MOCK AIR RAID ON PARIS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21258, 1 September 1934, Page 13

MOCK AIR RAID ON PARIS

—+— City Theoretically Destroyed j i GENERAL STAFF ALARMED vtKITED Pll'.aS ASgrJCIATIOH—V.Y ELBu'I UIO TBLEUUAI'H—- COI'YBIUIIT.) (Received August 31, (!.50 p.m.) PARIS, August 30. The General Staff of the Air Force is shocked by the vulnerability of Paris to air attack, which it declares was revealed by manoeuvres to-day. "If it had really been war, Paris would now be a blazing ruin," says an official report. "The entire city would be a shambles and there would be tens of thousands of casualities." Le Bourget aerodrome was chosen to represent Paris and in spite of a highly organised defence system only one raider was brought down. Of 176 raiding aeroplanes 140 reached Le Bourget and theoretically showered 90 tons of bombs on it. The defending air fleet wandered about in the clouds, vainly searching for the attackers. The communique says: "No doubt the manoeuvre produced a disturbing surprise. The defenders had 310 scouting aeroplanes and 168 attacking aeroplanes, and it was expected that they would succeed in intercepting the enemy 50 miles east of Paris, but with the aid of clouds the attackers reached and bombed their objective."