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Show U. S. Army Is 'On Alert' Q; For Chemical Warfare -L ;i -. ; I By BAUKIIAGE Nrw Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, I. C. Some days ago the British short .wave radio, beamed on Germany, was telling the German people, who dared to listen to the forbidden words, that if their armies used gas against the Russians, the British would retaliate and paralyze the German cities with gas bombs from the air. Just about that same hour, I was entering the Army and Navy club in Washington with a short, vigorous, bright-eyed general, whose mental agility makes up for his lack of length. It was no coincidence. I was there to learn something more about chemical warfare and I knew of no better way than to pump Brig. Gen. Alden H. Waitt of the chemical chem-ical warfare service and whose book "Gas Warfare" has sold out twice in Washington book stores. There was, however, a coincidence connected with that visit, for as we walked into the great, crowded din- Soldiers stationed at Camp San Luis Obispo, Calif., outfitted with new type training gas masks. lng room of the club, Waitt paused to speak to a gray-haired man in civilian clothes with a ribbon in his buttonhole. I recognized a once-familiar once-familiar figure Amos Fries, first general of the chemical warfare service. He, of course, is retired now. I recalled that shortly after the First World war, the activities of General Fries got under some people's peo-ple's skins. He was a hyper-enthusiast over his specialty, and in the reaction against all things military which comes after a war, the cynics used to joke about the stenographer who transcribed her symbols so that a letter was sent addressed to the "comical" warfare service. New Emphasis But Fries persisted and managed to preserve his unit in a tight little independent group instead of having its activities scattered all over the other services. As far as the public pub-lic goes, very little attention has been paid to this arm of our military offense and defense. It may, however, how-ever, become very prominent before be-fore the war is over and some people lay that day is "imminent." If gas comes, the United States will be prepared for it. From an organization with 94 officers in the thirties, the chemical warfare service serv-ice has grown until its officer personnel per-sonnel numbers "many thousand" (I can't reveal the figure) and many of them are with combat troops today to-day where they are responsible for the use of smoke screens and for incendiaries the fire bombs and the flame throwers. I have witnessed demonstrations at the Edgewood arsenal near Baltimore, Balti-more, and although I cannot report the details, I can say that some of the effects were remarkable. You ought to see a steel tank or a concrete con-crete pillbox go up in flames when it is "lighted" by a flame thrower. It is unbelievable to watch. There have been, of course, many developments in this little-discussed weapon of warfare since gas was first used in World War I by the Germans and used so successfully and yet so stupidly. The attack took the British and French colonial troops utterly by surprise and caused what amounted to a rout. If the Germans had had the sense to follow it up, they could have broken through the lines and reached Calais. 1 That was not the first use of gas in warfare the firs recorded use was some, time earlier in fact, just 2,445 years earlier at the siege of Plataea, when the Spartans burned wood saturated with pitch and sulphur sul-phur under the walls. It failed because be-cause a rain came up. Five years later a similar "gas attack" was a complete success at the siege of Dulium where the fumes drove the defenders from the city's walls in a panic. Recent Developments The most recent developments in gas warfare has just been revealed. The Allies have known for some time that the Germans had a new powerful power-ful gas which it is almost impossible to detect by smell. It can now be stated that this gas is nitrogen-mustard, nitrogen-mustard, a relative of the deadly, burning mustard gas of the last war but far more volatile and that much more effective, for it enters the lungs in greater quantities. It can also now be stated that the Americans are able to manufacture this gas rapidly and in quantity, if necessary. Our experts are thoroughly familiar with its characteristics. The other development which will greatly increase the efficiency of the use of gas, if it is used today, is the new method of spraying it from low flying planes. This makes it possible possi-ble to contaminate an area contain; ing troops almost without warning. However, it is believed that the United States is not only prepared with the best protection but probably prob-ably has the most effective potential poten-tial gas offensive weapons of any of the armies. What are the arguments in favor of the use of this weapon which, so far, has not been used? Let me quote Brigadier General Waitt: "Every sensible man is agreed that war should be resorted to only when all peaceful methods have failed. When, in order to sustain its policies, a nation has no other choice but to use force to gain its ends, it should do this with as little loss as possible. Not only should there be little loss to the nation itself but unnecessary loss to its enemy should be avoided. Victory depends on the amount of loss. The smaller the loss to both sides, the greater the victory to the victor. This may be strange doctrine but it is sound." Unusual Outlook "War," Waitt believes, "is not carried car-ried on to kill or destroy but rather to enforce a policy, and if possible, the enforcement should be accomplished accom-plished without loss of life or property." prop-erty." We can work toward this end by the use of gas. He points to these facts for his argument: There were 275,000 American casualties in the American ranks in the last war. More than one-fourth were caused by gas. Of the gas casualties, only about 2 per cent died. In other words, the men wounded by gas had about 12 times the chance to