Strategy of Liberation

This March of Time report provides a vivid recap of the Allied invasion of Europe after the D-Day landings. Combat footage shows the Allies’ progress, from the fierce beach fighting to the march on Paris, where the Fighting French, emboldened by the successful invasion were wreaking havoc on German tanks with rifle and grenade. As the Marseillaise plays over footage of De Gaulle it is the expressions on the faces of ordinary Parisians that really sums up the joy of the occasion.

This film was shown to British audiences in December 1944, four months after the liberation of Paris and nearly six months since the D-Day landings. The film’s opening shots establish Paris as a pre-war symbol of freedom and civilised living, with footage of the Cafe des Deux Magots and pavement stalls on the Left Bank selling books and paintings. The contrast between the freedom-loving Allies and the Nazis is conveyed with the usual March of Time relish: Hitler, surveying the Eiffel Tower in 1940 is described as ‘a paranoid ex-paper hanger’ and the camera lingers with understandable satisfaction on the tearful, frightened faces of surrendering German soldiers.