August, they cross the Maine and start the fight. Helped by the local French Forces of the Interior, they progressively move forward the city centre. The fight is nevertheless difficult and Angers is liberated the day after, at around 5 p.m.
After the end of the war, the city experiences a quick development and demographic growth. In 1971, a decision is made to reestablish a public university, and the Université catholique d'Angers is split between the Université catholique de l'Ouest, private, and the Université d'Angers, public. Angers has had since then two different universities.
Until the 1980s, Angers experienced as well several massive urban plans, such as the construction of the Lac de Maine, of several vast council estates and shopping malls, as well as the construction of a highway which crosses the city by its centre, a project that forced the destruction of many old buildings and destroyed the original quays on the Maine. Later, other urban plans were drawned, but with a new emphasis on nature and heritage protection, as well as on social mixing. Conduced during the 1990s, the redevelopment of the Saint-Serge quarter, located just north of the historical centre, left a new business centre, gardens and university buildings
