The French Campaign 1944

For centuries before the German occupation in 1940, Paris had been a magnet for those throughout the world who sought freedom and civilized living. In pre-war Paris, a leisurely pattern of life had been created over the years in which the free exchange of ideas was marked by the endless conversations of the cafes. Artists of every nationality came to work and study in Paris under the acknowledged masters of the arts. Paris was a refuge for the oppressed, where no ideas were barred, no audience refused to anyone who had a cause to plead. Paris honored learning as have few other cities, and in Paris there was always time to think, time to reason. It was a center of liberal thought, where renowned writers met to exchange ideas and to discuss the rising threat of autocratic government in which they saw an obvious peril to the free world. But Paris by night became a city devoted to pleasure. No one could be disappointed on that score. Entertainers who had won fame in Europe and in the Western Hemisphere graced Parisian nightlife and brought to it an atmosphere of cosmopolitan living which has never been duplicated elsewhere. Then in the early fall of 1939, after years of Nazi bloodless aggressions and a series of shocks in the war of nerves, Paris accepted the inevitability of war. And Paris set about preparing to the best of her ability for the coming conflict, confident that her army could stop the German ground forces, if not the Luftwaffe. When war came, Poland collapsed in 4 weeks. 8 months later the low countries fell. Then came swift disaster to France. Once more the streets of Paris echoed, as they had in 1871, to the tread of hobnailed German boots. And Paris, under the swastika, became a city of sorrow. To Paris came the architects of ruin in the persons of Hitler and Goering and their satellites. And in the city which had long been a symbol of freedom, a paranoid ex-paperhanger proclaimed freedom's end. Said Hitler, "Europe is ours for a thousand years." But in the new world, millions who were determined that France would live again found their reaction to her fall best expressed by President Roosevelt. The whole of our sympathies lie with those nations that are giving their lifeblood in combat against those forces. And the American people were quick to express their love of France by practical gifts as well as by moral support. Sobered by the plight of the French, America began training thousands of men who were later to take part in the liberation of France. American labor and management together turned their abilities to the production of goods for war. Within 4 years, warships were being produced at the rate of 573 a year. The output of guns and ammunition rocketed as the industrial plants of America swung into stride. Aircraft production rose to 9,000 planes a month. 57,000 tanks a year rolled off the line. Into these weapons of war went all the resources of the Western Hemisphere. Rubber, tin, strategic materials from every North and South American nation. Across the Atlantic steamed huge British and American convoys carrying the weapons and supplies of the new world to the British Isles which stood so valiantly as the last outpost of democracy in Europe. At Quebec, Canada in 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill, acting on the advice of their military staffs, made the momentous decision to invade Europe. Three months later at Tehran, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met and the invasion date was set so that it would coincide with the Russian offensive. Thus, the utmost pressure would be brought to bear on Germany simultaneously on every front by Russian, American, and British forces. But, the Germans had not been idle. They had constructed with slave labor a complex and massive series of fortifications along the coasts of Europe. Heavy gun emplacements, minefields, tank traps, and pillboxes formed a barrier beyond which it seemed no enemy could pass. Into the planning and building of these great fortifications went the best ability of the German General Staff whose members repeatedly inspected the Atlantic Wall for possible weaknesses. And the German General Staff pronounced it impregnable. But, in the spring of 1944, an Allied weapon the Germans had underestimated began to make its power felt with ever-increasing frequency. Allied bombers intensified the systematic destruction of German production facilities. Royal Air Force and US Army planes flew side by side in the great bombing raids. Man, it's 11:00, Dick. I see them. I see them. Confirm that one. Mikey's burning. Gradually the allies won control of the air over Europe. By May of 1944, the stockpiles of US and British supplies in England had reached a point which guaranteed that the Allied armies would lack for no piece of essential equipment. England had become one vast warehouse for the coming invasion. Then, early in June of 1944 at headquarters in England, the high command met. In command of all Allied ground forces was General Sir Bernard Montgomery. The time had come to start the most brilliantly conceived campaign in history. First, thousands of British and American fighters and bombers began a sustained attack on German installations along the invasion coast. German trains, airfields, and planes were strafed in lightning low-level attacks. Road junctions were