# Paris under the bombs



## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

I'm opening this thread to debunk yet another myth about Paris, namely the myth that Paris was not bombed during World War II.

This thread is a copy and paste of a thread on the French forum. I have translated the explanations in English.










During World War II, Paris was not as heavily bombed as other European cities such as Warsaw, Rotterdam or London, but it suffered bombing raids nonetheless. Those are now largely forgotten, leading to the myth of a city that was spared destruction, probably because most of the bombings took place in working-class districts of Paris, which people tend to disregard (if it's not Haussmannian, it's not Paris... yet another cliché).

Paris was essentially bombed by the British and the Americans, and not by the Germans, which is probably another reason why most people prefer to forget about these embarassing bombings by allies of France. The reason why there were relatively few German bombings is because the French Third Republic declared Paris an "open city" in June 1940 to spare its population (the Battle of France was already lost, so the government thought it was preferable to save the then 6 million inhabitants of Greater Paris rather than make a totally useless last stand in Paris and risk the lives of millions of people). This still leads to lots of hateful comments from American far-right circles, as we've seen these past few years, so I don't need to insist on this.

Then in August-September 1944 the retreat of the German army across northern France was so sudden and rapid that a few days after the liberation of Paris in the end of August 1944 the French capital was beyond German bombing range, so Hitler could not "burn Paris" as he intended to do, but he did use his deadly V1 and V2 on Antwerp and London which remained under German bombing range until almost the end of the war unlike Paris.

Concerning the Allies, the British and the Americans targetted the many factories located in Greater Paris, one of Europe's largest concentration of industries which were used by the German occupation forces. That's why it is essentially the working-class districts of Paris that suffered from the Allied bombing raids.

The most terrible bombing raid took place on the night of April 21, 1944 in the area of the Porte de La Chapelle, in the 18th arrondissement. The entire area was destroyed (Anglo-American bombers targetted the La Chapelle marshalling yard, which they largely missed). 641 people were killed and 377 wounded during that raid, which is a death toll as high as during the worst nights of the London Blitz, and a higher death toll than during the very famous Coventry bombing raid of November 1940 by the German Luftwaffe! Today the Coventry bombing raid is still remembered far and wide, but the Paris bombing raid of April 21, 1944 is largely forgotten, I wonder why. 

These are some pictures of the Porte de La Chapelle area in the 18th arrondissement after the April 21, 1944 bombing raid:





































Rue Championnet, near Montmartre, on April 22:



























The Métro repair shops in St Ouen were also destroyed during the same Allied bombing raid:









This is what a Parisian living in the 7th arrondissement (where the Eiffel Tower is located), and who owned a factory at the Porte de La Chapelle, wrote about that awful night of blitz in a letter to his wife who was refugee in Brittany (publisher's notes between brackets):


> Here are some details about the catastrophy. First, a night of utmost uproar. During 2 hours and 15 minutes, a mind-boggling racket. Everything was shaking in the apartment [located in the 7th arrondissement in the very heart of Paris]. At last I went down the stairs and tried to cheer up this excellent Mrs Dantin [the famously bad-tempered doorkeeper, an awful drunkard old lady] who was stricken with panic. The night sky was lighted with flares and fires, and you could see as in broad daylight. I called our warehouse right away, but there was no dial tone. I immediately thought of the worst. Thus, I woke up at 5am and boarded the first Métro carriage which stopped at Jules Joffrin station. From there I reached, running more or less, the warehouse. Everything was burning. The Porte de La Chapelle was particularly knocked down. All the houses have collapsed on the ground. A bomb exploded over the Métro which is in shambles. From the Porte de La Chapelle to our warehouse [ca. 1 km], everything was flames and devastation. The bombing was very dense. Our warehouse offered a pitiful outlook. I immediately went to the basement where I knew several of our workers had sought refuge. It was intact, which immediately reassured me (...)
> 
> And voila. Here, air raid sirens after sirens, bombings after bombings. It's non-stop! Again this morning, you could see the flying fortresses quite distinctly in the sky. I'm glad that you are over there in the peace and quiet of the province. Life here is becoming really difficult. Lots of people are leaving Paris. Several districts (the 14th arrondissement, the 18th arrondissement, the Plaine St Denis, etc.) were evacuated. In the Plaine St Denis, there were this morning 416 coffins. Several corpses still remain under the rubbles. An entire family, not far from our warehouse, met their end: father, mother, 6 children! Time bombs are still exploding. Fires are thanks God over. (...)


