The city of Paris marked 75 years since its liberation from Nazi forces in World War II with a Freedom Parade on Sunday.

Flag carrying Parisians came out onto the streets in 1940s period costumes as tanks and military vehicles rolled through the French capital to recreate the route taken by Allied forces, led by French General Philippe Leclerc, to liberate the city in August 1944.

Paris firefighters gathered at the Eiffel tower and a French flag was raised underneath to commemorate the actions of Lucien Sarniguet, a firefighter who climbed the tower amidst gunfire to raise the tricolor and mark the liberation of Paris in 1944.

“I was here in Paris on VE day, I happened to have a pass to come into Paris and that was when they announced victory in Europe. And, at that time people went into the streets dancing in a very jovial mood, everybody happy that they had their freedom back,” Harry Angle, a WWII veteran from the US said at the parade.

The battle to liberate Paris took place from August 19, 1944 until August 25, 1944 when Nazi forces finally surrendered. Some 600 Parisians, 130 Allied soldiers and nearly 1,000 French Resistance fighters were killed in the fighting.

(Source: Ruptly)