‘We March In Paris’ - The 28th Division’s triumphant march down the Champs-Elysées



Courtesy Photo | Soldiers from the 28th Division march down the Champs-Elysées in Paris during a "victory parade" on Aug. 29, 1944, during World War II. (U.S. Army Signal Corps photo)

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, UNITED STATES
08.26.2022
Courtesy Story
Joint Force Headquarters - Pennsylvania National Guard

By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Heft

While crowds of Parisians waved banners and called out with joy, the thump of hundreds of pairs of boots marching in unison sounded down the Champs-Elysées, Paris’ most famous avenue on Aug. 29, 1944.

The columns of 28th Division troops marching through the French capital marked not only the end of the German occupation of Paris, but the beginning of the end of Nazi control of the rest of the country.

Following the Allied landings at Normandy in June 1944, fighting stalled into a brutal fight from field to field across the French countryside. "Hedgerow Hell" consisted of fighting through hard-packed root-filled walls 4 to 6 feet in height overgrown with thick hedges and trees where German troops concealed in foxholes and opened up with deadly crossfire from automatic weapons.

Pennsylvania's 28th Division joined other Allied troops in forcing their way through this terrain, liberating towns like Percy and Gathemo. As the Normandy Hedgerows disappeared behind them, they encountered cheering crowds jamming the roadside who welcomed them with showers of fruit, wine and shouts of "Vive les Americains.”

Now commanded by Brig. Gen. Norman Cota, the decorated veteran of North Africa and D-Day, the Keystone Division received word that they would be shuttled to Versailles, the historic palace of French Kings, and would take part in yet another landmark moment for the French people. They would march down the Champs-Elysées the following day, marking the liberation of Paris and the coming liberation of the entire French nation.

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Fact of the Day: During the 1st World War soldiers from the 1st Battalion of Lancashire Royal Dragoon Fusilier Hussars carried a 1/4 scale model of Blackpool Tower in a Landrover with them to help combat homesickness.

Photographed from a Canberra