Paris '44: The City of Light Redeemed

by Mortimer Moore, William

  Most Parisians warned or reassured each other by telephone. Although besotted by Françoise Gilot, when Picasso’s ex-mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter telephoned from the Ile Saint-Louis saying that she and their daughter could hear gunfire nearby, the artist decided that Marie-Thérèse and Maya most needed his protection.33 Hence Picasso spent the Insurrection at Marie-Thérèse’s apartment on Boulevard Henri IV, painting portraits of Maya and a series of sketches based on Poussin’s The Triumph of Pan.34

  AT RADIO PARIS ALL THE RESISTANCE needed to do to control the airwaves was expel Vichy’s director. Once this happened, Pierre Schaeffer placed Radio Paris under the Préfecture and broadcast for the Resistance, ending “Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris est allemand”—”Radio Paris lies, Radio Paris is German.”35 But Jean Guignebert advised against over-stepping a very limited brief until Paris was firmly in French hands, directions which came from Alexandre Parodi.

  Following longstanding preparations, resistance groups began seizing newpaper premises the previous day. The Rue de Rivoli offices of the collabo daily Je suis partout were swiftly taken by lightly armed résistants. Also within swastika-draped central Paris, the Rue des Pyramides offices of Alphonse de Châteaubriant’s La Gerbe suffered similarly with worse to come when résistants sacked the premises two days later, throwing papers into the street.36

  Events at Paris Soir were more complex. When Paris fell in 1940, the newspaper’s owner, Jean Prouvost, the editorial staff and print workers fled to the Free Zone rather than publish a bastard journal controlled by the Nazis’ Propaganda Abteilung. The janitor, Jean Schiessle, was ordered to resume production with dredged up hacks foisted upon him as editorial staff. Thus a great Paris newspaper was irrevocably tainted by the Occupation.37 When liberation became imminent, several of the original staff returned to Paris hoping to reinstate Paris Soir to its former glory, reinstalling themselves in their Rue de Louvre offices on 18 August. At 8.30 on the 19th Lieutenant Guirche (nom de guerre: Marceau) accompanied by Aspirant Claude Brézillon and Police Cadet Broyau, with one pistol between them, arrived at Paris Soir’s offices supported by journalists and print-workers determined to reclaim their lost jobs. If matters were not already complicated enough, a motley selection of résistants linked to Libération-Nord and the police also arrived and began arresting the anti-collabo prewar staff.38

  The résistants in the Paris Soir building now split into two groups. The first seized the premises of the right-wing evening journal L’Intransigeant (from where the German Pariser Zeitung was also published), while the other repossessed the great Quartier du Croissant print works. Later that evening the Pariser Zeitung placard, bolted to the facade of the Intransigeant building, was hacked down with sledgehammers. When the Germans heard of this, lorries were sent to collect as many papers as possible. Someone in the German-held hotels foresaw that Pariser Zeitung’s offices would contain compromising information.39

  But formerly great Paris newspapers could not be reinstated by simply “liberating” premises; Paris Soir’s owner Jean Prouvost, never having taken any side convincingly, made himself detested by Vichystes and résistants alike and fled Paris to avoid arrest, though in fact he had little to fear. Even so Paris Soir had to become France Soir to reinvent itself. But right wing dailies L’Intransigeant and Petit Parisien never appeared again. Soon three new newspapers appeared from the Paris Soir building: Ce Soir, the Front National and Libération. From L’Intransigeant’s former premises came Combat, the Franc-Tireur, and Défense de Paris. From the red house which published Le Matin came Populaire and Libération Soir. The communist L’Humanité also reappeared, from the Petit Parisien premises on the Rue d’Enghien.40

  In Prouvost’s armchair now sat Gaullist academic Jacques Debu-Bridel, exclaiming with brio, “The proof that the revolution is a fact is that I am sitting here.” But Paris still had an armed German garrison to eject, a reality recognised by Albert Bayet, another academic co-opted into the Resistance to re-found France’s media, “The Resistance has only won the battle of liberation in the domain of the press.”41 But the Resistance could hardly retake Paris without the press there to report its deeds. There was, however, such a thing as jumping the gun. As with Radio Paris, Alexandre Parodi intervened.42

  ARRIVING AT ALGIERS’ MAISON BLANCHE AIRFIELD to begin his second journey to France since D-Day, de Gaulle was advised to travel in the Flying Fortress the Americans had allocated to him. For his own reasons, probably because his personal pilot, Lionel de Marmier, was a Gaulliste de la première heure, de Gaulle decided to fly in his usual Lockheed Hudson while his chief of staff, General Alphonse Juin, followed in the Flying Fortress. Accompanied by the tall, personable Captain Claude Guy who joined him after an accident ended his flying career, the Constable took his seat for the flight that would carry him on the final stage of the journey that began in 1940.

