Porte d'Orléans

Porte d'Orléans (Général Leclerc) is a station and southern terminus of line 4 of the Paris Métro and a stop on tramway line 3. It is situated in the 14th Arrondissement, in the quartier of Petit-Montrouge. A terminal loop is provided at the station for trains to turn around to return north towards Porte de Clignancourt. Passengers usually detrain at the arrival platform and then the train proceeds empty via the loop to the departure platform.

The station was opened on 30 October 1909 as part of the second section of line 4 opened between Porte d'Orléans and Raspail before it was connected under the Seine on 9 January 1910. In 2006, Paris Tramway Line 3 opened, with a stop at Porte d'Orléans. The station is named after the Porte de d'Orléans, a gate in the nineteenth century Thiers wall of Paris, which led to the town of Orléans via the road now known as route nationale 20, or N20. Its subtitle is for the World War II general Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque, known by his nom de guerre of Général Leclerc. On August 25, 1944, Leclerc entered Paris via the Porte d'Orléans with tanks of the 2nd Armored division, on his way to liberate Paris from the German occupation.

A memorial to Leclerc is near the station, between Rue de la Légion Étrangère and Avenue de la Porte-d'Orléans. On the west side of Rue de la Légion Étrangère is Square du Serment-de-Koufra, a park commemorating a pledge made by Leclerc on March 2, 1941, the day after taking the Italian fort at Kufra, Libya: he swore that his weapons would not be laid down until the French flag flew over the cathedrals of Metz and of Strasbourg.

The station lies just on the Parisian side of the border with Montrouge, the neighbouring commune. Around 2010, Line 4 will be extended south into Montrouge, and then toward Bagneux, this will be the first extension to Line 4 since its completion in 1909. This should reduce bus traffic around the Porte d'Orléans.

Connections

• Tramway Line 3
• RATP buses 28, 38, 68, 125, 126, 128, 187, 188, 194, 197, 295, 297, 299
• CEAT buses 10.07, 10.20, 10.21
• Daniel Meyer buses DM151, DM152
• Sqybus 475
• Night buses N14, N21, N122

Gallery

External links

• Map of the Porte d'Orléans
• History, from a site maintained by the drivers of bus route 38
• Le Monument Porte d'Orléans (photos with text in French)