Helpful Score: 1
This is a great book that I enjoyed so much that I gave it away as soon as I finished reading it.
If Hitler had his way, there would be no Notre Dame, none of Paris' beautiful bridges, no Eiffel Tower. The Allies didn't stop him, a brave German general did. At a tremendous personal risk, he resolved not to be the man to destroy the most beautiful city in the world.
The story is told with the in-your-face realism of two journalists. Yet it's full of humor and even downright silliness. Would-be soldier Enrnest Hemingway captured a German soldier and relieved him of his pants. Why? He figured no man would escape half-naked. He was right.
This isn't about troop movements, it's about real people risking their lives (and those of their families) to liberate Paris. After all, Eisenhower didn't think he had enough fuel or time to fight a mini-war for Paris. He desperately needed to push east to Germany.
If Hitler had his way, there would be no Notre Dame, none of Paris' beautiful bridges, no Eiffel Tower. The Allies didn't stop him, a brave German general did. At a tremendous personal risk, he resolved not to be the man to destroy the most beautiful city in the world.
The story is told with the in-your-face realism of two journalists. Yet it's full of humor and even downright silliness. Would-be soldier Enrnest Hemingway captured a German soldier and relieved him of his pants. Why? He figured no man would escape half-naked. He was right.
This isn't about troop movements, it's about real people risking their lives (and those of their families) to liberate Paris. After all, Eisenhower didn't think he had enough fuel or time to fight a mini-war for Paris. He desperately needed to push east to Germany.
People without a good knowledge of the liberation of Paris during World War II may not realize how important the French Resistance was in freeing the City of Light from the cruel grip of Nazi Germany. For four years, Parisians were starved, beaten and killed during the Nazi occupation of their beloved city. In August, 1944, the French Resistance, one faction led by Charles de Gaulle and one led by the Communists, marched into battle on the German-held streets of Paris, determined to get their city back.
This book, researched for three years by its authors Collins and LaPierre, reveals the behind-the-scenes thoughts and actions of the major, and minor, players, some of whom were still alive at the book's writing and available for interviews. We are introduced to Nazi generals and soldiers, to French Resistance leaders and followers, to American generals and the soldiers under them, to the hated collaborators, to French citizens living in fear and misery under the Nazis, and to Adolph Hitler who plans to completely blow up Paris if his military cannot keep the city from being returned to the French people. If you want to know more about the liberation of Paris than seeing the images of American soldiers being smothered by kisses from pretty Parisian girls, this is the book for you!
This book, researched for three years by its authors Collins and LaPierre, reveals the behind-the-scenes thoughts and actions of the major, and minor, players, some of whom were still alive at the book's writing and available for interviews. We are introduced to Nazi generals and soldiers, to French Resistance leaders and followers, to American generals and the soldiers under them, to the hated collaborators, to French citizens living in fear and misery under the Nazis, and to Adolph Hitler who plans to completely blow up Paris if his military cannot keep the city from being returned to the French people. If you want to know more about the liberation of Paris than seeing the images of American soldiers being smothered by kisses from pretty Parisian girls, this is the book for you!
...you might also like "Is Paris Burning?", the true story of the Free French forces' race against a communist-led insurrection to liberate Paris before Hitler's orders to burn the City of Light to the ground could be carried out.
"Is Paris burning?" The shrill voice is Adolf Hitler's. He smashes his fist of the table. "Jodi!" he screams to his chief of staff. "I demand to know! Yes or no? Is Paris burning now?"
At that moment, noon on August 25, 1944, advance elements of General Leclerc's Free French, supported by American infantry, were streaming across the bridges of the Seine. Their arrival was the climax of an extraordinary and fateful interplay of circumstances that saved the city, its population and its priceless treasures from Hitler's vengeful sentence of destruction and death.
Few days in history have witnessed an emotional outpouring as overwhelming as that which accompanied the liberation of Paris. Yet few men then realized, or even now comprehend, the miracle that had occurred: how narrowly all Paris had escaped being reduced to rubble and ashes.
The whole story of that miracle is told for the first time in Is Paris Burning? It encompasses the explosion of events, large and small, that involved Prussian generals and schoolboys of the Resistance, General de Gaulle impatiently forcing the hand of his relectant American allies while he himself was desperately maneuvering to gain control of the French underground, and the ordinary people of Paris rising to throw off the Nazi occupation as an enraged Hitler vowed to leave the city "nothing byt a field of ruins."
At that moment, noon on August 25, 1944, advance elements of General Leclerc's Free French, supported by American infantry, were streaming across the bridges of the Seine. Their arrival was the climax of an extraordinary and fateful interplay of circumstances that saved the city, its population and its priceless treasures from Hitler's vengeful sentence of destruction and death.
Few days in history have witnessed an emotional outpouring as overwhelming as that which accompanied the liberation of Paris. Yet few men then realized, or even now comprehend, the miracle that had occurred: how narrowly all Paris had escaped being reduced to rubble and ashes.
The whole story of that miracle is told for the first time in Is Paris Burning? It encompasses the explosion of events, large and small, that involved Prussian generals and schoolboys of the Resistance, General de Gaulle impatiently forcing the hand of his relectant American allies while he himself was desperately maneuvering to gain control of the French underground, and the ordinary people of Paris rising to throw off the Nazi occupation as an enraged Hitler vowed to leave the city "nothing byt a field of ruins."
