CIVILIANS’ PERIL,

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17802, 29 August 1929, Page 10

CIVILIANS’ PERIL,

IN NEXT WAR. Wholesale destruction of cities, terrorisation of civilian populations, and the loss of millions of lives within a few hours after an aerial attack on such centres as Paris or London — these possibilities of the next world war are described in pamphlet form by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace under the title of “ Chemical Warfare —Its Possibilities' and Probilities, by Mrs K. Fradkin, of Montclair, New Jersey, who has made a study of the problem of chemical warfare, says the London Daily Express. The pamphlet deals chiefly with the dangers threatening civilians, and pleiads for adequate protection for non-combatants in the next w j ar.— Whether we like it or not the new far-cruising aeroplane, with Its crew of six, and its mountings of ten machine-guns, carrying a bomb load of OOOOIb. will bring death and destrur to a wide area, and, amid the roar of anti-aircraft guns, will not he able to choose military objects solely as targets. A whole city will he tiie target, and with the combination of high-explosive and lingering poison gas_ that target can, and will he ohlitera’ted. When it is realised, further, that in the future, all shells from the 75mm (18-pounder) up will carry some form of poison gas, our interest widens and deepens. The author believes that the greatest menace of the next war will he the use of liquid mustard. “ There is no practical protection against the spraying of liquid mustard at present. Liquid mustard pentrates all clothing, rubber, and leather, and burns the skin with which it comes into contact. Its vapour is more poisonous than hydrocyanic acid; it will persist on the ground, grass and underbrush for several weeks. Hostile aeroplanes equippe’d with mustard tanks and flying low can release the liquid mustard on their target ... so infecting large areas within a few seconds, and covering them so effectively that practically every man and animal within the area would he a certain casualty

The picture of the devastation which can he caused by aeroplanes travelling at anything from 200 to 250 miles an hour is not a pleasant one. A multitude of poison gases were used in the last war, but these, according to (he auihor, “ will ho a child's game compared with the gases used in the future.’ The great danger fo civilians from I poison gas in the next war is empha- ! sised by the statement that the Inter- • national Red Cross will open an intcr- ! national competition with a prize for ! a design of the most effective type of) | gasproof shelter. | The, recommendations of the Red ! Cross contain suggested inslruciions j for the lypes of shelters lo lie built, 1 which ar eto take the form of snUI terranean chambers hermetically sealed and provided with chemicallyproduced oxygen. These would have i to he built Jn laree numbers and of j great size; they would contain slocks of chemicals for neutralising the atj rnosnhero. and would he liberally I stocked with food, water, and hosj pital appliances.