SCORCH EARTH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 152, 29 June 1945, Page 5

SCORCH EARTH

SUN'S BURNING POWER

Nazis Planned Reflectors 5000

Miles High

N.Z. Press Association —Copyright

Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, June 28.

German scientists' future plans envisaged the use of sun rays to scorch the nations' cities out of existence, according to Lieutenant' Colonel John Keck, chief of the Technical Intelligence branch of the United States Army, addressing Supreme Headquarters correspondents. The sun's burning power was to be focused against a target by huge reflectors two miles square, which were to be placed on "space platforms" 5000 miles above the earth where gravity is neutralised. Colonel Keck said: "Fortunately the Germans hadn't solved the problem of getting their reflectors up there."

The correspondents greeted Colonel Keek's statement with incredulity, but he said American officials were taking the matter seriously. German scientists had their eyes so much on plans for 50 to 100 years ahead that they neglected the present necessities, he added. Hitler goaded them into research for larger and more fearful weapons, while the production of their first-rate field weapons lagged.

Most of the German scientists expressed eagerness to accept British and American hospitality, and even citizenship, in order to carry on their experiments. Allied investigators were impressed by the soundness of their theories.

Some Big German Guns A German gun with a range of 82 miles, designed to fire 6in shells against London, was found partly installed in sandy French coast trenches, says a statement issued by Supreme Headquarters, which adds that the gun looks like an oil pipeline. Additional sections of tubing supply "booster" chambers, giving the initial muzzle velocity of 4500 feet per second. Other little-known Gerrian weapons found include the world's biggest gun, which is a 1750-ton railway gun firing an 81-ton shell 30 miles. It was used against Sebastopol, a 15in rocket projector mounted on a Tiger tank chassis, also a 10-ton self-propelled mortar, firing a projectile weighing a ton 1400 yards. German civilians in the British occupation zone are hearing all about the Pacific war. A fleet of 16 armoured cars tour the cities powerfully relaying the news, in German, of the developments in the Pacific from London and Washington commentators. The Germans are displaying the keenest interest.