A.R.

AIR RAID
p•1
PRECAUTIONS

FOR

AUSTRALIAN S
H.E. FIRES GAS

ALAN BROOKSBANK

CIVILIANS’ GUIDE

PRICE: ONE SHILLING

L&N. —_______
 Other Works by Same Author:
ARTICLES
“Chemical (Gas) ‘Warfare”: Address to Victorian
Pharmacists, published in The Australasian Journat of
Pharmacy, March, 1936, pp. 238-246; condensed report
in The General PractitiOner, May, 1936, pp. 240.
“Some Medical Aspects of Chemical (Gas) Warfare”:
Address to Honorary Instructors, St. John Ambulance;
report in The General Practitioner, September, 1936, pp.
162-169.
“Police Duties in a Gas Attack”~ Victorian Police
Journal, July, 1936, P. 187, and September, 1936, p. 244.
“Chemical Gas Warfare and the Law”: The Australian
Law Journal, August, 1937; republished in ‘Western Aus-
tralia and South Australia.
“Warfare lnècndiaries and Civilian Organization”:
Address to members of Fire Brigades in Brisbane, Mel-
bourne, Hobart and Adelaide (1938-1939).
“Medico-legal Aspe~tsof Chemical ‘Warfare”: publica-
tion pending. 1939.
BOOKS
Traps for Young Soldiers and Civilians in Chemical
(Gas) ‘Warfare: 40 pages, showing hidden dangers and
traps encountered by Gas Defence Personnel. (Price,
1/-.) 1937.
Gas Alert: A complete handbook to Gas Warfare and
remedial measures, 1938. 3/-. (Out of print.)

The author is the A.R.P. Interstate liaison officer of

the St. John’s Ambulance and a member of the Anti-gas
Technique Committce of the Red Cross.
 A.R.P.
AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS

FOR

AUSTRALIANS
H.E. FIRES — GAS

ALAN BROOKSBANK

THE CIVILIANS’ GUIDE

MELBOURNE
ROBERTSON & MULLENS
Registered at the GeneraL Post Ofilce, Melbourne, for transmission
throuoh ik. vast as a book

? ~-Lt~~

COPYRIGHT

I
WhoUy eat up and printed in Australia
by Erown, Prior, Anderson Pty. Ltd.,
Printcraft House, 430 Little Bourke St..
Melbourne, C.i, 1939
 FOREWORD

Q N my European tour, 1935-1938, I was at

first mystified by the extensive civilian
activities, especially of women, for defence pur-
poses. Later, I realized that civilian defence had
grown into a colossal organization wherein women,
for their own protection in case of a national
emergency, simply had to learn technical subjects.
Upon my return to Australia from overseas, I
talked A.R.P. to my, friends and they did not
understand. So, after the September crisis of last
year, 1 felt impelled to enter upon an honorary
Interstate campaign of public lecturing and
demonstrating in A.R.P.
All my meetings have been well attended,
hundreds being unable to find standing room.
A.R.P. is now a live subject in Australia.
Always the question is hurled at me after my
lectures—’Where can we get literature on the
subject?’ I knew of no one book that dealt with
all A.R.P. matters.
Those enterprising publishers, Robertson &
Mullens Ltd., came to the rescue, and within days
Captain Peters, their manager, handed me this
illuminating book, which I am able to commend
to Australians with a full measure of Australian
pride.
I draw the special attention of women to
Chapters II, VI, X, XI and XII.
Melbourne. MARCIA DUNN.
3
 PREFACE

T HE cheerful message I wish to convey in this

little constructive booklet is that the menace
to health and life of air raids can be reduced by
sensible precautions that do not involve much
expenditure of money. It need be only in the
exceptional case that civilians are at the mercy of
any warfare weapon.
There is no universally worst weapon. There
is variation according to locality and the worst
weapon is one that civilians of a particular com-
munity are least able to protect themselves and
their property against. Fire bombs have
uniformly failed against large cities, where there
is proper fire organization and the people them-
selves have learnt what to do, but fire bombs have
been serious in country villages occupied by inno-
cent peasants. High explosive bombs fail in resi-
dential suburbs in which large gardens are the
rule, too many bombs merely make holes in the
ground. Gas is the worst weapon in such areas.
In the business centres of cities, which have
few buildings of the steel frame type, the high-
explosive bomb will cause the most damage, but
gas may have the higher nuisance value.
A good anti-gas organization is readily adap-
table for civilian protection against fire and high-
explosive bombs, but not vice versa. Accordingly,
4
most countries began their plans for civilian pro-
tection on the basis of gas attacks. To-day, whilst
there are great practical difilculties in gas defence,
the better opinion is that there are no gas prob-
lems incapable of solution; we are almost in the
same position with regard to fire, but not yet for
the demolition high-explosive bomb, which, how-
ever, is rather local in its effects.
Munition makers have realized that in an air
raid everyone must do something and they have
evolved types of weapons which take a mean
advantage of human instincts.
Instinctive behaviour is no good in an air raid.
People must be trained to overcome their
instincts, It is, therefore, quite as important to
warn the people what they should not do as it is
to tell them what they should do.
Civilian defence is such a huge subject and is
developing so fast that it is impracticable in a
booklet of these modest dimensions to tell the
people all that they should do. An attempt has
been made to explain the subject, to warn of
dangers which might not be understood and to
leave the rest to common sense.
The booklet is, accordingly, addressed to men
and women who want to understand what they
are doing, rather than to memorize a few
inflexible rules which may speedily get out of
date.
S
 Throughout Europe it is recognized that Air
Raid Precautions have become a permanent part
of the defence of the country. If it be necessary
to maintain naval, military and air forces, it is
essential to have a permanent A.R.P. Secretariat,
research workers, qualified instructors and public
instruction. Overseas, the A.R.P. organization
has become the fourth arm of the Defence Ser-
vices.
One justification for A.R.P. in Australia is that,
if Australians be better organized and told what
to do, then a potential enemy would know that
he would have to transport for thousands of miles
at least ten times the weight of munitions to
.injure the same number of people, as he would if
there were no organization at all. The extra cost
and hazard may well deter him.
The plans outlined herein are non-aggressive.
They amplify an existing civilian life-saving
organization, to be managed by civilians for
civilians.
ALAN BROOKSBANK.
Melbourne.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PACE
Foreword, by Marcia Dunn 3
Preface 4
SECTION I—ORGANIZATION

Chapter I—A.R.P. Organization

What Public should do on Hearing Warning—
In the Cities 11
Householders in Suburbs and Country Towns .. .. 11
Introduction to Organization
1 12
A.R.P. Headqt:arters— ,Varning Signal 13
Warning Services 14
Sector Wardens 14
Report Centre Staffs 16

GAS DEFENCE ORGANIZATION

Decontamination Squads—Streets and Buildings 16
Gas Detection Services 17
Decontamination and Cleansing Centres 17
Laundry Services 19

HIGH-EXPLOSIVE ORGANIZATION
Rescue Parties 19
Clearance of Debris Parties 19
Repair Gangs 19

FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE

Watching Posts, Patrols, Auxiliary Fire Stations .. .. 20

MEDICAL SERVICES OUTSIDE HOSPITALS

First-Aid Parties 20
Ambulances 20
Emergency Aid Posts 21
Mobile Units 21
7
 OTHER SERVICES PAGE
Special Constables 21
Police 21
Lighting Restriction Staff 22
Large Industrial Undertakings 22
Municipal Councils and A.R.P 24
SECTION Il—FIRE BOMBS
Chapter 11—How householders should Deal wi/h Fire
Bombs
Don’ts 25
How Fire Bombs are Made and Used 26
How to Deal with Fire Bombs 27
Peace-Time Preparations 28
Chapter 111—Composition of Fire Bombs
Spontaneously rnflammable Materials 30
Metallic Oxides 31
Oxidizing Combustible Mixtures 31
Flammable Materials 32
Liquid Fire Throwers 34
SECTION Ill—HIGH-EXPLOSIVE BOMBS
Chapter 1V—Types of Bombs
Introduction 35
Demolition High-Explosive Bomb 35
Instantaneous Fragmentation Bomb 37
Blast Bomb 38
Special and General Purpose Bombs ~.. .. 38
What Happens when a High-Explosive Bomb Explodes 38
Effects of Explosions 39
Glass 40
Earth Tremors 41
Suburbs and Country Towns 41
Chapter V—Safer Places in Cities
Middle Floors 43
Inner Rooms and Passageways 44
Safer Structural Types 45
Essential Requirements of Basements 46
Evacuation 48
8
 SECTION IV—WARFARE GASES
Chapter VI PAGE
Word ‘Gas’ 49
Persistent and Non-Persistent 49
Chlorine; Phosgene 51
Tear Gases; Chioropicrin 53
Prussic Acid 54
Mustard Gas 55
Effect on Human Beings 56
Material Objects 58
Lewisite 60
Nose or Nerve Gases 61
Carbon Monoxide 62
Gas Warning System 63
Chapter Vu—Methods of Using Gas
Gas Bombs and Shells 65
Generators 65
Gas Spray ,. 66
Balloonettes; Gas Cylinders 67
Chapter VIlI—Decontamination
Roads and Buildings; Methods 68
Clothes 70
Chapter IX—Detection of Gas
Sound 72
Sight, Smell, Suffering 73
Chemical Detectors—Mustard 73
—Phosgene 74
Effects of Gas on Food 75
Chapter X—Pcrsonal Protection Against Gas
Respirators 76
Fashions in Gas-Resisting Clothes 78
Protection of Babies and Young Children 79
SECTION V—FIRST-AID
Chapter. X1—Householders’ Rules
Burns 80
Clothing on Fire 80
9
 PAGE
Shock • 81
Gas—Lung . 81
,, Tear 81
,, Nose 82.
,, Blister 82

SECTION VI—SHELTERS, REFUGE ROOMS

Chapter XII
Shelters 84
Choice of Rooms 85
Protection against High Explosives 85
Increasing the Protection—H.E 86
Protection against Fire Bombs 87
Increasing the Protection—Fire 87
Protection against Gas 88
Increasing the Protection—Gas 89
How Many Persons in Refuge Room? 90
Equipment of Reluge Rooms 91
Trench Shelters—Cheaper Type 93
—Expensive Type 95
Protection Given by Trench Shelter 95
Conclusion 96

