The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1939. The New Frontiers

Northern Advocate, 21 February 1939, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1939. The New Frontiers

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper

ON 1 lie night when war Mas deelared in 1914, thousands thronged the heart of London. The crowds throbbed with patriotic fervour. But next time—if there is a next time—it will he very different. Sir Auckland Geddes, who is chief adviser to Sir John Anderson,. England’s lately appointed'Minister of Civilian Defence, doubts whether there will ever again : be a formal declaration of war. The , recall of ambassadors will give the first intimation of an open rift. _ After that, Avar may resolve itself into a grim competition to strike the first blow. Certainly there will be no great gatherings of civilians in the capitals of Europe, exultant at coiling to grips with their enemies. Winston Churchill, in his “History of the World War, describing the outbreak of hostilities, relates hoAV the hearts of millions ■of people “lifted to the trumpet call.” Far from marching reluctantly to battle patriotic instincts, perhaps coupled with ignorance ot the ordeal that lay before them, led able-bodied young men of all countries to take up arms eagerly, while civilians flocked about them chalked “To Berlin” or “To London” on railway carnages, and then settled doAvn as usual to play their parts far from the firiu°‘ line leaving the soldiers and the sailors to do the lighting. But even during the Great War there were disquieting incidents which soon heralded a change in the conduct of wars. New weapons and more ruthless methods displaced the old chivalry. Early in the wr, the Germans, in their hit-and-run raids m the North Sea. shelled the coastal towns of Scarborough and Hartlepool.- Children were killed, to the intense indignation ot. British people and of neutrals throughout the world. But this was only the Winning. The Zeppelins, the Gothas flying m formation over London, in broad daylight (45 of these winged menaces in one davlmht raid), and the submarines sinking unarmed merchant ships “without compunction, all combined to contribute a new note of horror to the prosecution of the war. And so, as the struggle wore on during its four weary and tragic, years. Avar was stripped of its false, glory, and Avns exposed in its stark reality as the height of human folly. , To-day, again, the world is uneasy. No one knows when.the hour may strike. If it does come, however, there avill be no false exultation this time. Civilians will not congregate in the streets and squares singing patriotic songs. Instead, they avill wait with ears painfully attuned for the first warning sirens denoting that bombing raids are expected, and, with every man, Avoraan and child equipped with a gas mask, they will wait in readiness to take refuge in underground shelters, or avill join in mass movements .to parts of the country where the danger will be loss than in the large cities. . . , . That Britain is Auilnerable from the air is undeniable. Hei Greatest city, even with'all lights darkened, makes an unmistakeable target from the air. During the war, the Zeppelin commanders could always make their way to Loudon by following the glimmer of the Thames. In the intervening twenty years there have, been such A r ast advances in the technique and appliances of aviation that the range of bombing planes has been immeasurably increased. Britain is still at a disadvantage in that her great towns are not far from the German frontier, Whereas Germany s key cities are a long distance away. But Britain Avould strike back, and strike hard, if attacked from the air again. Such a war Avould bo a pitiless catastrophe. The soldier in the firing line Avould be almost as safe as the civilian in lus suburban street. It seems unthinkable that the countries of onr Civilised Avorld should permit themselves to be drawn into such a vortex of suffering, yet to-day, with an inexplicable, fatalism, the Avorld appears to be Availing impassively for that incredible thipg to happen.