ABSTRACT
One of the most pressing was the question of whether Paris would be liberated or bypassed by the Allied armies. In a strictly military sense, the actual physical liberation of the French capital could be a detriment to the military operations. The allocation of troops, the drain on food and fuel supplies to assist the city, and the possibility of heavy casualties caused by fighting in a restricted urban terrain mitigated against liberation. The feeling on Eisenhower s staff was that a bypassed Paris would soon see the cut-off German garrison surrender on its own.