10
 SECTION I
A.R.P. ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER I
What the Public should do on Hearing the Warning
In the Cities
Get off the streets and keep off them until
notified by another code signal that it is safe to
come out again. Wardens will be present to
assist you.
Car drivers park their cars as near as possible to
the kerb so as not to interfere with traffic or
hydrants. At night they put out the lights and
enter a building.
As will be shown later, some types of buildings
offer more protection than others. But any cover
is better than none at all.
People in buildings, for reasons later explained,
get out of unprepared basements (see page 46)
and take up positions, in passageways or inner
rooms on the middle floors.
The doors and windows of the buildings are
closed, but not locked.
Householders in Suburbs and Country Towns
Fill the baths and other receptacles with water.
Turn the gas off at the meter.
Close all doors and windows, but don’t lock
them.
11
 Extinguish all fires in grates.
At night see that no light is visible from out-
side.
If a refuge room or trench shelter be already
prepared, take the family into it. If no prepara-
tions have been made, get in a passageway, or
other place, so that at least two walls give protec-
tion against metal fragments and blast.
Stay put until notified by another code signal
that it is safe to resume normal life.
(Note.—The author suggests that the general readers
glance at the balance of this chapter to assure themselves
that properly-thought-out plans exist and that they then
concentrate their attention on Chapters II, VI, X, XI and
XII.)
Introduction to Organization
Although administrative organizations of civi-
lian air raid precautions differ in detail in various
countries and even in Australian States, there are
certain broad principles common to them all. One
difference is that in some places it is practicable
to give a secret warning to A.R.P. officials to man
their posts before the public knows anything about
the threatened air raid.
As raids on Australia, if any, are more likely to
start in the coastal regions, it may be more helpful
to outline what could be done in the event of ‘the
public and officials receiving the warning at the
same time in the form of a general air raid
warning.
12
 The object of the first chapter is to show how
comprehensive the organization is and to convey
the polite hint that, as such immense numbers of
volunteers are required, persons, who have not
already done so, should at least enrol in the
official Emergency Services established by State
Governments with the Commonwealth’s blessing.
A duty in the public interest can be found ~or
all suitable persons, but time is required to enable
those persons to be trained sufficiently to carry
out that duty; in the meantime they can read this
and other books on the subject and get a better
understanding of what it is all about.
For the sake of simplicity, a situation is now
taken wherein the trained personnel staff their
posts; it is not complicated by references to prior
training, or to what should be done during the raid
or after the raid.
Very sensitive instruments have been designed
which will record the movements of aeroplane
squadrons at distances as great as 1 00 miles.
In times of danger these instruments may be
staffed 24 hours a day, and, if A.R.P. Head-
quarters be advised of the approach of enemy
planes, a huge administrative machine can be set
in motion in a few minutes.
A.R.P. Headquarters—Warning Signal
The responsible officer immediately authorizes
the sounding of a pre-arranged warning signal
13
in a code that has been published. Code signals
differ from country to country and may consist
of long and short blasts, a succession of short
blasts, a repetition of long blasts, or a continuous
blast for two minutes. It does not matter what
code sound is used so long as it is distinctive and
everyone has been taught to understand the
signals. An Australian wide code could be an
advantage.
Warning Services (Staffed by Men and Women)
On hearing the headquarters warning signal,
persons, who have been previously detailed ,by
name so to do, at once repeat the signal in their
locality; wireless stations and telephone exchanges
may be authorized to repeat the signal and electric
light bodies may be authorized to operate their
switches—putting the lights on and off—to
coincide with the code for sound signals.
Sector Wardens (Men and Women)
Report to pre-arranged post; form groups of
three, unpack stored equipment, get post ready,
and phone zone warden.
One warden to remain at post, other two to go
out and help, by demeanour and local knowledge,
the smooth working of the organization, and the
prevention of panic.
Make certain that persons in sector have under-
stood the meaning of the code signal; particularly
deaf householders.
14
 If called upon, direct other A.R.P. workers to
their respective report centres. If called upon,
assist communications by receiving and transmit-
ting messages.
See that car owners park cars as close as possible
to kerb and do not block access to hydrants. At
night, particularly see that tail lights are turned
out.
See that horses are taken out of shafts and tied
to vehicle or a suitable post, in as sheltered a place
as conveniently possible; extinguish vehicle lights.
Help to clear streets of general public (not
being A.R.P. workers en route to duty stations);
direct strangers into nearest ‘safer’ building. If
anyone gets hysterical, make prompt use of the
gag.
If public shelters be provided, prevent over-
crowding.
At night see that no lights from buildings are
visible from the outside.
As soon as wardens hear enemy planes, see
them illuminated in searchlights, or nearby anti-
aircraft batteries open fire, they are to consider
their own safety first. They have already helped
materially, and will be wanted after the raid. If
it be not practicable to return to the post, wardens
take advantage of the cover afforded by the
nearest safer place (see Chapter V).
15
Report Centres Staffs (Men and Women, Boy
Scouts, Girl Guides)
The persons previously detailed by name at
once take up their stations. Test the telephones;
conveniently arrange the message pads, being
standardized printed forms. Turn off radiators,
hot water pipes, or extinguish fires in grates in
report rooms. Test gas-proof curtains by lower-
ing them and, if necessary, wet them by any con-
venient means; raise them again and have them
ready for instant action.
The person in charge of the centre calls the
roll and advises headquarters that all is in readi-
ness. Await developments.
GAS DEFENCE ORGANIZATION,
Decontamination Squads for Streets and
Buildings (Men; no Women)
Persons detailed by name at once report to their
respective stations. Take decontamination equip-
ment out of store and load it on the vehicle
allotted. Take off own outer garments and put
on some of the personal equipment, being gas-
resisting clothes, namely the boots, trousers and
jackets, but do not button them up until necessary.
Place respirator in alert position, have gloves and
hood. near at hand. There are different patterns
of gas-resisting clothes, but, when fully adjusted,
all types necessarily prevent the body from being
‘cooled.
The person in charge calls the roll and advises
16
the report centre that all is in ~readiness. Await
instructions; it is for headquarters to say what
area, if any, is to be decontaminated first.
Gas Detection Services (Men and Lady Chemists)
Members take up their allotted observation
posts and follow the same procedure as the decon-
tamination squads for the partial adjustments of
gas-resisting clothing and respirator. Spread
chemical detectors.
If gas be detected falling into, or drifting on to,
the sector, members act then and there on own
initiative and sound local gas alarm.
Members should have one messenger, ‘not
necessarily fully trained, attached to them. Boy
Scouts, Girl Guides are suitable.
Dc-contamination and Cleansing Centres (Men,
Women, Boys and Girls)
These centres are usually large’ annexures of
emergency first-aid posts and it is likely that
metropolitan hospitals would require them on a
smaller scale.
As contaminated persons have to undress
entirely, separate sections are needed for the sexes.
A big staff of semi-trained people is required,
because, if the appropriate treatment be not
speedily applied, the victims will later need hos-
pital treatment by doctors. There must be no
queues of persons awaiting treatment.
Contaminated persons have to undress; chil-
17
dren and elderly persons may require the assis-
tance of undressers. The clothes have to be
docketed and put in separate air-tight bins; cleri-
cal workers are needed to ensure that most people
get their own clothes and valuables back. The
patients then pass into cleansing r9oms and may
need assistance in washing every part of the body
promptly. They are then ‘inspected’ by trained
persons to ascertain whether the treatment is suf-
acient—this is skilled work. If it be insufficient,
the patient may need further treatment elsewhere.
Decontamination of clothes is such a slow process
that those who can go home, need some other gar-
ments to enable them to get home without catch-
~ngcold, or becoming rivals of Lady Godiva.
Attendants are required to work the gas-proof
curtains.
Someone has to arrange the transport of the
bins to a laundry and, as hundreds of people may
pass through one centre within an hour, a loading
staff is necessary.
On the sounding of the air raid warning signal,
all the above personnel report to their allotted
centre, and take up their respective stations. The
roll is called and the person in charge reports as
early as he can any deficiencies in sections of his
staff. The understaffing of one sectiOn may act
as a bottle-neck and check the rapid’ flow of
people. , ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

‘18
 Personnel who come into contact with clothed
persons, and the washing assistants, need gas-
resisting clothing and respirator.
Laundry Services
Personnel at laundries who have to handle
contaminated clothing, at once partially put on
gas-resisting clothing, following the procedure of
the decontamination squads and await the arrival
of contaminated clothing. Drying rooms are
cleared of ordinary clothes.
HIGH EXPLOSIVE ORGANIZATION
Rescue Parties
Members report to their allotted stations, take
their equipment out of storage, load their vehicles
and adjust respirators in the alert position. Roll
call, report all ready, stand by for instructions
from headquarters.
Clearance of Debris Parties
Follow same procedure as rescue parties.
Repair Gangs
Follow same procedure as rescue parties, and,
as the one bomb may break water and sewerage
mains, underground drains, electric and t~lephone
wires and gas pipes, very close liaison is necessary
between the authorities controlling these services
and the road-making authority. Perhaps the fire
brigade may have to pump out water to enable
the repairs to be effected.
19
 FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE
As the cities and more important towns have
established permanent fire-fighting services for
peace-time needs, and, in many cases, have their
own internal systems for warning their members
for duty, there is not the same need to go into
details.
The auxiliary services recommended in
England are:
Watching posts.
Patrols.
Supplementary auxiliary fire stations.
MEDICAL SERVICES OUTSIDE HOSPITALS
(Note.—As the B.M.A., St. John’s Ambulance, Red
Cross and V.A.Ds. have been doing valiant work in air
raid precautions for years, the author feels that it is
unnecessary to give more than the barest outline.)
First Aid Parties (Men)
The individuals report to their pre-arranged
centre; receive their equipment and are paired
off; two pairs are allotted to an ambulance and
are given a tentative area. Officer in charge calls
roll and reports.
Ambulances (Women Drivers and Women
Attendants)
Drivers and attendants report to pre-arranged
centre, are paired off and receive their equipment.
Some are allotted to first-aid parties; some given
the task of conveying wounded or lung gas cases
20
to casualty clearing stations and others the duty
of transporting patients thence to base hospitals.
Ambulances, once used to convey contaminated
persons, must be so marked and not employed for
carrying other classes of casualties, until decon-
taminated (a two- or three-hour task).
Emergency Aid Posts (Men 20%; Women 80%)
In England a doctor is to be in charge of each
aid post, and, according to the size of the post, he
is to have forty or sixty assistants, who work in
three shifts.
It is for the doctor in charge to make his own
arrangements as to what shifts are to report to
him on the sounding of the general air warning.
He arranges for the roll to be called and a report
to be sent in as soon as his post is ready to function.
Mobile Units (1 Doctor; 1 Nurse; 1 8 Women—3
shifts)
Again it is for the doctor in charge to make his
own arrangements as to what shifts should report
to him, arrange roll-call, and report.
OTHER SERVICES
Special Constables
Will report, as previously instructed, to police
officers and carry out their prescribed duties.
Police
The police receive their own instructions,
through their own channels. They will be on
duty ready to safeguard life and protect property.
21
Lighting Restriction Staff
Soon after the sounding of the General Air
Raid Warning, the lighting authorities may first
operate their switches in the code and then will
have to extinguish, or so dim, the street lights
that they cannot be seen from above. It is too
severe a precaution to cut the power off entirely,
because it is very important that persons in refuge
rooms or shelters should be able to occupy their
minds according to their own tastes. They can
read, write, work or play at games not involving
physical exertion.
Large Industrial Undertakings
Overseas, large industrial undertakings are
regarded as self-contained units. The factory
whistle repeats the general air warning and, on a
modified scale, the administrative machine func-
tions as already shown.
The scale is modified because, for example, it
is practicable for squads to be given more than
one duty. A natural economy being the amal-
gamation of decontamination squads, demolition
parties, rescue gangs, and, except in so far as
delicate machinery is involved, the same gang
effects repairs.
Persons without A.R.P. duties would be re-
garded as members of the public and, according to
local circumstances, would follow the action of
persons in cities or householders in suburbs.
22.
 At factories ‘key men’ are the persons who, in
the interests of the undertaking, must remain on
duty during the actual progress of the raid. They
would comprise men attending to boilers or to
incomplete manufacturing processes of a kind
that would be spoilt by inattention. The key men
do not vacate their posts and, as they have to
remain in the danger zone, they can be allotted
the tasks of fire observers and of gas detection and
be provided with the appropriate warning instru-
ments to sound.
Notes.—Where the factory covers a wide area,
sub-warning signals are desirable, especially in
relation to the gas ‘all clear.’ Otherwise the
contamination of one small part of the factory
might have the effect of stopping production
everywhere until decontamination of that part
was complete. The installation of sub-warning
stations enables stoppages to be confined to the
actual danger zones.
The author feels that it is unsafe to generalize
further. Important factories should seek expert
advice in relation to their own special conditions
—actual inspection of the premises by an expert
is desirable.
Factory owners would be well advised to pro-
vide facilities for selected members of their staffs
to become expert. If anything goes wrong with
the fire-fighting organization, the factory bears
23
the loss, because the ordinary insurance policy
does not cover loss or damage due to enemy
activity. If the employees have confidence in the
experts, they will return to duty more speedily
and so on, and the stoppages and disorganization
will be less.
Municipal Councils and A.R.P.
In England and practically throughout Europe,
it was early recognized that central authorities
could do little more than create skeleton A.R.P.
organizations and the duty was necessarily thrown
upon municipal councils to give bodies to the
skeletons and put the breath of life into them.
Dictatorial decrees and Acts of Parliament gave
the Councils general authority, and, in various
countries, indemnifying Acts have been passed
where Councils have, in the public interest, done
something in excess of the express terms of the
Acts.
In Australian States the central authorities have
given to the Councils the Ccomeon signal’ and
will no doubt indemnify them if they travel a
little further than was intended.
Each Council in danger zones will need to have
an organization substantially similar ‘to that
already outlined; the duties of the members of
each section of the organization will, no doubt, be
taught at the schools the central authorities have
already established and actual practice will be
given in team work and local leadership.
24
 SECTION II
FIRE BOMBS

