Editing Liberation of Paris (section)

===Allies enter Paris (24–25 August)===
{{Further|2nd Armored Division (France)}}
[[File:La Libération de Paris, 1944.ogv|thumb|left|300px|Film ''"[[La Libération de Paris]]"'' shot by the French Resistance]]
On 24 August, after combat and poor roads had delayed his [[2nd Armored Division (France)|2nd Armored Division]], Free French general Leclerc disobeyed his direct superior, American [[V Corps (United States)|V Corps]] commander [[Major General]] [[Leonard T. Gerow]], and sent a vanguard to Paris with the message that the entire division would be there the following day. The 2nd Armored Division was equipped with American [[M4 Sherman]] tanks, halftracks and trucks, and the vanguard that Leclerc chose was the 9th Company of the [[Régiment de marche du Tchad]], nicknamed ''[[La Nueve]]'' (Spanish for "the nine") because of its 160 men under French command, 146 of them were Spanish Republicans.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Celaya |first=Diego Gaspar |date=2011-12-15|title=Portrait d'oubliés. L'engagement des Espagnols dans les Forces françaises libres, 1940–1945|url=http://journals.openedition.org/rha/7345 |journal=Revue historique des armées|language=fr|issue=265|pages=46–55 |issn=0035-3299}}</ref> 9th Company commander Captain [[Raymond Dronne]] became the second uniformed Allied officer to enter Paris after [[Amado Granell]] and the first French officer to reenter the capital.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rosbottom|first1=Ronald C.|title=Who Liberated Paris in August 1944?|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/24/who-liberated-paris-in-august-1944.html|website=The Daily Beast|date=24 August 2014}}</ref>

The 9th Company broke into the center of Paris by the [[Porte d'Italie]] and reached the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] at 9:22&nbsp;p.m.<ref>Catherine Vialle, ''Je me souviens du 13e arrondissement'', éditions Parigramme, 1995, p. 99.</ref> Upon entering the town hall square, the half-track "Ebro" fired the first rounds at a large group of German fusiliers and machine guns. Civilians went out to the street and sang "La Marseillaise", including as [[Pierre Schaeffer]] broadcast the news of the 2nd Armored Division's arrival on a Radiodiffusion Nationale broadcast and then played it. Schaeffer then asked any priests who were listening to ring their churches' bells, and the churches who participated included [[Notre-Dame de Paris]] and [[Sacré-Cœur, Paris|Sacré-Cœur]] in [[Montmartre]] – whose bells include the Savoyarde, a [[bourdon (bell)|bourdon]] that is France's biggest bell.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Larry |author-link1=Larry Collins (writer)|last2=Lapierre |first2=Dominique |author-link2=Dominique Lapierre|title=Is Paris Burning?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4a8zQEACAAJ  |date=1991 |orig-date=1965 [[Penguin Books]]|publisher=[[Grand Central Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-446-39225-9 |pages=271–274}} {{link note|note=[https://archive.org/details/isparisburning00larr Available] at [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Dronne later went to von Choltitz's command post to request the German surrender.

The 4th US Infantry Division commanded by Raymond Barton also entered through the Porte d'Italie in the early hours of the next day. The leading American regiments covered the right flank of the French 2nd Armoured, turned east at the [[Place de la Bastille]], and made their way along Avenue Daumesnil, heading towards the [[Bois de Vincennes]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Argyle |first1=Ray |title=The Paris Game: Charles de Gaulle, the Liberation of Paris, and the Gamble that Won France |date=2014 |publisher=Dundurn |isbn=978-1-4597-2288-0 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdDYAQAAQBAJ}}</ref> In the afternoon the British [[No. 30 Commando|30 Assault Unit]] had entered the [[Porte d'Orléans]] and then searched buildings for vital intelligence, later capturing the former Headquarters of Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]], the [[Château de la Muette]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rankin |first1=Nicholas |title=Ian Fleming's Commandos: The Story of the Legendary 30 Assault Unit |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-978290-1 |pages=259–263 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbFoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA339}}</ref>

While awaiting the final capitulation, the 9th Company assaulted the Chamber of Deputies, the Hôtel Majestic and the Place de la Concorde.

With the battle nearing its end, resistance groups brought Allied airmen and other troops hidden in suburban towns, such as [[Montlhéry]], into central Paris.