The April 21, 1944 Anglo-American bombing raid over Paris outraged all of France, and was a big blunder on the side of the Allies just a few weeks before the Normandy landing. The Vichy leader Marshal Pétain personally went to Paris a few days after the bombing and received a triumphal welcome (an event that French bashers often compare with the triumphal welcome received by Charles de Gaulle only 4 months later during the liberation of Paris, forgetting to mention the particularly tragic circumstances of Pétain's visit to Paris).

Moving to another area of Paris, the working-class district of Billancourt, to the south of the 16th arrondissement, was during the war a favorite target of the Allies because the Renault factories were located there. At the end of the war, the Billancourt district was almost entirely destroyed. Many people were killed.

In this video you can see images of Billancourt after the British bombing raid of March 4, 1942 which killed 348 people:
http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=AFE85000752

In April 1944 the Renault factories in Billancourt were bombed yet again. Some bombs fell on line 9 of the Métro and damaged the Billancourt underground station:










Other Métro stations that were deeper underground than the Billancourt station were used as shelters during bombing raids, same as in London. For example here at Pyrénées Métro station:










In comparison, people seeking refuge in the London tube across the Channel:










In order to protect the Paris industrial output from Allied bombings, the Germans transformed some Métro stations into war workshops working for the German war machine. Here the Porte des Lilas Métro station photographed shortly after the liberation of Paris:










Bombings happened also during the daytime. Here at the Longchamp Racecourse (horse racecourse that is) in March 1943, people are running to the shelters during an Allied bombing:










Not everybody managed to reach the shelters on time:










(to be continued... with more pictures of bombing raids over Paris)


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## kaul (Jan 4, 2009)

very interesting, thanks.


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## JP (Oct 26, 2002)

Merci pour ce sujet, je ne savais pas que Paris avait été bombardé pendant la seconde guerre mondiale...j'ai un peu honte de mon ignorance...
Je pensais qu'elle l'avait été seulement pendant la guerre avec la Prusse...


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

great subject breeze... very interesting :applause:


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## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

JP said:


> Merci pour ce sujet, *je ne savais pas que Paris avait été bombardé pendant la seconde guerre mondiale*...j'ai un peu honte de mon ignorance...
> Je pensais qu'elle l'avait été seulement pendant la guerre avec la Prusse...


:uh: moi aussi, very interesting, thanks to share :yes:


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

More to come tomorrow.


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## Good (Jun 20, 2006)

Very interesting and informative topic, thanks for the pictures and your spotless translations Brisavoine!


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## Mickeebee (Jan 17, 2007)

Wow...amazing. I think most people think that Paris got away without being too badly bombed but these pics show a different story.


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## RonnieR (Jul 13, 2007)

powerful photos.


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## AAL (Sep 13, 2007)

Very interesting, thanks!


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Why is every Parisian on this webside trying to "debunk myths about Paris"? I find it a bit ridiculous tbh. Paris was bombed (I did know this) but it hardly damaged the city much. At least not compared to other European cities.

Minato Ku has posted several threads where he´s trying to show that Paris is infact a smelly ugly city infested with American fast food chains and that the historic centre needs to be overshadowed by skyscrapers. Why all this?


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

You exagerate a bit.
If myth about Paris were true, nobody would try to debunk it. 

We, parisian, are upset to see our city always descrived as a museum city only good for tourism, always the same picture of the Eiffel tower, Opera, Louvre, Montmartre, Invalide and la Defense.
Always showing the same scene : accordeonist for toursits, cafe for tourists...

It is not because the center was quite untouched that the city was not bombed.


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

It looks bad, but I think the Rotterdam or Warsaw bombing was way worse.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Let's continue our report.

Further in the suburbs, there were also many bombing raids. Sartrouville, in the western suburbs of Paris, was bombed by the Americans three times in May and June 1944. 250 people died and 1,000 were wounded.




























