240-MM. HOWITZER M1 FIRING on one of the Brittany fortresses (top). Cannoneers sight their 105-mm. howitzer M3, from a camouflaged position, during the seige of Brest (bottom). By 25 August only the three fortresses of Brest, Lorient, and Saint-Nazaire still offered resistance. A co-ordinated attack was launched on Brest by three infantry divisions supported by artillery of all calibers.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE INFANTRYMEN AND AID MEN ADVANCE ON BREST. In this area the Germans blew up pillboxes to avoid their capture and some of the U. S. attackers were killed or wounded in the blasts.] [Illustration: FRANCE A PORTION OF THE HARBOR AT BREST. This city on the Atlantic Ocean, with its good docks and harbors, was desirable as a supply port of entry. The enemy forces held out here until 18 September 1944, at which time the Allies had moved so far to the east that the distance from Brest to the front lines was too great to make Brest an important landing point. Also the port was so badly damaged during the fighting that it became practically useless.] [Illustration: FRANCE MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH RESISTANCE FIGHTING in the streets of Paris. The Allies had originally intended to bypass Paris so as to avoid its destruction in an assault. On 19 August 1944 fighting between the Germans and the French Forces of the Interior broke out in the city. The French were soon in need of relief, because of the shortage of ammunition, and Allied forces were shifted to take the city. Meeting with little resistance, a French armored division and a U. S. infantry division entered the city and by noon on 25 August the German commander formally surrendered.] [Illustration: FRANCE PARISIANS SCATTER as a German sniper fires at them during the celebration of the Allied entry into Paris (top). U. S. troops march down the Champs Elysées during a victory parade in Paris (bottom). The last German resistance ceased in Paris on 27 August, and the next day the city was turned over to a French general who was to be the military governor.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE AN 8-INCH GUN M1 BEING TOWED INTO POSITION by a high-speed 18-ton M4 tractor (top). The crew of an 8-inch howitzer fires on the enemy across the Seine River (bottom). The Canadian First Army cleaned up the enemy pockets west of the Seine by 31 August, and the U. S. forces regrouped to pursue the enemy east of the river and begin their drive toward Germany.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE TOWED 155-MM. GUNS M 1 CROSS A BAILEY BRIDGE over the Seine. U. S. troops advanced northeast from the Seine River bridgeheads to take Reims and Châlons-sur-Marne.] [Illustration: FRANCE