Flag ceremony in Cherbourg.

Flag ceremony in Cherbourg. American troops give the rifle salute at a flag presentation ceremony in the Plaza de la Republique of Cherbourg after the Germans surrendered the city to U.S. forces June 27, 1944. Announcing the surrender, Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, commander of U.S. ground forces in France, declared: "I is a pleasure to be able to say to the people of France, "Here is your first large city to be returned to you'". Less than 12 hours after the liberation of the French port, American forces handed the city over the Mayor M. Paul Reynaud.