New museum tells gripping story of liberation of Paris 75 years on
Basement used by resistance as control centre transformed ahead of anniversary of Nazis surrender
On the evening of 20 August 1944, the commander of the Paris area resistance and his secretary emerged from an underground passageway into the basement of an elegant 18th-century pavilion on the avenue that now bears his name.
Six years earlier, and two years before the Nazi occupation, the basement had been transformed into a control centre for key city services in the event of an air raid, but never used. It housed, among other useful amenities, a private, 250-line telephone exchange.
It was perfect. , known as Colonel Rol, his wife Cécile and their comrades swiftly began setting up the subterranean command post from which, over the next five days, the final
