Air Raid Defence

Abstract

IN the June number of Air Raid Defence the nature of the air threat is critically examined, including the factor of increased numbers of aircraft, the costs involved, the method of attack and the functions of the incendiary bomb and the gas bomb, as well as of the high explosive bomb; which is considered to be the main weapon of attack. London is regarded as the most probable target in the lightning attack, although key strategic points such as the steel making district of Sheffield might also become main targets. Civil defence, it is emphasized, differs entirely from traditional defensive strategy in which the war effort is developed as the war progresses in that the maximum demand will be made of it on the very day that war breaks out. Our organization must be ready to operate effectively immediately peace is despaired of, not a few weeks, or even a few days after war has begun. Moreover, since the lightning attacks are only likely to be delivered for a few weeks, short-term measures are entirely justifiable in our main civil defence scheme. It is wrong to plan on the assumption that the intense pressure of the initial blows can be maintained by the enemy throughout a long war. The parrying of the lightning blow is a problem of imperial strategy; the strategic defence aims at giving the best protection where it is most required. We have hitherto been too much inclined to treat civil defence as a matter for local authorities, with their local responsibilities. What is required is not something for everybody, but a great deal for those who are most likely to be attacked.