Paris, 25 August 1944

Eisenhower had planned to bypass Paris. He changed his mind when the city rose against its garrison on August 19, 1944, and the French 2nd Armored Division under General Leclerc was sent in with the U.S. 4th Infantry Division alongside. Leclerc's lead tanks reached the Hôtel de Ville on the night of August 24. The Americans came in through the Porte d'Italie the next morning.

General von Choltitz, who had been ordered to leave the city a field of ruins, surrendered it intact that afternoon. Every Sherman that rolled down the boulevards was mobbed — climbed on, kissed, covered in flowers and flags.

Four years and two months after the Germans marched in, Paris was free. De Gaulle walked down the Champs-Élysées the next day.

The tank is the still point in a crowd that is all motion — arms up, flags out of every balcony window, paper falling like snow. Two flags share the picture, French and American, and the painter has given them equal weight. The Sherman is nearly buried under people; the gun barrel is the only clean line in the picture. Sunlight, pale stone, and every color a Paris August can hold.