CHAPTER II
HOW HOUSEHOLDERS SHOULD DEAL WITH
FIRE BOMBS
Don’ts
If a fire bomb hits a house, human instincts
would urge the occupants: (a) to throw water on
it; (b) to direct a chemical extinguisher on to
it; (c) to attempt to move it, as they would move
a piece of coal that fell out of the fireplace; or
(d) to run away.
It is because munition-makers are exploiting
human instincts that the above four actions are
the worst things to do. There are many kinds of
fire bombs, but some ‘DON’TS’ apply to nearly
all of them.
Don’t Throw Water on a Fire Bomb
Some fire bombs are so made that the putting
of the small quantities of water available to the
householder on to them, from, say, a bucket,
makes them burn more fiercely; with other kinds
of fire bombs, the application of water causes an
explosion; with a third type, the water would
induce it to spit, splash, and possibly burn the legs
of the householder who was so applying the water
25
to it; and, a fourth type, is a ‘dud’ until water is
thrown on to it and causes it to take fire.
Don’t Direct Chemical Extinguishers at the Bomb
Itself
Some fire bombs have been so made that their
chemicals readily combine with the chemicals in
the ordinary chemical hand fire extinguishers and
give off poisonous gases, particularly phosgene.
Don’t Attempt to Move a Glowing Fire Bomb with
an Ordinary Shovel
Experimenting with ‘thermit,’ the author has
caused the small quantity that an ordinary match-
box will hold, to burn through three sheets of
heavy gauge galvanized iron, within five seconds.
In the attempt to move a burning fire bomb, the
glowing mass may burn through the shovel and
cause two fires instead of one.
How Fire Bombs are Made and Used
The modern method of making fire bombs for
aircraft to drop, is to keep down their weight.
As a rule fire bombs are little fellows, weighing
about two pounds, and an aeroplane can carry
hundreds of them.
The airmen broadcast them in the hope that
some at least will hit inflammable materials and
start fires which will s~pread.
In other words, fire bombs are used as kindlers.
In themselves they are too small to do much
damage. If they fall on a road or in a garden,
26
leave them alone and they will harmlessly burn
out of their own accord. So long as water is not
thrown on them, they will not explode; they
merely get alight without an explosion.
In falling from great heights they acquire
enough force to break through roofs of iron,
slates or tiles and they ignite within the building.
How to Deal with Fire Bombs
The whole art is prompt action to control the
spread of fire. There are a number of methods.
Water can be carefully applied to nearby
objects, either to prevent them from taking fire,
or to put them out if they are already on fire.
Wet towels or blankets can be put on the floor
to encircle the bomb and limit the area that will
be damaged by fire.,
Sand can be thrown on to the bomb and on to
the floor and the bomb will then expend most of
its energy in heating the sand.
If sand be thrown on to the bomb and there
is a sand bucket at hand, the burning mixture can
be lifted by a shovel and dropped on to the sand
in the bucket. The sand acts as an insulating
material and checks the speed at which the bomb
will melt the metal in the shovel.
Asbestos sheets can be placed around the bomb
and the bomb can be pushed on to the asbestos,
as ~itwere,•with a rake.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

27
 As bombs may burn through floors and drop
‘below,’ it is desirable to post someone below to
clear away burnable material and to be ready to
deal with the portion of the bomb that drops
through.
Peace Time Preparations
The reader has been told how fire bombs are
used, what not to do, and what to do. The ques-
would
tion arises—what preliminary preparations
help him or her to do the job more easily and
with more confidence?
Litter
Obviously one of the first things to be done is
to clear away the litter that would burn; don’t
leave about any kindling material which the bomb
could ignite.
In Hamburg alone some 40,000 tons of ‘litter’
were cleared away by order of the municipal
authority; it took some six months to arrange for
the transport and destruction of the litter.
On the principle that it is never too early to
be tidy, people can begin to clear up the litter
now; if the job be left too late, it may be difficult
to arrange transport to incinerators. If the task
,

be done on the night of the raid, the fire ,can

guide the raiders.
Fire-resisting Washes and Paints ,, , ‘

A very cheap coating can ,be applied to wood,

which is out of sight, that will delay its catching
28
fire. It is made of two pounds of slaked lime,
mixed cold with an ounce of salt and a pint of
water. It is applied as ordinary paint and two
coats are necessary. It is a lime wash and is quite
effective; but obviously is not suitable for cover-
ing over polished floors, skirting boards, doors,
built-in cupboards, etc. People ought not be
asked to destroy the appearance of their rooms.
Fire-resisting paints in different colours can
be made in Australia; quite a number of chemicals
are suitable for the work and there appear to be
no substantial difficulties, either in the supply of
raw materials, or in the actual manufacture of
them into paint.
These paints would considerably reduce the
risk of loss of life in bush-fire areas; it is not
suggested that they give complete protection, but
they do act as delaying agents.

29
 CHAPTER III
COMPOSITION OF FIRE BOMBS
(This chapter is written for members of Fire
Brigades)
‘The modern fire bomb consists of a mixture of
a number ‘of chemicals so as to give it multiple
effects. Colonel Prentiss, in that monumental
work of his entitled Chemicals in War, divide~
the chemicals into ‘four’ main groups. Let us
follow that grouping.
Group I
Spontaneously inflammable materials, compris-
ing solids, such as phosphorus and sodium, or a
liquid in which phosphorus is dissolved in carbon
disuiphide.
Phosphorus ignites on exposure to the air, but
there is no regularity as to how soon or how long
it will take to ignite. In experiments, I have
weighed pieces carefully, shaped them the same
way, and put them near each other on paper and
there have been differences as great as an hour
between the times they take to ignite. Do not
be surprised, if fires break out long after the raid
is over. Such fires may not rise out of sabotage.
Sodium ignites speedily when water is applied to
it. A fire bomb can be made which will be a
dud, until it rains or you put water on it.
30
 Phosphorus, which is used primarily ,for the
dense white smoke it yields, is not an efficient
starter of fires. I have placed big lumps on the
easily burnable pine wood. It merely chars it.
In summer time phosphorus could start grass fires
and probably bush fires; it will set paper alight.
Group II
Metallic oxides. The better-known substance
is thermit, consisting of a mixture of iron oxide
and aluminium. The two metals are so finely
divided as to look like a powder. The stuff is
made in Australia for welding purposes. It is
perfectly safe to handle. A spectacular demon-
stration is to put a quantity, weighing about a
pound, on two sheets of galvanized iron. Place
the sheets over a kerosene tin ‘full of water, and
support the tin on bricks. Within five seconds of
ignition, the stuff has burnt through the iron,
dropped into the water, burnt holes in the bottom
of the tin, fallen to the ground, released the
water, and remained alight.
Group III (Oxidizing Combustible Mixtures)
Colonel Prentiss states: ‘Incendiary mixtures
which contain an inorganic oxidizing agent, such
as potassium or barium nitrate, barium or lead
oxide, or potassium perchiorate, together with
such combustible substances as carbon, sulphur,
magnesium, or organic combustibles, are desig-.
31
nated by the generic term of oxidizing combus-
tible mixtures.’ The purpose of gi~ving this
extract will be made clear after Group IV is
mentioned.
Group IV (Flammable Materials)
This group includes the petroleum oils, resins,
pitch, celluloid and various vegetable and animal
oils and fats, and by-products of tar, etc.
It will at once be seen that the research workers
have a great wealth of material with which to
experiment and there is no difficulty in producing
many effects.
The Perfect Fire Bomb would appear to be
one that ignites of its own accord, supplies its own
oxygen, generates great heat, produces flames,
yields a blinding light, burns for many minutes,
spreads and wherein every ingredient, including
the outside cover, will contribute its quota of
heat, oxygen and flame to the product. So far,
such a bomb has not been evolved.
Bombs are being made with an outer covering
of the metal magnesium; this metal may be more
familiar to some of you as the material used for
taking flashlight photographs.
Within the last two years, the effective life of
small fire bombs has been increased to as much
as twenty minutes; as each bomb, which falls in
a potentially dangerous place, must be watched
until it goes out, the lengthening of the period
32
that bombs are active will have its administrative
repercussions.
Explosives are not being put in fire bombs,
because the explosion would scatter the mixture
about and the idea is rather to concentrate the
mixture and to let it act as a kindling agent.
The idea of ‘raining fire’ encountered an
insuperable difficulty in the law that there is a
critical velocity above which a flaming particle
cannot continue to burn. The faster bombing
planes have taken many substances above that
critical velocity.
The prohibition against householders applying
water to a bomb does not, of course, apply to
firemen. With fire hoses such a volume of water
can be applied that the bomb will waste much of
its potency in heating the stream of water. The
spitting and splashing of molten particles, already
referred to, is quite limited in range. Further, as
firemen, you are not likely to be summoned to a
fire until the bomb has done its job as a kindler
and has set fire to surrounding property. The
application of water in quantities available to
firemen may’ cause certain types to burn better,
but, in burning better, the life of the bomb is
shortened.
Firemen have to exercise the same care as
householders in the use of the hand chemical
extinguisher.
c 33
Liquid Fire-throwers—’Flammenwerfer’
Although liquid fire throwers failed in the
Great War, they are reported to have been used
recently in Poland. There are two main types—
the portable and the fixed—and there are dif-
ferent patterns, but one principle is common to
them all.
The type I used for demonstrations in France
consisted of a strong metal box partly filled with
an inflammable mixture of, I believe, petroleum
and tar by-products. It also contained the gas,
nitrogen, under pressure. A flexible metal hose
was attached to the box at one end, and, at the
other, it had a nozzle and an ignition device. On
pressing a lever, the liquid gushed forth and was
ignited. A stream of liquid fire, accompanied by
much smoke, could be played about in any
upwards direction for a distance of about 35
yards. The fixed type gave, it was reported, ranges
up to ninety yards.
An elementary law reduced their actual power
to injure and reliance was placed more on
frightening troops than in hurting them. The
law is that flames rise and the defence was to lie
down and shoot the operator. The stream of
fire curved upwards instead of downwards, and
although the total range was thirty-five yards,
the effective range was less than half the distance.
The fire throwers need not cause firemen any
concern.
34
 SECTION III
HIGH-EXPLOSIVE BOMBS
(For Instructors)

