The square outside Notre-Dame Cathedral filled with hundreds of policemen on August 19, 1944, all converging on the fortress-like Prefecture of Police headquarters. A flag unfurled atop the building: the blue, white, and red French tricolor, banned by Paris' German occupiers. This moment marked the beginning of Paris' uprising against the Nazis, as the French police returned in revolt after four long years of occupation.
American and British troops were pushing the German Army east after the D-Day invasion, but Parisian resistance fighters sought to liberate the city themselves, avenging France's defeat in 1940. With gunfire echoing through the streets, Frenchmen took up arms against the Nazis, marking a pivotal moment in their struggle for freedom.
Resistance leaders feared a German retaliation could lead to a bloodbath in the streets of Paris. Their concerns were validated by Hitler's orders to General Dietrich von Choltitz to 'stamp out' any insurrection without pity, coupled with commands to devastate the city’s infrastructure, heightening the stakes of the uprising.
As the revolt intensified, Hitler's demands for destruction grew, underscored by his directive for 'the widest destruction possible' in Paris. His insistence that 'Paris must not fall into the hands of the enemy,' revealed the frenzied desperation of the Nazis as they sought to quash the uprising.
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