general phillip leclerc.he commander of the second french armored division, to be the first forces into paris. in the evening after eisenhower they met on august 22nd, orders went out for the movement into paris. leclerc's second armored division was gonna be joined by the fourth infantry division. there would be two columns to move to paris. one approaching the city from the southwest, made a primarily leclerc second armored division, the other approaching paris directly from the south, made up primarily of the fourth infantry with the spearhead of french forces. . the following day, when the german general was receiving his field 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 tanks, and hundreds of other vehicles all moving. a journalist i was traveling with leclerc's force wrote in the heart of every frenchman, here there is a name. paris. paris. paris. and by the evening of that day, the two columns le

and by the evening of that day, the two columns, leclerc's fourth and the u.s. fourth infantry division were on the outskirts of paris. they met minimal resistance and there was hope that the germans were going to evacuate the city and spare paris that had suffered so much misery and destruction for four years all of that heartache. the following morning on august the 24th, very light summer rain was falling as the two columns began to move forward again. the plan was they would meet at one of the great public squares in paris. that great square that anchors on one end by the ark detriumph. and by the end of the day, neither column had still really broken into paris itself. and general bradley, overseeing all of this was getting impatient. one of his subordinates said the french still aren't in paris, they're dancing towards paris. bradley was furious. he fires off a telegram to eisenhower telling this and sends a message to the fourth infantry commander, slam into paris and bypass the french. well, of course, general leclerc and his men had not been dancing wit

well, of course general leclerc and his men had not been dancing with the germans.they had encountered stiff resistance and had suffered significant casualties that day. but that evening leclerc was still determined to get french p forces into paris and he found one of his best young officers and told him, take a small force and get into the city. and he asked, you want me to bypass any german strong points -- yes, get into the city any way you possibly can. at about 8:30, he set off with a small force and with the help of the french resistance, wound their way up the avenue across the seine river to the hotel de ville where the resistance was headquartered. they got there about 9:30. he then sent a couple of people over to the prefecture that the police has seized some days earlier to let them know that american and french forces would be in the city in strength the following day. and not surprisingly, word spread from the prefecture to police hardly a block away to notre dame cathedral. and it's 14-ton bell that had been silent for four years, began to toll, setti