80% of Athis-Mons, in the southern suburbs, was razed to the ground during the Allied bombing raid of April 18, 1944. 300 people died, 4,000 people were left homeless. Athis-Mons had to be entirely rebuilt after the war.





































Even the world-famous Versailles, in the western suburbs, was bombed by the Allies. In the bombing raid of June 24, 1944, more than 250 people were killed and 400 people injured. The area that suffered most damages was around the Versailles-Chantiers train station. Here is a map showing the bomb impacts. No bomb fell on the Castle of Versailles (to the left of the map):










The Versailles-Chantiers train station after the bombing raid:










And the damages in Versailles:





































One of the 250 casualties in Versailles, killed while asleep:










The Allied bombing raids were a windfall for the Vichy Regime which used them as a tool in their propaganda against the British and the Americans. Here in this 1943 poster that was placed in the streets of many French cities, Roosevelt is being labelled a "murderer":










Headline in the pro-German newspaper "Aujourd'hui" after the first Allied bombing of the Trappes marshalling yard, in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, which killed 50 people on March 6, 1944. The headline reads "A municipality in the Seine-et-Oise département devastated by the "liberators" ":










Now turning to the Germans, like I said there were few German bombings of Paris due to the reasons I explained yesterday, but let's talk about these few German bombing raids nonetheless.

During the Battle of France in May-June 1940, there were two German bombing raids over Paris. The first one took place on the night of June 3, 1940. 500 aircrafts of the German Luftwaffe bombed in three waves 3 French Air Force bases, 22 train stations and 15 factories in the Paris area, in particular in the Billancourt-15th arrondissement (Javel) area. 254 people were killed, 652 people were injured. This bombing raid spread panic among the Parisian population, and many Parisians fled the city towards the south of France, clogging the roads already clogged with refugees from Belgium and northern France, which hindered the movements of the French army (this tragic episode is know as the Exodus, with 8 to 10 million Belgian and French civilians fleeing the German advance and completely clogging the French road network; this is, incidently, the largest movement of population in Western Europe since as far back as historical records exist).

Here is one German aircraft that was shot down by the French anti-aircraft defence during that bombing raid:










In retaliation, the French Air Force bombed Frankfurt and Munich the next day (June 4), and a French aircraft flying from Bordeaux dropped a bomb over Berlin on June 7, which was the very first bombing of Berlin in WW2. These French bombing raids over Germany are totally forgotten today, I wonder why, leading to the myth that France did not resist the Germans during WW2. You can find out more about the incredible feat of the French pilot who bombed Berlin (very far into German territory) in English here:
http://warandgame.blogspot.com/2008/02/solo-to-berlin.html
http://blinkynet.net/wwii/verne.html

The second German bombing raid over Paris took place on June 11, 1940. I don't have details about that raid. On June 13, the commander of the French armies, Weygand, declared Paris an "open city" to spare the civilian population like I said yesterday.

The next waves of German bombings took place in 1944. Hitler was furious that the German general Von Choltitz had not carried out his order to destroy Paris before the Allies arrive, so he ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb the city just after its liberation in the end of August 1944, but by late August 1944 the Luftwaffe was fortunately too weak to organize some large scale bombing raids. The most notorious bombing raid took place on the night of August 26, 1944 (a few hours after Charles de Gaulle and the Free French paraded on the Champs-Elysées). Several districts of Paris were hit: the Bichat Hospital in the north of the 18th arrondissement, the Blanc-Manteaux neighborhood in the famous Marais district, in the heart of Paris, the Buttes Chaumont in the 19th arrondissement, the Porte de Montreuil in the 20th arrondissement, the Porte de Vitry, Plade d'Italie, and Porte d'Ivry in the 13th arrondissement, the Mouffetard neighborhood in the 5th arrondissement, and the Bastille area. In the suburbs Bagnolet, Pantin, Montreuil, Sceaux, Bourg-la-Reine, Charenton-le-Pont, Saint-Maur, Ivry, and Vitry were hit by the Luftwaffe. The wine market (now the Jussieu university in the 5th arrondissement) was also hit, which immediately lighted the alcoohol stocked there. Thousands of wine caskets burnt all night, turning the Paris night sky into a reddish bright sky which made a deep impression on people who witnessed the liberation of Paris.

