from five presidential nominees. but as an, hour john f. kennedy, and richard nixon. exploring the american story, watch american tv, on c-span three. on august 25th, u.s. soldiers liberty paris after four years of german occupation. next on american history tv, harry chronicles the operation hosted by the kansas city public library in the u.s. command and staff college. this is an hour. >> good evening everyone, i'm kelly evans, and part of the public affairs team at the kansas city public library. thrilled to have you here today, and have harry as our speaker.

-- we've been partnering with them since general of 2008 and our programs become more apart more popular every month. as you can see we're here at the hall in our brand-new chairs. just because we couldn't fit you all upstairs. it doesn't matter the topic our discussion of the liberation of paris is no different. harry labour is a professor of history who specializes in the american civil war and world war ii in europe. he's a full bright scholar, he spoke at west point, and to the idf military college. i'm not gonna keep you any longer. let's welcome up harry. >> well good evening. think you to tell you, crosby

camper and the entire staff here at the kansas city public library. is this not a great facility? it is really one of the jewels of kansas city, we at the staff college are very appreciative of the library we have. most of my colleagues, many of whom in the audience will attest that these are one of the great opportunities that will cherish and speak to the library. and thanks to you as well for coming out. a nice crowd. and haven't been here before for a number of my colleagues speaking, and the past have spoken here before and i see familiar faces which is great we appreciate your support incoming or at all those times that we've been down here to do talks. how many of you have been to paris?

>> i've got nothing to tell you then. how many of you have been to paris recently? say in the last 75 years? all right looks like just about everybody. well, if you haven't been, for the time that we've gotten together tonight let's go to france. and let's go back to france in the summer of 1944. more specifically, august 7th, 1944. 18 and we're going to meet the man we see in the cheap here. a smile most of us recognize. general dwight eisenhower, supreme commander of all the allied forces in western europe. eisenhower was in france on august 7th, to establish his advanced command post.

his headquarters that he was going to move. permanent headquarters. he was in london at the time and was gonna move it to the continent on september 1st. but he was there in normandy outside the town to establish eight early headquarters and advanced command post as i said. now the code name for eisenhower's temporary headquarters was shell hearst. now since d which day which occurred -- allied, but a couple weeks before this time when eisenhower is there with the success of operation cobra, british and american and other allied forces broke out of normandy and each head began to work their way across france. now, as eisenhower and his staff studied the maps, the

arrows, the markers, across france, their eyes were drawn almost involuntarily like a mauve to frame to paris. the french capital. the city of light. paris, the city where veterans spoke of with something of a slight smile and a wink. but that was a pairs of another time. that was the pierce of another generation. for at this point paris was an occupied city, and had been occupied for four years for the summer of 1944. well, eisenhower and senior commanders you can see here in this photograph weren't the first allied officers to think of the city of paris. even before d day planners were

wondering what we do when we get to paris. the plan was when we get to paris we're not gonna move directly into paris. instead regard to bypass the city. we're going to encircle let. and they thought about things like difficult street fighting, high casualties, both civilian and military. the distraction away from the real objective which was going to be the german army. moving directly into germany? and the possible destruction of many of paris is great architectural wonders, as well as sistine a city of 4 million people, estimates were it would be 4000 tons a day of supplies, for food and fuel of the population, 4000 tons that would have to be diverted from eisenhower's military forces. so with those factors aligned