dissolved into dust and flame. Then came June 6th, 1944. A day which marks a step forward in the progress of mankind. British and American warships tossed thousands of tons of high explosives on enemy beach defenses and strong points. Then, in the early dawn, the power amassed by years of Allied energy and sacrifice met the best the Germans were able to offer. Onto the beaches of France poured the fighting men of Great Britain and America. And on the beaches many died. After 24 hours of desperate fighting, the first phase was over. The landings had been made and were being held. 19 days later, the Cotentin Peninsula had been all but overrun in a series of bitterly contested battles. Supplies and reinforcements in a volume and at a speed which the Germans had not believed possible were moving up across the beaches and through the improvised ports the Allies had created. And when the battle for the port of Cherbourg was joined, there was no lack of material to hamper the Allied assault troops. By June 27th, the last of the German garrison troops had surrendered. And the Allies were assured of what they most needed, a deep-water port. But first the German demolitions had to be cleared up and acres of docks rebuilt. Within a few weeks American engineers had performed miracles of improvisation, and the port's capacity to handle freight was raised to more than its pre-war level. Then, when an enormous supply of men and equipment had been built up on the peninsula, the breakthrough began. Generals Eisenhower and Bradley had been planning an all-out assault. General Patton, specialist in mechanized warfare, had his armored divisions ready. On July 25th, a 2,000-plane bombardment of the Saint-Lô area was ordered. Within hours, Patton's tanks and men began to pour through the gap. Then started a demonstration of mobility and power by men who had always understood the use of machines, whether for war or peace. The weight of this offensive carried the American troops across the Breton peninsula in 4 days. While the British and Canadians held the Germans' heaviest armor at Caen, the Americans swung north to form a trap full of Germans at Falaise. The Germans, hammered by a ring of massed artillery fire and by aerial bombardment, found themselves undergoing the confusion and terror which they had brought to so many of Europe's defeated nations. South of Caen, the British and Canadian armies has the frantic efforts of the Germans to break out of the trap. By the 14th of August, the pocket had been reduced. German offensive strength in Western France was broken beyond any chance of recovery. Meanwhile, the lack of ports and railroads have been partially overcome by the allies. An express line of heavy duty trucks was organized. 24 hours a day at 40 miles per hour, the trucks were bringing up supplies from the beachheads to the front lines. Then, on August 15th, the allies struck from a new direction. The liberation of Southern France began. Here, as Normandy, paratroopers and airborne infantry led the attack. 9,000 of these shock troops landed well behind the German fortified coastal zone. And with them, landed their weapons, rations, and ammunition. While the airborne army was at work cutting German lines of communication, the amphibious forces staged a perfectly executed landing along the Riviera. In spite of German resistance, American, British, and French fighting forces streamed ashore and began their drive toward the ports of Toulon and Marseille, and up the valley of the Rhone toward the German border. Then, came the news from inside Paris. For four desperate days, starting on August 19th, the French forces of the interior had been battling the Germans inside the city. After four years of German rule, Paris began recreating with the courage of her own people the glory of France. After merciless fighting, during which individual heroism was often pitted against German tanks, the FFI issued a call for help. Paris was all but surrounded by American forces. To restore France's faith in her own arms, the assignment to free Paris was given to the French Second Armored Division. Quickly, the French division with its American equipment moved up to Paris. In command was General Jacques Leclerc, veteran of the African campaign, a soldier of consummate skill. And in Paris, the French division, which was to bear the brunt of the fighting against Germans in the city, was welcomed with all the affection a grateful Paris could express. Now that the French, reinforced by professional soldiers, had tank to pit against tank, the outcome could not be in doubt. The Germans soon lost their love of battle in the face of certain defeat. By August 25th, Paris was free again. INTO THE CITY CAME FRANCE'S LEADER, Charles de Gaulle, to establish the Fourth French Republic. In his person were centered the faith and hope of the French people that France would become once more a great and radiant power. And as the Allied forces marched on toward Germany, paying the price in blood and suffering, over all of once Nazi-held Europe there was the promise of liberty again, no matter what the cost. For that liberty which Paris now enjoys is a condition of life without which no democratic nation can exist. Without it, no man, woman, or child can know the peace, security, and happiness of civilized life. For the land of the free and the home of the