Evening star., 1941-06-08
New Weapons Revolutionizing War

Editors Note: This is a straight
toriUdrd, non-technical account OF
some OF the ne1U Developments OF
modern 1Cartare, based on the latest
information from authentic SourceS)
The boy who said there's nothing
new under the sun wasn't describing
the warfare of 194l.
If it were possible to stand on hill
side and watch an army in operation
with all the new devices, techniques
gadgets and methods, it would hardly
be recognizable as a development of the
ancient columns of foot-soldiers that
confronted each other and blaZed away
point-blank.
1t has become fashionable among
commentators, bored by "secret weapon
talk, to point out that virtually all the
srrew" military ideas are simply i'm
provements on principles that go back
30 couple of thousand BIC. The
Egyptians had blitzkrieg style of at
tack and the Greeks hurled fire such as
the Nazis used against the Belgian
soGtTesses.
But automobiles and skyscrapers, Just
improvements" Of the horse and buggy
and the cave, have changed the face
of the world, and warfare is going
through an equally impressive "indus-
trial revolution" The basic military
principle of getting there first with the
most men hasn't changed bit, but the
new means employed for attaining this
end make an impressive display.
The United States Navy Department
has ordered $4,000 900 worth of an am
phibian tank that can be dropped over
the side of ship, transport troops
through the water to shore and keep
right on going overland. .. From Italy
come reports of an airplane powered by
gas from a charcoal burner and a motor
less, propellerless plane propelled like
a rocket by the discharge of tanks of
highly compressed gas. :. From Britain
come reports of an anti-aircraft range
finder that works with the speed of
light.
German Ingenuity.
Germany seems to have been most
productive of all nations in novel war
techniQues. This may be because the
Germans simply are more willing to eX-
pertinent in actual warfare with devices
of undetermined value that in other
nations never get beyond the laboratory;
or just because they are more public
lied in contrast to the British policy of
keeping innovations under the hat and
the American policy of talking about
some things and keeping some things
nuiet.
Some of the recently reported Ger
man devices are:
An explosive gadget that opens para
chutes quickly, permitting jumps at low
attitudes;
A new type of mine, to foil the British
anti-magnetic belts, exploded by the
vibrations of ships propeller:
A concentrated dye attached to life
belts that quickly colors large area of
water, so that dunked aviators can he
easily spotted and rescued:
A method of setting submarine pro-
pellers so close to the hull that they
can't be snarled by anti-submarine nets;
A confetti barrage so that airplanes
can blind pursuers apparently not very
effective because British aviators re-
marked. "If they want to turn the blitz-
krieg into paper chase, it's o. k. with
u.s.;
Buoys that look like the tops of sub
m hu
confuse anti-submarine work;
Submarine instruments custom-bulit
for individual officers, for maximum ef-
fectiveness;
Midget submarines, judging from pic
lures, about 20 feet long.
Some notable British innovations have
been barrage balloons, which have proved
effective at keeping enemy planes out of
low attitudes, anti-aircraft shells that
spiral springs to tangle enemy
innocuous looking cards made
Of guncotton and phosphorus and
dropped from planes, which, when they
dry out, start fires; and armored, mo-
tored invasion" barges, used in NorWe-
gian forays.
Italian Device.
The Italians are believed to have used
In close-range shipping attacks at Gil
braltar strange device consisting of two
torpodoes attached to narrow raft
about 30 feet long, powered by COM
pressed air and operated just below the
surface of the water by two men in
unsinkable rubber suits. The idea is to
sneak up close to ship under the cover
Of darkness and let 60 the torpedoes
When the United States Army gets
through with all the new equipment it
Is adopting and trying out, the Army
will be far cry from the guerrillas who
sniped at the British at Concord Bridge
In IT'S, or even from the doughboys of
1917.
Aside from major innovations like
divisions, parachute troops