-- will of course the americans in british were the only ones thinking of paris. the germans had also been considering what to do about paris, especially because they occupied the city in the spring of 1940. and it'll butler had made it clear after june 6th, when allied forces landed in normandy that paris was going to be held, and it was not going to be surrendered to germans. well on august the 7th, the same day as an hour was up in normandy setting up his headquarters shall burst. this man, the trump ankle toots was named as the general commander of paris. great, good luck, or horrible look depending on how you might look at it. he had extensive experience in

the war including overseeing occupied cities. he was known as a tough guy in the german army, and he was hitler's handpicked choice to oversee paris and ensure that it remained out of allied hands. so from that day on august 7th he began joining the forces under his command to ensure that hitler's decree would be carried out. and of course, the french had been thinking about paris. always thinking about paris, four pairs to the french was more than just a political capital. it was more than the political capital, it was more than the cultural center of france. paris is the spiritual center of france, it's where the french sole resided. even when the city was under

the heel of an occupying military force. and this man, the general, had emerged almost by default as the leader of those french who were unwilling to bend to the nazi regime. after leading one of the few camera attacks against german invading forces, they skipped to london, and there in the broadcast over bbc radio that became known as the appeal of june 18th, de gaulle issued a challenge to freshman everywhere. to continue the resistance against the nazi invaders who had now become occupiers. to continue their resistance against frenchman in france, who had surrendered their independence and dignity to cooperate with the german forces. he called on frenchman to rally

to him, as he assumed the mantle of fruit france. now the truth is he hadn't been elected by anyone, he was essentially self appointed as the leader of france at the time. but for four years since 1941 the germans invaded now till the summer of 44, move has come to recognize him as a leader of free france. one significant exception was the american president, franklin roosevelt, who didn't like him. roosevelt wasn't alone in. that roosevelt continued to remind people that he wasn't elected, and the united states couldn't recognize him as a present without a democratic process. we can identify with that

degree. despite roosevelts reluctance to recognize him by the spring or fall of most had recognized him, including the divisions in france and there were many. they have decided to set aside their political difference for the moment, to present a united front against the german occupiers and they collectively became known as the french forces of the interior, or the ffi, and they acknowledged dug all, for the moment as the recognized leader. and went de gaulle to paris, as he made clear in that appeal of june the 18th. the in france, and more specifically, in paris, over that summer of 1944, tensions began to rise in the city, especially after d-day, when the allies landed in normandy.

on june the 14th, bastille day, the french equivalent to our 4th of july, in paris, spontaneous demonstrations broke out. and parisian's started to display the try color, the french flag, prohibited by the germans since they occupied the city, certainly this was disquieting for the germans, seeing that, knowing that the allies had landed some weeks earlier. by the second week of august, real workers went out on strike. and parisians began to notice that civilian workers from germany along with the uniformed women in the german army, were starting to take trains heading east, out of paris. equally noticeable was in court

yards across the city, there were german government official documents burning, sending ash like confetti over various regions of the city. unmistakable signs to the parisian's. then, on august 14th, the paris police went out on strike as well. 15,000 fairest policeman, all of them armed, did not show up to work that. this certainly had to be disquieting for the occupying german forces, there's 15,000 policeman just disappeared into the civilian population, again with their arms, and certainly there had to be some german forces looking over their shoulders at every moment. clearly. , change was coming, brought by

the winds of war coming out of the west. not long after the rail workers and the police went out on strike, postal workers joined in, and then workers in the paris subway system, the metro, went out on strike. and these strikes collectively paralyzed the city. and that small trickle of german officials that were leaving the city, nobody could miss, was turning into a significant exodus, all again, troubling signs for the german occupiers. and then on saturday, june the 19th, open rebellion, insurrection, conducted by the resistance forces, broke out in paris. the resistance was not united in this decision to begin an insurrection. those who were followers of charles de gaulle advocated waiting, we have to be patient. the allied armies are still miles and miles away from paris,

and we are going to need their help and their support. and at that point, word was trickling in from the eastern front, specifically in warsaw, where the resistance in warsaw had begun an uprising against the german occupiers. and word was that the germans were inflicting brutal casualties on the resistance workers in the hundreds, if not thousands, and there was concern among the followers of de gaulle that that would happen to us. but, the communist elements in the resistance were adamant that now is the time to strike. those followers have de gaulle recognized that if they did not join in, when the liberation came, the may well have given up any claim to power because they did not join in the resistance. so, the battle for paris was on. scattered firefight sucked erupted across the city like

