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Title:STREET-FIGHTING OUTSIDE NOTRE DAME IN PARIS [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 136-2
Other titles:
Summary:
Description: Troops of the 2nd Armoured Division and members of the FFI open fire on suspected snipers' positions in the upper storey of a building opposite Notre Dame as a 'Te Deum' service for the Liberation of Paris is conducted inside the Cathedral. Civilians, police, FFI and troops of the 2nd Armoured Division scramble for cover and crouch low behind stationary vehicles, lamp posts, pavement kerbs, doorways and cafe tables as bullets fly over their heads. First-aid parties rush to the aid of those wounded in the shooting.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Acland, A W (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Free French Forces, Div, Armoured, French, 2 (regiment/service)
British Army, Army Film and Photographic Unit (regiment/service)
French Red Cross (regiment/service)
Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, United States - halftrack: M3 (object name)
Stuart V light tank (object name)
transport, United States military - light utility: jeep & [British] (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Browning .50 cal machine gun (object name)
Liberation (object name)
streetfighting (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Browning .30 cal machine gun (object name)
Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography)
Notes: Note: See with A70 136-1, 3, 4, 5, 137-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and 140-9 for footage taken during the liberation of Paris. As to the indiscriminate shooting that took place in Paris on August 26th 1944 nobody was able to provide exact proof that collaborator snipers were at work as those suspects who were seized were beaten to death by enraged and panic-stricken crowds without prior interrogation.
Remarks: Excellent shots showing the general confusion precipitated by the panicky outbreaks of shooting by French troops and Resistance men at suspected snipers who were probably not there. Shots include a little boy calmly picking up spent machine gun cases for souvenirs as the adults scramble over each other in panic.
Documentation/associated material: for a journalistic account of the events that led up to the liberation of Paris and the political tensions within the French resistance, read 'Is Paris Burning?' by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins and see 'Journal de la Resistance' for film footage taken by the FFI.
