AIR BOMBING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20186, 2 March 1940, Page 5

AIR BOMBING

TERROR TECHNIQUE DEATHS NOT NECESSARY FIRES & DISORGANISATION LONDON, Feb. 15. Letters from overseas suggest that some people are mystified that heavy bombings in Finland have resulted in relatively trifling civilian casualties, although villages have been demolished and towns rendered almost uninhabitable. Authentic information supplied by observers, who recently reported on this question, reveals that the intensity of the bombing, as cabled, was in no way over-stated, and that casualties were minimised by evacuation and other air raid precaution measures. It is shown also that Russia is seeking to demoralise civilians, not necessarily by inflicting casualties, but by destruction and disorganisation of cities, industries and homes with incendiary bombs. % Hundreds of Fires It is emphasised that casualties have been reduced by the evacuation to the country of children, aged persons and others, and the simultaneous provision for the remaining population of shelters, fire-fighting apparatus and medical services. The success of these precautions is illustrated by the classic example of the bombing of Viiborg on February 4, when 47 bombers dropped several hundred bombs, a high percentage of which was incendiary, caused hundreds of disastrous fires and demolished workers’ flats, houses and public buildings, yet only -10 persons- -were killed and 30 injured. This was because citizens not on essential tasks had been evacuated and the remainder crowded into the shelters in factories, parks and streets. Nevertheless, casualties undoubtedly would have been higher had the Russians used mainly high explosive bombs, but the Russian High Command apparently subscribes to the belief that the success of air raids cannot be measured in casualties, but in lowered morale, to which fires contribute. Strain on Heroism. The extent to which casualties grow where elderly, disabled persons and others have not been evacuated is illustrated by the raid on a hospital at Rovaniemi late last month. There one high explosive bomb killed 23 of 30 patients who were unable to move to shelters in the parks. All these lives would have been saved had normal evacuation or precautions been, possible. There is no doubting the serious blow to morale, even among the heroic Finns, because nothing has caused a greater strain on heroism than the ceaseless shattering of habitations, leaving thousands of civilians to exist in tile Arctic winter without a single window or wall to protect them against the cold.