summer thunderstorms. while the resistance force is especially targeted german convoys transiting across the city, and installations where they believed they could gain additional weapons. then, early that morning, a striking policeman clambered up on top of a car in front of the police headquarters. call when he got on top of the car, he proclaimed that he was seizing the police headquarters in the name of charles de gaulle and the provisional republic of france. we now, there were a couple of hundred other striking policeman there with him and they moved in to the police headquarters. no resistance from the germans. germans had not anticipated this and they did not have forces available. that evening, in an attempt to

bring peace to a city that was erupting in violence, this man, raul nordley, who was the swedish council general in paris worked to broker a truce between the two sides. he met with the general and the agreement they reached was that the germans would recognize the resistance fighters as regular soldiers and afford them all the rights commensurate with a regular soldier. the germans agreed not to attempt to retake any buildings the resistance had seized. on the part of resistance, they agreed not to attack any german convoys that were clearly leaving the city.

they agreed not to try to seize any german strong points. the following morning, sunday, august 20, outside the hotel which was the center for the municipal government of paris, resistance forces mimicking what the police had done the previous day, moved in and occupied the hotel again. little german resistance to this. bit by bit, block by block, the men were starting to lose control of paris. coltus still had significant military power in the city he could draw upon. really the question was what would the germans do and that might well determine the fate of paris. that same morning, when the resistance siezed the hotel,

charles de gaulle returned to france from his provisional government headquarters in algiers. when he returned to france, he met with general eisenhower outside the town. the two men had met any number of times previously in the war. in late december of 1943, just a few months before this point, they had met as eisenhower was beginning to transit from the mediterranean back to england to prepare for operation overlord, d-day. at that point, eisenhower agreed that when the time for the liberation of paris came, french forces would be the first ones in. now, that time had come, at least in de gaulle's estimation. eisenhower was not so sure. he was still sticking to the pre-d-day plan of bypassing paris. now these two men are really a

study in comparison and contrast. they were born only about a month apart in 1890. they both came from large families. they both were avid readers of military history. they both attended their country's respective military academies. eisenhower attending west point. de gaulle attending one just outside of paris. in world war i, their careers diverged in some degree. de gaulle served as an infantry company commander, wounded three times, and left for dead on the battlefield. he was then taken prisoner. as most of you know, eisenhower was ordered to stay stateside during world war i and train up troops who then got the good fortune to travel across the atlantic into the trenches of the western front. at this point, both of them

knew they were approaching this war from very different perspectives. eisenhower from the united states which all recognized was a world power, ready to take the stage. eisenhower knew american history and knew in the relatively short history of the united states that the country suffered really in only minor ways from foreign invaders. whereas, de gaulle looked at france and saw them on the verge of disappearing from the world stage as an independent nation. he looked at france's history over centuries far longer than the united states'and recognized france has been invaded from the romans and the huns, the english, the germans under the kaiser, the germans under hitler.

de gaulle saw himself at this point as perhaps france's last best hope to survive as a nation. he described himself as a man of destiny. eisenhower saw himself as a soldier with a job to do. and described himself as a man of the kansas plains. so now that man of destiny was pressing that man from the plains of kansas to move on paris. it's too early, eisenhower responded. de gaulle said with a retort, why is it so early? if allied forces crossed the same river north of paris and allied forces have crossed the river south of paris, why can

they not cross the river at paris? he told eisenhower at this point paris was fundamental, it was essential to the governing of france at that point and in the very near future. eisenhower responded that he would do what he could, but at this point, he could make no promises of when he would cut loose part of the allied army to move into paris. the following day, de gaulle sent word to eisenhower by de gaulle's senior military commander. what he told eisenhower was information that the french were receiving from paris was that the city was on the verge of anarchy. there was no police presence. transportation had completely stopped. food shortages set the city on the verge of famine.

