Paris Is Free: "Merci! Merci! Merci!"

(See Cover)

The news that made the whole free world catch its breath last week was the news that Paris was free. It was one of the great days of all time. For Paris is the city of all free mankind, and its liberation last week was one of the great events of all time.

This event was reported by the first U.S. newsman to enter Paris, TIME'S Chief War Correspondent Charles Christian Wertenbaker. With LIFE'S Photographer Robert Capa, and Private Hubert Stickland of Norfolk, Va. as driver, Werten-baker's jeep drove directly behind General Leclerc's armored car, as French forces entered the city through the Porte d'Orleans at 9:40 a.m., Friday, Aug. 25.

Wertenbaker's eyewitness report:

I have seen the faces of young people in love and the faces of old people at peace with their God. I have never seen in any face such joy as radiated from the faces of the people of Paris this morning. This is no day for restraint, and I could not write with restraint if I wanted to. Your correspondent and your photographer Bob Capa drove into Paris with eyes that would not stay dry, and we were no more ashamed of it than were the people who wept as they embraced us.

We had spent the night at General Leclerc's command post, six miles from Paris on the Orleans-Paris road. Here the last German resistance outside Paris was being slowly reduced, while inside the city the Germans and the F.F.I, fought a bitter battle that had already lasted six days. Late in the afternoon a French cub plane flew in 50 yards above the Cathedral of Notre Dame, on the He de la Cite where the F.F.I, had its headquarters, and dropped a message which said simply: "Tomorrow we come."

The Sun Came Out. It was a fitting evening to precede the day of Paris' liberation. It had rained all day while the French tanks maneuvered in the mud and fought their way through the strong points and Tiger tanks which still kept them out of the capital. Late in the afternoon the clouds blew away and the sun shone through a pale blue sky. The tall lovely bending trees that lined the roads and fields stood dark against the sunset. Then the sun went down and a quarter moon hung low above the plain.

We stood in the twilight and discussed the news of the battle inside the city. It had started on the 19th and, in spite of a reported armistice which has never been verified, much less kept, had never slackened in fury. By Thursday night the Resistance forces held not only the islands of Saint-Louis and La Cite, but the Hotel de Ville, the Palais de Justice, the mairies of all arrondissements and the suburbs of Boulogne, Issy and Chatillon. The Germans held a large circular area bounded by the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides, the Gare du Quai-d'Orsay, the Place de la Concorde, the Madeleine and the Grand Palais. They also had strong points at the Gare d'Austerlitz, the Gare du Nord and the Porte d'Orleans. What was holding up the column of General Leclerc was a road block outside Sceaux.