Evening star., 1925-03-16

, contrary, IL Is possible ana pfdcti-
cable for a victorious air fleet to
| drench out all life in almost any
modern city by poison gases launched
| from the air. Paris, Brussels and Ser
| lin face that possibility In the event
| of another war. Our enemy, how
| ever, would not be out to slaughter
civilians as q primary objective, put
! just to destroy our communications.
First, he would blow up the railroad
stations. the knots of tracks In the
| railway yards, the roundhouses, the
turntables. Even with the limited
fleets, the small bombs and the mac
curate bombing of tho late was rall-
roao centers were often put out OF
! commission for days by air attack.
| OF course, works 50 destroye ed can be
| repaired. To prevent this, the enemy
would try to render the city unten-
| able. Here, he might proceed in sew
| eral different ways, according TO CIR
cumstances. Some cities depend Tor
their water supply upon open reser-
yoirs. A few mustard gas bombs
dropped into these containers would
render the water rank, torturing poi
son, and without water man cannot
| live. That alone would insure civilian
evacuation.
Might Use Fire.
worst enemy-fire. In the late war
the Germans several times set fires
in London from the air. These con
fiagrationS were put out, before they
aid much damage, by fire depart
ment keyed up To war pitch. Almost
any fire in any city may turn into
conf1agration if the fire department
or its apparatus is out Of business
as witness the San Francisco disaster.
There are several ways of dealing
with the fire department. In some
cities, a few bombs on exposed dams
or water mains would do the trick.
Further. certain poison gases do not
extinguish fire. Only a masked and
protected fire department. trained in
gas tactics, could fight a confiagra
| tion surrounded by a fringe of such
gas. second wave of fighting
planes. attacking the firemen from
the air by bomb or machine-gun,
| might well pay for its trouble.
Horrors Are Cited.
Finally, there is poison gas Ac-
cording to the most credible authori-
ties I can find, il would take from
8 TO 10 tons OF the phosgene type to
eliminate all life not specially gas
PROCEED in a city square mile. Es-
Inmates vary; no one knows exactly
| because il has never been tried
That, in terms of the largest exist
ing bombers, means from three to
eight planes. Look at the map of
your own city; calculate how much
OF its brains and management lie
concentrated in one square mile Of
the downtown district. Unless the
enemy wiped 1t all out in con-
fiagration, this heart of the city
would be pretty thoroughly drenched
with stinking gases. In spite of the
wind, these deadly vapors would
hang for weeks in the city canyons
and crevices. The enemy would
probably use for part OF this work
those types of gases like our own
Famous Lewlsite, whose poisonous
deWs. lingering on exposed surfaces,
would bite and kill like rattlesnakes
In this, the attacking air forces
would have two objects: First, to
dtsorganize the life of the city; sec
ond, to precipitate a panic which
would cause It's immediate evacua-
ton. To help this second effect a
plane or so would probably empty
its load in the residence district. And
there the city stands for weeks, not
only useless to national defense, but
In the way-a broken link in our in
dustrial and transportation system.
All this in cold military terms. In
order that we may reduce the matter
to ordinary human terms, we might
imagine what these tactics would
do to our most important city. So
tomorrow we will consider New
York.
("New York." the third instaIIment
of Will Irwin's series ON the aircraft