and de gaulle argued that if allies don't move now, they were risking a humanitarian disaster and perhaps the destruction of paris itself. as it happened a number of times early in the war, de gaulle and eisenhower, two extraordinary personalities, were putting that relationship to the test. but events in paris would drive eisenhower's decision-making as much, if not more so, than de gaulle's urgings. the next day, on monday, august 21, that tentative truce that the swedes organized completely fell apart. more radical elements in the resistance forces refused to recognize the truce. the fanatical elements of the german forces, the s.s., agreed and refusing to acknowledge the

truce so the battles were on once again. in scenes that remembered victor hugo's les miserables -- they began to construct barricades out of whatever they could find, abandoned vehicles to stones, tearing up paris'cobbled st reets. a german sergeant told his wife that day, i have a feeling things are going to get bad here. very fast. well, the effectiveness of these barricades, not by soldiers and no rhyme or reason to the hundreds that appeared across the city. it is debatable about what effectiveness they may have had in slowing german movement across the city. but, what does barricades did demonstrate was that the parisians were not merely an audience.

not bystanders. they were participants in the liberation of their city. they were contributing to the liberation of their own lives. as parisians were constructing these barricades across the city, in his office, in the hotel just across the street from the gardens, general coltus continue to receive directives from berlin. two s.s. officers appeared in his office telling him they have orders from their commander, heinrich himmler. to take the famous medieval bayeux tapestry that was being stored in the louvre museum back to berlin. coltus told them, well, the resistance has occupied the

louvre museum. you are welcome to go and get it. not surprisingly, the tapestry did not leave the louvre museum. more seriously though was an order from hitler. reiterating his last man defense directive. at that point, coltus put in a call to his commanding officer's headquarters and over the telephone he outlined what he was going to do should the allies make it to paris. the destruction of the arc de triomphe, the opera house, where napoleon is buried, notre dame cathedral, the matalin church. the river bridges. of course, coltus said we'll fell the eiffel tower and the twisted steel will prevent allies from moving through the city.

in truth, he had no intention of doing any such thing. knowing that the phone lines were probably tapped by the gestapo he was being very careful in what he said. coltus recognized and acknowledged that paris was one of the most beautiful cities in europe, if not the world. he had no intention to be the man known through history who destroyed all the architectural wonders i just described. his resolution on the telephone was designed to protect as best he could his family that was still in germany. coltus really feared that soon enough he would have to either carry out hitler's directive or he would be replaced by an officer who would most certainly carry out hitler's directive. he commented to his staff

rather jokingly, ever since the enemies have refused to listen to our fuhrer, the war has gone badly. it was now going quite badly for the general. he received the order he had been anticipating and fearing, directly from hitler. the strongest measures must be taken against the first signs of insurrection, including public execution of ringleaders. demolition of the seine bridges must be prepared. paris must not fall into enemy hands except as a field of ruins. time was running out for general coltus, and by extension, time was running out for paris as well. closely following the deterioration of conditions in paris as best they could with the limited information they

had, were the senior allied military commanders. to eisenhower's right, general omar bradley. senior american ground forces commander in europe. direct american subordinate. to his left, general de gaulle's immediate overall military commander. these men on that morning of august 22, as the truce was completely falling apart in paris, had a discussion and they made the determination that the conditions in paris were such that they could not bypass the city. eisenhower sent word to the combined chiefs of staff, senior american british commanders, his superior

officers, informing them of his decision. to eisenhower's credit, he couched this message to the chiefs of staff in a way that precluded debate, that precluded counter orders coming down and saying you are not going into paris. was eisenhower said, in essence, if we bypass paris, the germans have sufficient combat power to continually threaten our flanks and our rear. if the germans evacuate paris without a fight, it's ours anyway. so what eisenhower did was make the decision to move into paris, a military based decision instead of one based on political considerations. eisenhower had already given approval for the men in the center of this photograph, the commander of the second french harbor division to be the first forces into paris. the evening after eisenhower and senior commanders met, orders came out for the movement into paris.

