Northeast France, August 1944

Does anyone have a map showing the positions of the various Allied and Axis armies in the general area of Paris on August 14th and 15th 1944.

 

Hope this helps



Journal de Marche du Groupement Tactique Warabiot (G.T.V) de la 2ème DB

 

Depending how general you want, this may help;

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/maps/USA-E-Breakout-XIII.jpg
HyperWar: The Victory Campaign [Chapter 10]
http://home.messiah.edu/~al1250/

 

Armies in the Paris area would have been German on those dates - the Falaise Gap wasn't closed until August 21st.....

 

Pretty much i just want to know who's armies would be where. like where was Patton? or Eisenhower, or Monty, or Leclerc. . .

 

The Paris insurrection started on the 19th though.

The First "official" troops to enter Paris were Leclerc's 2nd armored Division.

Patton had originally planned to go around Paris and head for Gemrany and did not consider Paris as a priority target, but Leclerc convinced him to let the 2nd dash to the city







http://amicale-police-patrimoine.fr...details/Liberation de Paris 1944/La 2DB G.jpg





http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Paris1944.jpg


more!




http://www.fncv.com/biblio/conflits/1939-1945/liberation_paris/photos.html

 

does Skipper's map not give you the detail you need?

 

Skipper's map is exactly what I was looking for, but I unfortunately cannot read the labeling on it. i just found a better copy. posting in case anyone else is interested.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/maps/France1944d.jpg

thank you again, Skipper.

 

edit; nice find

Anything particular you are struggling to read?

there are lots of small sections of the region maps, such as in this link and similar;

http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/gabel/gabel.asp

let us know how we can help

 

Can anyone help me decipher this? http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/maps/France1944d.jpg
I am terrible at reading military maps, and there doesn't seem to be a key.

 

Basically what I want to know is if someone were to leave Paris, heading north or west, on the fourteenth or fifteenth of August, 1944, what would be the first American force they would run into? Or would they not encounter an American army at all, and actually be more likely to encounter a French force first, or a British?

 

The red line is the front line it is going from the west to the west according to dates and stop on August 25th and shows the front line on that date. Not ethe small pockets around Lorient and St Nazaire for instance where germans resisted until May 1945. red = Germans; bleu = allied , their command zones are in the squares. If you follow figures (XX etc..) you can follow the way follow by their respective armies .

 

Going west and south they would meet the Americans first, but they's have to cross the Gemran lines with French patriots complicity (this is what the Insurgeants from Paris did to get to Leclerc's and inform him of the situation. the French were around Alencon, the Americans around Le Mans on the 13th . South they'd meet Pattons 3rd army near Orleans on August 15th, so on August 14th the Paris suburbs were still officially under German control, but in fact large areas in the countryside were risky for Germans to go out as the Resistance was very active there

 

If travelling absolutely due West from Paris on August 15th, 1944, you are going to run slap into a lot of trouble between Alencon and Lisieux - the area of the Falaise Gap fighting. It will depend o nexactly which route you are taking as to whether you will encounter fleeing Waffen-SS and Panzers around Vimoutiers, Poles/Americans/Canadians/British between Chambois and Falaise, Patton's 3rd Army advancing from Le Mans, Leclerc's men in Alencon.

This particular date was a time of very fluid battlefield action West of Paris.....

 

heading North it would have been only Germans, West most likely would encounter Germans, if managing to slip through German lines to where the Allies were they would probably encounter Patton's III Army, and possibly Leclercs 2nd DB although they were not moved into position for Paris until a few days later

 

...and if travelling on open roads you'd probably encounter elements of the 2nd Tactical Air Force.....

 

if you want a basic guide to reading the map markings, this is a start;

Basic Military Map Symbols

bearing in mind the colours.

 

if you want a basic guide to reading the map markings, this is a start;

Basic Military Map Symbols

bearing in mind the colours.

 

Thank you all. This is awesome. I actually have too much information to process.

Supposing the person in question spoke German perfectly and was equipped with a uniform and identity papers, and a German staff car, and was looking for an American army, which direction would be the safest and fastest for him to take?