August 25 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris. On that day, Allied forces from the United States, Great Britain and Free France surged onto the wide boulevards, freeing the city after four years of brutal Nazi occupation. Jubilant citizens thronged the streets, throwing flowers and showering kisses upon the conquering troops. General Charles de Gaulle gave a passionate speech to the citizens of Paris, proclaiming “Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the French armies, with the support and the help of all France, of the France that fights, of the only France, of the real France, of the eternal France!”
De Gaulle justifiably emphasized the role played by Free French forces under the command of General Phillipe Leclerc in the liberation. A little-known fact is that the first Allied troops to enter Paris and engage German forces were actually Spaniards fighting under the command of a French officer. Tanks and armored vehicles with names such as ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Guadalajara’, ‘Madrid’ and ‘Ebro’ fired the first volleys in the center of Paris that eventually led to the German capitulation in the ‘City of Light.’
The name of the French officer—the first French officer to enter Paris—was Captain Raymond Dronne. Dronne, a foreign volunteer veteran of the Spanish Civil War, was commanding officer of the 9th Company of the Free French ‘Régiment de Marche du Tchad’ which was part of the French 2nd Armored Division under General Leclerc.
Known as “La Nueve” the 9th Company was composed almost exclusively of Spanish Republicans, troops that had fought against Franco and fascism in Spain between 1936 and 1939. Dronne commanded 160 men in his company, and of those 146 were Spanish. How did these Spanish veterans come to help liberate Paris under the ultimate command of U.S. General Eisenhower? The answer is one of those fascinating, winding stories of the random and necessary movement of peoples during wartime.
When defeated Spanish Republican forces fled Spain in 1939 they either marched northward across the Pyrenees into France or sailed south to French North Africa. Sympathetic to anti-fascist Spanish forces, the French government offered them refuge. Many of the Spaniards joined the French Foreign Legion, and once France fell in 1940, they joined the Free French Forces under the command of de Gaulle, primarily in North Africa. Some of the Spanish veterans fought in Tunisia against German forces, and others fought against Axis forces in Italy. The 2nd French Armored Division under Leclerc (known in France as ‘La Deuxième DB’) eventually shipped out to England in the spring of 1944. There, after a period of intense training under American command, they embarked for Normandy on August 1, 1944, landing on French soil for the first time in over four years. Among Leclerc’s troops were the 9th Company commanded by Captain Dronne, by then these troops were affectionately known as “La Nueve.”
When Allied forces reached the outskirts of Paris on August 23, fighting had already broken out in the center of the city between the occupying German forces and members of the French resistance. Disobeying the orders of his direct superior, American V Corps Commander General Gerow, General Leclerc ordered Dronne to form an advance party, enter Paris and let the resistance fighters know that the 2nd Armored Division would be in the city within 24 hours. The first officer to actually enter the city (at Porte D’Italie) was a Spanish captain named Amado Granel.
By 9:20 that evening La Nueve had reached the Hôtel de Ville in the center of town, where the armored vehicle ‘Ebro’ fired on German machine gun positions. By the early hours of the next morning the French 2nd Armored Division, backed by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division had captured most of the city. Later that afternoon, General Cholitz, commander of the German garrison, surrendered. DeGaulle then delivered his famous speech.
The French government eventually recognized the contributions of the Spanish fighters in 2004, and a documentary film was made about “La Nueve.” See the link below.
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