live as those wounded by other weapons. To urge the use of gas sounds strange, indeed. I recall how surprised sur-prised I was when a- young Chinese captain, who had fought through most of the campaigns against Japan, said to me: "Gas is a kindly weapon." Of course, he had never met it himself but he had seen plenty of men blown apart by shrapnel and high explosive and he was very positive posi-tive in his statement. What about civilians if gas is used? In the first place, America, of course, is in less danger than Britain because of distance but not out of danger. There has been much contradictory opinion expressed as to the possibility of gassing cities. One view is that it would be utterly ineffective, the other is that whole populations could be blotted out Waitt says both extreme views are wrong. That there is a middle ground, that gas can be used'against industrial and political centers of importance im-portance for its disorganizing and demoralizing effect but that the chief targets will be strategic points such as railway stations, power and light plants and the like. Gas will not wipe out populations, he believes, it will not entirely supplant explosives. But it will be an effective weapon. The most important defense, aside from material means of protection which Waitt describes in detail, is education and discipline. Washington, D. C. AIR PRISONERS IN GERMANY The fate of American fliers in the Doolittle raid has raised the question: ques-tion: What happens to airmen who go down over Europe'! Here is the answer from an officer of the U. S. bomber command in England. If fliers bail out and get down safely over France, Belgium or occupied oc-cupied Europe, their chances of getting get-ting back to England are pretty good. They become prisoners of war, but in the course of exchanging prisoners, they may soon get back to base. If they bail out over Germany, there's not much chance of getting back. But so far as we know, the treatment of air prisoners Is similar to that of other prisoners, and varies according to rank. There is one incident, however, that damns the German record the story of Paddy Finucane. Most people peo-ple suppose that the famous RAF ace lost his life because his Spitfire crashed into the channel after being hit over France. The truth is though this has never nev-er been published that as Finucane was failing, he was strafed by German Ger-man machine gunfire, and he was already dead when he hit the water. Thus a new meaning comes to Finucane's famous phrase, "This is it, chaps." TOUGH JOB When you sift down all the hullabaloo hulla-baloo about Elmer Davis and his Office of War Information, the only valid criticism you can make against the drawling Hoosier is that he is working too hard. The last two weeks when he went on the air, he was so exhausted he had a stand-by alongside ready to take up his script if he collapsed. Davis works far into the night, tries to read all that his voluminous office produces, sees almost everyone every-one who wants to see him. But given a tough situation, basically basic-ally he has done a good job. Senators Sena-tors like Montana's Wheeler and Nevada's McCarran, whose acid digestive di-gestive systems are always poisoning their political outlook, make a wry face at Davis. But Wheeler and McCarran are always demanding more facts and inside fact is that Davis has been fighting their battle in keeping the American public informed. in-formed. Most of Davis' fight is getting news, squeezing it out of government bureaus which don't want to give, making the army and navy release facts which show up their mistakes, rowing .with Czarubber Jeffers because be-cause his estimates on tires are too rosy. When Davis stepped down from his well-paying radio job to correlate government information, everyone envied him his job, thought he had a softie. But the job of digging news, accurate news, unpleasant news out of the government is not soft. And it is not popular. Davis is a good newsman. Being such, he is not popular, never will be in some quarters. Note: Davis did his best to release re-lease the story on bombing Tokyo long ago. Several times he urged the White House that the American public should know the facts. Earlier, Ear-lier, when the Japs released a picture pic-ture of U. S. fliers supposedly captured cap-tured in the Tokyo raid, Davis wanted want-ed to point out the truth, namely that these were naval fliers, not Doolit-tle's. Doolit-tle's. They had been captured in a naval battle. This explanation was broadcast to foreign countries by OWI, but Davis, through no fault of his, was not permitted to tell folks at home. FDR'S CONGRESSMAN As commander-in-chief, the President Presi-dent has supreme powers in the conduct con-duct of the war, but he is just another an-other citizen on the books of the Hyde Park, N. Y., rationing board. At a recent White House meeting,-the meeting,-the President was telling three congressmen. con-gressmen. Gale, Republican, of Minnesota, Min-nesota, Jackson, Democrat, of Washington, Wash-ington, and Manasco, Democrat, of Alabama, about the "red tape" in volved in buying meat and groceries on his trips home to Hyde Park. "I have my problems with point rationing the same as you fellows," he grinned. "Why don't you write your congressman?" con-gressman?" suggested Republican Representative Gale. The President reflected briefly, then threw up his hands and roared with laughter. "Oh, no," he exclaimed, "not that!" The man who represents the Hyde Park district in congress is Hamilton Fish, one of the most vitriolic, vituperative vi-tuperative foes the President has in congress ... MERRY-GO-ROUND ft A high ranking army officer, just back from a U. S. tour, makes this observation: "High morale may be lowered by too much talk of postwar post-war planning, which makes the boys think the show is almost over." C. If the Japs were still in their Washington embassy, they could set their clocks by lanky Will Clayton, astute deputy to Jesse Jones, whe walks three miles to work every morning. He pa?ses the defunct Jap embassy prerisHv at p-chT |