leclerc's second army division was going to be joined by the united states fourth infantry division. there would be two columns to move into paris. one approaching the city from the southwest, made up of the second armored division. the other approaching paris directly from the south, made up primarily of the u.s. fourth infantry with the spearhead of french forces. the following day, when general coltus was receiving his field of ruin orders from berlin, the french second armored division was about 120 miles outside of paris. they set out that morning for paris. 16,000 men, 200 sherman tanks, hundreds of other vehicles all moving in column. a journalist that was traveling

with leclerc's force wrote "in the heart of every frenchman here, there is a name, a goal -- paris, paris, paris." by the evening of that day, the two columns, leclerc's force and the u.s. at what fourth infantry division, they met minimal resistance. there was hope of germans would evacuate the city. save additional allied casualties and spare paris that has suffered so much misery for four years, all of that heartache. what the following morning on august 24, very light summer rain was falling as the two columns began moving forward again. the plan was they would meet at one of the great at public

squares in paris. that great square that at at at that anchors one end of the champ d'lysees and the other by the arc de triomphe. by the end of the day, neither column had still really broken into paris itself. general bradley overseeing all of this was getting impatient. one of his subordinates said the french are still not in paris. they're dancing towards paris. bradley was furious. he fired off a telegram to eisenhower and sent a message to the fourth infantry division commander. slam onto paris and bypass the french. well, of course, general leclerc and his men have not been dancing with the germans. they have encountered stiff resistance and suffered

significant casualties that day. that evening, leclerc was still determined to get french forces into paris so he found one of his best young officers, a captain, and told him take the small force and get into the city. at you want me to bypass any german strong points? yes, get into the city anyway you possibly can. so at about 8:30, he went off with a small force. with the help of the french resistance, wound their way up the avenue, across the river, to the hotel where the resistance that was headquartered. at they got there about 9:30. montréal he then sent a couple of at people over to the precinct that the police had seized some days earlier to let them know american and french forces would be in the city during that the following day. not surprisingly, word spread

from the police, hardly a block away, to notre dame cathedral. its 14-ton bell that had been silent for four years again to toll, setting off a cascade of church bells across the city, including the even larger church in the northern side of the city. in his office, in the hotel marise, general coltus was hosting something of a farewell dinner for his staff and officers. when the bells began to ring, a young second lieutenant wondered out loud, what is the meaning? coltus immediately knew. he said the allies are here. he rang up headquarters, held the phone up so they can hear. montréal he said the french and

the americans are moving into at the city. when morning came on august 25, the next day, the clouds and rain showers of the previous day dissipated. many of the germans in the city recognized the game was essentially up. they began withdrawing to the eastern side, almost like montréal a receding tide. by midmorning, french and at american columns were moving through the streets of paris almost like rivers of iron and steel. some vehicles with white that american stars on them. others with a silhouette of france with the cross of lorraine superimposed over the map. but, all the germans had not left. so fighting continued between german tanks and at german infantry and the resistance forces in urban combat from the champs at d'elysee, around the

arc de triomphe, around the louvre museum. at 12:30, the french flag appeared above the eiffel tower. we can only imagine what went through parisians'minds when they saw that. shortly after, the french flag appeared at the arc de

de gaulle arrived in paris late that afternoon, the first

place he went was the train station in montparnasse. this is a photograph of him, de gaulle is the one with a cigarette. he went there intentionally because that is where general leclerc had the army headquarters, he went there to emphasize the role the french army had played in the city. and to downplay the role of the resistance, that was made up of such a significant degree of communist, de gaulle knew he was going to have a political battle. be their admiral parnas, there was a young second lieutenant from the second armored to division, eight felipe va de gaulle. he was able to share this moment with his father. you from montparnasse you de gaulle then traveled to the ministry of war, where he had

had an office in 1940, before he made his escape to london. there, he symbolically, as well as in a very practical sense set the wheels in motion for the