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German bomber over Paris
historyextra.com
In early October of 1920, readers of the British newspaper The Globe encountered a remarkable article titled "A Mock Paris: French Plan to Hoodwink German Raiders." The report claimed to have uncovered a secret wartime project so ambitious it seemed scarcely credible. It detailed how French engineers, during the First World War, had attempted to construct a decoy version of their own capital city, complete with imitation streets, factories, houses, and a functional railway.
The objective was purely deceptive: to lure German bomber pilots into attacking this elaborate facade instead of the authentic Paris. The visionary behind this scheme was an Italian-born electrical engineer named Fernand Jacopozzi. However, the Armistice in November 1918 concluded the war before the replica city was fully operational, leaving its potential effectiveness forever untested.
The impetus for such an extraordinary plan originated from a profound shift in warfare. On August 30, 1914, a German pilot named Ferdinand von Hiddessen flew a monoplane over Paris and dropped four small bombs. This event marked the first aerial bombardment of a national capital. While physical casualties were minimal, the psychological impact was immense. The airplane, pioneered by the Wright brothers merely a decade prior, had abruptly transformed from a marvel of invention into a terrifying weapon. The battlefront was no longer distant; the home front itself had become a target, eroding any sense of civilian safety.
Over the subsequent years, German aerial assaults intensified and evolved. In March 1915, massive dirigibles known as Zeppelins commenced raids, though initial sorties from Belgian bases caused limited damage. The strategic landscape altered drastically on the night of January 29, 1916, when two Zeppelins successfully reached Paris. Their bombs killed 24 civilians and wounded 30 others.
A public funeral for the victims was held on February 7, 1916, bringing the city to a standstill. As thousands of mourners looked on, six gun carriages transported the coffins. Cardinal Leon Adolphe Amette, the Archbishop of Paris, delivered a powerful eulogy. He declared the victims were "the victims of German barbarity, who fell on no field of battle," asserting that their deaths would fortify the nation's resolve to achieve victory and prevent future atrocities.
Despite this resolve, French aerial defenses remained inadequate. Attacks persisted until 1917, when Germany redirected its most potent bombers, the Gothas, toward London. One particularly devastating Gotha raid on London in June 1917 resulted in 162 fatalities. French military officials understood that Paris would again become a priority target and recognized the urgent necessity for an innovative defensive strategy.
The individual who proposed a solution was Fernand Jacopozzi. Born in Florence, Italy, Jacopozzi had worked on the celebrated Paris International Exposition of 1900, an event that showcased the technological optimism of the era. He developed a specialty in electric lighting, fascinated by its potential for spectacle and utility.
The precise origins of Jacopozzi's involvement with the military remain obscured by secrecy, but by late 1917, the French War Office's air defense department had commissioned him. His assignment was to design and build a counterfeit Paris to mislead enemy bomber crews.
While the concept may appear fantastical to a modern audience, it possessed a clear strategic logic for its time. German pilots navigated to Paris at night by visually identifying terrestrial landmarks, relying primarily on the distinctive, winding path of the River Seine as it flowed through the city past the Eiffel Tower. North of Paris, the river describes two prominent bends.
Military planners selected the second of these bends, located in the suburb of Maisons-Laffitte, as the primary site for the decoy metropolis. They designated two additional decoy locations: a fake industrial zone at Vaires-sur-Marne, approximately ten miles east of Paris, and a replica of the suburb of Saint-Denis at Villepinte to the northeast.
Jacopozzi commenced construction at Villepinte in early 1918. His initial undertaking was a replica of the Gare de l'Est, one of Paris's major railway terminals. He fabricated a dummy train from wooden boards. To simulate motion for observers in aircraft, he engineered an ingenious lighting apparatus: he installed lamps on a moving conveyor belt inside the carriages, creating a convincing illusion of a train in transit.
His next task was the artificial industrial sector. Once more, he employed wooden frames and canvas roofs, painted in varied hues. His lighting expertise became crucial here. He strategically arranged colored lamps—white, yellow, and red—to mimic the subdued glow of furnace fires and the hazy steam emanating from manufacturing plants. The effect required subtlety; illuminating the decoy too brightly would risk alerting observant pilots to its fraudulent nature.
The construction process was meticulous and slow. Jacopozzi was nearing completion when, on September 16, 1918, German Gotha bombers conducted a significant raid on the actual Paris, dropping 22,000 kilograms of bombs and causing casualties. French authorities anxiously awaited the final readiness of the decoy city for the anticipated next attack. That attack never materialized. With the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, World War I ended, and the deceptive city never faced its intended trial.
Nevertheless, the French government regarded the project as a strategic success, believing it had pioneered a viable new form of defense for future conflicts. The operation remained classified until 1920, when the British press uncovered the story. Following The Globe's initial report in October, The Illustrated London News published a comprehensive photo essay on November 6, 1920, titled "A False Paris Outside Paris — a 'City' Created to be Bombed." It featured photographs, maps, and descriptions that the publication termed "remarkably interesting revelations."
The contemporary newspaper accounts did not identify Jacopozzi by name. The French government, however, recognized his contribution and awarded him the Legion of Honour, a premier national distinction. In the postwar era, Jacopozzi achieved considerable renown during the 1920s by applying his lighting skills to peaceful and spectacular endeavors.
He designed the inaugural lighting system for the Eiffel Tower, installed floodlights at the Place de la Concorde, and illuminated several other iconic Parisian structures. Commercial enterprises also recognized the value of his work; the automobile manufacturer Citroën hired him to create a massive, luminous advertisement for its vehicles on the side of the Eiffel Tower.
Fernand Jacopozzi died in Paris in 1932. One obituary observed that he "attracted world interest by his illumination of the Eiffel Tower, and did much to make Paris the City of Light." The notice made no mention of his secret wartime project to construct a phantom capital. Ultimately, his most enduring legacy was the creation of genuine illumination, not an elaborate target for destruction.