanguay and his Communist Partisans could grab control. Considerable risk accompanied this decision to advance on Paris. The Allies were really not ready to waste Paris in order to bring the Germans to defeat - handicapping greatly their military effort. Hope was that the Germans were not ready to do the same in their own defense, though the fact that Hitler had sent Major General Dietrich von Choltitz to Paris to take charge of the German defense of the city made them nervous. Von Choltitz was known to be a ruthless Prussian commander who had been greatly responsible for the thorough destruction of both Rotterdam in Holland and Sebastapol in Russia. The Allies did not know that he had instructions from Hitler to completely demolish Paris (leave not one Paris church, bridge, monument or landmark standing) rather than surrender the city intact - but they rather suspected something like that was bound to happen given Hitler's move to send von Choltitz there. Speed, surprise, and caution in handling the situation were all called for. But de Gaulle and his Free French were already rapidly on the move toward Paris before Eisenhower finally came to the decision to divert the offensive away from the Rhine and toward Paris. De Gaulle had to get his troops into Paris before Tanguy's Communist Partisans could get themselves in position to take the city. This meant that a lot of blood was going to be spilled in getting to the city. Paris was surrounded by a lot of artillery, though the German troops themselves were scattered and were not themselves battle-hardened soldiers, having lived the good life as Paris occupiers for four years. Choltitz even turned the anti-aircraft guns into field artillery since he suspected that the Allies would not try to take Paris from the air through bombardment of the city but on the ground through infantry and tanks. And he was right. But the Free French were so charged up with the thought of taking Paris from the Germans that their tanks kept pressing forward against the withering fire of the Germany artillery, simply overruning the German guns in the process (and losing a lot of troops). And on to Paris center (August 25, 1944) they headed, catching the thinly spread Germans unready to offer serious resistance. Pockets of entrenched Germans (and snipers) put up a valiant last-ditch effort to hold the city, though there was little hope for their success - as the Parisians took to the streets and the Communist and Free French Resistance rose up and took the Paris districts by force. The Germans were brought quickly to surrender. De Gaulle was quick to lead the victory march of his troops down the broad main street of Paris, the Champs-Elysées, putting himself out front prominently as the "Liberator" of Paris. The Communists were forced to settle for second place (a major political setback for them). And when then a few days later a long line of American tanks and troops also came down the Champs Elysées, there was no longer any possibility that the city would go Communist, but instead would go center-right in political orientation. Why did von Choltitz not follow his orders to blow up Paris? Explosives were planted everywhere in the city, ready to crumble the city to the ground. Von Choltitz would later claim that it was his own conscience that prevented him from doing such a dastardly deed. The collaborationist French mayor of Paris, Pierre Charles Tattinger, also took credit in stating that he had made a very strong personal appeal to von Choltitz to go down in history not as the man who destroyed Paris, but as the one who had the opportunity to do so and chose to go against his Führer and not destroy the City of Light. Others claim that the Resistance moved so quickly in removing the demolition planted by the Germans that von Choltitz's order to destroy Paris would have had little impact. No one really knows the full story. But aside from the hold out of a few German troops and snipers located here and there, the city that most people considered the most beautiful in the world was given over to Allied hands without a major catastrophe befalling it. On the other hand, the cost of the decision to delay the Rhine crossing in order to liberate Paris was very, very high. This gave Hitler time to reorganize his troops in the West, snuf out British General Montgomery's hope to quickly cross the Rhine in the North in Holland before the Germans could react (and thus open a very direct and lightly defended path to Berlin), even give the Germans the time to organize enough for one last push to throw the Allied effort back to the Atlantic (a combination of V-2 bombs and the German winter offensive known in the West as the "Battle of the Bulge") ... and worst of all, give him that much more time to try to complete the eradication of the entire European Jewish community with his "Final Solution." Thus a lot of lives were lost elsewhere because of the decision to redirect the Allied war effort toward Paris. In short, a precious, precious price was paid to spare a precious, precious Paris ... a hard but momentous decision.

