CHRONICLE OF A LIBERATION: PARIS AND ITS SUBURBS 19–31 AUGUST 1944

While the liberation of Paris and its suburbs, from 19 to 31 August 1944, did not constitute a major military episode of the second campaign of France — which had begun on 6 June on the beaches of Normandy — it carried a symbolic importance that was recognised as such both within and beyond the borders of metropolitan France.

Day by day, hour by hour, Jean-Paul Lefebvre-Filleau recounts the popular uprising which, encouraged by the sense that Allied troops were imminent, liberated the capital and forced the proud German army into a humiliating capitulation. General Dietrich von Choltitz could indeed have carried out Hitler's vengeful order and destroyed the city — but he did not, convinced that the defeat of all the armed forces of the Third Reich was inevitable. Another German general played a considerable role, after the surrender of von Choltitz's troops, in preventing the destruction of Paris: Hans Speidel, who refused to launch V-1s and V-2s against the City of Light, even though the launch ramps were still operational in northern France and Belgium.

Chronique d'une libération has the merit of shining a light on "the obscure and the unranked" of this army of patriots — often without uniforms — whose actions contributed greatly to driving the enemy from the entire Île-de-France region. Richly illustrated, it brings to life the exploits of these men and women against the Nazi occupation forces.