CHAPTER IV
TYPES OF BOMBS
Introduction
Civilians in Australia are faced with the
anomaly that the trench-shelter, when properly
made and sited, offers the best protection against
high explosive bombs of all types; but the worst
place to go in an air raid is the ordinary basement
of the average city building.
People in basements, although protected from
metal fragments, are likely to be injured in other
ways. To make this anomaly clear, we now con-
sider the different kinds of high-explosive bombs
and study their effects. Unfortunately, it is a
little technical.
The Demolition High-Explosive Bomb
It appears that the munition makers regarded
the French Maginot Line as a challenge to their
art and they had to do something about it. There
has been evolved what is, in effect, a land depth
charge, which operates against deep underground
shelters in a way comparable with the better
known depth charge against the submarine.
Although the occupants of concrete tunnels,
35
placed deep underground, are not likely to be
hit with metal fragments, that is not the only
danger.
Experience in Spain and China has shown that
this type of bomb is a very effective weapon
against buildings in cities.
It is provided with a very expensive semi-
armour-piercing nose and fitted with a costly
delayed-action fuse to enable it to get well into
the ground, or into a building, before it explodes.
It is made in various sizes ranging from 100
pounds, up to 4,000 pounds weight. Bombs 5,000
pounds in weight have been mentioned, but it is
unlikely that they would be used against civilians,
as they are too expensive.
If a 500 lb. demolition bomb lands on the roof
of a multi-storeyed building, it will penetrate
successive floors and burst in, or under, the base-
ment. One very competent Australian engineer,
who is an authority on A.R.P., expressed the
opinion that there was no building in Australia
in 1938 which could keep such a bomb from
exploding in the basement.
If such a bomb lands in a street it will bury
itself before exploding and have such a local
earthquake effect that underground water and
sewerage mains are likely to be broken; under-
ground drains filled with debris; telephone and
electric light wires will be severed and gas mains
broken.
36
 As a bomb buries itself in the ground before
exploding, only a small percentage of the metal
fragments, into which the armoured casing is
broken, reach the surface and relatively few
people are injured by flying metal.
The Instantaneous Fragmentation Bomb
This type of bomb will explode instantly above
ground as soon as it hits something. It has a
sensitive percussion fuse. Contact with an over-
head wire or a garden bush is enough to explode
it. The whole metal casing is broken up into
thousands of small fragments of varying shapes,
sizes and weights—a common weight being about
an ounce. Whilst the fragments are hurled about
in all directions, it seems that, if such a bomb
lands in a street, the lower portion of buildings
receive a greater quantity than the upper storeys.
Further, so far as high storeys are concerned, the
angle of impact is so altered that the fragments
may bounce off, just as a boy can make a stone
skip off water.
This type of bomb is designed primarily to
injure people with jagged metal rather than to
damage property and is made in various sizes
ranging from 20 lbs. upwards.
The fragments are driven out at a speed faster
than that of sound. Sound travels at 1,100 feet
a second. It follows that no good purpose is
served in running when an explosion is heard,
37
because the fragments will have gone past before
the noise gives warning. Therefore:
Don’t run, when you hear a bomb explode.
The Blast Bomb
Although all high explosive bombs have some
blast effect, one type has been specially designed
to exploit this property. lit is intended to give
people shell shock; to injure them with air
pressure rather than to wound with metal frag-
ments. Further, it sets up such an air pressure
and subsequent suction that outside brick walls
may tumble down and glass windows be blown in
or sucked out.
Special and General Purpose Bombs
There are special bombs made for specific
naval and military purposes which are no concern
of ours. The general purpose bomb, as the name
implies, combines in one unit, in a less severe form,
the properties of the three types of bombs
described.
What Happens when a High-Explosive Bomb
Explodes
We will take a 500 lb. demolition bomb filled
with tri-nitro-toluene (T.N.T.) as an example.
The size and the explosive are standard; there
are bigger sizes and more powerful explosives.
‘Upon explosion 1-~lb. (1 pint) of T.N.T.
becomes 18,000 pints of white-hot gas . and
. . .

38
pressures up to 150 tons per sq. in. may be
generated in a high explosive armour-piercing
bomb.’ (Civil Defence, by C. W. Glover, p. 24.)
‘Immediately fragmentation occurs, the hot
compressed gases are suddenly released and force
their way past the fragments with a velocity of
the order of 7,000 feet a second.’ (A.R.P. Hand-
book, No. 5, p. 4.)
‘The number of fragments ranges between
2,000 and 6,000 for all sizes of bomb from 25 lb.,
and the average size of the fragments tends to
increase with the size of the bomb.’ (ibid. p. 21.)
‘For all practical purposes, it may be taken
that the fragments are projected at all angles
from the horizontal up to 60°.’(p. 21.)
The fragments might miss human beings, but,
within range, there is no escaping the air-pressure
and human bodies cannot stand such a pressure
or wind speed. A hurricane, with a speed of 70
miles an hour, causes discomfort, but the explosion
sets up a local breeze of the order of 4,700 miles
per hour.
Effects of Explosions
Ornamental projections from buildings may be
shorn off clean, brick chimneys may be disinteg-
rated and individual bricks hurled about. Owing
to what is termed the ‘suction’ effect, which
follows the wave of air driven out by the force
of the explosion (as a trough follows a wave in
3g
the ocean), walls usually fall outwards and pile
the streets with debris. Brick walls are more
resistant than was first supposed, and it appears
in 1939 that a standard size bomb has to land
within 50 ft. of a brick wall to bring it down.
A whole building is not necessarily wrecked.
As a rule, it is the more exposed outer wall that
tumbles and drags the floors of the rooms
adjoin~ing it. The time within which events
happen is such a split fraction of a second that, by
the time the damage has been done to the outer
wall, the main destructive force has passed on and
the inner walls are not so seriously damaged.
Therefore, seek refuge in inner rooms or
passages.
Glass
As the air pressure proceeds outwards, it loses
its destructive power and it is unusual for windows
to be sucked out at distance greater than a quarter
of a mile from the place where the heavy bomb
exploded. It cannot be said that every pane of
glass within, say, 100 yards, will be broken.
There are freakish effects of blast.
Glass that is subjected to a direct onslaught by
the wave of air set in motion by the forte of
the explosion, shatters and falls inwards; then
there is an intermediate area, where 50 per cent.
of the windows fall in and 50 per cent. out, and,
40
in the outer areas, glass almost invariably falls
out into the street. Therefore, keep off the streets.
As the citizen will not know where the bomb
will land or which way glass will fall, it is a safe
rule to keep well away from glass, including, of
course, the pavement glass that is used to light
basements.
Earth Tremors
The demolition bomb, in exploding after it has
buried itself deep in the ground, imparts to the
surrounding earth impulses, similar to those which
the fragmentation and blast bombs give to the
surrounding air, but, as the earth acts as ‘tamping,’
they are greater in intensity. The distances which
such impulses will travel with destructive power
depends on the nature of the soil. The occupants
of deep tunnels and basements get the full effect
of them, but persons on the higher floors are not
injured by them. The phenomenon of trans-
mitted shock through earth is rather too technical
for a fuller discussion in a book for the public.
Probably enough has been said to increase con-
fidence in the protection afforded by the middle
floors of city buildings.
High-Explosive Bombs in Suburbs and Country
Towns
The blast from the high explosive bomb will
follow the line of the least resistance and,
accordingly, in residential suburbs, where the
41
houses may have substantial frontages and the
buildings are not joined together, the bombs have
less destructive effect on property than they do
in cities. The spaces between the houses act as
safety vents.
The French now design their explosive factories
with three strong walls, which carry the roof, and
one weak wall. If there is an explosion inside
the factory, the weak wall blows out, but neither
the roof nor the other three walls come down.
The demolition high-explosive bomb is so
expensh~ethat there are few targets in residential
suburbs that are worth the expense. In France,
it costs about 300 times as much as the cheaper
gas bombs of the same weight.
The suburbs of Melbourne, for example, cover
such a huge area that the author thinks that ten
‘planes fully loaded with all types of high-explo-
sive bombs would have to make daily visits for
over a year to make half the suburban houses
uninhabitable. Too many bombs would merely
dig our gardens for us.