Charles de Gaulle on BBC radio during the war

"General Charles de Gaulle speaks to the people of Cherbourg from the balcony of the City Hall during his visit to the French port city on August 20." 1944.
National Archives 208-MFI-5H-1

Members of the Maquis (French Resistance) in La Tresorieie - Boulogne, France, 14 September 1944
Library and Archives Canada

A Frenchman offering a drink to GIs on their way to Paris

An American officer and a French partisan crouch behind an auto during a street fight in a French city. 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-217401

De Gaulle and Eisenhower conferring
National Archives

Henri Tanguy - leader of the Communist Partisans

Major General Dietrich von Choltitz, German Commander in Paris
National Archives

Free French Partisans - members of the Resistance in Paris

Free French Partisans taking a stand at one of the 'barricades' in Paris

Waving the French tri-colored flag in victory atop a captured German tank

General Jacques Phillippe Leclerc directing French action in Paris from his half-track.
National Archives

Tanks of Gen. Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division moving down the Boulevard St. Michel (August 25)
National Archives

Germans surrender in Paris - August 25, 1944

High ranking German officers seized by Free French troops which liberated their country's headquarters for the Wehrmacht in the days of the Nazi occupation, Paris, France.

Small pockets of German resistance would hold out here and there in the Paris suburbs for the next week

De Gaulle leading the victory march down the Champs Elysées - March 26
National Archives

Free French tanks and half-tracks of General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division pass through the Arc du Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, after Paris was liberated.  August 26, 1944
Library of Congress

American troops in tank passing the Arc de Triomphe after the liberation of Paris, August 1944.
National Archives 208-YE-68

"American troops of the 28th Infantry Division march down the Champs Elysees, Paris,
in the `Victory' Parade." Poinsett, August 29, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-193197

An American tank crew in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral standing ready to defend Paris from German holdouts

GIs sharing a streetcorner feast with the French in Paris

"Bing Crosby, stage, screen and radio star, sings to Allied troops at the opening of the London stage door canteen in Piccadilly, London, England." Pearson, August 31, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-193249

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For some of the French, the "Liberation" of their country comes as bad news

"This girl pays the penalty for having had personal relations with the Germans.  Here, in the Montelimar area, France, French civilians shave her head as punishment." August 29, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-193785

"Photo taken at the instant bullets from a French firing squad hit a Frenchman who collaborated with the Germans.  This execution took place in Rennes, France." Himes, November 21, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-196741

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THE GERMAN V-1 AND V-2 MISSILES

The Germans pushed hard for the development of long-range jet-propelled missiles, promised as "revenge" (Vergeltung) for the Allied bombing of German cities ... even though the work in developing such German missiles had begun well before the Allied bombings of Germany (which itself was undertaken as reprisal for Germany's bombing or Blitz of England).  Thus the Vergetlungswaffe was developed ... appearing in two increasingly sophisticated forms:  The Vergeltungswaffe 1 (V-1) and Vergetlungswaffe 2 (V-2).   The V-1 was initially launched from the Atlantic coastline of German-occupied France, the operation beginning in June, 1944, soon after the Allies landed at nearby Normandy.  The V-1 missiles were aimed principally at London, timed to come crashing down on the British exactly when the V-1 ran out of its precisely calculated fuel.  It was loud ... but even more unnerving when the missile's engine stopped ... because those below knew that a huge bomb was coming its way.  But the British developed anti-aircraft fire capable of bringing down many of nearly 10,000 V-1s headed their way (roughly three out of every four missiles were knocked out).  Nonetheless, the 2,500 V-1s that did hit, terrorized the London population so profoundly that 1.5 million Londoners fled the city ... seeing their capital experiencing the horror of a "Second Blitz." they did considerable damage not only to London, but also the port of Antwerp, their primary target (the Allied needed a large port to bring in supplies for their troops), Liege, and other European cities  However, against the V-2, launched several months later (September) from German sites in the Netherlands, the British had no defense.  Flying three times the speed of sound, and dropping noiselessly from the heights, V-2s were aimed at London (over 1,300 V-2s) ... but also at Antwerp (some 1,600 V-2s) – the Allies' principal supply port.  But Liege and other European cities received V-2 attacks.  The attacks ceased only in late March of 1945 when Germany found itself nearly completely overrun.   The V-2s certainly terrorized Germany's Western enemies.  But ultimately, considering the expense involved (they alone consumed a third of Germany's fuel capacity), strategically they were of no serious help to a collapsing Germany.   But they did however, give the victors (American, British and Russian) a huge pool of German scientists to draw from in developing their own post-war missile systems ... weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that became centerpieces (along with atomic explosives) in the Cold War that was soon to develop.