  While refuelling at Casablanca, de Gaulle visted local officials and was struck by the crowd gathered around the aerodrome. “The tension on every face showed that they had guessed the reason for my journey, even though it was left unsaid; hardly bravos and acclamations, but doffed hats, waving and concerned looks. Such a salute, ardent yet silent was like being witnessed by a multitude at a decisive moment. I was moved,” de Gaulle wrote.

  “What a destiny you have,” said the resident general, Gabriel Puaux.43

  After a delay caused by technical problems on the Flying Fortress, they continued to Gibraltar, where de Gaulle dined with the governor. But the Flying Fortress’s problems persisted. Although advised that the Lockheed Hudson was unsuitable for flying through potentially hostile airspace, whereas a Flying Fortress bristled with machine-guns, de Gaulle decided to continue his journey.

  IN RETURN FOR THE EXPERTISE OFFERED THAT MORNING, the police allocated Rol-Tanguy a Citroen and bodyguard to resume his journey to the Rue de Meaux. As experienced clandestins Rol-Tanguy’s staff knew that security required frequent movement, and relocated their HQ to the waterworks building on Rue Victor Schoelcher, near the Place Denfert-Rochereau. The decision made, Rol-Tanguy returned to the Préfecture via the Faubourg Saint-Michel. Luckily the German garrison still thought police vehicles were hors de combat; they swept along boulevards clogged with retreating Wehrmacht vehicles without mishap and were waved through the Feldgendarmerie checkpoint at the Porte Saint-Martin.44

  At 1pm Henri Rol-Tanguy met Charles Luizet for the first time. Luizet confirmed that Alexandre Parodi had ordered the Insurrection to begin, a fact which made little difference now. Luizet, however, wanted to pull Rol-Tanguy properly under de Gaulle’s authority and, as Rol-Tanguy was about to depart, Luizet invited him to meet Parodi on Avenue Lowendal.45

  “Put on some civilian clothing,” ordered Luizet, glancing at Rol-Tanguy’s hybrid uniform, a beret, his Spanish tunic with colonel’s galons roughly stitched to the cuffs, worn jodhpurs and riding boots.

  “I would appear lacking in guts,” replied Rol-Tanguy.

  “You can’t wear a uniform into a building frequented by members of the Delegation,” Luizet emphasised. “You would risk having them all arrested.”46

  Reluctantly Rol-Tanguy co-operated. On meeting Parodi, Rol-Tanguy gave him a quick resumé before demanding that all FFI forces in Paris should be placed under his command. Parodi conferred briefly with the Delegation before agreeing. Reflecting on this event with Roger Bourderon, Rol-Tanguy said that Parodi was wise to agree; any other reply would have divided the Paris Resistance at its crucial moment.47 At Rol-Tanguy’s insistence, a declaration was drafted placing all FFI forces in the Paris region under Rol-Tanguy’s authority with Parodi as his superior, responsible to General de Gaulle:48

  République Française.

  Liberté Égalité Fraternité

  1. The Commissioner Delegate of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF), in agreement with the Comité Parisien de la Libération orders that all organised formations or movements of the Resistance, or otherwise outside these mov
ements, forming an integral part of the FFI, as well as all police forces, including Gendarmerie are, for the departments of the Seine, Seine et Oise, Seine et Marne and Oise, under the orders of regional chief, Colonel Rol.

  2. All men between the ages of 18 and 50, capable of bearing arms, must be mobilised. They must, either through their businesses, quartiers, locality and arrondissements, form themselves into combat groups of 8 men directed by sergeant-chiefs into detachments. (Equivalent to infantry sections and platoons.) They must make contact with the nearest FFI formation to direct their use in action; combat missions, or protection of public services, works and water services.

  3. All arms stocked or held by individuals must be handed over to combatants. Attack plans, whether individual or collective, must be developed for seizing arms from both the Germans and from Darnand’s Miliciens. “We need to arm ourselves by disarming the enemy.”