42
 CHAPTER V
Safer Places in Cities from High-explosive Bombs
It is assumed that five minutes warning of an
air raid is given. That would not give the people
time to leave the city, but it is enough to enable
people to take cover in the relatively safer places.
To find out what are the safer places, it is necessary
to state briefly what each type of bomb will do.
The author will take the responsibility of telling
people to use middle floors and inner rooms, but,
as his opinion is not shared by others, it is better
for the readers to understand what they are doing.
Middle Floors
If a percussion fragmentation bomb lands on
the roof, it may blow the roof and top storey
away; if it lands on the ground, it will pepper
the lower floors with metal fragments. A general
purpose bomb, landing on the roof, may blow it
and two storeys away, likewise, if it lands on the
ground, it will pepper the lower floors and it may
be strong enough to blow in the walls of the
basement. If a demolition bomb lands on the
roof it may pass through successive floors and
burst in the basement, killing the people there and
not hurting those in the upper floors. If it falls
in the street it will probably blow in the walls
43
of the basement, burst water and sewerage pipes
and flood the basements.
The author feels no doubt that the safer places
are on the middle floors of the multi-storeyed
buildings.
The technicalities of this chapter may, perhaps,
be relieved by recalling several well-known war
incidents. A bomb hit a County School at Poplar,
went through three storeys and exploded on the
ground level. On the ground floor some 42
children were injured or killed and only four on
the upper floors were casualties. Another bomb
hit the printing works where Horatio Bottomley’s
paper, John Bull, was printed. Neighbours had
been induced to leave the security of their own
homes and assemble in the basement of the works.
The entrances were blocked with debris, basement
walls collapsed, the building took fire, the base-
ment filled with water, and people were killed by
shock, fallen debris and drowning.
Middle floors offer better protection against
fire and gas.
Inner Rooms and Passogeways
Metal fragments may penetrate the outer walls
and, in doing so, may expend so much energy that
they are unable to get through the inner wall.
The effect of suction is usually limited to the
outer wall and the floors of the rooms it directly
supports. For suction purposes the walls com-
44
pletely surrounding light wells are regarded as
inner walls.
The safer places are, in the inner rooms or
passages so that at least two walls are between
the occupants and the outside.
Safer Structural Types of Buildings
Architects and structural engineers are prac-
tically unanimous in stating that the steel frame
structure with the concrete ‘curtain’ or ‘panel’
walls gives the best protection. The steel frame
type is better able to withstand the earthquake
effect of transmitted shock through earth. If a
bomb explodes inside such a building, the curtains
or panels form lines of least resistance, easily
blow out, and act like steam safety valves on
boilers. The damage is usually limited to one
or two floors, and the whole building does not
come down. Persons on floors other than those
damaged, may not be injured, although the
building has had a direct hit.
Architects and engineers are also agreed that
it is not wise to select a room under or near a
tower, unless the upper storeys are strong enough
to withstand the impact and weight of the falling
tower. They also agree that, what they term
the csingle cell’ building, offers less security. A
single cell building is one ‘that has no cross walls
to strengthen it. Again, they are agreed that ‘very
big’ rooms that have no cross walls or buttresses
45
and ‘big areas’ of ceilings, which have no vertical
props or supports, are sources of weakness. They
do not, however, agree on the actual dimensions
of ‘very big’ rooms; or what is the safe limit
of a roof span. No doubt the safety margin varies
from building to building, according to type and
materials employed, and the age ~f the building.
It is the duty of the sector warden to know
the structure of all the buildings in his sector
and he would be wise to cultivate friendship with
architects and structural engineers.
Essential Requirements of Basements
So few basements in Australian cities conform
to the safety requirements that the author will
take the responsibility of stating that their use in
air raids should be exceptional rather than usual.
Essential requirements are:
(1) An emergency ‘crawl away’ coming to the
surface at a distance from the building equal to
half its height, so that it will not be covered and
blocked with debris. Normal entrances may be
covered over with debris. In Barcelona, before
the pro-basement policy was reversed, it had taken
gangs of men, working 24 hours a day, as long
as six days to release victims entombed in base-
ments. Later, people were positively forbidden
to seek refuge in basements.
(2) There should be no pavement lights,
forming part of the ceiling of the ‘basement.
46
 (3) There should be no heavy machinery above
the basement. In general, the ceiling should be
able to carry an ‘additional’ load of 400 lbs. per
superficial foot.
(4) The ceiling should be so made that it will
not ‘scab’; i.e., flakes be catapulted off the under-
neath side by a blow on top.
(5) Any water, sewerage, drainage or gas pipes
that lead through the basement must be diverted.
The basement should not be located near any
water or sewerage mains, or underground drains,
lest they be broken and the water seep into the
basement. Likewise, there should be no big tanks
for sprinkler leakage purposes exposed on the
roof, lest they be damaged and the water flood
the basement.
‘

(6) The basement is subdivided by strong part)’

walls reaching to the ceiling so that there are no
big spans of the outside walls or ceiling.
(7) If there is a boiler in the basement, no
part near it should be used for sheltering persons,,
as it heats the air too quickly.
In the chapters on gas other qualifications 01:
basements are stated.
In some Australian cities it will be found than
there is more accommodation in the inner rooms
of middle floors than there is in the basements.
In some buildings, as three floors can be used, the
basement area is at least multiplied by three.
47
Further, the number of buildings that have inner
rooms is far in excess of those that have basements.
The advocacy of basements is likely to have the
consequence that the streets will be thronged with
people looking for ‘better ‘oles’ when the raid
starts. All authorities are agreed that the people
must be kept off the streets.
Do not let us outrival Calcutta in the shame
of its ‘Black Hole.’
Evacuation
In some cities thereare small slum areas wherein
the buildings are of flimsy construction. In such
areas the buildings are usually placed so close
together that there is not room to provide the
trench-shelters described in Chapter XII. As
there are no worth-while safer places in such,
areas, the only defence for the occupants is
evacuation under official supervision.

