| Original caption: “Nazis Get Blows – German troops run from kicks and blows of Frenchmen as the enemy was rounded up at Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris, about the time the French capital was liberated last August.” On the morning of August 23, 1944, the Deuxième Division Blindée Française, supported on its right flank by the United States Army 4th Infantry Division, set out for Paris. The Germans had formed a solid line of defence from Trappes to Fresnes. Violent fighting took place in Palaiseau, Champlan, Toussus-le-Noble, Jouy-en-Josas, Clamart, Longjumeau, Wissous, Fresnes and Antony. On 24 August, the entire division was stalled by German “hedgehogs” outside Paris. On the morning of August 24, detonations were heard in the town. Fires broke out in several buildings mined by the Germans: the Château du Montcel, the Château du Petit-Bois as well as the barracks built between the Grand Château and the Cote de l’Anguille. Resistance fighters tried to oppose the German arsonists but had to resign themselves to helplessly watching the destruction of these homes. At 1200 Hours, the Germans left the city. The Deuxième Division Blindée Française encountered a defensive pocket around Toussus-le-Noble. Then, the confrontation continued in Jouy-en-Josas. At the beginning of the afternoon, a column from Deuxième Division Blindée Française entered liberated Jouy. United States Army Chief Combat Historian Samuel L. A. Marshall (July 18, 1900 – December 17, 1977), was with the Deuxième Division Blindée Française. He later wrote: “We moved up to the main street and again halted. Twenty-one German prisoners, several of them wounded, all of them captured in the fight around the chateau, were brought back to be paraded down the main street of Jouy-en-Josas. About sixty Frenchmen of the advance guard formed, facing each other within the street, holding aloft their rifles, mess gear, or any hard object that was swingable. As the Germans entered this gantlet, the Frenchmen cracked down hard, aiming at the heads of the passing men. The Germans didn’t try to run. They marched. Except when they reeled or fell from a blow, they took it heads-up, eyes to the front, saying not a word, uttering no cry. They emerged from it looking as if they had been torn by wild beasts. There was wretched and unforgettable depravity in this scene, redeemed only by the bearing of a few helpless young men who knew how to walk seemingly without fear. To have tried to intervene would have been an act bolder than any I saw along the road to Paris.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0474.jpg |
| Image Size | 241.80 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1507 x 1108 |
| Photographer | Dan Grossi |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 24, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Jouy-en-Josas |
| State or Province | Île-de-France |
| Country | France |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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