SOVIET VIEW OF ATOMIC BOMB

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25678, 15 December 1948, Page 5

SOVIET VIEW OF ATOMIC BOMB

“WOULD NOT BREAK RUSSIAN MORALE” (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, December 13. Alexander Werth says in the “Manchester Guardian” that the Russian newspapers are at present conducting a campaign to prove that an atomic bomb blitzkrieg would be futile. General Blagonravov, bead of the Moscow Artillery Academy, in an article in the Moscow “Literary Gazette,” says that just as British and American air raids during the war did not break German morale, the dropping of atomic bombs on Russian cities would not break Russian morale, but would merely fill the Russian Army with increased determination. General Blagonravov speaks of the power and efficiency of Russian artillery. and claims that in the next war, as in the last, it will be decisive. He hints that Russian irldustry cannot be destroyed by atomic bombs. Werth suggests that this may be taken to indicate that a considerable decentralisation of Soviet war industries is now in progress. Werth adds that Professor Blackett’s book. “The Military and Political Consequences of Atomic Energy,” is receiving considerable publicity in Russia for its numerous criticisms of the United States plan for the control of atomic energy. Fishing Boat Blown Up.—When a torpedo tangled in a fishing boat’s net and exploded last night off the Adriatic coast, the boat and the crew of six or seven were blown to pieces says the newspaper “11 Messagero.” No trace of the boat or the crew could be found.—Rome, December 13.