American troops march down the Champs Elysees, August 1944

American troops of the 28th Infantry Division march down the Champs Elysees, August 1944

To state that the first to enter Nazi occupied Paris were Americans and French forces simply perpetuates the historical rearrangement installed by the triumphalist politics of France and the United States.

The first to enter Paris was the Ninth Division, formed by Spanish fighters (anti-fascist fighters from the Spanish civil war). They entered Paris the night of August 24th and reached the city hall by 9pm with a number of tanks, all named after Spanish cities and sites of decisive battles—Ebro, Madrid, Teruel, Guadalajara, etc.. – Americans and French troops arrived the next day once the Nazis were on the run.

Parisians fill the streets on Aug. 25, 1944, after occupying German forces surrender. 

General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French government-in-exile for four years, at the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, Aug. 25, 1944.

Thousands throng the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the end of World War II in Europe, on May 8, 1945, in this famous Ralph Morse picture. Morse was back in the City of Light less than a year after chronicling Paris' liberation.

Crowds of French people line the Champs Élysées following the Liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944.