The Holly chieftain., 1923-10-11

Mai Victor Lefebure In his work. "The Riddle
of the Rhine" predicts that the next war will be
a war particularly of chemistry. He dwells on
the possibilities of the combination OF gas and
aircraft. and he warns that prohibition or agree
ment is going to stop the use of such weapons
when national existence is believed to be at stake
But 1t is Col. ]. F. c. Fuller, d. S. O., who car
res this talk of a chemical war to Its logical con-
clusion In his new book. "The Reformation of
War" He is an Engllshman and professional
soldier who knows both In theory and prac-
tce His book gives US pen pictures Of war as 1t
will be fought when the fighting airplane tanks
and gas reach the full maturity. Of their terrible
power.
Colonel Fulers basic proposition Is that war
is of the Inevitable" He has the utmost contempt
for peace talk, disarmament propositions and the
outlawing of certain weapons and certain methods
Of fighting He believes that when war comes
nations will use the most efficient weapon avail
able, be 1t what It may. He asserts that the ira
ditional soldier is doomed, that In the coming war
our present-day armies and navies will be value
less that the World war will be the last of Its
kind Up to near the end of the last great struggle
he says. war was Of two dimensions. The air
plane made war three dimenslonal. What is the
use Of armies fighting, II airplanes can leap the
armies and carry the war to the heart of the
enemy's country The arpane, however is mere
means Of transportation for gas. the most efficient
means Of destruction the world has yet seen. He
says 1,SUO DulletS minute can De nfed IN ShrApne
from field gun and then says:
"Gas Is however composed of chemical mole
cules each OF which can disable; consequently
the projectiles of gas bombardment cannot be
reckoned by thousands per minute. but by thou
sands of trilons. In fact, so immense number
that 1t is not even necessary to know the position
of the target; all that is necessary is to know in
what area 1t is. and then to inundate this area.
Unlike a bullet. the effect Of gas does not cease
once the force generated to propel 1t is spent for.
while the bullet Is dead the gas molecule Is
alive and may remain alive for days after gas
has been projected. II the reader can Imagine a
machine gun which can fire millions of bullets
second each bullet drifting on after the force
Of the original discharge has been spent creeping
through trees and houses wandering over walls
and into shelters and dugouts, then he will have
some idea how gas can be used to economize mill
tary time"
Colonel Fuller says the traditional soldier" will
be succeeded by the war scientist" whose STRAIT
egy will be to attack the nerves rather than the
bodies of the enemy. 1.-THE brute force theory Of
traditional warfare" will go; in its place will be
"the direct attack on the source of all military
power-the nerves and will of the civil popu.
aton." He says:
IA nation which destroys the economic resources
of it's enemy destroys its eventual markets, and
thus wounds itself. War must entail some less
but the less this loss is the greater will be the
victory consequently. the military object of
nation is not to kill and destroy, but to enforce
the policy Of its government with the leas, pos
sibe loss OF honor life and property If the enemy
can be compelled to accept the te.policy with.
out battle so much the better. If he opposes II
by military force, then 1t should be forgot.
ten that the strength Of this force rests or the
will of the government which employs 1t, and that.
in Its turn, this will rests on the will of the nation
which this government represents. II the Will OF
the nation cannot be directly attacked, then must
tba nF tl,o arn, nrofa acfIp u no h,,
the past this will has been attacked by attacking
the flesh of the soldiers, and consistent has this
been that the idea has arisen that the military
object of war is to kill and destroy. Thus In the
popular and military lmaginatlons the means have
obscured the end; consequently the prevailing Idea
of nil parties In the recent war was destruction,
to destroy each other. and blinded were they
by the means that they could not see that In the
very act they were destroying themselves not only
during the war, but in the peace which must some
day follow the war.
Il believe that the world is slowly learning this
ass