CIVIL DEFENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21047, 26 February 1940, Page 7

CIVIL DEFENCE

TESTS IN BRITAIN AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS MINISTER IMPRESSED (Omcial wireless) (Received Feb. 26, 11 a.m.) RUGBY. Feb. 25 The biggest civil defence exercise ever held in Britain was staged in South England today. Twelve thousand of the air raid precaution personnel took part in exercises in two towns which were presumed to have been in a raid enemy bombers. Sir John Anderson, Minister of Home Security, and the Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, together with many technical experts, carried out a thorough inspection lasting a whole day. For the first time in such exercises the practice of bringing in reinforcements from outside areas to assist areas badly damaged in raids was carried out. Fire brigades, ambulances, first aid parties and demolition squads hurried into Southampton from places as far west as Poole and as far north as Andover, to co-operate with the local services. Sir John Anderson, commenting on this side of the exercise, said it was an essential part of the air raid precaution organisation and the quickness and thoroughness with which the outside areas had responded showed the value of the scheme. Testing ot Services Sir John saw several incidents arranged to test the various services. One was the rescue of casualties from a burning building, on to which an aeroplane had fallen. A dummy plane with Swastika markings was used, and soldiers and civilians acted as casualties as ambulance units took part in the exercises to move several hundred casualties to another town, where they were put on to a hospital train.