  4. Actions must be directed generally against all enemy targets; transport, communications, radio masts and isolated enemy forces, by using whatever means are available, knives, anti tyre nail-beds, petrol bombs and cutting down trees.

  FRENCHMEN—ALL MUST FIGHT!

  OPEN THE ROADS TO PARIS TO THE VICTORIOUS ALLIED ARMIES!

  VIVE DE GAULLE!

  VIVE LA RÉPUBLIQUE!

  VIVE LA FRANCE! 49

  DECIDING NOT TO RETURN TO THE PREFECTURE, Luizet sent Edgard Pisani to deputise for him, knowing the dark, romantic looking law student was trustworthy. Pisani spent the Insurrection’s first afternoon by the Prefecture’s switchboard while incidents accumulated.

  Provoked by the sight of the freshly laundered Tricolore flying over the Préfecture, the crew of a Kübelwagen on the Boulevard du Palais opened fire at their windows, quickly finding themselves fired on in return. A section of German infantry attempting to approach the building via the Petit Pont also came under fire. With no available cover except the quay wall, they were easily gunned down, dancing like rag dolls until their bloodied bodies collapsed motionless. On the opposite side of the Seine two Wehrmacht lorries, abandoned by their owners amid a hail of bullets, were quickly wheeled into position to form a barricade, while a third lorry, burning fiercely, was searched for arms.50

  Not a single German lorry passed along the Quai Saint-Michel that afternoon. From Notre Dame’s presbytery, Monsignor Brot watched doctors and nurses draped in white with Red Cross armbands dashing everywhere with stretchers to tend casualties of both sides. Germans who surrendered had good chances of surviving while their wounded were taken to the Ile de la Cité’s Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, the oldest hospital in France.51

  By 3pm the German reaction had became more purposeful; three tanks pushed their way onto the Parvis of Notre Dame via the Petit Pont. Two of these tanks were Panthers armed with powerful 75mm PAK guns, while the third was a pre-war French type. A Panther fired at the Préfecture’s gates, its armour-piercing shell shearing the left-side gate off its hinges but otherwise causing little damage. Other shots, also armour-piercing, hit the Préfecture’s east wall, causing panic more than anything else. When a shell struck the tower above the isolation block, policemen in the courtyard ran towards the tunnel joining the Préfecture to the nearby Cité Metro station. But Sergeant Fournet stopped them at pistol point.

  “Our only chance of survival is to win,” said Fournet.

  CLP members inside the Préfecture called for calm. Standing on a cart, Leo Hamon said, “The people of Paris have often struggled against you. Today, you are on their side. They won’t forget this. It’s the beginning of a lasting alliance.”52

  Outside the Préfecture’s front gate the commander of one of the Panthers imprudently peered out of his turret cupola and was quickly shot. According to reports, this was the moment a Panther was struck by a Joliot-Curie cocktail. In any case they suddenly withdrew. Next the Préfecture’s defenders were assailed via the west entrance, when a convoy of German lorries advanced along the Boulevard du Palais.53 Directed by Maitre Blanc, a left-wing barrister, résistants in the Palais de Justice sighted their guns on the approaching convoy, firing only when Maitre Blanc gave the word. They were carrying arms, ammunition and jerry cans of petrol. Once their crews were eliminated the trucks were pushed through the Prefecture’s west gate and the weapons distributed.54

  No one concerned for medieval gems such as Notre Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie could have imagined a worse place for the Insurreection to start.

  EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE a few blocks away, Henri Culmann found the Rue de Grenelle comparatively quiet. But a new face appeared in the ground floor lobby; a pleasant looking youth wearing a Lacoste sport shirt now sat behind the entrance desk. When challenged he declared uncompromisingly, “FFI.”

  Culmann noticed a Sten gun leaning against the wall behind him and two magazines of 9mm bullets lay on the desk.

  “We expected you this morning,” said Culmann.

  The young FFI told Culmann that the Ministry of Industrial Production was scheduled for occupation on Monday morning and that he and two comrades were merely an advance guard.

