The other day, while reading the Wikipedia entry for the Eiffel Tower, I noticed the rather striking photo to the right, which is captioned "25 August 1944: American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again". On June 13, 1940 the French tricolor flag was struck from the top of the tower when German occupation forces took over Paris. When Hitler toured Paris on June 28, 1940, three days after the official surrender of France, he was told (I can't determine if this was actually true or not) that the elevator cables in the tower had been cut by the French and that he would have to ascend on foot, which he declined to do (being acrophobic). Some time later, Wehrmacht soldiers climbed to the top in order to fly a swastika flag, which was too large and blew away a few hours later, to be replaced by a smaller flag. In August 1944, with Allied troops closing in on the city, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed several direct orders from Hitler to destroy Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. Liberation day came to Paris on August 25, 1944 when von Choltitz surrendered to American and French forces. One sidenote - General Charles de Gaulle insisted that French troops lead the liberation, which Allied command agreed to, but with the stipulation that the leading division consist of only white soldiers, which was very difficult due to the fact that about 60% of Free French divisions were West African conscripts.[1] On liberation day, de Gaulle demanded that the French flag be flown from the tower, so a French colonel rounded up six American soldiers who, despite the fact that the elevators were repaired hours after liberation, took 3 hours to get to the top of the tower. Once there, they were tasked with attaching a 300-pound flag to a radio antenna (not a flagpole) in a 40mph wind. Another three hours later, La Tricolore was back to its rightful place above the streets of Paris, and photos of the event were on the front pages of newspapers around the world.[2]Friday, December 23, 2011
La Tour Eiffel
The other day, while reading the Wikipedia entry for the Eiffel Tower, I noticed the rather striking photo to the right, which is captioned "25 August 1944: American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again". On June 13, 1940 the French tricolor flag was struck from the top of the tower when German occupation forces took over Paris. When Hitler toured Paris on June 28, 1940, three days after the official surrender of France, he was told (I can't determine if this was actually true or not) that the elevator cables in the tower had been cut by the French and that he would have to ascend on foot, which he declined to do (being acrophobic). Some time later, Wehrmacht soldiers climbed to the top in order to fly a swastika flag, which was too large and blew away a few hours later, to be replaced by a smaller flag. In August 1944, with Allied troops closing in on the city, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed several direct orders from Hitler to destroy Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. Liberation day came to Paris on August 25, 1944 when von Choltitz surrendered to American and French forces. One sidenote - General Charles de Gaulle insisted that French troops lead the liberation, which Allied command agreed to, but with the stipulation that the leading division consist of only white soldiers, which was very difficult due to the fact that about 60% of Free French divisions were West African conscripts.[1] On liberation day, de Gaulle demanded that the French flag be flown from the tower, so a French colonel rounded up six American soldiers who, despite the fact that the elevators were repaired hours after liberation, took 3 hours to get to the top of the tower. Once there, they were tasked with attaching a 300-pound flag to a radio antenna (not a flagpole) in a 40mph wind. Another three hours later, La Tricolore was back to its rightful place above the streets of Paris, and photos of the event were on the front pages of newspapers around the world.[2]
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