Bombings
The German Armistice Commission based in Wiesbaden composed a list of materiel that needed to be manufactured in the Paris region, including diverse vehicles, chemicals, machine tools, armaments, and munitions. French government representatives objected, in vain, about the risk that Allied bombings of the capital represented. The first RAF bombing in the region targeted the Renault factories in March 1942. A few months later, the US Air Force also commenced aerial attacks. The shelling was highly imprecise at the time and progressively intensified in 1943 and 1944. Eighty percent of the total tonnage of bombs fell on the city during those two years. The most lethal bombing in the Department of the Seine targeted the Gare de la Chapelle in April 1944, causing 670 deaths. The community of Boulogne-Billancourt, where Renault factories manufactured German tanks, was bombed three times, leaving hundreds of victims. The first Renault air raid caused nearly 400 deaths.
The official press took full advantage of these events: French-language Nazi propaganda denounced "les gangsters anglo-américains" [the Anglo-American gangsters"] and their "pilotes nègres" [Negro pilots], attributing the responsibility for the bombings to the Jews. Parisians remained unconvinced by this imaginary scenario. They welcomed Allied aircraft and applauded them, while also lamenting the dead. "C'est la guerre" [It's just war], they said. As a communications hub, Paris was also the clandestine capital of the escape networks for pilots forced to parachute to earth. Thousands of families clandestinely hosted pilots. Some promenaded their "boys" in town.
