PUZZLE FOR R.A.F.

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20630, 11 August 1941, Page 7

PUZZLE FOR R.A.F.

TRICKS OF THE GERMANS DUMMY CITY BUILT LONDON, July 23. The Germans have built a dummy city of Berlin to confuse the R.A.F. during raids, according to a neutral traveller. The traveller gave a detailed description of the imitation city to the Lisbon correspondent of the Daily Express. "One day, driving in the neighbourhood of Berlin, the traveller suddenly realised he was driving through a mock capital,” says the correspondent. “In this ‘city’ small-scale buildings line wooden-paved streets which resemble the Unter den Linden and other main thoroughfares of Berlin. “What seem like real railway tracks enter sheds which are roughly like those at Potsdamer bahnof, and other Berlin railway stations. The traveller estimates that this fake capital covers several square miles. “It must have entailed a fantastic amount of work and expense. He was reliably told in , Berlin that the ‘dummy’ city is dimly lit with blue lights when raid warnings sound. This gives the effect of blacked-out streets, bombers attack, huge bonfires are lit to deceive following pilots into believing that their comrades have started great fires. “This imitation city is built in a wooded area a few miles from Berlin and is apparently uninhabited except for a few sentries and technicians.”