Germany's Secret Weapons
It is now known that Germany's " secret weapons " had a far firmer basis than mere bluff. On the contrary, towards the end of the war she was well advanced in the preparation and early pro- duction of many deadly offensive weapons which she would. have used with terrible effect if hostilities had been further prolonged-. While on the one hand she was in process of switching-over from surface production to manufacture underground, so that bombing could not have stopped her munitions output, on the other hand she had discovered new and successful devices for seeing further (with infra-red photography) and for hitting from greater distances from the land, the air and the sea, with greater accuracy. The VI bombs. and V2 rocket shells were only the beginning. The enemy had made progress with controlled projectiles. There was a torpedo with a range of 8o miles capable of " listening " for a ship at sea, and another which could be controlled on a zig-zag course ; and there was also a submarine going into production which could maintain the minimum speed of 25 knots an hour under water. It is estimated that after another six months the Germans might have been able to hit New York with a V rocket. If these extraordinary advances in the making of lethal weapons could have been made in the last few years of war, what could not be done by modern scientists pre- paring for another war ten or twenty years hence? The possibilities are such that in the neat future a prepared Power would have the means of destroying the whole war-potential of an enemy and as much of his population as it chose within a few months of the opening of hostilities. This indicates the supreme necessity of putting it beyond the power of Germany to prepare another war. More than that, it proves the necessity of making war itself impossible, since it is now shown to be no exaggeration that any future world war might literally mean the end of civilization and even the extermination of civilized man.
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