The long list of damage included burned or overturned cars, cobblestones torn up to use as projectiles or build barricades, smashed windows, signs thrown to the ground, etc.
Units of the 5th Engineer Regiment helping to clear rubble from the roads of Paris. Source ECPAD
During the strike, the armed forces were used to drive the city's rubbish collection trucks, and transport Parisians in tarpaulin-covered trucks.
The 5th Engineer Regiment was commandeered to clear the streets and repair the extensive damage caused to the road surfaces. Notably, it deployed Berliet GBC 8 MK 6X6 lorries, equipped with Marrel tipping bodies with lower rounded sides.
The GBC 8 MK tipper model was the most long-service truck remaining in service up until its replacement by the GBC 8 KT, predecessor of the GBC 180.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION…
Book : Charles Diaz, Mémoire de police dans la tourmente de mai 68, Archives de la préfecture de police de Paris, Textuel, 2017
Photographs : ECPAD, Participation de l’armée aux transports de remplacement et au déblaiement des rues de paris en mai 1968. http://archives.ecpad.fr/participation-de-larmee-aux-transports-de-remplacement-et-au-deblaiement-des-rues-de-paris-en-mai-1968