Category Archives: France Preparing

La Sirène

La Sirène, published by the Lyon branch of the Union Nationale pour la Défense Aérienne in Lyon, was one of several (usually short-lived) civil defence magazines to appear in the pre-war years. The trench-digging photograph is notable for the characteristic … Continue reading

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France’s unpreparedness for gas attack

This 1934 issue of Je Sais Tout presents an alarming picture of France’s unpreparedness for gas attack, while also advertising some of the civil defence equipment, including gas masks, that a middle-class family might buy.  Courtesy Archives Municipales de Boulogne-Billancourt, 6/H/3.  

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The Manuel de la Défense Passive

The Manuel de la Défense Passive  (1938?) was the one of the simplest and best-designed leaflets of the period, offering warnings on the proximity of the air threat with guides to aircraft insignia and different types of bombs, and to … Continue reading

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Advertisement for an escape ladder

This advertisement for an escape ladder contrasts the improvident residents of a block of flats, presumably about to burn to death in fires caused by incendiaries, with the far-sighted purchasers of La Sans Rivale. Courtesy Archives Municipales de Boulogne-Billancourt, 6/H/3.

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