Police liberate police headquarters from the Nazis on August 19, 1944

This year we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris. The Germans left the capital on August 25, 1944. In the days before that, several little-known events led to the Nazis’ departure, such as the occupation of a Paris police station by resistance police.

Repossession of premises

At 7am on August 19, 1944, the police gathered at the Place Notre Dame. They had been on strike for several days. On August 15, the Vichy guards had driven them out of the prefecture. That morning, an accomplice opened the door for them, and they returned to the scene with their only pistol.

But victory was still far away, as Christian Chevandier, a historian specializing in this period, explains: “We were still in occupied Paris, and the Germans and the Allies were 200 kilometers away. In the afternoon, the Germans tried to retake occupied Paris.” The prefecture had infantry, there were tanks, and the police pushed them back, and it was the first time that incendiary bombs were used in Paris.

Take control

As night fell, the rebels crossed the Seine and occupied the Paris City Hall. The next day, skirmishes with the Germans intensified. The fighting was difficult due to the lack of equipment, Christian Chevandier emphasized: “In the beginning, not many people had weapons. And one of the important problems was to recover the weapons. This is also one of the reasons, and the police uprising is important, because they are poorly armed, but they are armed.

Nevertheless, the rebellion spread and on August 21 Paris was covered with roadblocks. We had to hold out until the Allies arrived. Four days later, on August 25, 1944, the capital was finally liberated.