48
 SECTION IV
WARFARE GASES

CHAPTER VI
(Nolc.—We are very fortunate in having a wonderful
body of public-spirited pharmaceutical chemists ready to
assist us. They are well organized and their own monthly
journal has kept the members well-informed about all the
latest developments in gas warfare.)
The Word ‘Gas’
The first difficulty the beginner encounters is
that the word ‘gas’ is used to cover a great variety
of chemicals in liquid and solid form. To dis-.
tinguish gas from fire bombs and high explosives,
the word is used to describe any chemical that is
employed to exploit its poisonous or irritant
effects on human beings, irrespective of whether
it has the form of dust, smoke, smut, mist, spray,
fumes, vapours or of true gases.
We are all familiar with ice, water and steam
and, if it be remembered that steam is a gas, the
first difficulty disappears; the one substance can
exist in a great variety of forms.
Persistent and Non-persistent Gases
For convenience of study and the organization~
of defence, gases are divided into two main
groups called persistent and non-persistent. The
49
terms refer to the length of time gases will,
continue to be dangerous in the area in which
they were released. It is unnecessary to ‘decon-
taminate’ an area affected by a non-persistent gas,
because by the time the decontamination squads
arrived, the gas would have gone away of its own
accord. Thus, in ordinary Australian tempera-
tures, the non-persistent gas phosgene would have
cleared away from the area bombed in about ten
minutes. It does, however, form vapour pockets
in shelled places which last longer.
The task of the decontamination squad is to
shorten the length of time that persistent gases
will continue to be dangerous, from weeks and
days to hours and minutes.
LUNG, TEAR, PARALYSANT, BLISTER AND
NOSE OR NERVE GASES
For convenience of study and to assist the
medical arrangements, gases are also grouped
according to the part of the body they most
obviously attack. If the right treatment be
quickly applied, the gas will not have time to
do so much damage. It must be the right treat-
ment for the particular group; thus, persons who
have inhaled nerve gases, need stimulants; but’,
if stimulants be given to lung gas cases, the
injuries would be increased.
It is necessary to know something about a gas
in each representative group because the whole
50
art of gas warfare is to exploit ignorance.
If an
enemy finds that people in a particular locality
know nothing about one group, he may use
gases in that group. Most authorities agree, how-
ever, that the blister group is likely to be
employed more extensively than the others.
Lung Gases
Chlorine
The first gas used successfully on a large scale
in the Great War was chlorine. In the first attack
against the French, it caused 4,900 deaths and
some 15,000 casualties; in the second attack, the
deaths were 389 and, in later attacks, there were
no deaths and chlorine became obsolete. It wa~
no good against people who understood it. You
can always see it, it has a greenish yellow colour;
you can always smell it; it smells like chloride
of lime. It hurts you immediately and each
breath causes pain. If you have a respirator or
gas resisting roo’m, you won’t wait for instructions,
you will promptly use the protection they give.
Phosgene
Phosgene caused more deaths than all the other
gases used in the war, and is likely to be employed
~igain, because of its insidious properties. If it
be very strong, it will give warning by hurting
the nose and throat; but it is more selective than
chlorine and the lungs are more vulnerable than
the upper breathing passages.
51
 It smells like damp straw, horse stables, or
mouldy hay.
In every attack there are areas, remote from
the place where it was liberated, where it will be
so diluted down by admixture with the air that
it will not hurt the nose or throat. With each
breath some is taken into the lungs and all ‘of it
is not breathed out again, and it goes on adding
up in the lungs. Little by little, hour by hour,
water is painlessly abstracted from the blood
coming to be aerated; the lungs fill with water.
Old Dame Nature, not expecting this form of
attack, has provided no nerve endi~~gs to communi-
cate the danger by the sense of pain. If the
lungs be half-filled with water and the person
does violent exercises, he may drop dead through
heart failure.
It was the lack of understanding of this delayed
action—or delayed awareness of a destructive
action that was continuous and progressive—that
caused so many deaths in the early days of gas
warfare. As soon as we found it out, the death-
rate dropped.
Readers! if you will learn these lessons, the
men who were gassed in the Great War did not
suffer in vain.
The first lesson is that, if you can smell the
stuff at all, you must regard that as a warning that
it is present in dangerous strength. Go into the
refuge room and stay there until the smell goes
52
away from outside it. You can move the gas-
proof curtain and sniff gently.
If, by any mischance, you do breathe in an
appreciable quantity of phosgene, you are a
stretcher case, although you may feel quite well.
It is not safe to walk to hospital with only half
your lungs functioning.
Phosgene is classed as an ‘invisible’ gas; the
respirator and gas-resisting refuge room give
complete protection.
Tear Gases
There are many kinds of tear gases, but they
have one common feature, they immediately
attack the eye and set up spasms and produce
such a flow of tears that it is impossible to read
or do anything else that requires clear and con-
stant vision. They cause a sharp stinging pain,
like that produced by cutting juicy onions in an
enclosed space. They have no permanent effect
on the eyes, which usually recover in a few
minutes, provided that the clothes have not
become contaminated and re-infect the eyes.
Dual-purpose Tear Gases—Chloropic~in
An emphatic warning must be given that an
enemy is unlikely to use simple tear gases when
he has gases which affect the eyes and other parts
of the body as well. Such a gas is chioropicrin,
and it is noteworthy for more insidious properties,
53
 If a person be slow in putting on a respirator
and inhales a little, it will attack the saliva. If
the saliva is swallowed, vomiting will start shortly
afterwards and the respirator may be difilcult to
keep on. It was known to soldiers as ‘vomiting
gas.’
The gas is semi-persistent and will last for
some hours, and this semi-persistency introduces
another danger. The gas is cumulative. After
the attack is over and the amount available is
diminishing, it is possible to breathe, say, 5(1
breaths without harm, but 500 breaths would
cause injury to the lungs, similar to that of
phosgene. Chloropicrin is nitro-chioroform, and
has the odour of chloroform mixed with aniseed.
Prussic Acid (a Paralysant Gas)
Prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid) gas was used
extensively by the French as an auxiliary gas.
Although it was not very successful, it has an
educational value in drawing attention to insidious
properties which may be more successfully
exploited with other chemicals.
In the early days of gas warfare, great reliance
was placed on the power of trained noses to detect
the presence of gas and to measure its strength.
We were taught that prussic acid would paralyse
the sense of smell. The plan was to begin an
attack with prussic acid and then, when the nose
was no longer reliable, to use phosgene and other
54
gases which, in theory, could not then be detected
by smell. On paper it was a good scheme, but
it did not work well. The nose first registered
a strong smell of bitter almonds and that gave
warning that the nose was no longer reliable; in
a few minutes the gas had dispersed. Like carbon
monoxide, it is not strong enough for use in the
open air under warfare conditions.
If it be strong enough, it will kill within two
minutes, but, unlike chloropicrin, phosgene and
some other gases, it has little power of accumu-
lating. In lay language, the human body can
cope with non-lethal doses almost indefinitely. It
produces death or no injury.
Mustard Gas (Blister)
The most notorious gas used in the war was
called by British troops ‘mustard,’ because its
odour, in the impure state, resembles that of the
table condiment, ‘mustard’; the French call it
‘Yperite,’ as it was first used by the Germans on
the Ypres front. It is not chemically related to
table mustard and its proper name is di-chlorethyl-
sulphide. Chlorine and sulphur are well-known
substances, and ‘ethyl’ has been made familiar to
the public by the art of the advertisers.
It is employed in its liquid form and the liquid
is more dangerous in limited areas than the
vapour is over wider areas. The danger persists
until all the liquid has been evaporated or has
55
been specially treated to reduce its mischief-
making power. The liquid requires a temperature
of over 400 degrees Fahrenheit to boil it and
evaporation, or conversion into gas, is very slow.
The special treatment of objects is called
‘decontamination’ and the word ‘cleansing’ is now
used to describe the process of treating human
beings.
Mustard has a very high nuisance value in the
sense that it puts the defenders to infinite bother
to carry out adequate precautions. There is
nothing difficult to understand in the subject, but
there is so much detailed information available
that it is not easy to digest; much has to be left
to the common sense of the individual.
Effect on Human Beings
Mustard has the ‘delayed action’ and, if the
proper treatment be applied in time, no external
injury will be caused. It cannot be too strongly
emphasised that its action is quite different from
that of a bullet or metal fragment or a high
explosive bomb. If people get splashed with
liquid or walk through vapour and take the
proper first aid treatment, no external injury will
be caused. The persons concerned are merely
put to the bother of changing their clothes and
having a bath; that is no hardship for any
Australian.
56
 Mustard is almost universal in its action; it
readily attacks the skin, particularly moist parts.
If the skin be not cleansed, then blisters, like acute
cases of sunburn, will develop some hours later~
if it gets in the eyes and they be not treated,
it will cause blindness. It attacks the breathing
passages and the lungs, but it is not so deadly as
phosgene; if affected saliva be swallowed, it will
cause vomiting, similar to that induced by chloro~’
picrin.
Mustard in itself is not a ‘killer’, like phosgene
and chloropicrin; but, if it be allowed to, it wil.E
cause local debility and weaken resistance to what
may be called secondary infection. Thus, if a
blister be allowed to develop, it will later leave
a raw sore, and, if that gets dirty, the victim may
get septic poisoning. If mustard gets into the
lungs, and, if the patient is put in a pneumonia
ward, the patient is liable to get pneumonia.
Patients suffering from mustard must be put in
mustard hospital wards and not mixed with other
patients.
There are a great number of ‘ifs’ about
mustard; the better group of ‘ifs’ is that, if prompt
action be taken and ordinary rules of cleanliness
and care be exercised, mustard gas will not kill
people.
The gas-resisting shelter gives protectjion
against it; the respirator saves the eyes and lungs
57
and gas-resisting clothing can protect the bodies
of those who have public duties to perform.
Effect on Material Objects—Mustard Liquid
The main danger is that material objects act
as storehouses; for the liquid, and, to a lesser
extent, the vapour. In lay language, like the
mosquito, mustard gas has a greater liking for
human beings and will leave storehouses and
settle on people.
The liquid will readily dissolve in tar and
ordinary bitumen and produce a stickiness which
is easily picked up by the shoes. If the shoes are
not decontaminated and if the wearer goes into
a railway carriage or a warm room, the liquid
in the stickiness will turn into gas. A few small
drops of mustard evaporated in an ordinary room
will produce enough gas to injure the occupants.
The liquid is readily absorbed by untreated
building materials, such as wood, brick, stone,
concrete, whence it is, like wet paint, readily
transferrable to human beings. The outstanding
example being where a small quantity was
dropped on concrete near a mustard factory, and
was ‘decontaminated’ by sealing with earth: Two
years later, the seal was removed, workmen sat
down on the concrete to have lunch and rather
wis,hed they hadn’t. The warmth of their bodies
drew the stuff out of the concrete, it passed
through their clothes and blistered them. As you
58
cannot keep children from putting their hands
on objects, they must be evacuatçd out of con-
taminated areas until experts have completed
decontamination.
There are so few materials which will resist
penetration by mustard gas that it is easier to list
them and state that practically every other
material will absorb it and hold it in readiness to
attack human beings.
Mustard will not penetrate glass, crockery,
glazed tiles, or the metals in domestic use that
have smooth surfaces, but it will stick on the
outside of them, until it is removed by human
agency or weathers off by evaporation. Shiny
rubber of close texture and wigan cloth will keep
it out for some hours. It readily stores itself in
ordinary paint, but special enamel paints have
been prepared which will resist penetration.
The liquid contamination is readily detected by
stains, damp spots and the odour of the liquid,
and there arc chemical detectors which will give
a visible reaction on contact with the liquid.
Effect on Material Objects—Mustard Vapour
As a general rule, subject to certain exceptions,
objects that are not inside buildings will not
hold a sufficient quantity of vapour for a long
enough period to constitute an unsuspected danger.
For example, mustard Yapour can pass over Water
without polluting it, outside walls of buildings
59
will hold small quantities of vapour, but’ not
enough to cause injury after the attack is over.
The main problem is the storage of vapour in
clothes, bedding and the like materials, which
normally come into close contact with human
skin for extended periods. If strong mustard
vapour be allowed to enter, say, a draper’s shop
or warehouse, it will contaminate the displayed
goods and the goods can hold enough vapour to
injure the subsequent purchaser.
The simple rule is that, if after a gas attack,
an article has an odour it ought not to have, the
odour is probably gas, and the article ought not
to be sold whilst the odour remains.
Probably enough has been said to suggest that
an extensive organization is required to reduce
the very high nuisance value of mustard.
Lewisite (Blister Gas)
Lewisite takes its name from an American
chemist, who succeeded in making it without
injuring himself. It is chlorvinyldichlorarsine
and owes its notoriety to skilful publicity methods
rather than to any superiority over mustard. It
was not used in the War. A popular name for it
is ‘Dew of Death.’
The arsenical content is a definite advance on
mustard, for, if it be given the chance, it will
poison the system through the skin. This property
is offset by the facts that it is not so persistent or
60
insidious as mustard. It has a strong odour and
readily advertises its presence by a strong smell
similar to that of the common garden plant—the
geranium. It immediately causes a sharp, sting-
ing pain—you are not left in any doubt that it is
present.
It is a ‘fine weather’ gas, because water breaks
it up into relatively harmless substances.
Nose or Nerve Gases
The Germans put these ‘gases’ in some four-
teen million shells and no one was killed by them.
There are many of them, and nearly all are solids
that look like butter or lard. Great and sustained
heat is necessary to make them function properly;
the heat of the high-explosive shell or bomb does
not last long enough. If these solids be em-
ployed, they would be used in conjunction with
fire bombs or by means of special generators.
They function as particles of dust of microsco-
pical size. The minute particles have a terrible
harassing effect on the nerves, which, fortu-
nately, does not last long, being limited to a few
hours, or, in extreme cases, a day or so. In that
period the victims need close watching, as they
suffer from melancholia and even temporary
insanity with suicidal tendencies. The pain from
a heavy dosage is as though the victim had teeth
all over his head and upper breathing passages
and every one was aching.
61
 All of them contain arsenic and some include
prussic acid as well. Almost incredibly small
quantities cause irritation. A story is told that in
England a quantity weighing a pound was stored
in petrol for experimental purposes. A car owner
used the petrol, and the gas escaped through the
exhaust. For a distance of several miles everyone
in the street was seized with paroxyms of sneez-
ing.
(Note.—Carbon monoxide, which also comes
out of the exhaust, is a deadly gas in enclosed
spaces; but, in the open air, thousands of cars
can be belching it out in crowded streets and no
one is harmed. It requires a strength of 1 part
to 5,000 parts of air to do injury; but the nose
gases cause irritation in a dilution of 1 part in
fifty million parts of air.)
Under favourable wind and weather conditions,
a ton weight of these nerve dusts would travel
downwind as far as ten miles and all unprotected
persons in its path would be irritated; if there be
no wind to blow the dust about, they are quite
local in their operation.
Many of them are odourless, but they do
advertise their presence by causing immediately
an itchiness in ‘the nose; persons who feel that
irritation should at once put on a respirator or
enter a gas-resisting shelter.
If there be any substantial delay in putting on
the respirator, then, a few minutes after it is
62
adjusted, the victim may sneeze so violently as to
displace the mask and may believe that the dust
has come through the respirator. The gases have
a delayed action of some minutes’ duration after
the itchiness in the nose is first felt.
The dust particles are visible at the source of
release and afterwards become invisible. Human
nature being what’ it is, it is fairly plain that
persons, who are a few miles away from an area
bombed in any particular raid, would suppose
that they would be unaffected and would relax
precautions.

Notes on Gas Warning System (For Officials)

The nose gases necessitate an elaborate warning
system to ensure, on the one hand, that people in
danger are safeguarded, and, on the other hand,
that the interference with and dislocation of,
industry and social life are limited to actual dan-
ger zones.
Chemists and meteorologists could do invalu-
able work in a gas attack in advising what alarms
should be sounded, provided that a proper system
had been devised in peace-time.
In peace-time the probable paths drifting gases
will follow can be plotted out in many districts
with reasonable accuracy and the warning system
can be arranged to substantially coincide with the’
lines of drift. The sounding devices need to be
63
co-ordinated and arranged radially from cities
or probable naval and military targets.
It cannot be too strongly emphasised that,
unlike all other weapons, the danger of gas is not
limited to the target whereon it falls, but it
extends to wherever the gas will subsequently
drift in harassing strength. The distances may be
measured in miles.
In the absence of adequate warning systems,
hundreds, and in some districts, thousands, of
people could inhale these arsenical dusts. They
would believe themselves to be so seriously
injured that they, or their friends who see them,
will’ surely overload the local hospital and first-
aid resources.
Whilst people are actually suffering from these
arsenical nerve gases, they cannot be relied upon
to act as reasonable beings. It is hard to convince
them that they will be all right next day. No
verbal philosophy will cure toothache.

64
 CHAPTER VII
METHODS OF USING GAS
(For Instructors)
Gas Bombs and Shells
Gas bombs are made in various sizes, the so-lb.
and 100-lb. being more or less standard all-inclu-
sive weights. As the bomb does not have to
withstand the shock of discharge through a gun
barrel, the metal part of the bomb is quite thin
and a gas bomb will contain about five times as
much gas, in liquid form, as a ‘shell of the same
weight. As a general rule, the bomb will contain
just enough explosive to ensure that the metal
casing is broken sufficiently to release the gas.
Usually there is not much fragmentation or noise,
indeed, a gas bomb may be mistaken for a dud
by persons inside buildings.
Generators
Generators are devices for applying sustained
heat to the gases in solid form; there is some
doubt whether aeroplanes can drop them from
great heights without the heating arrangements
being disturbed by the shock of the fall. Para-
chutes have been suggested as a means of resolv-
ing the doubt. Gas is visible as it emerges from
generators.
65
Gas Spray
Mustard gas in liquid form sprayed from low-
flying aeroplanes from tanks temporarily attached’
to the planes was the decisive tactical factor in the
Abyssinian War. If the planes be permitted to
fly low, this is undoubtedly the most economical
method of using gas. In the Australasian Journal
of J’Iiarrnacy of March, 1936, I discounted the
efficiency of spray from high—flying aircraft and,
since then, the two leaders of the British Gas
Services, under whom I had the honour to serve,
Major-General Foulkes and Major-General
Thuillier, and also the world authority, Colonel
Prentiss, have had no doubt in stating that the
best conditions are from planes flying from 50 to
150 feet, with a 300 feet high limit. Professor
Kendall, who is a physicist, devotes a chapter to
the subject in his book, Breathe Freely, and his
conclusion is that, from high altitudes, very little
gas would reach the ground. Spray from aircraft
flying above machine-gun range is not likely to be
a major problem in Australia, and as so little
would be deposited in any hundred square yards,
decontamination would be unnecessary.
Just in case an aeroplane does use spray, it is
advisable for ladies to wear broad-rimmed hats
in war-time.
Enemy aeroplanes, when hotly pursued by our
own planes, may release gas from any height to
66’
lighten their loads, and, although perhaps only
5 per cent. of the quantity released may reach
the ground, precautions should not be relaxed too
early. Spray from high-flying aircraft may take
an hour to reach the ground.
Balloonettes
Experiments were made with gas-filled bal-
loonettes released from aeroplanes in the Great
War and their use has been reported in Poland.
They would not be used on a big scale and they
are a form of frightfulness to take a mean advan-
tage of the natural curiosity of children. In
Poland, according to the newspaper report, they
were filled with yperite, i.e., mustard gas.
One camenear me in France, and, to be on the
safe side, a number of us perforated it with rifle
fire and released the gas in the upper strata of
air, where it would do no harm. Souvenir-
hunters were warned not to touch it, lest it contain
disease germs. The particular one was about
half the width of an umbrella.
Gas Cylinders
and spray from enemy tanks are not likely to
concern Australian citizens.

