In the summer of 1944, while Himmler's SS men were busy rounding up supposedly disloyal Army generals, Allied troops were busy blasting their way off the Normandy beachheads and into northern France.
German troops attempting to regroup for a massive counter-attack had instead suffered a crushing defeat when they were trapped in a pocket around Falaise. The Germans subsequently withdrew from northern France and then exited Paris amid a Resistance uprising. Fortunately the treasured city was left largely undamaged by the departing Germans as senior commanders turned a deaf ear to vengeful orders from Hitler. The city was formally liberated on August 25, 1944, by Free French troops.
Soon tank columns of the U.S. 3rd Army led by General George Patton were roaring eastward toward Germany so fast they risked running out of fuel. The amazing American and British-Canadian success continued with the liberation of Verdun, Dieppe, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Brussels and Antwerp. At the same time, Allied troops staged Operation Dragoon, a seaborne invasion of southern France, then pushed northward to link up with Patton. By mid-September, American troops had reached the Siegfried Line, a series of defensive fortifications stretching along Germany's western border.