Yahoo News Eurostar trains cancelled as French police detonate Second World War bomb dropped by the RAF
Eurostar trains to Paris were cancelled, a motorway closed and nearly 2,000 people evacuated from their homes on Sunday as police detonated a huge unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by the RAF in 1944.
The 1000 lb bomb, initially thought to be harmless, was discovered earlier this month by workmen at a construction site at Porte de la Chapelle, near the Gare du Nord. It was then found to be still at risk of exploding despite having lain dormant for 75 years.
The railway station, which houses the Eurostar terminal, was shut for several hours and people within a two mile radius were told to leave the area.
Sections of the nearby A1 motorway and the Paris ring road were closed, and Métro and other train services were also halted. Hundreds of migrants sleeping rough were also moved.
The restrictions were lifted after police detonated the bomb in a 7-metre pit. A loud explosion was heard, followed by another dull blast, as smoke, clumps of earth and dust rose into the air.
The French authorities said the bomb was probably dropped in April 1944, when Allied aircraft attacked Nazi-occupied Paris before the D-Day landings in Normandy. Michel Delpuech, the Paris police chief, said: “We think it was an American bomb, probably dropped by a British aircraft.”
The RAF despatched 247 Lancaster bombers and 22 Mosquitos to destroy a freight yard at Porte de la Chapelle on the night of April 20.
In one of the heaviest wartime bombardments in France, they dropped some 2,000 bombs, mainly targeting the rail network and supply lines. Up to 670 people were killed, including civilians, and hundreds wounded.
Many of those forced to abandon their homes on Sunday were accommodated in gyms and community halls. Some Parisians were annoyed and said the authorities could have waited until the holiday period when many people would be away.
There were tense scenes before dawn as Civil Protection officers knocked on the doors of apartment blocks to alert people to the danger of disobeying the order to leave their homes. They were followed by police to reinforce the message. By 8:30 am, the entire neighbourhood was deserted.
Mr Delpuech said he regretted the inconvenience but the priority was to keep the public safe. He said the decision to detonate the bomb was only taken after attempts to defuse it failed. “This was an unprecedented evacuation, but it’s been a successful operation,” he said.
Unexploded ordnance from the Second World War is often discovered in France, usually by builders or farmers, but it is rare to find an unexploded bomb in the heart of Paris.
One out of every two Eurostar trains were cancelled on Sunday morning, but more services resumed in the afternoon. Long queues formed at train stations and some Eurostar passengers complained that they had only found out their trains to London were cancelled when they arrived at Gare du Nord.
