TRIPES Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations
Vol. 1 No. 47 New York—London—Renties Saturday, Aug. 26, 1944 man Garrison in Paris Surrenders French Clear Streets for Triumphal Paris Entry Cheering, Weeping Crowds See French, U.S. Troops Enter Organized German Resistance Ends 48 Hours After Erroneous 'Liberation' Report
The German garrison in Paris surrendered to the Allies yesterday and all organized resistance inside the city was reported to have ceased. Forty-eight hours after the premature French announcement that the once gay capital of France had been freed the French Second Armored Division rolled into the city, accompanied by an American armored reconnaissance unit. Despite spasmodic sniping from strag- gling enemy soldiers, the columns were cheered wildly by thousands of Parisians who, after four years under German domination, lined the boulevards to greet their liberators. Gen. Charles de Gaulle, president of the French National Committee of Liberation, and Gen. Jacques Le- Foe Requested Clerc, commander of the vanguard French troops, were in the city last night. First picture of Allied entry into Paris shows French civilians ripping down street barricades to alllow passage of jeep carrying French of ficees. Frenchman shouts: "A bas les Boches!"—"Down with the Arriving at the prefecture of Boche!" Truce in Paris police at 7 PM. de Gaulle greeted the wildly acclaiming crowds of spectators with these words: "I ForEvacuation wish only to say to you: Long live Rumania Goes Men of Armor Recon Unit Paris . . . long live France . . long live the republic." Situation Confused by For the first time since the fall To War With First Yanks to Reach Paris of France, a band publicly struck up False 'Liberation* the stirring Marseillaise. Men and women in the crowd wept. A small detachment of American troops accompanied the French Second Announcement The French armored division, to xis rowers Armored Division into.Paris yesterday morning to accomplish the liberation whom Gen. Omar N. Bradley had of the city, falsely reported two days before. Driving the fourth U. S. vehicle accorded the honor of initial entry —a jeep—was a Stars and Stripes reporter, Bud Kane, the first U. S. cor- Surrender of the German garrison in Paris yesterday came after 48 into the city, started rolling through Bucharest Liberated, respondent to enter Paris. Here is his story of the entry into the city and the suburbs of Paris around 9 o'clock the fighting that immediately preceded it. hours of utter confusion following on Thursday night, amid the roil of Hungar an Puppets an erroneous announcement, un- By Bud Kane artillery fire from Allied batteries authorized by supreme Allied head- hammering German stroiigpoints of Res u^fied Stars and Stripes Staff Writer quarters, that the city had been lib- resistance. PARIS, Aug. 25—At 7:40 o'clock this morning the Second French erated. Lights Go On Again The entire Balkan "powder keg" Armored Division drove through spasmodic sniper and mortar fire Exactly what transpired in Paris As the column approached, Paris yesterday appeared to be on the into the city of Paris. verge of exploding in Hitler's face during the last few criticafdays re- was alight. Through the night the as Bucharest, Ruirainia, became the Their entry, ending four years of German occupation of the gayest mained confused, but some light was citizens, long impatient for the ar- city in the world, was heralded by shed on the situation last night by rival of the armies of liberation, second European capital to be lib- ignored blackout. erated by its own people. cheers and hysterical shouts of thou- receipt of an Associated Press dis- 250,0G0NazisCaptives sands of Parisians, who had waited patch written before the liberation Lining the streets at the dawn 'While King Michael of Rumainia entry were thousands of people — declared war on Germany, thus tensely for weeks for the arrival of announcement was known to oe cementing his swing to the Allied Of Allies in France the American, French and British false. residents of Paris, FFI men, veterans The story, passed by Allied cen- of. this war, and the last, men, wo- side, there were signs of crisis in armies pushing sbuthwestward from LONDON, Aug. 25—At least 250X00 sors, told of the rebellion within the men, children — all cheering. Hungary as Germany frantically re- their Normandy landing beaches. city and of an armistice between the Throughout the city they sang the shuffled the puppet government of German soldiers have surrendered With first elements of the French Germans and French—an armistice Marseillaise with tears cours.ng that satellite. to Allied troops up to now in France, division was an American recon- which apparently was broken within down their cheeks. Flags appeared Meanwhile, Moscow broadcast an according to unofficial estimates, the hours. As late as Thursday German ar if by magic—American and Brit-* appeal to Bulgaria to divorce Hitler naissance unit, headed by Lt. British Broadcasting Corporation Howard B. Tully, of Edmond, W. Va. tanks were reported to be running ish, as well as the French tricolor. and get out of the war, warning wildly through Paris streets, shoot Appearance of American troops that the time is growing short. This said tonight. As the men and women lining the Some 60,000 Germans were cap- ing at anyone in their way, and sent the Parisians into a frenzy of followed reports Thursday that Bul- streets caught sight of the American furious street battles still were rag- excitement. They waved, should garian diplomats in Ankara had ap- tured in the Falaise pocket and uniforms, intermingled and side by Merci! Merci!," dashed up on bi- the number taken dai'f/ in the side with their own French Forces ing. The AP dispatch said, in part: proached the British ambassador to "On Tuesday the commander of cycles, climbed onto the cars and Turkey to open peace negotiations. new pocket on the lower Seine of the Interior, wild shouts went up kissed the soldiers. Girls clambered cannot yet be accurately estimated, and girls leaped forward to throw the German forces inside Paris On the othe'r side of Europe, there asked the French FFI leader for an onto jeeps. Others actually danced were new indications that Finland it was said. flowers into the vehicles, to shake ih the streets. In southern France, at least 23,000 armistice until he could get his was trying to make a deal with Rus- the hands of the soldiers riding it troops, who w'ere manning defenses Allied armies advancing into sia and arrange an armistice, as Germans have given themselves up ! them and to kiss them on the hand: in the southeastern outskirts, out of Paris have turned the roads con- "indirect contact" was reported to to the Allies, and several thousand j and cheeks. verging on the city black with more have surrendered to the FFI. the city to the north. The armistice have been mad3 between the Finns It was a heart-rending spectacle was granted until noon Wednesday traffic, according to pilots return- and Russians in Stockholm. Ten German generals have sunend- One old woman, in broken English ng from the area. In declaring war on Hitler, ered in France, seven in the north, said, with tears in her eyes: "My "The French resistance leader Inside the city, fighting was Rumainia's King Michael proclaim- and three in the south. An 11th Ger- stomach is empty, but my heart is slipped out of Paris and came to violent until the capitulation of the man general is reported to have been full of happiness." Gen. Bradley and asked that troop* rarrison. Thereafter it was sporadic, ed: "This is the only path for the be sent into the city to control the salvation of tht. fatherland from captured today by the FFI. Continued on Page 4 and the French authorities warned situation. Bradley immediately des ;hat German soldiers found resisting total catastrophe." Late reports last ignated a French armored column night said Bucharest was firmly in would be treated as violators of Rumainian hand? after bitter street and an American unit to move to their commanding officer's treaty ward the city. of surrender. fighting between Rumainian forces Kane Becomes Real Citizen, "The Germans had 15.000. troops, Meanwhile, reports from the front and the German legation troops gar- an American officer estimated, outside of Paris said that the rem- risoned in the capital. 9 p-uarding the approaches and man- nants of the German Seventh Elsewhere m R u mainia severe ning road blocks southwest of the 'S omewhere m France. It's Quiet As Yanks Cross Seine VOTJ might say Pfcs Walter Giebelstein and George Caldwell operate 1 an automatic bazooka. . It's the same bazooka that every other Not Even Luftwaffe doughboy team uses, but in the hands of this pair the bazooka just doesn't cease firing until everything G