South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-07-24
DEADLY BOMB NEW
GERMAN INVENTION
English Public Men Claim
New Device Places Defense
less Britain at Mercy.
BY CHAS. EDWARDS MORRIS.
u. =. STAFF Correspondent


today at the mercy Of the first hostile
power that chooses to attack her
from the air!"
Such is the cry OF warning being
insistently sounded by armament eN-
perts in the London press.
A former member Of the Allied
Commission TO Germany has publicly
declared that that country is now
armed with incendiary and poison
gas bombs which in one raid would
paralyse the very heart Of the British
Empire and bring a horrible death
10 most of London's citizens The
bombs to which 1 refer exist now.
at this moment. and were war de-
clared could and would be used to-
morrow.
Any power may use them at any
moment. So small and light are
they that thousands OF them could
be carried by any average seized
commercial acceptance A fleet of
aerOplanes would carry sufficient TO
set all London afire. past any hope
OF saving.
So grave is the menace alleged
from the "pitiful inadequacy" Of
England's air force, that pressure
il being brought 10 bear upon the
government by the proponents of
aerial preparedness. Editorial writ
ers are devoting columns 10 the sit
uation in the great national dailies.
Some military experts declare mat,
in defiance Of the Treaty of Yer
sailles. the Germans are secretly
manufacturing tons Of fire and gas
, bombs These terrible engines OF
death and destruction. say officials
who have examined some of those
| confiscated i'm Germany. are a thous-
and times more deadly than the most
| vivid imaginings of fiction They
are OF two kinds, incendiary and
poison gas.
Incendiary Bombs.
The incendiary bombs are i'm the
/ form Of metal cylinders about nine
inches long and two inches in diane
| ter They weigh less than a pound
| apiece. The cylinder is made of a
metal called elektron. considerab bly,
/ lighter ana stronger than aluminium.
/ The composition Of this metal is "a
/ closely guarded German secret. The
| bombs are hlled with powder call
/ ed thermite. which ignites when the
| bomb strikes the ground. The Their
/ mite and elektrOn then fuse together
and form an incandescent mass If
wlite-hot metal that will melt its
way through armOur-p1ating Moth
! ing can eXtinguish IL. 4 pinch of the
/ powder ignited on a penknife blade
caused the metal 20 run like candle
wax
The poison-sas bomb. even more
! terrible than the fire bomb. is simply
/ a glass globe four inches I'm Diane
ter. filled with a dark brown LIQUID.
/ which. when liberated generates
/ thousands OF cubic feet of deadly
gas. Escape from its death DEALING
fumes. which are able TO penetrate
even into cellars easements and uu-
foreground railways. would be inn
possible.
To is stated here that just before
the ATmistiCe the German High
! Command openly boasted that the
\ perfection of the elektron bomb
gave them the means successfully
20 end the war British threats q
retaliation i'm kind were the only
deterrent to tho carrying out OF the
boast.
S,ngland'S Thrat
If the English secret service hal
/ not discovered that the Germans
We're making these bombs" say the
| public men now fighting for the re-.
establishment of England's lost
/ ascendancy i'm the air. London az
Paris might have been snnihlated
by a single hotiila OF bombing
planes"
1T was only our threat 20 DESTROY
a German town for every such bomb
dropped I'm Eng.and-and the ability
OF our air forces TO back I'D that
threat-that gave Us the whip hand "
Now that our air force has sunk
into such dangerous inferiority. we
no longer have that whip hand We
: must lose no time in roEaining il
. The nations safety demands instant
action on the part or the govern
ment"