$10
Selling is a 1945 magazine article about: Liberation of Paris Title: Paris FreedAuthor: Maj. Frederick Simpich, Jr.All about the liberation of Paris. A little bit of military details, but more on the civilian happenings. Lots of color images. Quoting the 1st page “This is written from a St. Cloud veranda overlooking the majesty of Paris. Viewed from here by daylight, the pastel-colored metropolis might still be the "Cafe of Europe" and the "City of Light." But beneath her pink stucco and yellow-glazed brick, Paris struggles to emerge from the effects of a humiliating peace and 4yrs of occupation. As in the days of the scamp Francois Villon, gangs roam her streets by night. Her legendary sewers shield grimy stragglers from German units who have gone "underground," where they skirmish with the FFI (French Forces of the Interior) and emerge now and then to snipe at Allied uniforms. The Place de la Concorde, once a bedlam of honking taxis, is congested now by silent cyclists (pages 387, 390), while the broad grass carpets scattered like rugs in the Bois de Boulogne have been planted to supplement the city's food. Even the renowned luxury shops on the Place Venda me and the Rue de Rivoli, their facades gouged by bullets, languish from lack of goods. Though there has been no return of the "Terror," the speedy trial of collaborationists by the Assizes recalls French Revolution days when tumbrels rolled despised aristocrats from the people's court to execution. The transportation and fuel shortage is reflected in every facet of the city's life. Even fashions are influenced. Paris girls wear wide circular skirts, so flared that they can be draped back over a bicycle seat and thus save wear and tear on precious dress material. Only a Parisienne, remarked an air officer, can ride a bicycle as if it were a part of her ensemble. You should hear our GI's whistle on windy days! New business has sprung up with the vehicle shortage. Velo-cycles, Parisian equivalent of the ricksha, ply back and forth like taxis. Pumped by strong-limbed French youths, these bicycles with a perambulator-like trap in tow will deliver you anywhere in Paris-if it's not uphill! Moldy coachmen park their spavined horses on streets familiar to the American traveler, such as the Rue Royale and the Champs Elysees. The wealthy have returned to the horse. Elegant rubber-tired carriages drawn by matched pairs are now a common sight on the boulevards, as in the nineties. Tempo of traffic is so slowed by these cyclists, horse-drawn hacks, and by the hordes of pedestrians who overflow the sidewalks that our Army trucks passing through the city follow routes specially reserved for "fast" vehicles. Identified by signs carrying red disks, these "Red Ball Highways" are part of the road net whereby stores are rushed from Atlantic ports to the front. The rumble of heavy motors on these avenues can be heard for blocks as a background to the motorless movements of the rest of the sprawling city. Some French automobiles remain, overlooked in the general German requisitions. Assembled by the French Government for official use, many of these are charcoal burners, which spit and fume on the slightest grade and exude a thick smoke which smells like a tar road on a hot day. Others, withdrawn from hiding after 4yrs, develop odd complaints. Rubber tubing rots and clogs fuel lines, while carburetors adjusted to ersatz gasoline cough and gag on good 80-octane from American dumps. So, odds are that when you see a civilian car…" 7” x 10”, 24 double-sided pages, fourteen B&W and twelve color pictures. These are pages from an actual 1945 magazine. No reprints or copies. 45D1 Please note the flat-rate shipping for my magazine articles. Please see my other auctions and store items for more old articles, advertising pages and non-fiction books. Click Here To Visit My eBay Store: busybeas books and adsThousands of advertisement pages and old articlesAnything I find that looks interesting! Please see my other auctions for more goodies, books and magazines. I’ll combine wins to save on postage. Thanks For Looking! Luke 12: 15 Note to CANADIAN purchasers: Since 2007 I've only been charging 5% GST on purchases. Thanks to a recent CRA audit I must change to the full GST/HST charge. Different provinces have different rates, though most are just 5%. My GST/HST number is 84416 2784 RT0001 Powered by eBay Turbo Lister
