The Porte d'Orléans is one of 17 ''portes'' (

city gates of Paris 350px, Principal Parisian city gates While Paris is encircled by the Boulevard Périphérique (Paris ring road), the city gates of Paris ("''portes de Paris''") are the access points to the city for pedestrians and other road users. As Paris has ...

) in the Thiers wall, a defensive wall constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect Paris. The wall was demolished after the First World War, creating an open space that was subsequently built up. The Porte d'Orléans is now one of the main gateways to the capital, and is located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

Location

Porte d'Orléans is located around the Place du 25-Aug-1944, at the crossroads to the north of the Avenue du General Leclerc, the Boulevard Brune, and Boulevard Jourdan, and to the south of the intersection of Avenue de la Porte d'Orléans, the Avenue Ernest-Reyer, the Avenue Paul Appell and Rue de la Légion-Étrangère.

History

The Porte d'Orléans owes its name to the fact that the road coming from Orleans, known today as

Route nationale 20 The Route nationale 20 (N20) is a trunk road ( nationale) between Paris and the frontier with Spain heading south through the heart of France and passing through the Cathedral City of Orléans and Toulouse. The road forks at ''Col de Puymorens'' ...

, led there. This axis was of great importance to the Middle Ages to the cohesion of the emerging monarchy as Paris and Orleans were then the two main cities of the royal domain. It was through the Porte d'Orléans that elements of General

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free-French general during the Second World War. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as le maréchal ...

's 2e Division Blindée (French 2nd Armored Division) became the first Allied units to enter the capital, on 24 August 1944, thus contributing to the

liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Ger ...

during World War II. This event was an important step in realizing the oath that Leclerc had done before his men after the Battle of Kufra in 1941, that he would not lay down his arms until the French flag flew once again from the

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', german: Liebfrauenmünster zu Straßburg or ''Straßburger Münster''), also known as Strasbourg ...

. The Oath-of-Kufra Square, situated on the west side of the Porte d'Orléans between the Avenue de la Porte d'Orléans and Rue de la Légion Étrangère commemorates this episode.

Transportation

EM 1472 - MONTROUGE - La Porte d'Orléans

The Porte d'Orléans is an important hub for road and rail public transport. It is the starting point of the current National Highway 20 which connects Paris to the border Spanish, via Orleans, Toulouse and Bourg-Madame . The traffic is very important, it is one of the main gates of Paris to the south, with the Porte d'Italie and the Porte de Saint-Cloud . Furthermore, the axis ex-RN 20 - Avenue du General Leclerc is both a principal axis for the Police Headquarters (presidential and prison convoys), but also one of two entry points south of Paris (with the Porte d'Italie) for abnormal loads (the OCL - LAC - the tram is also 50 cm lift for trucks high template). A half-exchanger allows access to ring road to the west. On one side is an interchange marks the beginning of the highway A6a to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

and an access to A10 which leads to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

and

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. The Porte d'Orléans used to be the terminus of metro line 4 (before its extension to

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

in 2012). It is also served by the tramway T3. Two bus stations provide the terminus for many

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines: north, along the Avenue du General Leclerc, leaving the bus depot, there are lines RATP 28 and 38 to Paris intramural, south, the square of 25 August 1944, many lines of suburbs: RATP 68 125 126 128 187 188 194 197 295 297 299 ; SQYBUS 475, Vtmois 96, Daniel Mayer 151 and 152 CEAT 20, 21 and 07. {{DEFAULTSORT:Porte d'Orleans Geography of Paris Military history of France during World War II