I don't know how many people died during that German bombing raid. The next day the Free French newspapers talked about it. "Paris bombed by the Luftwaffe" says this one:










"Savage bombing of the capital" says this other one:










Here is the picture of a building in the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, in the heart of the Marais, itself in the heart of Medieval Paris, which was destroyed by German bombs during that raid. 21 people died in that street during the August 26, 1944 German bombing raid:










A few days later, the front had moved so much east that the German Luftwaffe could not bomb Paris anymore, and even the V1 and V2 could not reach Paris as I explained yesteday, which spared Paris the fate endured by Antwerp and London.

Finally, since Parisian women will always remain Parisian women, here is a surreal scene photographed in a Paris hair salon on August 1, 1944, only three weeks before the liberation of Paris, while large parts of Europe and Asia were experiencing death and destruction. :nuts:


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## snow is red (May 7, 2007)

So breathtaking, absolutely compelling. Please more. 

Thanks a lot.


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

Mr Bricks said:


> Why is every Parisian on this webside trying to "debunk myths about Paris"? I find it a bit ridiculous tbh. Paris was bombed (I did know this) but it hardly damaged the city much. At least not compared to other European cities.
> 
> Minato Ku has posted several threads where he´s trying to show that Paris is infact a smelly ugly city infested with American fast food chains and that the historic centre needs to be overshadowed by skyscrapers. Why all this?


smelly ugly city... :sly: are you talking of calcutta? :nuts: :lol: 

great work brizavoine!


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## LeB.Fr (Jun 11, 2007)

Thanks a lot for this thread brisavoine! Moi non plus je ne savais pas que Paris avait été bombardé pendant la 2GM.


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## Kreiven (Dec 29, 2008)

Very interesting!! Great job!


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## Langur (Jan 3, 2008)

Mr Bricks said:


> Why is every Parisian on this webside trying to "debunk myths about Paris"? I find it a bit ridiculous tbh. Paris was bombed (I did know this) but it hardly damaged the city much. At least not compared to other European cities.
> 
> Minato Ku has posted several threads where he´s trying to show that Paris is infact a smelly ugly city infested with American fast food chains and that the historic centre needs to be overshadowed by skyscrapers. Why all this?


My thoughts exactly. They seem really insecure. It's a shame because their "Paris of myth" is also the Paris that's worth a damn.


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## Langur (Jan 3, 2008)

Martounet said:


> smelly ugly city... :sly: are you talking of calcutta? :nuts: :lol:


Actually Calcutta's not so ugly. It has some magnificent architecture. I'll post some of my pics sometime.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Langur said:


> My thoughts exactly. They seem really insecure. It's a shame because their "Paris of myth" is also the Paris that's worth a damn.


You would do the same if London was represented as Paris is.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Don't bother Minato. Langur (formerly Monkey until he was banned) is just a troll.


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## Langur (Jan 3, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> Don't bother Minato. Langur (formerly Monkey until he was banned) is just a troll.


Don't be so bitter Bris. Technically Monkey is not banned anyway. 


Minato ku said:


> You would do the same if London was represented as Paris is.


 No I wouldn't. What I do the same is to criticise London forumers who obsessively photograph London's urban ugliness, and celebrate it as "cool", even though there's a chronic shortage of threads showcasing London's traditional grandeur.


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

Langur said:


> My thoughts exactly. They seem really insecure. It's a shame because their "Paris of myth" is also the Paris that's worth a damn.


:nuts: good joke... for the most visited city in the world... :lol:

about calcutta, i must have precised "shanty towns" or something corresponding to your "description of Paris"...

you seem to be another embittered englishman ... :rock: :lol: 

finally, your remark is uncalled-for, especially in this thread, very instructive (hardly any people thinks Paris was bombed in WW2)


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Martounet said:


> :nuts: good joke... for the most visited city in the world


Actually that would be London. Paris comes third. 



Martounet said:


> about calcutta, i must have precised "shanty towns" or something corresponding to your "description of Paris"...
> 
> you seem to be another embittered englishman ... :rock: :lol:
> 
> finally, your remark is uncalled-for, especially in this thread, very instructive (hardly any people thinks Paris was bombed in WW2)


What is it with you? Your reply to my previous post was also extremely bizarre. Try to understand what people are writing and respond accordingly.

