Liberation of Paris by the Free French Forces.
Date 19 August 1944 – 25 August 1944
Location Paris, France
Result Decisive Free French victory


The Liberation of Paris (also known as Battle for Paris) took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on the 25th. The capital of France had been administered by Nazi Germany since the Second Compiègne armistice in June 1940, when the Vichy puppet regime was established with its capital maintained in the central commune of Vichy.

The liberation was an uprising staged by the French Resistance against the German Paris garrison. On 24 and 25 August, the FFI resistants received backup from the Free French Army of Liberation and the uprising evolved to urban warfare with the use of barricades, submachine guns, and tanks firing against Nazi and Milice snipers until the German surrender on 25 August.

This battle marked the end of Operation Overlord, the successful liberation of France by the Free French Forces, the restoration of the French Republic and the exile of the Vichy government moving to Sigmaringen in Germany.