AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4008, 4 February 1938, Page 7

AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS

BRITAIN LAGS BEHIND THE CONTINENT.

Limitation and inadequacy of Britains air raid precaution schemes were revealed recently by Mr. Duncan Sandys, M.P., “Sunday Chronicle” political writer and Secretary of the Parliamentary Air Raid Precautions Committee. He held that Britain is four years behind France and Germany in air raid defence preparations.

The Air Raid Precautions Bill does not provide for the evacuation of big cities in the event of air attack. No money is forthcoming for building air raid shelters on a large scale.

In poor districts where householders cannot afford to buy the right type of fire-fighting appliances, the Government has promised to provide “some kind of fire-fighting apparatus.” But strips of paper pasted on to the windows is the only suggestion for keeping the windows of improvised gas-proof rooms from being broken by bombardments. While these precautions are still being talked about in Parliament, Paris has been busy on air raid precaution plans since 1931—four years before Britain started.

Officials have inspected all cellars in the city and 37,000 have been certified as being capable of providing adequate protection in air raids. In addition, a large number of public underground shelters are being provided, built of reinforced concrete and equipped with gas-proof ventilation. The Paris authorities have built 25 large underground emergency hospitals. Medical and nursing staffs have been appointed. Immense plans have also oeen made for the evacuation of the population from the city to the country. According to these plans, half the population will be evacuated within the first ten days after mobilisation. Everything has been organised for the exodus of more than 2,500,000 people. Trains, buses, and other forms of transport have been earmarked. French authorities take the view that much can be done to protect civilians from bomb attacks. In Britain the Government view is that the cost of protecting civilians from bomb attacks would be prohibitive. France is behind Britain in one respect only. They are not so advanced in the supply of civilian gasmasks.

Germany’s record of air defence preparations dwarfs British schemes into insignificance. Germany has already spent well over £400,000,000 on air raid precautions. This compares with Britain’s contemplated expenditure of £30,000,000 in the next three or four years.

The Germans started their preparations four years before Britain did. Britain has as yet set up only two air-raid precautions training schools; in Germany there are approximately 3000.

The German unit for organisation is the individual house—every house has its protected cellar. Britain is only just attempting to organise by streets.

Britain has appealed for 300,000 street wardens, of which number only a negligible fraction have as yet volunteered.

The Germans have already enrolled between i 5,000,000 and 3,000,000 house wardens. As a result of measures in Germany, it is estimated that 90 per cent, of the population will be protected. SUSTAINED HIGH SPEED. An interesting sequel to the construction of long-distance roads in Germany and Italy is that the car manufacturers of those countries are finding it necessary to construct cars capable of maintaining very high speeds for long periods at a time. These cars are not necessarily any faster- than the average large sedan car sold in New Zealand, but modifications to the cooling and engine oiling systems have been made to enable them to maintain a higher sustained speed. They are able to travel all day long at 75-80 miles per hour if necessary without overheating or damage to engine bearings. Such treatment of the ordinary modern ear would almost certainly reduce its useful life to a fraction of what it is in normal use.

An English writer who drove such a car for 50 miles at a steady' 82 miles per hour, reported that at the end of the journey the engine was no hotter than that of an ordinary car taken over the same course at 45-50 miles per hour. MILITARY MECHANISATION. A remarkable demonstration was provided recently in the U.S.A, of the value of mechanised transport to an army. A completely motorised military unit, comprising 9200 men and 1000 tons of equipment and supplies, was transported along 326 miles of country roads by 1108 motor vehicles in the remarkable time of 12 hours 55 minutes.

The occasion was the breaking of camp after military manoeuvres in North Texas, the complete division, in a column 40 miles long, proceeding to its destination at San Antonio.

Included in the cavalcade were heavy guns which were drawn behind special high-powered motor trucks. Mobile radio outfits accompanied the column, and front these orders were sent to the various regimental commanders.

The average speed of the column was nearly 25 m.p.h., including all stops. Out of the 1108 vehicles there were only two slight accidents, while 50 vehicles fell out of line during the journey for minor repairs, most of them catching up and rejoining the column. A total of 40,000 gallons of petrol was consumed during the trip.