American and French officers at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. HD Stock Footage

The Color of History
Oct 12, 2026

CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage. The vintage footage in this video has been uploaded for research purposes, and is presented in unedited form. Some viewers may find some scenes or audio in this archival material to be unsettling or distressing. CriticalPast makes this media available for researchers and documentarians, and does not endorse or condone any behavior or message, implied or explicit, that is seen or heard in this video.
Link to order this clip:
Historic Stock Footage Archival and Vintage Video Clips in HD.

American and French officers at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

American GIs and WAC (Women Army Corps) officers walk up to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. A bus load of GIs arrive and enter the Cathedral. Military Police (MP) officers march and line up outside the church. Civilians entering the church. French officers salute MPs on their way inside. Army personnel and civilians leave church. A USO (United Service Organizations) worker outside the church. MPs march away from the cathedral. Location: Paris France. Date: April 1945.

57,000+ broadcast-quality historic clips for immediate download.
Fully digitized and searchable, the CriticalPast collection is one of the largest archival footage collections in the world. All clips are licensed royalty-free, worldwide, in perpetuity. CriticalPast offers immediate downloads of full-resolution HD and SD masters and full-resolution time-coded screeners, 24 hours a day, to serve the needs of broadcast news, TV, film, and publishing professionals worldwide. Still photo images extracted from the vintage footage are also available for immediate download. CriticalPast is your source for imagery of worldwide events, people, and B-roll spanning the 20th century.