August 25, 1944

The French 2nd Armored Division and the United States 4th Infantry Division enter Paris from the west and east, respectively, after triumphing over the German forces there.

Americans pressured the French for a “whites only” liberation force, so black French troops were excluded from joining in the triumph. This pressure came from General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, and can be presumed to have been the desire of Eisenhower himself.