E.P.S. IN RUSSIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24249, 15 April 1942, Page 7

E.P.S. IN RUSSIA

FAMILY GROUP PLAN ORDERS MUST BE OBEYED WOMEN COMMANDERS SELECTED SYDNEY, April 3 In preparing individuals to care for themselves during air raids and participate in caring for their neighbours, the Russians have something to teach even the bomb-experienced British, reports Eric McLoughlin, a special correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph in Kuibyshev. They do it by compelling groups of families within a limited number of dwellings to combine as an organisation and learn how to look after themselves. Thus the main organisation is relieved of the care of detail and is given a breathing space so essential when at the height of a raid they have a thousand major problems to occupy them. Here is what 1 saw at a typical rehearsal which was carried out with disturbing realism. The alarm was sounded, and people rushed to the posts which had been assigned to them, and for which they had been specially trained. There were fire-fighters, first-aid, decontamination, repair and security squads. All were equipped for their allotted tasks. Grandmother Fights Fires They were under the control of a commander considered by the people to have the most fitting qualities to assume leadership. In this case she was a woman whose 17-year-old son was head of the fire-lighter squad, a member of which was his grandmother. Within three minutes of the alert the leaders of each squad reported personally to the commandant that everyone was at his or her post. Thence onward she directed the operations through a messenger service of small boys specially trained to carry -out the task. Everybody displayed the precision of a muchdrilled soldier. Meanwhile the fire-fighters, repair and security squads set about their own business Hinging incendiary bombs from roofs to the snow —incidentally using an unusual pair of pincers which I had never seen used elsewhere. His Wife in Charge Among other groups 1 visited I witnessed the' same efficiency and found a highly-placed member of the Military Academy taking orders from his wife, who was commander of the section. "I am not fit to give orders if I can not take them," he said. Their daughter, an extremely pretty girl in her fire-fighting uniform, could climb a ladder faster than anybody 1 have ever seen, male or female, and seemed to enjoy it. The broad structure of the organisation, similarly to that in Britain, was built up on the principle of local areas, municipalities, regions, group regions ar;d supreme control. Within this organisation are paid forces with the town Soviets as tne keynote in the whole fabric.