The V-1

The V-1 being launched

The V-2

The V-2 being launched

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THE ALLIES HEAD ACROSS FRANCE THEN SWING TO THE NORTH INTO BELGIUM AND HOLLAND – HOPING TO CROSS THE RHINE RIVER THERE AND BREAK INTO GERMANY ("OPERATION MARKET GARDEN")

"Corporal Charles H. Johnson of the 783rd Military Police Battalion, waves on a 'Red Ball Express' motor convoy rushing priority materiel to the forward areas, near Alenon, France." Bowen, September 5, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-195512.

"Cpl. Carlton Chapman...is a machine-gunner in an M-4 tank, attached to a Motor Transport unit near Nancy, France." 761st Mt. Bn. November 5, 1944. Ryan.
National Archives 111-SC-196106-S

"Men of the 8th Infantry Regiment attempt to move forward and are pinned down by German small arms from within the Belgian town of Libin. Men seek cover behind hedges and signs to return the fire." Gedicks, September 7, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-193835

Yanks of 60th Infantry Regiment advance into a Belgian town under the protection of a heavy tank. September 9, 1944.
National Archives 111-SC-193903

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Operation Market Garden

The original plan for Operation Market Garden - September 17-25 1944
W.wolny

British General Bernard Law Montgomery
Maxwell Air Force Base

British General Montgomery, who commanded the northern flank of the Allied Army, was given the lead1 in implementing a concentrated assault on the German defenses in the north of Holland – the purpose being to gain a crossing of the Rhine River in the more lightly defended Netherlands. Montgomery’s claim was that this would allow the Allies to swing around from the North, encircle the heart of industrial Germany and gain quick access to Berlin ... possibly bringing the war to an end before Christmas. The idea was for the Allies to conduct their own Blitzkrieg by dropping paratroopers at vital bridges along the path of advance, catching the Germans by surprise ... and quickly moving up more soldiers and heavy equipment to secure the bridges and then beginning the rush toward a Germany caught in full retreat. But a vital bridge at Son was blown up by the Germans before it could be seized on the very first day of the offensive, slowing the Allied advance, and in general the troops moved up to take full control of the bridges much more slowly than planned. Too much partying in the crowded streets by the Dutch, who wanted to celebrate their liberation with the Allied troops trying to move north, slowed that movement down considerably. Progress was so slow that again the element of surprise was lost and the Germans were able to hold their ground, quickly moving in tanks to hold back the Allies. Also bad weather made Allied air cover and air resupply of overextended supply lines impossible. The Allied offensive stalled at Nijmegen and the paratroopers dropped further ahead at Arnhem now found themselves trapped behind German lines. In the end the plan was clearly not working ... and an effort now had to be made to rescue Allied paratroopers trapped behind German lines. Of the 10,000 troops that had been dropped at Arnhem, only a fifth of that number were rescued, the rest either killed or captured by the Germans. All in all, the plan failed miserably. Blame was passed around liberally. But the fact remained, the Rhine was not crossed ... until the following March. 1This would infuriate American general Patton, whose tank corps was making good headway against the Germans as it advanced toward Germany itself. For this meant not only diverting important supplies (especially fuel for his tanks) to his nemesis Montgomery but also the loss to Patton of the glory that both men sought on the battlefield! Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army. September 1944. National Archives 111-SC-354702 Infantry of 50th (Northumbrian) Division moving up past a knocked-out German 88mm gun near 'Joe's Bridge' over the Meuse-Escaut Canal in Belgium -16 September 1944 Imperial War Museum The 101st Airborne with members of the Dutch Resistance in front of the Eindhoven cathedral. CIA Four men of the 1st Paratroop Battalion, 1st (British) Airborne Division, take cover in a shell hole outside Arnhem. 17 September 1944. Imperial War Museum A paratrooper in Holland under fire British prisoners taken at Arnhem by the Germans Deutsches Bundesarchiv "A U.S. Infantry anti-tank crew fires on Nazis who machine- gunned their vehicle, somewhere in Holland." W. F. Stickle, November 4, 1944. National Archives 111-SC-197367 Meanwhile, elsewhere the advance against the Germans continues "The endless procession of German prisoners captured with the fall of Aachen marching through the ruined city streets to captivity." Germany, October 1944. National Archives 260-MGG-1061-1 Back in the States ... Roosevelt in his fourth run for the White House is up against a very highly respected Republican candidate, New York Governor Thomas Dewey. But Americans generally feel that this