On August 19, 1944, the French Résistance began an open uprising against the German occupation garrison in Paris — the prelude to the liberation of the city, which would last until August 25. In the first days, fierce street fighting broke out in the city, during which civilians and resistance fighters had to take cover together. Jack Lieb documented this phase in color as one of the few cameramen to do so, while comparable material from these events is otherwise preserved almost exclusively in black and white. The liberation of Paris marked the transition in the film from the Normandy campaign to the Allied advance toward Germany.