FUTURE WARFARE

Southland Times, Issue 20671, 18 December 1928, Page 6

FUTURE WARFARE

I SE OF POISON GAS REMARKABLE GERMAN PAMPHLET SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION (United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright.) Berlin, December 16. “Because we cannot abolish war, ’ says a pamphlet published in Hamburg, “it is the duty of the nation’s leaders and every officer, soldier, and educated person to become familiar with modern war methods, which in these days mean chemical warfare.” The pamphlet was distributed gratis in order to push the sale of small sample boxes of the deadliest war poison gases “for instructional purposes” from the works of Hugo Stolzenburg, where the great poison gas disaster occurred. The pamphlet argues that the peace movement is futile as the world is arming. Therefore there will be wars, gas warfare perhaps, and bacteriological warfare. “It is necessary to destroy the illusions created by the multiplicity of peace pacts.” According to the newspaper Rotefahne Wahner, a dynamite factory is being constructed in a huge underground chamber of reinforced concrete near Cologne in order to store the existing stock of twelve tons of phosgene gas. The pamphlet states that a soldier who is ignoram of gas war endangers the security of the country. It gives a list of the 12 principal gases, grouped according to marks used on German gas shells in war-popular language because “scientific reading is such solid reading.” The sample boxes resemble toy chemical outfits, which are a favourite Christmas gift for schoolboys, and comprise 60 test tubes of 12 gases, 60 cartridges and a pistol. A book of instructions tells how to discharge the pistol in a sealed room. It is recommended that the deadly gas should be tried on animals, preferably on cats, and a doctor should be present, because the medical personnel must become familiar with proper treatment in peace time, as a preparation for war. Besides, as the explosion in Hamburg showed, accidents may happen in peace time. Finally, the Stoltzenburg factory issues first-aid outfits for the treatment of gas poisoning.—Australian Press Association. DISCOVERY OF NEW GAS. TERRIBLE POSSIBILITIES. New York, December 16 Dr. Hilton Jones, of Chicago, the internationally known chemist, has announced that there is a new poison gas called Cacodyliso Cyanide, that is so deadly it would destroy the armies in the next war as easily as a man snuffs a candle. Alongside this deadly discovery is another new metal called berryilium. It has twice the tensile weight of steel and is only half the weight of aluminium. A 400 horse-power aeroplane engine built of this metal would be so light that a man could carry it under his arm.—Australian Press Association.