Thousands evacuated from Paris suburb after live WWII bomb discovery
By ANIMonday, February 7, 2011
PARIS - French authorities evacuated at least six thousand people from their residences after an unexploded RAF bomb, which was apparently dropped during the Second World War, was discovered in Boulogne-Billancourt on the outskirts of Paris.
The 1000lbs device, half of which was made of high explosive, was found on land owned by carmaker Renault in Boulogne-Billancourt, The Telegraph reports. round 400 policemen helped to evacuate thousands of residents, before military experts dealt with the bomb.
“People were asked to leave their homes at dawn this morning because the bomb was considered live and dangerous,” the paper quoted a local police spokesman, as saying.
“It was found by builders on land which was heavily bombed during the Second World War. Homes which fall within a four hundred meter radius of the bomb have been evacuated,” he added.
On March 3 1942, Bomber Command had ordered a mission to destroy the Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt, which was making an estimated 18,000 lorries a year for Nazi forces, who had then been occupying France for two years, the paper said.
Despite the fact that the industrial areas on the outskirts of Paris were heavily bombed during the war, the historic centre of the city remained largely unharmed.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office in Boulogne said: “The bomb was originally found by builders carrying out work in late January, but experts have only been able to start diffusing it today. The area is now completely safe.” (ANI)
