BOMB OUTRAGES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 4, 28 September 1937, Page 7

BOMB OUTRAGES

"Oue Has to Treat Stories iwitb Reserve" MR. GIELGUD-S COMMENT | *'1 think pne ha* to treat fB Btpdes] 'pf hombing outragcg with a eertainj ampunt pf reserye," wa? the eommen^ pf Idr, Lewis do Gfiqlgud, TJnder-Secre-; taryrGeneral pf the Leagup pf Bpdl Orpss ,§ppiet|es, Paris, when questipnpd ;hy ihe Christchurch Bregg Jasi week ahout the at.tack on ciyilians in Caatpn and other putrages againgt Bed Cross hospital? and unit? dnring fh§ reeent Wa? in Aby?sinia. He personaliy WM iuclinedi to doubt how far rules oi jnar by which, for ingtance, spme method? were ganctioned and others fprbiddea, would pver be * gatisfaetpry, There were UP limits to how a war wpuld be fought, an.d it wa? largely a matter pf pentiment when outpries arpse againgt methpds which seempd atroeious. Wherq therp wa? sufferIng thpre would, pf ppujFse, bS geuth ment, .and a? fa? a? thi§ pentiment wa? an outery against guffering jt was healthy. Pne of the great points ha favour of the Bed Cross organisation wa? that il( did not stop to eouslder how wounds Were jnflicted, but concentrated directiy on the gufferlng.eaused, The case pf Abygginia wa? an admirable illustratipn pf how. ffpling inspired the gending pf Bpd Cros? units— a quitp gepuiiio de.sire to prpyide inedic.ai aid ■ for people in need pf it. ^uggesting the need for more elear thinking bp.fore acpepting bombing pufci ragps as being deliberate, Mr, de Gielgud said that when bomberg were at % height of spvgral thonsands pf feet the . ehances were lO to 1 that what they hit Was not what they aimed at, Added to this, it had been shown that a Eed Cross sigikPf 30ft by 6ft marking couid not ba detected from an aeroplane at SOOOft, aud'this would have to be remembefpd iu any aBusion $o bombing of Bed Crosg units, The distinetion had to be made, too, between an attack op. civilians and. an attack on soldiors, If goldiers were making use of a .town, then while tbe bombing pf .that town with the ciyjlian? in it might he a b reach pf human,ity, it was not a hreach of the Geneva Conyention. There wa? nothing in the - Ceneva Convantion tp say fhat eiyiljans . ' were not to hp bombed, The conyention . protectpd wounded goidier? and those loPking after them. Beferring to another misunderg'tanding ahout Bed Cros? units, M?« de Gielgud said; "There is a definite provision in the Conyention that the Bed Cross ' units may have armed guards, and that the armed guards may return firo in defenee S>f the units." The guard and men of ihe unit itself wero entitled to return fire if attneked, he adde'd. "There are hound* to be accide.ntal violation? pf the Conveiiticra," he saidj "but deliberate violat.ions have bee? creditablv few,"