On the occasion of the commemoration of the Liberation of Bois-le-Roi, a speech by Michèle Saliot, read on August 30, 2026, revisited the days of August 23 and 24, 1944. This narrative, which blends the story of the arrival of American troops and the Battle of Valvins, incorporates the poignant testimony of a family at the heart of the fighting, bringing to life those hours when newfound freedom was written in the villages.
The speech, delivered in La Borne, recalled the arrival of the Americans in the village on August 23, 1944, that of the 2nd division of General Irwin's 3rd regiment, from Patton's army. It aimed to add an emotional dimension with the testimony of a mother of a family, whose house in Samoreau, near the Valvins bridge, was a privileged witness to the events.
American tanks crossed Bois-le-Roi without encountering resistance on August 23, 1944, at 9:30 AM, as the Germans had left the town a week earlier. The last German soldiers fled on borrowed bicycles and blew up the Chartrettes bridge at 9:45 AM. The Americans arrived too late to protect the bridge, which might have made the Battle of Valvins less deadly.
Following Patton's orders, the American armored column advanced up Avenue Foch and then Avenue Joffre towards the Valvins bridge. The Germans were waiting for them. At 11 AM, after crossing Samois, they headed for the bridge to link up with the 11th regiment from Fontainebleau. The latter had reached Fontainebleau at 12:45 PM and entered Avenue de Valvins. An American armored car and a German sidecar found themselves face to face, leading to an exchange of gunfire that set the German vehicles ablaze and killed their occupants.
After the two American sections joined forces and ensured the bridge was intact, the troops began to advance. Alerted by the cannon fire, the civilian population retreated. The mother noted around 1:30 PM close gunfire coming from the riverbanks, spotting a small German column retreating towards the bridge. After crossing, the Germans blew up the Valvins bridge and put up fierce resistance against the Americans from the heights of Vulaines and Samoreau.
Inside the house, the fighting intensified. Barrage fire targeted the Americans, who had to improvise a pontoon bridge. Commander Kelly Lemmon, Captain Gerrie, and Sergeant Willingham mobilized. At 5 PM, German reinforcements arrived from Bas-Samoreau, but the column of vehicles along the Seine was annihilated by American fighter-bombers. Calm returned by the end of the day, but gunfire resumed, with Germans still present in the upper part of the village.
During the night of August 23, the Germans counter-attacked from the heights of Samoreau. Despite intense fire, GIs infiltrated the village by canoe. The bombardment was violent until dawn. On Thursday, August 24, shortly before sunrise, the family welcomed American soldiers into their home, setting up an anti-tank gun, a machine gun, and rifles in the living room and bathroom. German soldiers attempting to approach were shot down.
Around 5 PM, the American bombardment resumed more violently. The arrival of American troops from the back of the garden marked the Liberation. The mother of the family summarized the emotion of that moment: 'Reality erases all dreams, and an ineffable emotion grips our throats at the sight, so astonishing to us, of this new army from the New World surging through this old village on the banks of the Seine.'
