| Original caption: “Hour of Triumph — Parisians, some on bicycles, some on foot, follow the great victory parade marking the liberation of the French capital August 25, 1944, down the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe. A few minutes before, German snipers hidden in surrounding buildings made a vain effort to halt the parade and disperse the crowd by firing into the densely packed streets where all Paris had gathered to acclaim the liberators.” On Saturday, August 26 it seemed as if the whole of Paris had turned out to cheer Général Charles de Gaulle (November 22, 1890 – November 9, 1970) the national symbol of resistance, as he walked down the Champs-Elysées. De Gaulle, as always attuned to the importance of symbolism, understood how vital it was for his political future for him to be seen leading the parade, accompanied by Général Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque (November 22, 1902 – November 28, 1947) and the Deuxième Division Blindée (“Second French Armored Division”), and acclaimed by the people of Paris. Leclerc’s Deuxième Division Blindée, still formally under Allied command, ignored American orders to go to the northern suburbs of Paris, where some Germans refused to surrender; instead, they followed De Gaulle’s instructions to join the victory parade. “It looked like the sea!” De Gaulle said later, recalling the moment when he stood at the top of the Champs-Elysées. “A packed crowd filled both sides of the road. Perhaps two million people. The roofs, too, were black with people. Groups of people, intermingled with flags, packed every window. Human clusters were clinging to ladders, flagpoles, and lamp posts. As far as my eyes could see, there was nothing but this swell of humanity in the sunshine, beneath the tricolor.” Huguette Robert (December 29, 1915 – June 24, 1995), who lived in the Rue la Varenne, was there: “It was boiling hot, sweltering. Standing, waiting for two hours. At last the procession arrived. The general is on foot in the centre. Shouts fill the air: ‘Vive de Gaulle!’ Vive Leclerc!’” De Gaulle embodied the reestablishment of French sovereignty, of national pride, and of the end of the Occupation. Hope had triumphed over despair; in place of despotism and servitude, democracy and freedom had found expression in the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR – “National Council of the Resistance”) Charter, a blueprint for post-liberation political, economic, and social reconstruction. The Parisians cheering de Gaulle believed that at last they had a chance to build a future of their own rather than 1 in which they found themselves incorporated into the new Europe of the Nazis. Micheline Bood (1926 – 1980) sat in a parked truck at the corner of the Avenue a Marigny and the Champs-Élysées to watch the parade. “General De Gaulle walked past. I’m still hoarse from shouting so much and my hands are sore with so much clapping.” She described him looking both “unpretentious and magnificent” and “so immensely tall that he towered over everybody else.” Near the Tuileries Gardens De Gaulle climbed into an open car, ready to be driven past the Hôtel de Ville and on to Notre-Dame to attend a special Mass. Not everything that day went according to plan. At the place de la Concorde, members of the crowd scattered in terror as volleys of shots rang out and an unknown number of those celebrating the Liberation of the city fell to the ground dead or wounded; 1 woman was shot in the head very near where Micheline sat in the truck. André Auvinet, who was also in the crowd, thought the shots came from the Naval Ministry building or the nearby Hôtel Crillon. Leclerc’s tanks returned fire, blowing out windows in the Ministry building. André managed to leave the area unscathed, but he reported hearing more shots being fired from the Chamber of Deputies and nearby buildings on the other bank of the Seine. It is most likely that the shots were fired by members of the SS, the Milice, or mavericks from the German Heer (“Army”). It is also possible that some of the sound of gunfire came from weapons being fired into the air by celebrating members of the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI – “French Forces of the Interior”). It is impossible to know exactly how many people were shot that day, although 1 historian claims as many as 300 were killed. De Gaulle reached Notre Dame at around 1615 Hours. Cardinal Emmanuel Célestin Suhard (April 5, 1874 – May 30, 1949), the Archbishop of Paris, was “advised” not to attend. He was too tainted by the Occupation, having welcomed Marshal Philippe Pétain (April 24, 1856 – July 23, 1951) to Paris in 1940 and having conducted the funeral service for Philippe Henriot (January 7, 1889 – June 28, 1944), the collaborationist broadcaster assassinated by the Resistance. As De Gaulle alighted from his car outside the cathedral, more shots rang out on the square in front of the church. Members of the FFI and the Deuxième Division Blindée started firing wildly towards the cathedral’s towers. Later more shots were fired inside the cathedral, with marksmen in the galleries joining in. Who started the shooting and why has never been satisfactorily explained. 1 theory is that the firing inside Notre Dame began when nervous riflemen mistook the noise of pigeons flying high up inside the building for snipers moving around in the upper galleries. Da Gaulle initially dismissed the incident, but he took the matter more seriously when he heard that firing had broken out in other parts of the city. He later wrote that he suspected the Communists of organizing the shootings to show that the enemy was still active and that Resistance organizations like Comité central des mouvements de Résistance (COMAC, “Central Committee of Resistance Movements”) the CNR, the Paris Liberation Committee, and local Resistance committees were still needed and should be responsible for policing, justice, and the purging of collaborators. De Gaulle gave no evidence for this view. The day of celebration, August 26, ended on a sober and depressing note. Shortly before midnight German planes carried out a random punishment bombing raid on Paris. They killed a 120 people in 9 arrondissements, including some in the center of the city, which had hitherto been spared. In the Seine department as a whole, 190 people were killed, including staff, patients, and children at the Bichat hospital in the 18th arrondissement, which Pétain had visited in April. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0411.jpg |
| Image Size | 753.82 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2924 x 2124 |
| Photographer | Richard Boyer |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 26, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Paris |
| State or Province | Île-de-France |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-65638(142) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database