Regarding WW2, Paris was hardly bombed. Compared to most German, Polish and British cities Paris didn´t suffer much.

Interesting thread nonetheless.


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

Mr Bricks said:


> Actually that would be London. Paris comes third.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 brisavoine is not comparing different bombings!







:sly: he just explains Paris has been bombed too. a large majority of people don't know that, that's all... 

you are "bizarre", you constantly extrapolate... not to mention figures concerning tourism... just a troll :hilarious


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Troll? The irony :lol:


http://www.euromonitor.com/Top_150_City_Destinations_London_Leads_the_Way


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

i may be wrong for the figures, but you're a troll anyway, because you extrapolate and provoke... you don't know Paris correctly: in your album "Industrial Paris" the beaugrenelle district"?! :lol:


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## JP (Oct 26, 2002)

Mr Bricks said:


> Why is every Parisian on this webside trying to "debunk myths about Paris"? I find it a bit ridiculous tbh. Paris was bombed (I did know this) but it hardly damaged the city much. At least not compared to other European cities.
> 
> Minato Ku has posted several threads where he´s trying to show that Paris is infact a smelly ugly city infested with American fast food chains and that the historic centre needs to be overshadowed by skyscrapers. Why all this?


Maybe it is and you are even probably right. 
But, in a way, we are suffering here too much of a permanent critic coming from inside (France) or outside (foreign countries). 
Just considering the inside part... journalists, architects, film makers, stars,... always complain, criticizing... what is obvious is not recognised for its own truth. I was reading today a stupid paper about how Paris is fixed regarding Rotterdam or Shanghai. What should I say?! Pretty stupid comparision...
At least, what is recognized for the other, doing their reputation, is also available in Paris...but it's hidden by some prejudices. 
So if you lived here, in Paris, and if you felt concerned...you would probably understand why some of them need to show something different. 
Brisavoine is not saying that Paris was more bombed than Warsaw, but recognize this thread is more interesting than a touristic view of Paris...already seen...


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

The question of which are the most visited cities in the world is much debated. Some list the cities based on the number of passengers that use the main airport. By this measure, Atlanta would be near the top.

Paris is the most visited city, touristically speaking, and heathrow the most visited airport... :lol: anyway, doesn't really matter, i like london very much, interesting city, i'm not like some of these pretentious London's fans. but i'm always surprised those two cities systematically compared... you can compare Paris with Rome, but not London... :nuts:


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

JP said:


> Maybe it is and you are even probably right.
> But, in a way, we are suffering here too much of a permanent critic coming from inside (France) or outside (foreign countries).
> Just considering the inside part... journalists, architects, film makers, stars,... always complain, criticizing... what is obvious is not recognised for its own truth. I was reading today a stupid paper about how Paris is fixed regarding Rotterdam or Shanghai. What should I say?! Pretty stupid comparision...
> At least, what is recognized for the other, doing their reputation, is also available in Paris...but it's hidden by some prejudices.
> ...


là je comprends plus... dsl je parle français car l'anglais me limite... "smelly ugly city with fast food evrywhere"... tu confirmes? mais je dois pas vivre dans la même ville que toi et minato, où j'ai une définition différente de la ville. (je parle de Paris intramuros, et de manière globale). hno:


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Mr Bricks said:


> Actually that would be London. Paris comes third.





Mr Bricks said:


> http://www.euromonitor.com/Top_150_City_Destinations_London_Leads_the_Way


I'm afraid your source is wrong. Paris receives 45 million tourists a year, 60% of whom are foreign tourists (source here). So that's 27 million international visitors (and not 9.7 million as your list wrongly claims), far ahead of both London and Bangkok.