67
 CHAPTER VIII
DECONTAMI NATION
It is advisable that prompt decisions be made
as to what areas should be decontaminated,
because, the longer the liquid is left on the objects,
the more will be absorbed and, for practical pur-
poses, decontamination is limited to treatment of
surfaces.
Roads and Buildings: Methods
1. The gas chlorine will break down mustard,
but, in itself, is a dangerous lung gas and a power-
ful bleaching agent. Generally it is safer to use
the chlorine in chloride of lime, but even if that
‘bleach’ be applied directly to mustard liquid, it
will form an explosive mixture and may start
fires. Mix the chloride of lime with sand, fine,
dry earth, or ashes.
2. The bulk of the liquid may be got rid of
by hosing with water. Start with a gentle pres-
sure, to avoid splashing; increase the pressure
and continue until all the mustard liquid avail-
able is moved. Stiff brooms are of assistance.
Water merely acts as a transport agent for mus-
tard, moving the stuff from one place, where it
will do harm, to other places by means of under-
ground drains. Water breaks up lewisite.
3. Every liquid or solid can be sealed down
with a layer of sand or ashes some three inches
68’
thick. Different thicknesses apply to earth, for,
if the earth be cloddy, six inches may be neces-
sary. Don’t use clinkers, as they are too porous.
4. Vertical walls can be hosed with water,
scrubbed with yard brooms, and then paste, con-
sisting of 4 lbs. of bleach to a gallon of water,
can be applied to brick, stone or marble walls with
good results.
5. Weathering is the process of leaving the
stuff alone until it goes away by evaporation of
its own accord.
6. Mustard has a great affinity for petrol and
kerosene and swabs soaked in these liquids may
be applied to delicate machinery which might be
corroded by chloride of lime.
7. The above methods are mere palliatives
and depend for their efficacy on promptness, skill
and care, but there is one method that is abso-
luately certain and that is to burn the contami-
nated material in a quick fire in an open field.
The fire does not destroy mustard.
As it takes six fully-trained and equipped men
some two hours to decontaminate a roadway and
building splashed by one so-lb. bomb, and two
men three hours to decontaminate the outside of
a motor ‘bus, it will be appreciated what a high
nuisance value mustard gas has and what an army
of trained persons would be required to cope with
~ small attack in which only a few tons’wer’e used.
69
The persons doing the work must wear respirators
and gas-resisting clothes.
It is fairly plain that decontamination of roads
and buildings would be limited to important
centres; if mustard be used in any substantial
quantities in residential areas, the area contami-
nated will have to be quarantined and the resi-
dents evacuated.
Decontamination of Clothes (For Householders)
The liquid is the main danger, but if persons
walk through vapour their clothes will act as
retaining agents of mustard; the clothes will
arrest the vapour, just as a filter stone holds the
mud of mud-laden water.
There are various palliative methods.
Visible spots of mustard can be removed, by
swabs soaked in petrol or kerosene, just as grease
spots are taken out.
Clothes, which will stand boiling, can be
immersed in boiling water for some hours, accord-
ing to the severity ,of the contamination and the
nature of the fabric., It must be remembered that
it is the temperature and agitation of the liquid
water that is being used ,to evaporate another
liquid, which requires a temperature twice that
of water to boil it, and this process of evaporating
it is necessarily slow. ,

Steam disinfectors, which permit of greater

heats being attained, are used in Europe, with
70
 quicker results, but great care has to be taken with
the escape flues, because steam does not com-
pletely destroy the mischief-making power of
mustard. Where laundry drying rooms are situ-
ated in populated areas, care must be taken not
to put too many clothes in at once, lest people
downwind from the laundry be gassed.
For most people, the simplest method is to
hang the contaminated clothes out on a clothes
line and leave them for days or even a week.
Leather boots speedily absorb mustard liquid.
Some of it can be removed by the agency of petrol
or kerosene; but leather must not be boiled;
‘boots also can be hung on the clothes line.
There is not much difficulty with lewisite con-
tamination. Total immersion in water breaks the
chemical up into relatively harmless substances,
except that the water will contain arsenic and
must not be used for other purposes.

71
 CHAPTER IX
DETECTION OF GAS
The fundamental principles of gas detection
can be eked out of the experiences of the troops in
the first large-scale gas attack back in 1915. Since
then, there have been refinements in the applica-
tion of the principles, and a natural growth, keep-
ing pace with the improvements in the methods
of distribution of more effective gases, but no
revolutionary changes.
In that first attack the soldiers heard a hissing
SOUND; they SIGHTED a cloud arising from
the German trenches; presently they SMELT a
strange odour; they SUFFERED an irritation
and dyed clothes changed colour.
The presence of gas is detected by the senses
associated with SOUND, SIGHT, SMELL,
SUFFERING of irritation and by CHEMICAL
DETECTORS in which dyes play an important
part.
Sound.—In the ordinary gas bomb, there is just
sufficient chemical to open up the metal casing
to release the gas; the great mass of explosive is
replaced by the gas stored in liquid form. The
gas bomb or shell makes a distinctive popping
sound. If an aeroplane can be heard flying so
low, as to be within revolver range, it may be
spraying gas.
72
 Sigbt.—Even the so-called ‘invisible’ gases can
be seen by trained persons at the point of release
from the bombs, shells, and generators. The
concentration is so great that they are thick
enough to be seen as vapourish-steamy clouds for
a few seconds. It is when they are well diluted
down by admixture with the air that they are
invisible.
Further, as so little explosive is employed, the
ordinary gas bomb does not make a big crater,
hurl much debris about, or have much blast effect.
It might easily be mistaken for a dud.
Smell.—Most of the gases used in the war had
distinctive odours, and the odourless ones caused
a slight irritation to the nose. If, after an air
raid, an unusual smell, or an odour foreign to
the particular locality is noticed, it should be
regarded as a warning that gas may be present.
Suffering of irritation. Gases, in drifting, send
out advance eddies, the eddies would not contain
enough gas to cause injury, hut they should give
warning that more gas is to follow.
Chemical Detectors—Mustard
A yellow paint has been devised, which will
turn red on contact with mustard gas in liquid
form, but it acts only in one way. It does not
change colour back again when the gas has gone
away and it is not sensitive enough for vapour.
The paint is employed in two main ways—on
73
sheets, which may be spread out to pick up drops
of aeroplane spray, and, by painted paper or
fabric, which may be put on the end of bayonets,
bamboo or other sticks, to determine the limits of
an area splashed by a mustard bomb.
Chemical Detectors—Phosgene
A test paper has been devised for phosgene,
which will not only disclose its presence, but
indicate its strength. It is a specially treated
white paper, which, on exposure to phosgene,
changes colour, through various shades of
yellow to orange, according to the strength of
the gas present. It is so sensitive that it will be
affected by dilutions of gas that would cause no
injury to human beings.
The papers must be stored in air-tight con-
tainers and not exposed to the light.
Litmus Papers
Litmus paper in two colours, red and blue, is
stocked by all chemists and is very cheap. In case
of doubt, some limited use could be made of it.
Some warfare gases are acids and some are
alkalies. The blue litmus turns red on contact
with an acid and the red litmus turns blue when
exposed to an alkali.
On exposure to ordinary air, there is no notices
able change in either colour; if, after a raid, any
litmus paper changes colour, the change is an
indication that something foreign is present.
74
 THE EFFECT OF GAS ON FOOD AND WATER
Food, kept in unopened tins and in bottles with
proper stoppers, is quite safe to eat.
Gas in Liquid Form
A definite distinction has now to be made
between food actually affected by gas in liquid
form and food possibly affected by vapour. Any
food that is splashed with any liquid gas must be
condemned; likewise, if the wrapping or covet
of any food is splashed and the liquid has pene-
trated the cover, the food must be condemned.
The splashing is restricted to an area of variable
sizes, according to the size of the bomb and wind
direction; the area may be ten yards long or even
a hundred yards long.
Gas in Vapour Form
Unprotected food that is subjected to direct
onslaught by strong vapour may have to be con-
demned. Protection against vapour is compara-
tively simple. If a~cupboard has well-fitting
doors and no fly wire, the food inside will not be
affected. The fit of the doors can be improved
by closing the doors on newspaper to fill the
crevices. Likewise, food stored in unopened
packets is safe to eat; for the manufacturer ha~
seen to it that the air is excluded.
Eat no exposed food, is a safe rule.
75
 CHAPTER X
PERSONAL PROTECTION AGAINST GAS
Respirators
Immediately after the first gas attack, Lord
Kitchener appealed to the women of England to
assist in making respirators, by voluntary effort,
to save the men in France. The women made a
magnificent response, and, within a week, nearly
a million of what were called the ‘Black Veil
Respirators’ were made and delivered.
The day of the home-made respirator has gone.
So many photographs of respirators have been
published in the daily press that there is no need
to describe what is shown by the photographs; but
the whole efficacy of the respirator depends upon
what is put out of sight in the metal container. A
few reassuring notes may be helpful.
An immense amount of research work has been
done in the last twenty-four years, and we can
now confidently affirm that a modern respirator,
bearing the Government certification mark, will
give complete protection to the eyes and lungs
against any gas that could be used on a large scale
in warfare, provided that the wearer behaves
reasonably.
Research work has shown that what is termed
‘activated charcoal’ has the remarkable property
of adsorbing any gas which weighs at least twice
76
 the weight of air. In other words,’ the life of the
charcoal is not shortened by the gases of the
atmosphere. Charcoal will not protect against
carbon monoxide, which comes out of the exhaust
of motor cars; but the mere fact that thousands of
cars are emitting it every day in crowded streets
shows that it is not suitable as a warfare gas. It
will not protect against ammonia. Both ammonia
and carbon monoxide are lightweight gases, about
the same weight as air. Modern warfare gases
are from five to ten times as heavy as air.
Charcoal is no good against the fine particles
of the nose or nerve dusts and it will not effec-
tively keep out the smoke particles of cigarette
tobacco. The modern respirator container, there-
fore, in addition to the charcoal, is provided with
a special filtering material to keep out poisonous
smokes and microscopical dust particles.
From press announcements it appears that res-
pirators are being made in Australia. The author
has subjected Australian-made iespirators to
severe tests and they are a first-class job, infinitely
better and more comfortable than anything we
had in France.
The wearer must be able to adjust the res-
pirator correctly within the time the breath can be
held, and that is not difficult. Before giving a
lecture in Hobart, the author allowed some school
boys to handle the respirator and, boy-like, they
put it on. Although they had never seen one
77
before and had no drill instruction, each boy got
it adjusted correctly well within the time he could
hold his breath.
The respirator is designed for normal quiet
breathing and it is not advisable to sprint or do
violent exercise that accelerates the breathing
more than four times as fast as normal, because, in
that event, a minute quantity may come through.
The quantity would not be enough to cause
injury, but it might be enough to undermine con-
fidence.
People often ask how long will the respirator
last. It seems a fair question and they are quite
surprised when I have to hedge in answering it.
I first counter with the question—how long will
it take to fill the bath with water if you are not
told whether the tap is giving an occasional drip,
dripping constantly, is turned, say, a tenth on,
half on, or full on; how can you answer the
question? The charcoal pores function until they
are filled up. In France, I used one respirator
for putting troops through tear gas chambers and
kept substantially accurate records; at the end of
30 hours some gas came slowly through. It is
claimed that the modern service respirator has
a longer life.
Fashons in Gas-resisting Clothes
The designs vary from the elegant apron for
the petite undresser at the decontamination centre
78’
to the clumsy-looking oilskins that men have to
wear in decontaminating roads. There are inter-
mediate garments with long trousers and jackets,
which, whilst not exactly tailor-made, do not
entirely conceal the beauty of the female form.
There are fashions in wearing the garments.
If spray is likely to be used, or if it is raining, the
upper garments are put over the lower, like the
boards in a weatherboard house. When the raid
is over and the weather is fine, the danger is from
gas rising from the evaporating liquid on the
ground. Accordingly, the lower garment is
placed over the upper; that is, the jacket is tucked
into the trousers.
Protection of Babies and Young Children
In England and in European countries gas-
proof prams have been made for babies and seem
to work effectively; there are various types of gas-
proof bags into which the baby can be put with
perfect safety and apparently with a reasonable
degree of comfort. Each type combines the role
of the respirator and gas-resisting clothes and
gives complete protection.
The author has not seen them on the Australian
market. If a gas attack were made in Australia,
the mothei-s would have to take their babies into
the refuge room, which, as is shown in Chapter
XII, can be made gas-resisting.
79
 SECTION V
FIRST AID

