Hemingway was staying in the city of Rambouillet, 27 miles SW of Paris, with his makeshift troop of men, which was composed of Americans and FFI soldiers. As the days to the Liberation of Paris got closer, he wanted to head back to the center of the action and celebration. A convoy of soldiers, including Hem, headed towards the City of Light.
Just after Noon, Hemingway and his band of men crossed into Paris over the Seine at the Pont de Sèvres. It was August 25. 1944, and the drive into the city was filled with people standing along the road cheering the soldiers as they passed by. His first stop was to see a dear friend, Sylia Beach. Living at 18 Rue de l’Odeon, Hemingway came barreling down the street, yelling out her name. Sylvia ran down the street, brought her dear friend upstairs to the 4th floor, and wondered what he could do for her. Sylvia and Adrienne asked him if he could remove the Germains still firing from the roofs of the Odeon. Hemingway returned to his liberated Mercedes, grabbed some men and guns, and returned to the roof of her building. Gunfire was heard for a few minutes, and then total silence; Odeon was liberated, and the nightmare was over.
The story of where he went next is a story many “think” they know.
As the story goes, Hem wanted to be the first American to liberate the Ritz and asked General Leclerc for men and weapons. Leclerc told him to “buzz off,” but he wasn’t to be deterred. With his driver, Sergeant Red Pelky, and a handful of soldiers and journalists, they swung into the door of the Ritz. With machine guns in hand, he saw manager Claude Auzello and asked where the Germans were. “Monsieur, they left long ago”. He invited them in but had to leave the machine guns in the Mercedes.
Hem and his men marched into the Ritz Bar and instructed the barman to make them the Montgomery Martini: 17 parts Gin, 1 part Vermouth, which is how British Marshal Montgomery liked to face his Germans: 17 men to 1 German. Everyone tells the story that Hem himself drank 51 of these alone. In fact, his entire party drank them together. The Bar Hemingway was named in 1994 in the space that was the former ladies’ bar.
Listen to the full episode of Hemingway in the Liberation of Paris and other myths here