Anyway, this is seriously off-topic in this thread. You have some London threads all around SSC if you want to boast about London.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Interesting photos... days like those in 1944 *never to come*


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> I'm afraid your source is wrong. Paris receives 45 million tourists a year, 60% of whom are foreign tourists (source here). So that's 27 million international visitors (and not 9.7 million as your list wrongly claims), far ahead of both London and Bangkok.
> 
> Anyway, this is seriously off-topic in this thread. You have some London threads all around SSC if you want to boast about London.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

I find this pic in flickr:








http://www.flickr.com/photos/dadv/1426449803/
Impacts of bullet dating the Release of Paris in August, 1944


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Firstly, Martounet shut the hell up! You´re a childish ignorant troll who cannot even participate in a discussion without making a fool of yourself.



brisavoine said:


> I'm afraid your source is wrong. Paris receives 45 million tourists a year, 60% of whom are foreign tourists (source here). So that's 27 million international visitors (and not 9.7 million as your list wrongly claims), far ahead of both London and Bangkok.


The link I provided was the only stats I found. Maybe I´m wrong, but honestly I don´t really care.



brisavoine said:


> Anyway, this is seriously off-topic in this thread. You have some London threads all around SSC if you want to boast about London.


I don´t want to "boast about London" at all. I just think this "debunking myths" thing is a bit silly. Paris is a great city and I don´t think showing commie blocks, starbucks and dirty streets makes the city any greater. We all know it´s there but that is not what makes Paris great in most people´s opinions.

I understand that you want to show Paris as a modern bustling metropole but I don´t believe this is the right way to do it.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Mr Bricks said:


> Paris is a great city and I don´t think showing commie blocks, starbucks and dirty streets makes the city any greater.


Personally, I don't like threads that show the city in one way or another, I like to show the diversity of the city, the good and the bad, that's why I opened the Urban diversity in the Paris suburbs thread for example.


Mr Bricks said:


> I understand that you want to show Paris as a modern bustling metropole but I don´t believe this is the right way to do it.


I don't know who this comment is meant for, but as for me, I don't "want" to show Paris as a modern bustling metropolis, I just try to show Paris as it is, in all its aspects, that's all.


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

:lol: poor brick who bugs everyone here, troll! and totally incoherent :nuts:







:lol:


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## [email protected] (Oct 1, 2008)

Thank you for this interesting and informative thread Brisavoine. But this discussion again... :sleepy:


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Martounet said:


> :lol: poor brick who bugs everyone here, troll! and totally incoherent :nuts:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can´t believe you have not yet been banned.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aronski/818155927/

That memorial site is for the people how died in August of 1944, under those bombings in that time?


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## JP (Oct 26, 2002)

Martounet said:


> là je comprends plus... dsl je parle français car l'anglais me limite... "smelly ugly city with fast food evrywhere"... tu confirmes? mais je dois pas vivre dans la même ville que toi et minato, où j'ai une définition différente de la ville. (je parle de Paris intramuros, et de manière globale). hno:


Je comprends pas pourquoi tu me réponds ça? 
J'ai plusieurs fois critiqué la façon dont Minato photographie Paris et je n'adhère pas trop à sa vision. Néanmois il révèle certains lieux peu ou prou photographiés. En cela ses reportages peuvent être interessants.
Je ne dis pas que Paris est sale, moche, envahie de fastfood. Loin de là. Elle me parait relativement préservé comparée aux villes anglosaxonnes.
Je cherchais juste à répondre à Mr Brick. Montrer Paris bombardé, montrer Paris ethnique, montrer Paris sale, montrer Paris chaotique, montrer Paris diversifié est à mes yeux une réponse aux préjugés permanants qui circulent, y compris chez des "spécialistes". J'entendais un jour les propos de Viguier qui dénonçait un Paris trop homogène. Je lisais avant hier un article sur archicool ventant les mérites de Rotterdam et Shanghai comparés à la léthargie de Paris. Je ne comprends pas. 
De façon anecdotique, lire des guides touristiques qui vendent un Londres ou un New-York multiethnique, pourquoi pas... mais ces touristes ont-il mis les pieds au marché Dejean ou aux Olympiades?! Fantasmer sur les banlieues sans fin, l'architecture des villas... et la banlieue parisienne?! ensenser les ruptures d'échelles, et dénoncer le chaos de la banlieue...n'est-ce pas paradoxal? Barcelone et Berlin, fer de lance de la création architecturale... quid des réalisations parisiennes? 
De l'extérieur n'est renvoyé principalement que l'image du Paris amélopoulinesque. Il n'y a qu'a regarder les nombreux sujet photos ici. Chacun tente alors de montrer autre chose et d'attirer l'attention sur ces faits, ces lieux qui aujourd'hui font l'identité de bien des villes et qui, dès qu'il s'agit de Paris, sont méconnus pour ne pas dire niés.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

JP said:


> Je lisais avant hier un article sur archicool ventant les mérites de Rotterdam et Shanghai comparés à la léthargie de Paris. Je ne comprends pas.


