THE DESTRUCTION OF LONDON.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18233, 18 November 1924, Page 12

THE DESTRUCTION OF LONDON.

HOW MANY BOMBS WOULD BE REQUIRED ? Pacifist circles now assembled for the International Peaoe Congress in Germany are deeply stirred by the accounts that have reached them this week of the great debate at The Hague on the disarmament question (writes a Berlin correspondent). The meeting is of general interest to England, and to Londoners in particular. "For Holland in its entirety possesses something like the population of the area of Greater L-ondon, and for convenience sake London and the possibility of the destruction of her inhabitants within a very few hours formed one of the principal theses of the debate. . The speakers represented many countries. It was a Dutch delegate in Geneva who urged complete world disarmament for safety's sake, basing his argument on the plea that finds most favour in the strong, pacifist circles of the small countries, Holland and Denmark. This maintains that complete helplessness, a moral weapon, is the best protection of the weak against the strong. He met with scant response, least oi ! all from his own countrymen, for it is an open secret to-day that Germanv's original plan at the beginning of the Great War was to march through Holland. She was prevented from carrying out this plan owing to the superior efficiency and numbers of the Dutch over the Belgian army. General Snyder himself, who was responsible for the condition of this army, went on the platform as a matter of what he considered duty, against the pernicious efforts of the pacifists to undermine a nation's natural sense of self-protec-tion. His opponent was a leading Democrat, Professor Van Embden, who has been striving passionately for the cause of disarmament for the past year. This is a vital question to Holland, in view of her powerful neighbour; not of to-day, but for a hundred years hence.

It is persistently repeated to-day on the Continent, though just as persistently questioned, that Edison is responsible for the statement that London's whole population could be annihilated in a very few hours by the new Leweside gas in bombs thrown from not more than twenty to thirty aeroplanes. This, the principal argument of . iiis pacifist opponent, the Dutch general proceeded to tear to pieces on the principle that never was a method of attack yet invented which did not almost immediately call forth successful counter-method a of defence. He based his thesis on the practical experiences the Great and on French writers, who liave calculated that to gas London with complete success 38,000,000 kilogrammes of bombs would bo necessary, hurled from 19,000 aeroplanes,, eaeh carrying 2000 kilogrammes of bombs. Under the most favourable conditions it-would take 200 pieces of aircraft eighty-five nights to carry out their task successfully, and these conditions premise not only insufficient means of defence,, hut consistently perfect weather for the air fleet.

The Dutch artillery captain, Mans, who has studied air conditions in tjie /French Army, compute? the present French air strength at something between 250 to 300 heavy machines for bombardment purposes, of which some only would be fit for immediate use. These could not carry more than 75,000 kilogrammes - weight of bombs, and would be totally incapable of destroying a whole great centre oi' population at one fell swoop. By ; the time the proper number would be ready and equipped, it stands to reason that the defence of London, or Holland, as the case may be, must have reached a probably equal standard of efficiency. It is significant that, whereas the pacifist spoke at great length in appreciative silence, the general's audience was restive, and interrupted continually. The whole affair, occurring at the moment when the new Zeppelin is pictured everywhere, has' stirred German pacifist imagination to the depths.

SUPERCHARGING FOR TOURING CARS.