The Holly chieftain., 1923-10-11
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lesson, and that as In my opinion wars are inev.
table, the old idea of warfare based on destruc-
tion will he replaced by new military ideal, the
imposition OF Will at the least possible general
loss. II this be 3d. then the means Of warfare
must be changed. for the present means are means
of killing means of blood; they must be replaced
by terrifying means. means Of mind. The present
implements of war must be scrapped and these
bloody tools must be replaced by weapons the
moral effect of which is SO terrific that a nation
attacked by them will lose its mental balance and
will compel Its government to accept the hostile
policy without further demur."
This strategy will endeayor to "petrify the
human mind with fear and will send great fleets
of alrplanes to make gas attacks on the nerve
centers of the enemy nation, Colonel Fuller says:
"A few years ago armies alone went forth to
battle; today entire nations go to war not only
as soldiers but as the moral and material supplers
Of soldiers. This being SO. we find that, while
short time back II was clearly possible to dferen-
tiate between the military and ethical objective OF
nations at war; today this differentiation Is becom-
ing more and more complex; SO much SO that both
these objectives are likely to coincide, and when
this takes place. to attack the civilian workers of
nation will then be as justi6able an act of war
as to attack Its soldiers"
Colonel Fuller then points out that the first gas
used in the World war was OF a lethal nature.
But at the third battle of Ypres the Germans used
mustard gas and disclosed to the world the possl-
blities Of gas warfare. He says
..Respirators to a great extent were now use
less for the persistent and vesicant nature OK this
chemical rendered whole areas. for days on end.
uninhabitable and dangerous to cross. Men car
ried the oily liquid on their clothes, on the mud
of their boots, and infected dugouts. be;s and
rest camps far back the lines OF communication.
Few died. but many were incapacitated for months
on end. Here, curious to relate. is the true power
of gas as a weapon--it can incapacitate without
killing A dead man says nothing, and, when once
buried, Is no incumbrance to the survivors.
wounded man will spread the widest Of rumors,
will exaggerate dangers. foster panic and -equres
the attention of others to heal him-until he dies
or ia cured he is military incumbrance and
demoralizing agent. Gas is, par excellence the
weabon of decentralization, and as 1t can terrorize
without necessarily killing 1t, more than any other
known weapon, can enforce economically the policy
Of one natjsn on another -. X
.I believe that In future warfare great cities,
such as London, Will be attacked from the air
and that fleet of 500 airplanes each carrying 500
tep.pound bombs Of let us suppose, mustard gas.
might cause 100000 minor casualties and throw
the whole city into panic within half an hour Of
their arrival. Picture, II you what the result
will be! London for several days will be vast
raving bedlam, the hospitals will be stormed.
traffic will cease. the homeless will shrek for help.
the city will be in pandemonlum. What Of the
government at Westminster? 1t will be swept
away by an avalanche of terror. Then will the
enemy dictate his terms which will he grasped
at like straw by drowning man. Thus may
a war be won in forty-eght hours and the Losses
of the winning side may be actually nil 1"
Colonel Fuller's conclusion is this: ''That side"
he says, (which gains supremacy in Invention and
design is the side which is going to win the next
war" And again: "If mechanically both sides are
euua1, then valor, obedience and self-sacrifce
of the soldier will victory depend. But II one
side relies on these virtues alone and neglects
to safeguard them by the most powerful weapons
IT.. A. La vf.sI.
little as all the valor Of the Sudanese at Om-
durham"
History shows, of course. that warfare has been
.revolutIonized" score OF times by various nven-
t,ons In the ascent from clubs to 75-mile range
cannon. But invariably the offense has been later
matched by the defense. Perhaps the airplane
has already temporarily been rendered useless
n story from London says that the explanation of
the forced landing and confscation of thirty
French airplanes In Germany Is that the Germans
are using a secret method of putting them out Of
action. VIII every gas have Its anudote1