Le jour où le Grand Paris administratif existera enfin, et où la mairie du Grand Paris et la préfecture de police seront installées dans la Plaine St Denis, le regard changera du tout au tout.


JP said:


> De l'extérieur n'est renvoyé principalement que l'image du Paris amélopoulinesque. Il n'y a qu'a regarder les nombreux sujet photos ici.


Je compte organiser des expéditions photos en grande banlieue dès que les arbres auront des feuilles.


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## Martounet (Nov 16, 2008)

JP said:


> Je comprends pas pourquoi tu me réponds ça?
> J'ai plusieurs fois critiqué la façon dont Minato photographie Paris et je n'adhère pas trop à sa vision. Néanmois il révèle certains lieux peu ou prou photographiés. En cela ses reportages peuvent être interessants.
> Je ne dis pas que Paris est sale, moche, envahie de fastfood. Loin de là. Elle me parait relativement préservé comparée aux villes anglosaxonnes.
> Je cherchais juste à répondre à Mr Brick. Montrer Paris bombardé, montrer Paris ethnique, montrer Paris sale, montrer Paris chaotique, montrer Paris diversifié est à mes yeux une réponse aux préjugés permanants qui circulent, y compris chez des "spécialistes". J'entendais un jour les propos de Viguier qui dénonçait un Paris trop homogène. Je lisais avant hier un article sur archicool ventant les mérites de Rotterdam et Shanghai comparés à la léthargie de Paris. Je ne comprends pas.
> ...


ok, précisé comme ça je comprends mieux, je trouvais cette assertion bien lapidaire.


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## antigoon99 (Oct 7, 2008)

amazing foto's....merci de partageri


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Even less well known than WW2 bombings, Paris was also bombed during WW1. The Germans used a huge canon called Paris-Geschütz (in French: la Grosse Bertha) which was stationed at the border between Picardy and Champagne and was powerful enough to reach Paris 120 km (75 miles) in the distance. I think it was the most powerful land cannon that was ever built on Earth. It was so huge and powerful that it had to be mounted on rails like a train. The objective of that cannon was psychological: show the French at the rear in Paris that they were as vulnerable as people at the front.

In total, this huge canon shot 350 times, killing 250 Parisian and wounding another 620. The worst shelling took place on March 29, 1918, when a single shell (shot from 120 km away) hit the roof of the 16th-17th century St-Gervais-and-St-Protais Church in the heart of Paris, collapsing the entire roof on to the congregation then hearing the Good Friday service. A total of 88 people were killed and 68 were wounded.

St-Gervais-and-St-Protais Church after being hit by the Grosse Bertha in 1918:


















The Germans also used planes to bomb Paris in 1918. Although it was nothing like the sophisticated and very destructive bomber aircrafts of WW2, they nonetheless damaged many buildings and killed many Parisians. 

After having defeated the Russians, Ludendorff and the German High Command hoped to destroy the morale of the French civilians and force them to sign an armistice before the Americans were numerous enough to tilt the balance in favor of the Allies. Unfortunately for the Germans, it failed, in large part due to the unshakable attitude of the French prime minister Clemenceau.

Here the building at 14 rue de Rivoli, near the Paris City Hall, was destroyed by bombs dropped from German planes in the night of April 12, 1918:









Here the Vincennes Cemetery in the eastern inner suburbs of Paris, hit by bombs dropped from German planes on March 11, 1918:









That same night another German plane dropped a bomb which dug a hole in the middle of rue de Lille, in the 7th arrondissement:









Another building in the heart of Paris destroyed during that same March 11, 1918 German bombing raid:









Haussmannian building partly destroyed by bombs dropped on March 29, 1918 by German "Gotha" bombers:









This Parisian taxi driver lost his life during that same March 29, 1918 bombing raid: 









Understandably, the morale of the Parisians was very low. The city was evacuated again as had already happened in 1914, but Clemenceau was intractable. Unlike in 1914 (when he was not yet prime minister), he refused to move the government out of Paris. Instead he went to the National Assembly and said: "My foreign policy and my internal policy is one and the same. Internal policy: I make war. Foreign policy: I still make war. I always make war." 8 months later, the German Empire was defeated.

