As a defensive plan today, it seems very naïve but in the context of its time it could have proved useful. According to Slate Magazine a fake Paris complete with replica Champs-Elysees was built at the end of the First World War in a bid to trick German bombers.
In 1917, airmen flew without radar and bombed at a glance of the white. They could therefore be deceived, especially at night, with false illuminations. Therefore, the French authorities thought to build a fictitious city destined to be destroyed by the Germans.
The expected decoys to take the Germans off the scent were a replica of the plaza de l’Étoile, where a dozen avenues converge and in whose centre stands the Arc de Triomphe and Opera with its large boulevards. and even a copy of the Gare du Nord railway station.
However, the fantasy Paris – 15 miles from the centre of the original – was not quite finished before the last air raid in Paris in September 1918 – which meant it was never tested.









