Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-12-12
By PIERRE j. HUSs


Looking al the sunny SKY over
the Golden Gate today 10 see II
japanese planes were coming over
TO bomb San Francisco. quickly
brought back that uneasy feeling
of alarm I felt back there in Ber-
lin in the early days of the Raj
raids.
II reminded me, amidst the I'M
worried crowd and the Hedging
blackout. that tiny pieces of shrap-
mel falling like hot lead out OF
the sky killed or manned many
civilians in Hitler's capital during
one of the 10 raids lived through
there.
GIRL SLICED BY SHELL
In fact am walking around
San Francisco streets from now on
keeping my fingers crossed and an
eve out for the nearest cellar, even
II nobody else does. / know air
raids, and don't want to fool with
them.
Maybe that's because am still
thinking of the girl in Berlin who
wanted TO see the fireworks and
stood out in the open street,
thrilled by the spectacular show
of searchlights with myriad burst
ing shells above.
The blackout hid her from the
eyes of watchful police. But not
from that little nugget of anti-air-
craft shell which fell, like fiery
pearl, from the beautiful necklace
floating around the British plane
high in the heavens.
IT cut neatly through her from
head TO foot. She lay there as
she had fallen, with a half-eaten
apple in one hand.
LEARN FROM BERLIN
It took scores of British raids
and hundreds of bombs on Berlin
before its. 100000 got wise &c
themselves and ducked for cover
the moment the siren howled
1t took the Nazi whipcracker:
more than a year to achieve thu
total blackout. largely because
people didn't understand the dead
illness of any air raid, large OF
small.
They do now, as I can testify
and they vanish from streets anc
rooftops pretty fast when the
alarm goes off. The result has
been that casualties in Berlin have
dropped with bang.
1t brought back the picture of
that girl in Berlin when 1 looked
at the blackout in San Francisco.
with people going about as uncon-
cerned as on any night. On the
basis of 200 raids I have gone
through in blitzed Europe. would
make a guess and say that a
serious japanese raid on San Fran
cisco so far could have netted
dead and wounded running into
several hundred.
ALL RAIDS TAKE TOLL
Take II from me, that casualty
list under the circumstances was
a sure bet. Every raid on Berlin
has cost lives and despite the high
precaution and wide experience
they have there by now, every raid
still costs lives and some still pay
the price because Of carelessness
and useless heroics.
Bombs come screaming down
and have ducked them at close
range many a time, lying fiat
alongside the curb II no other
cover was near, or behind the
nearest tree.
But an even worse enemy is the
anti-aircraft shell, which goes up
and explodes TO come down in
hundreds OF pieces or Is dud
and comes whistling down TO eX-
plode on striking. It's not enough
10 keep your fingers crossed.
In big cities, whether in Berlin
or in America. a certain percent
age of landmarks guide the at
lacking planes. Wall Street or
Market Street is a perfect target,
hard 10 hide from the bomber
above. and no amount OF anti
aircraft gunfire can keep them al
bay.
SKYGAZERs TARGETS
The skygazer is asking for trou-
Bile. ! have seen many a rubber
neck victim get picked up with
hole through the body although
not a bomb or anti-aircraft shell
had come within miles. But--the
attacking planes had raked the
town with machine guns, or maybe
night chasers engaged them In
deadly duels, and the majority of
those bullets didn't stop until they
hit solid earth.
The moon is good for romance
but we in Berlin looked at the
calendar and checked of the
nights Of bright moonlight as those
on which 20 expect trouble.
You can't cover the moon with
dark cloth. but you can cover
every light. In Berlin, the police
give no quarter in that respect
and cars have tiny Sits for one
quarter Of an inch wide on head
lights.
The moment that alarm sounds
all street cars or moving traffic
goes dead, 10 avoid any semblance
Of motion. For every sign OF life
somehow helps the raider above
and the blsckout Of a city must be
50 complete that the enemy
bomber can cruise back and forth
looking In vain for q chance "a
dive with machine gun firing. OF
10 lef 90 q hornh AZ the likeliesi