Last year in the former battlefield region on the border between Picardy and Champagne there was an exhibition entitled "1918: Fire on Paris!"


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## Mussoda (Mar 10, 2007)

OMG.. terrible!!


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## pixel2008 (Sep 18, 2008)

Interesting thread, but the pictures are very depressing...

I'm so happy that Paris managed to rise from the ashes to become (arguably) the most beuatiful major city in the world.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Some more pictures of WW1.

Buildings at the Passage des Tourelles, in the 20th arrondissement, bombed by the Germans on January 29, 1916:









The big statues at the entrance of the Tuileries garden protected against German bombs. Photo taken in October 1918. In the foreground a widow (more than 1.4 million young Frenchmen died at the front, so there were many widows in France at the time):









Some other pictures of rue de Rivoli bombed by the Germans in the night of April 12, 1918:


















Damaged buildings at 16 avenue de la Grande Armée (that's the avenue between the Arc de Triomphe and La Défense), on February 3, 1918:









The beautiful Renaissance era Fontaine Médicis, in the Gardens of the Luxembourg, protected against bombs. Photo taken in February 1918:









Buildings destroyed at 295 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in the 12th arrondissement, in April 1918:









German bombing of June 1 and 2, 1918 at boulevard de la Gare, in the 13th arrondissement:









Civilians taking refuge in the basement of a building during a German bombing raid in 1918. These images are more usually associated with WW2, but as you can see they also happened during WW1.









The nursery of the Baudelocque Hospital, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, destroyed by German bombs on April 11, 1918:









Rue Geoffroy-Marie, in the 9th arrondissement, after the bombing raid of March 8, 1918:









A 'Grosse Bertha' hit in rue Titien (13th arrondissement) on May 25, 1918. All the people in the hotel died in their sleep ('Grosse Bertha' shelling, like V2 during WW2, were silent and unannounced, so civilians didn't have time to run to the shelters):









Another 'Grosse Bertha' hit in rue Montmartre (1st arrondissement) in June 1918:









Another 'Grosse Bertha' hit in the Boulevard de l'Hôpital (13th arrondissement) on May 23, 1918:









Even the French Ministry of War was bombed by the German aviation on March 11, 1918. Georges Clemenceau, who was both prime minister and minister of war, was not hurt.









Rue des Dunes, in the 19th arrondissement, on March 11, 1918:









Rue des Dunes again:









Boulevard de Strasbourg, in the 10th arrondissement, on March 23, 1918. As you can see, contrary to WW2 where it is essentially the suburbs and outer arrondissements that suffered the most, during WW1 it is the very heart of Paris that was the most bombed. The reason why Paris still looks intact today is because WW1 bombing raids were not as massive and destructive as WW2 bombing raids.









Rue Mézières, in the 6th arrondissement, on March 8, 1918:









Rue Laffitte, in the 9th arrondissement, also on March 8, 1918:









The very famous 16th century St Eustache church, by Les Halles, bombed by the German aviation on January 30, 1918. I bet most people who walk by Les Halles today have no idea this area was bombed in 1918.









The Opéra Garnier, protected against German bombs, in 1918:









The Porte Saint-Denis, also protected against bombing raids:









Notre Dame was also protected against bombs:


















Shop owners also tried to protect the windows of their shops against bombs (but always in style! lol). Here at boulevard du Montparnasse, near today's Montparnasse Tower:









Here again, window protection on Boulevard de Sébastopol, in the 1st arrondissement (a shop selling cisors):









Window protection on rue de Rivoli, in the 1st arrondissement, in 1918:









The statue of the Republic, at Place de la Nation, in 1918:









Trying to save the sculptures on the Arc de Triomphe:









The 13th century stained glasses of the Sainte Chapelle, on the Isle of the Cité, were also protected against German bombs:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

^^ Interesting old photos of Paris, during the period of WW1


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

A book about the destruction of Central Paris. A must-read to dispell some myths.


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