• LIFE

LIFE at the Liberation of Paris: A Photographer’s Story

3 minute read

In the long, cruel struggle of World War II, opportunities for celebration were scarce. But even among the era’s handful of “wish you were there” moments—Russian and American troops meeting at Germany’s River Elbe in April ’45; V-J Day in Times Square—for sheer, cathartic hope, none surpassed the Liberation of Paris. The capital was ultimately freed, on August 24-25, 1944, by a combination of troops from the 2nd French Armored Division, granted precedence by Eisenhower in his role as Supreme Allied Commander; resistance fighters, of many nationalities, who had been battling the Germans in and around Paris for years; and Americans, primarily from the 4th Infantry Division.

LIFE photographer Ralph Morse, now 96 years old, recalls being outside Paris in a press camp—he was covering George Patton’s Third Army and its sweep toward the Rhine for LIFE—when, he says, Ernest Hemingway, who was also in the camp, offered a suggestion.

“I knew Hemingway pretty well because his later wife, Mary, had worked for LIFE, and she had reported with me on a few stories,” Morse told LIFE.com. “So, we’re in this camp, waiting, and Hemingway says, ‘You know, the Germans can’t possibly have mined every road into Paris. Why don’t we find a back road? We can be at the Champs-Élysées before the troops get there.’ Of course, we did make it into Paris . . . but not the way Hemingway wanted.”

“Hemingway’s idea,” Morse recalls, “to get into Paris before U.S. troops headed in was scuttled because someone—Maybe a reporter who wasn’t invited along? Who knows?—someone leaked the plan to Patton, and before we knew it, the press camp was surrounded by military police. Patton walks in and says, ‘If any of you make a move toward Paris before the troops do, I’ll court martial you!’ Anyway, we went in shortly afterward. It was a quick trip from the outskirts, because there were so few Germans left to stop us.”

Strikes in Paris—by railway workers, cops, postal workers—and a relentless guerrilla resistance had shown that, by then, the Germans’ hold on the city was tenuous, at best. When word spread that the Nazi military garrison in the capital had surrendered, the streets erupted. Wine flowed. People laughed, sang “La Marseillaise,” wept.

“It was an amazing sight, an amazing feeling,” Morse recalls. “So many people in the streets, holding hands, everyone headed for the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe, the same way that everyone in New York heads to, say, Times Square when something momentous happens. It really was . . . well, liberating.”

“One thing that really stands out,” Morse says of those indelible days in Paris more than six decades ago, “is the feeling of certainty in the air. Everyone knew it was over. And I don’t mean the battle for Paris. I mean the war. We all knew there was a lot of fighting left. The Battle of the Bulge a few months later proved that, and who knew what was going to happen in the Pacific? But when the Germans surrendered Paris, we all sensed it was only a matter of time, and not much time, before we took Berlin.”

Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Parisians celebrate the liberation of Paris, August 1944
Not published in LIFE. Parisians celebrate the liberation of the City of Light, August 1944.Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Parisians fill the streets on August 25th, 1944, after occupying German forces surrender.
Parisians fill the streets on August 25th, 1944, after occupying German forces surrender. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A young man watches liberation celebrations from atop a Parisian light pole in August 1944.
Not published in LIFE. A young man watches liberation celebrations from atop a light pole, Paris, August 1944.Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Thousands of Parisians — and untold numbers of refugees from other countries, trapped in Paris since the Germans captured the capital in 1940 — poured into the streets on August 25, 1944.
Not published in LIFE. Parisians — and untold numbers of refugees from other countries, trapped in Paris since the Germans captured the capital in 1940 — pour into the streets on August 25, 1944. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A "Free French" soldier races to aid a Resistance fighter firing at a German sniper on Aug. 25, 1944.
A "Free French" soldier races to aid a Resistance fighter firing at a German sniper, Paris, August 1944. The sniper had opened fire during a tour of the city by Gen. Charles de Gaulle. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A family seeks safety beside a Jeep as French Resistance fighters and Free French troops try to take out a German sniper during the Liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944.
A family seeks safety beside a Jeep as French Resistance fighters and Free French troops try to take out a German sniper during the Liberation of Paris in August 1944. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French government-in-exile for four long, occasionally despairing, always defiant years, at the Arc de Triomphe during the Liberation of Paris on Aug. 25, 1944.
General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French government-in-exile for four years, at the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, Aug. 25, 1944. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Robert Capa and George Rodger cover the Paris Liberation
Allied troops and journalists — including photographers Robert Capa (on the back of a Jeep with a camera in front of his face) and George Rodger (with camera, wearing a beret) — in the streets of Paris during the city's liberation, August 1944.Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Thousands throng the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the end of World War II in Europe, on May 8, 1945, in this famous Ralph Morse picture.
Thousands throng the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the end of World War II in Europe, on May 8, 1945, in this famous Ralph Morse picture. Morse was back in the City of Light less than a year after chronicling Paris' liberation.Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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