_CIVILIANS 'AND Alit -DEFENCE : THE GERMAN MODEL By L.
H. TRIPP'
TENTATIVE efforts are now being made. in Great Passive air' defence, as the Germans call it, to distin- guish it from active defence by military means, developed early in Germany, where "activedefence had been forbidden by the Versailles Treaty, and was first heard of in the spring of 1932. Thus it was not initiated by the present Government, which, in this as in so many other things, merely took over and perfected an organisation which already existed.
The first step was to prepare a network of observation- and listening-posts, staffed by civilians, to give warning of approaching aircraft. In north-west Germany this system was first put to the test in May, 1932, when an imaginary air-attack, carried out by civilian 'planes and lasting for two days, was staged in the Ems-Weser-Elbe area. The navy, army, fire brigades and first-aid detach- ments collaborated, Wilhelmshaven was darkened, and Admiral Raeder himself watched the proceedings.-- In the following September a similar scheme was undertaken to test one hundred posts in the Baltic area. On this occasion Kiel was darkened, and foreign military observers, including the Japanese, Italian and American naval attaches, but not the British, were present. A few months later the network of amateur observation-posts had been so perfected that no aeroplane could cross any part of Germany without being under observation during the whole of its flight.
Concurrently efforts were made to train special gas- decontamination squads, salvage-squads and first-aid. detachments,' and to provide gas- and splinter-proof cellars. At a Hamburg fire-station a cellar was fitted with various primitive devices (blankets, sand-bags, shutters, &c.) and thrown open for public inspection. Instructions were issued by the Hamburg authorities to all householders regarding the fortification of cellars. Observance was not compulsory. But the main task was, of course, the training of personnel. The services of an already, existing body, the Emergency Technical' Corpsjorrnerly used for strike-breaking, were immediately enlisted, but since ,it was estimated that apart from doctors-and firemen the vehintary co-operation of 1 per cent of the population would be required,- the task of training,. all these people was obviously going to be a severe one.
Such, briefly, was the position already before National Socialism came into power. By February, 1933, two special training schools had opened at Hamburg, 250 persons had undergone special medical courses lasting 26 weeks, and the organisation of voluntary " domestic fire brigades " was proceeding satisfactorily. By ,July it was realised that one trained air-warden would be needed in every building in Hamburg (the population of this city is housed mainly in flats), which mesa that 75,000 would be required locally. These requirements have now been fulfilled.' • The fortification of private cellars was encouraged by the grant of a State subsidy of 50 per cent. of the cost up to a total of 1,000 marks, in addition to taxation relief. Public bomb-proof dug-outs have not been built, but suitable municipal buildings were being strengthened already in 1983, and maps showing those to which people may retire in the event of an air raid have been prepared. In this year, too, Hamburg experimented with sirens. Today warning sirens have been installed all over Hamburg and the surrounding country. Their note rises and falls between 200 and 400 vibrations to the siceint and each can be heard above the traffic within a radius of 500 metres.
Meanwhile a propaganda campaign was under way: By February, 1933, lantern-slide lectures' were being given all over Hamburg. In July the first of the, air bomb models, now a feature in all German towns, was erected in a Hamburg street. It bears the inscription : " Remember Karlsruhe! On 22nd June, 1916, 110 German children were killed in an air raid." In October an entire week was devoted to propaganda : children with boxes shaped like bombs collected money for the Air Defence League, lorries with dummy anti-aircraft guns paraded the streets, and a demonstration of an air attack upon an unfortified town was witnessed by 30,003 persons. Similar weeks were organised in 1934 and 1936 on a still larger scale.
In 1934 special attention was devoted to the attics, the inflammability of which is notorious. Already in the previous year experiments had been made with non- inflammable paints, and in September, 1934, a public demonstration was given in Hamburg of 'the effect of fire upon a wooden structure treated with a fire-proofing mixture. Experiments were still being conducted in 1935. As a further measure to lessen the danger of fire a vigorous campaign was started (March, 1934) to clear all Hamburg attics of their lumber. This was usually done on Sundays, parish by parish. A fleet of lorries would descend upon a street, bugles would sound, attics would be inspected, superfluous litter removed, and the total output from all the houses dumped at one spot where the curious might inspect it on payment of 10 pfennigs. Within six months all the attics of Hamburg were said to have been emptied of their rubbish (40,000 tons from 837,000 households). It is now the duty of air-wardens to see that litter does not again accumulate.
Needless to say, drills, defence schemes and local " black-outs," becoming increasingly complicated and realistic as the organisation developed, have been carried_ out concurrently with the other activities ever since 1932. During night operations over Slesvig Holstein in March, 1984, the whole of the province was dimmed. Hamburg staged a partial black-out in November, 1934, and a complete one in January, 1935, when 75,000 air defence volunteers were on duty. In June, 1934, the harbour defences were tested in the presence of experts from the Air Ministry. An iron tower which had collapsed had to be cut asunder ; an emergency bridge was built, necessitating the use of a pile-driver ; another bridge, capable of bearing an 80-ton locomotive, was constructed across a crater ; a steamer which had broken from its moorings 'was salvaged. In October, 1935, traffic in the port was held up for two hours while a Still more ambitious- scheme was carried out. By November, 1985, local air drill in the various Hanilmrg parishes was becoming a regular event. In all these drills the fire brigade, decontamination squads, salvage ' and medical detachments, oo-operate, -while the windows of many of the houses are pasted with strips of gummed paper. Today civilian air defence appears to be organised on roughly the following lines : the nucleus of the whole organisation consists of highly-trained brigades of firemen, medical, salvage and decontamination experts. These constitute the " official " defence corps. In addition there is a Home Defence and a Factory Defence. Each factory and each block of flats has its own trained section whose duties are no doubt to apply emergency remedies until the official corps arrives.
All new buildings have to comply with air-defence requirements. Recently constructed workmen's flats in Hamburg show the following innovations. All wood used in the attic is fireproof ; the attic floor is built of fireproof material lined with wire netting; the box room partitions are made of wire netting only ; the wash-cellars in the basement are gas- and splinter-proof ; each has four exits and a lavatory, each' is connected by telephone with the attic, where an air warden will be posted ; and the strength of the cellar roof has been increased 1,000 per cent., to withstand the collapse of the entire house above it.
The success of civilian air defence depends largely upon the extent to which the civilian population is prepared to co-operate. The enthusiasm of the German people is beyond question. In May, 1932, it was stated that 8,033 volunteers would be needed in Hamburg ; in July, 1933, the number had risen to 75,000, and in March, 1984, to 20%000. This last figure has actually been surpassed, for 21 per cent. of the population of Hamburg is now organised in the Air De&nce League. It was stated already in January, 1986, that 102 schools existed in Hamburg and the neighbothing provinces for the training of this vast body of volunteers.
If it is now asked whether this tremendous expenditure of energy will immunise the civil population of Germany from the effects of air attack, the answer must be no. But it will certainly greatly minimise these effects, and it will also sustain the morale of civilians by giving them some- thing to do when the crisis comes.
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