Tag Archives: Paris

This week in the War, 21–27 August 1944: Liberation of Paris

The Free French 2nd Armoured Division of General Philippe Leclerc reached Paris this week in the war, on 24 August 1944. The next day, the German commandant of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, disobeyed the Fuehrer’s order to destroy the … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 17–23 April 1944: Paris suffers heavy bombing

This week in the war, on 21 April 1944, Allied planes bombed north central Paris. The main target was the La Chapelle railway marshalling yards. Their destruction was part of an overall plan to destroy communications in northern France prior … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 13–19 July 1942: La rafle du Vel d’Hiv—The roundup of the Velodrome d’Hiver

This week in the war, 16-17 July 1942, German troops aided by French police arrested 13,000 Parisian Jews that were without French citizenship and imprisoned them in the Vélodrome d’Hiver, the famous Paris cycling stadium near the Eiffel Tower. [‘Bicycle’ translates … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 18–24 August 1941: Pierre Georges fires the first shot in Nazi-occupied Paris

On 21 August 1941, a German naval adjutant named Alfons Moser was shot and killed at the Barbès-Rochechouart métro station in Paris. The act marked the beginning of an armed struggle against the Nazi occupation. The shot was fired by … Continue reading

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Book review: Seducing Ingrid Bergman

‘Cast down, her lashes are so long, I notice, they almost touch her cheeks. When she looks up, her face lifts out of shadow. Her eyes are slices of paradise.’ Such is the evocative and wonderfully vivid prose that runs … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 27 Jan–2 Feb 1941: Occupied Paris

Hélène Pitrou was a child, growing up in Paris during the dark years, the years of German occupation. [Check the book by historian Julian Jackson, France–The Dark Years 1940-1944]. Hélène kept a diary, un journal, as one says in French. … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 17–23 June 1940: Two tourists in Paris

Most visitors to Paris love the city—and I’m no exception; I adore it—and most come in July or August. It’s the time of year when Parisians flee to the countryside, abandoning their parks and boulevards to hordes of tourists. Paris … Continue reading

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