Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Battleground 44 with me, Saul David and Patrick Bishop.

Well, today, to celebrate the publication of Patrick's excellent new book,

Paris 44, we're going to talk about a single day, and that day, of course, is the actual

day of liberation, or as Patrick has it in the book, the day the war should have ended.

And I'm just going to read out the opening paragraph to the relevant chapter because it pretty much sets the scene

up nicely. On Friday the 25th of August 1944, Harris lived out the greatest day of its modern history.

All its multiple personalities fused in an immortal spectacle that rekindled humanity's love

affair with the city. The streets throbbed with relief, joy and love, all emotions sharpened by the danger

still hanging in the air.

When the Germans marched into Paris in June 1940, it felt as though Europe had fallen into

darkness.

Now the land was bright again, and the path to total victory seemed that much shorter and clearer.

The war had swept away all that was predictable, normal and comforting, a Paris filled with

grey uniforms and swathed in swastika flags was not, could never be Paris.

At last, the city of light, the city of love, still fully recognisable, was restored to the

world's imagination in all its cliched,

but hugely reassuring familiarity.

I mean, just reading that, Patrick, kind of underlines how beautifully put together this book is.

If I could have picked a single paragraph, it probably would have been that one,

but there are many more like it, and yet it completely sums up, doesn't it, this extraordinary day? Well, thank you, Saul. That's a high praise coming from you.

Very nice to hear. Yeah, I mean, it was a great, great day, and even though there's lots of

nuance there and there's plenty of darkness alongside the light, I think we do have to take these

...