French officials built a second Paris during WW I to trick Germans
November 10th, 2011 - 7:11 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattParis, Nov 10 (THAINDIAN NEWS) French officials went through the pains to get a dummy Paris to divert future German attacks after the First World War. Recent details suggest that the second Paris was not completed in time but it had strikingly similar features like the real one.
French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the French officials believed that a bomb attack from the Germans was imminent at the end of the First World War. To protect the capital from being destroyed, the military developed the fake city near Maisons-Laffitte.
The city was brightly lit and with the undeveloped nature of the radar system in those times, the French Army thought they could easily use it to fool the German pilots. The construction was carried out by the French army with assistance from private contractors.
The Germans didn’t attack the French capital so the dummy city was never used. Nonetheless the project has generated a lot of interest from the French public although details are scanty. Le Figaro explained that, “Nearly a century after the start of the First World War, very little is still known about this incredible project by the French Army.”
Though Paris escaped, London suffered double strikes during the First and the Second World Wars.
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Tags: bomb attack, first world war, french army, french capital, french officials, french public, german attacks, german pilots, germans, london, maisons laffitte, paris, private contractors, radar system, similar features, strikes, undeveloped nature