  “Come back on Monday,” said the young FFI. “If nothing else you will meet your new boss.”55

  At 5pm another attack materialised outside the Préfecture. This was less purposeful than two hours earlier and amounted to an attempted infantry infiltration from the Pont Saint-Michel, along the quayside and up the stairs by the Quai des Orfèvres. The leading soldiers were quickly shot from the Préfecture windows and the rest withdrew.56

  This small victory was down to a group of FFI who installed themselves around the Place Saint-Michel from mid-day onwards, covering the Metro station, and a machine-gun nest was installed at the Café de Départ, ready to confound approaching Germans. The Wehrmacht was slow to warn transport staff of the escalating situation around the Préfecture, and several convoys of retreating troops were using these riverside roads. The first lorry had an exhausted soldier draped on its cabin roof when the résistants opened fire. He was hit and, while frantically trying to save himself, fell into the road. The driver stopped to help him and with that the FFI emerged from cover to hose the lorry with Sten guns. When the next lorry arrived, its driver was quickly killed and it crashed into the Rôtisserie Périgourdine, a restaurant on the corner of the Place Saint-Michel and the Quai des Grands Augustins. Another twenty-five German vehicles were shot up in a similar fashion. The Préfecture courtyard soon resembled a scrapyard as damaged German lorries were pushed inside and their cargoes rifled. Some lorries were re-used, while others were pretty charred, including their crews. The corpses of fallen Germans were gathered discreetly out of sight by the river bank while résistants sat nonchalantly at street-side cafés, keeping their weapons hidden, ready for the next lot to arrive.57 A few exhausted Normandy veterans were taken prisoner. “Messieurs,” said one unfortunate, “I did not know that it was not allowed to cross Paris.”

  On the Quai des Grands Augustins a smart staff car was shot up, injuring its driver who crashed into the river wall. The FFIs took him to Alexandre de Saint-Phalle’s home on the Rue Séguier which Roland Pré used as his CP. Interrogating their prisoner, they found he carried a LVF ID card; he was a Frenchman who had fought for Hitler in Russia. The FFIs pistol-whipped the wretched youth bloody in Saint-Phalle’s dining room, until Saint-Phalle stopped them. Later that evening, he was shot and thrown in the Seine.58

  Further along the rive gauche, when another car was shot up, three German soldiers ran for the Quai Saint-Michel’s river wall hoping to dive into the Seine but landed fatally on the lower quay thirty feet below. South of the Place Saint-Michel, a captured German being led along the narrow, restaurant-filled Rue de Saint-André des Arts had food waste tipped over him from first-floor kitchen windows. This torment ended once he passed the École Maternelle and turned up Rue Séguier. At Saint Phalle’s house, Roland Pré’s intelligence team categorised him mercifully: “He’s just a German doing his duty, we don’t want him.” They wan
ted collabos irrespective of gender. In the courtyard, behind the high doors separating chez Saint-Phalle from the ancient street beyond, the barbers of vengeance were shaving the heads of women who had slept with les Boches.59 The mother of one unfortunate complained that since her daughter was merely seventeen and would also sleep with Americans if asked, such punishment was too extreme.60

  AFTER HE LEFT THE PRÉFECTURE, newly erected barricades forced Nordling to take a meandering route back to his Consulate. He noticed many contrasts; checkpoints manned by German soldiers adjacent to government buildings flying the Tricolore; streets made impassable by gunfire while Parisians queued for food only a block away; the Rue de Rivoli checkpoints, while opposite them children played in the Tuileries gardens. At around noon Nordling visited the Hôtel Meurice to thank von Choltitz for his help over Romainville, finding him on the balcony with sporadic gunfire audible from all directions.61

  So far von Choltitz’s reaction had been restrained, as demonstrated by his Day order: “Civilian life must be as little troubled as possible during the day. Our troops must be ordered to avoid useless firefights. Order and calm should be maintained by all means.”62 To Field Marshal Model, von Choltitz gave an understated report that, “Terrorists are shooting around the centre of the city (Concorde, Madeleine, Tuileries, Quartier around the German embassy). The terrorists apparently intend to take the Chamber of Deputies (Palais Bourbon).” Model agreed to send him the much depleted 352nd Infantry Division as reinforcement.63

  “These louts have even been loosing off rounds under my windows,” von Choltitz told Nordling. “The men intervened and then pulled back.”

  Without being drawn into matters involving the Insurrection, Nordling thanked von Choltitz for Romainville and left. But when he learnt that another train of political prisoners had just left Pantin, Nordling returned to the Meurice. On his second arrival von Choltitz rose from his bureau and crossed the room to greet him; then, hearing why Nordling had returned so quickly, von Choltitz became visibly angry.