TALE OF THREE CITIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 12, 15 September 1939, Page 19

TALE OF THREE CITIES

An American Looks At Europe

HE Russian physiologist, Ivan i Se eae: Parlov, discoverer of the conditioned reflex, so trained his dog that he had only to ring a bell to make its mouth water. The governments of Europe (says a correspondent of " Time") hope that their citizens’ flight to safety will be just as automatic when the air-raid sirens wail.

PARIS

The face of lovely Paris is pocked with gun emplacements, searchlight batteries, and trenches. Recently a demonstration of air defences was held in the ditched and tunnelled Esplanade des

Invalides outside Napoleon’s tomb. There are concrete gun platforms on the wooded Meudon and St. Cloud hills where Americans have their villas, and restaurants. serve cool drinks to heatweary Parisians. On Mont Valérien, westward across the Seine from the Bois de Boulogne, is an impressive layout of long-barrelled guns and searchlights with independent generators. Large railroad station signs, a give-away to low-flying raiders, have been removed. Every Frenchman in Paris has his gas mask, and he is subject to a fine if he uses its metal container to carry his fishing tackle. Seven of the main bridges leading across the Seine are being

doubled and tripled in width to facilitate tapid evacuation.

LONDON

Like Paris and Berlin, London is ringed with guns, balloons, and searchlights. The special province of the British is the multiplication of instruetive pamphlets with titles as long as Punch captions (Your gas mask, how to keep it and how to use it; some things you should know if war should come). They are crammed with common sense and pat slogans like: Take Care of Your Gas Mask and Your Gas Mask Will Take Care of You. When enemy planes are overhead, the motto for safety will be Keep it Dark. Britons are warned to memorise the types of raid signals. The man who confuses hand rattles ("gas") with hand bells ("all clear") will be sorry that he did not do his homework.

BERLIN

After a recent air-raid test German officials could boast that it takes 4,000,000 Berliners just one minute to clear the streets and scurry into air-raid shelters. A year ago the record was two minutes. When the test occurred thousands of Berliners were hurrying home from work. Red flares, black flags, and roped-off streets indicated places that were "hit." Anti-aircraft guns blazed at imaginary targets with blank shells while firemen sprayed make-believe fires and first-aid crews bandaged the sound arms and legs of placarded " wounded." The tests were intended to last five days, but Berliners found one night of alarums and excursions more than enough. Officials declared they were satisfied and called off the rest of the rehearsal.