is no time to be "changing horses" in the mid-stream of the War Thus ... Roosevelt is elected to his fourth term as President. Department of the Interior However ... Roosevelt is a very sick man - and will not be able to live out more than a few months of his fourth term in office THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE – DECEMBER 1944 Then without warning, the Germans, in an effort to reach and seize the Allied supplies at the Port of Antwerp, massed a huge counter-blow in the Ardennes Forest of Eastern Belgium in mid December – just when and where the Allies were least expecting any German action In the middle of December 1944, the Germans totally surprised the Allies with a well-prepared attack on the densely wooded section of the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, catching the Allies off guard. ...  and thus thrusting deep into Allied lines, thus creating a deep bulge in the Allied line of advance. The "Battle of the Bulge" was thus underway.  A dense cloud cover had prevented the Allies from detecting a huge buildup of German forces at this point in the line where there had been thus far almost no action ... and thus where the Allies were spread out very thinly.  The surprise was so complete that in a matter of a few days German tanks, trucks and infantry had pushed deeply into the Forest. The German goal was to reach the key port of Antwerp, shut down the Allies' vital operations there, and seize Allied supply bases (supplies greatly needed by an impoverished German army) along the way. Hitler's generals tried to reason with Hitler concerning all of the dangers involved in such a move. But Hitler's mental state at this point was such that he thought himself totally brilliant as a military strategist and ignored the warnings.  In the end, his advisors proved right. It turned out to be a grand disaster for the Germans. Americans refused to give up the key crossroads town of Bastogne, despite being fully surrounded by German troops   The Germans knew that they had to take the town or else their position in the Ardennes was very vulnerable to counterattack by the Americans. In quick response to the German action, American paratroops were  dropped in the area surrounding the town ... and ground troops were rushed in from Montgomery’s forces in the north and Patton’s forces in the south.   At the same time the German forces that had pushed on beyonmd Bastogne found themselves running out of fuel (they had failed to sieze the American fuel depots ... or did so only to find that they had been torched to prevent them falling into German hands).  Thus the German push ground to a halt. Then on Christmas Eve the skies cleared ... and Allied planes could begin ruinous attacks on the German position.  The Germans were thus forced to retreat back into Germany ... now as crippled in the West as they were in the East. This would be the last grand attempt of the Germans to hold off the advance of the Western Allies into Germany.  Nonetheless the Germans would continue to fight fiercely for every piece of ground now that the Allies were entering Germany. The German offensive, 16-26 December 1944 The U.S. Army in World War II – The Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge.  "A Nazi soldier, heavily armed, carries ammunition boxes forward with companion in territory taken by their counter-offensive in this scene from captured German film." Belgium, December 1944. National Archives 111-SC-197561 American soldiers were caught completely by surprise "A lanky GI, with hands clasped behind his head, leads a file of American prisoners marching along a road somewhere on the western front. Germans captured these American soldiers during the surprise enemy drive into Allied positions." Captured German photograph, December 1944. National Archives 111-SC-198240 Some of the Germans were now playing by new rules of war "American soldiers, stripped of all equipment, lie dead, face down in the slush of a crossroads somewhere on the western front." Captured German photograph. Belgium, ca. December 1944. National Archives 111-SC-198245 Malmedy massacre - 84 American soldiers were killed after their capture by SS troops NOAA's Historic Coast & Geodetic Survey (C&GS) Collection The bodies of Belgian men, women, and children, killed by the German military during their counter-offensive into Luxembourg and Belgium, await identification before burial National Archives But the American line holds - notably at the town of Bastogne Wearied GIs trapped inside the Belgian town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge United States Army U.S. tanks moving cautiously through the Ardennes - December 1944 American soldiers taking up defensive positions in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge National Archives U.S. troops pinned down in the Ardennes by German troops -  December 1944 U.S. Army U.S. 82nd Airborne helping to relieve US troops caught in the Battle of the Bulge - December 1944 U.S. Army Go on to the next section:  The Full Assault on Japan     Miles H. Hodges