American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

As Allied columns were breaking loose all over France, men and women of the French resistance movement began to battle the Germans in the streets of the capital. Although General Eisenhower had intended to bypass Paris, hoping to avoid heavy fighting in the city and to post- pone the necessity of feeding the civilian population, he felt compelled to send help lest the uprising be defeated. On August 25 a column including U.S. and French troops entered the city.

With surviving enemy forces falling back in defeat toward the Ger- man frontier, General Eisenhower abandoned the original plan of hold- ing at the Seine while he opened the Brittany ports and established a sound logistical base. Determined to take advantage of the enemy's de- feat, he reinforced Montgomery's 21st Army Group by sending the First U.S. Army close alongside the British, thus providing enough strength in the northern thrust to assure quick capture of ports along the Eng- lish Channel, particularly the great Belgian port of Antwerp. Because the front was fast moving away from Brittany, the channel ports were essential.