[Scarlett.]

Adolf Hitler wanted his stormtroopers to goose-step down Blackpool's golden mile and see the swastika fly from Blackpool tower, according to newly released documents.

The Lancashire seaside resort escaped the Lutwaffe's bombing raids despite being an important military centre *during the second world war. Hundreds of Wellington bombers were built in the city and thousands of troops on leave were stationed there.

Maps and aerial photographs found in a military base in Germany by Michael Cole, a publisher in York, purportedly reveal Hitler's grand design for Blackpool, which may explain why it was spared the fate of such cities as Coventry, which suffered massive bombing damage in 1940.

The marked maps and photographs were seen by Hitler when his plans to invade Britain were at their height. As part of Operation Sealion, he wanted to march soldiers along the coast after a drop by paratroopers in the resort's Stanley Park.

"I got them from Germany about a year ago," Cole told the Telegraph. "They have immense historical significance as they are some of the last surviving remnants of invasion material."

Elaine Smith, of Blackpool's civic trust, said: "We did escape a lot of bombing. Hitler probably wanted to keep the resort as it was to enjoy it as chancellor of Britain."

In an ironic twist, news of Hitler's plans to transform Blackpool into a playground for his troops come at a time when business owners today in the city blamed the resort's "war zone" appearance for a drop in the tourist trade. Sections of some streets have been closed while demolition of Yates's Wine Lodge, a well-known haunt on the promenade, is continuing after a fire that ripped through the historic pub last week.

Simon Wrigley, co-owner of The Coffee Pot, said tourists were put off by scenes of piles of bricks, smashed windows and a mangled mass of metal left by the fire.

He told the Blackpool Gazette: "It's been very bad this weekend. We're all right during the week because we've got our regulars but it's at the weekend when the tourists come. They stand at the top of the street, see what it looks like and don't come down. It looks like a war zone."

[Magic]

Oooh, lucky Blackpool eh?

[Dom:D]