CHAPTER XI
HOUSEHOLDERS’ FIRST AID RULES FOR BURNS,
SHOCK AND GAS
Burns
1. Keep the air away fi-om the burn; the affected
part can be immersed in water of body tem-
perature until a dressing is ready.
2. Apply dressing, consisting of bandage or clean
linen soaked in strong tea of about body tem-
perature; another dressing consists of two
teaspoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda to a pint
of sterile water.
3. Carefully remove clothing from injured parts.
But if clothing sticks, cut it round the edges
of the burn.
4. If blisters develop, do not break them.
5. If the burns be serious, seek aid from qualified
persons.
Clothing on Fire
If your own clothes catch fire, keep your mouth
closed, lie down, roll over and smother the fire.
If you see a person standing up with his
clothing oil fire, promptly put him on the ground,
roll him over, cover him with a blanket’ or your
own coat.
SQ
Shock
1. Keep the head well down.
2. Loosen the clothing at neck.
3. Place ammonia bottle (household strength)
under nostrils.
4. Keep the patient warm, with blankets.
5. If the shock be severe, send for qualified
persons.
Gas—First Aid
Note.—As the enemy may use different kinds
of gas in the one attack, which require different
treatment, and as preliminary diagnosis of
delayed-action gases is so difficult, the author feels
that, for the householder, the rules should be as
simple, safe and elementary as possible.
Lung Gases
Do not allow patient to walk or exert himself.
Loosen clothing to make breathing easier.
Keep the patient warm, still and quiet.
Don’t let him or her smoke.
Be soothing and reassuring.
Give light liquid diet.
The doctor may order oxygen.
Tear Gases
Bathe the eyes in warm water to which is added
a teaspoonful of salt to the pint (Saline solution).
As simple tear gases are unlikely to be used by
81
the enemy, treat patient as a potential sufferer
from delayed-action lung gas.
Nose Gases
Gargle with warm water and bicarbonate of
soda; it does not mattçr if the patient swallows
some.
Keep the patient’s mind occupied.
Be cheerful, kind and firm.
The doctor may order stimulants.
Blister Gases
Use the verandah, porch or outside shed as
undressing room.
Remove all the clothing as soon as possible.
If liquid drops or stains be visible on hands or
face, remove them at once by carefully applying,
with dabbing action—not rubbing, pads soaked in
petrol or’ kerosene.
If bleach ointment be ready prepared, use it
in preference to kerosene or petrol as it destroys
mustard.
(Notc.—Bleach ointment is made by mixing together
equal weights of chloride of lime and white vaseline. The
yellow vaseline must not be used. Don’t use an old
mixture, as it rapidly deteriorates.)
Bleach ointment should not be allowed to
remain on the skin for longer than a minute; it is
itself a skin irritant.
Give patient a hot shower bath,
82’
 Treat liquid drops or splashes first; the warmth
of the body will be causing some vaporization
which may be inhaled or may affect the eyes.
For vapour contamination, give first preference
to the eyes.
Petrol, kerosene or bleach ointment must not
be used in the eyes.
The method the author prefers for house-
holders is the large basin filled with a warm saline
solution. The patient inserts his face in the water
and opens his eyes under the water and moves
them about; change the water and repeat at fre-
quent intervals.
To ensure that children really do move their
eyes about under the water, a basin decorated
with pictures of animals, etc., can be used; in
default of such a basin, sterile objects can be
placed in different parts of the basin and a game
be played with the child.

83
 SECTION VI
SHELTERS, IMPROVISED REFUGE ROOMS,
TRENCHES
CHAPTER XII
Shelters
The subject of shelters has captivated, the
minds of architects and structural engineers.
England has had brilliant men at work for a few
years and, such an immense amount of scientific
research work has been done that it is not safe
to place complete reliance on any British book that
bears a date earlier than 1939.
In Australia we have to face the fact that the
cost of providing thousands of people with abso-
lute bomb-proof protection is prohibitive. It is
submitted that the limited money available can
be better expended on giving tens of thousands
of people bomb-resisting protection.
To have absolute protection against the standard
size 500-lb. demolition bomb, provided with the
delayed-action fuse and the semi-armour-piercing
nose, an overhead cover of 1 5 feet of specially
reinforced concrete is necessary, and, as the bomb
would not fall vertically, the side walls have to
be thick and very strong foundations are essential.
Provision has to be made for mitigating shock
transmitted through earth. As gas may be used,
special filtration plants, capable of supplying each
84
occupant with a minimum of 150 cubic feet of
cool, purified air per hour, must be installed.
As an alternative, tunnels with 60 to 80 feet
of head cover may be excavated and similarly
protected against transmitted shock and gas.
Such thicknesses of earth or concrete would not
give absolute protection against the 2,000-lb.
demolition high-explosive bomb, and it may
become the standard size in a few years’ time.
As absolute protection against all types of
bombs is h~irdly within the realm of practical
politics, two questions arise. What is the next
best thing? Is it worth while?
Complete protection can be given against gas
at low cost; complete security can be provided
against metal fragments; the fire bomb is not
hard to deal with and protection can be given
against the demolition bomb which lands more
than fifty feet away.
The Choice of Refuge Rooms in Houses of One
Storey (See Chapter V for City Buildings)
In most houses one room is more suitable for
refuge purposes than the others. As the reasons
for the choice of rooms often compete with each
other, it should be one of the peace-time duties
of sector wardens to advise individual house-
holders.
(A) Protection Against High Explosives
1. Select a room that faces a garden or soft earth;
road metal can be hurled through windows.
83
2. If there be three rooms front to rear, choose
the middle room; the end rooms give it some
protection.
3. If there be two rooms, take the room farther
from the Street; streets can act as funnels for
blast to travel along. Windows may be
sucked out.
4. In houses of mixed construction, choose a
room that has the strongest outside walls.
5. Take advantage of protection afforded by
neighbouring houses.
6. Choose a room that has the smallest area of
glass to protect.
7. Metal ceilings are better than lath and plas-
ter; concussion may shake heavy pieces out.
Avoid a room with a decorative centre flower
in the ceiling.
Increasing the Protection Against High Explosives
T’Vindows.—Sheets of cellophane, costing in
Melbourne fourpence a sheet a yard square, can
be stuck on to the window without’ interfering
with its peace-time use. The cellophane increases
the strength against blast, diminishes the size of
the hole a metal fragment or stone would make,
and generally lessens the danger of persons inside
being showered with glass. If the glass be blown
in or sucked but, it does so as one piece.
‘The ‘ordinary louvre shutters afford no protec-
tion against blast. If boarding up be resorted to,
86
there must be no substantial gaps between the
boards.
Walls.—An independent sand-bag wall can be
erected outside the refuge room. It must be at
least two feet six inches thick at the top. The bags
can be filled with earth or sand, but not coal dust,
or anything else that fire bombs could ignite. As
the window light is necessarily blocked, the peace-
time use of the room is restricted. Solid brick
walls I 3~-inches thick will keep out fragments.
Ceilings.—Under architects’ supervision, the
ceilings can be strengthened by placing more
uprights. If the uprights be incorrectly placed,
the ceiling may be weakened and not
strengthened.
(B) Protection Against Fire Bombs
1. Choose a room with a metal ceiling.
2. Have regard to the fire hazards of the locality;
if there be a garage, or you or your neighbours
are storing petrol, choose a room on the ‘other’
side of the house.
3. In houses of mixed construction, choose the
room with the class of outside walls which
burn less easily.
Increasing the Protection Against Fire
1. Clear but ~allinflammable material. Remem-
ber that fire bombs merely act as kindlers; if
there be nothing to burn, they go out of their
own accord. ‘‘

87
2. Give two coats of lime wash (2 lbs. of lime,
1 oz. of salt, mixed cold with a pint of Water)
to out-of-sight timbers in the roof, etc. Use
anti-fire paints of the right colour for other
woodwork.
3. Have ladder handy to man-hole, giving access
to the roof.
4. Keep permanently in the refuge room a
supply of sand, in a bucket or kerosene tin.
5. On the air raid warning being sounded, take
in receptacles bf water, asbestos sheets, etc.
(C) Protection Against Gas
A draught-proof room is gas-resisting. As
practical people, we are not concerned with
shutting out all the gas, but only that quantity
that would cause inconvenience and this can be
done fairly cheaply if the more suitable room be
chosen.
1. Choose a room on the side sheltered from the
prevailing winds. The effect of wind is, as
it were, to put the gas under pressure.
2. Choose a room that has fewest doors, windows,
ventilators and, preferably one without a
chimney; each aperture has to be covered over
and adds to the expense.
3. Select a room with walls and ceilings that
are free from cracks.
4. Concrete and tiled floors offer the greatest
resistance. ‘

88
S. None of the special considerations stated on
preceding pages for high explosives and fire
conflict with the making of the room gas-
resisting.
6. Select the room that can be protected at lowest
cost and minimum interference with its nor-
mal peace-time use.
Increasing the Protection Against the Entry of Gas
1. Have the walls and ceilings of the refuge
room papered with good quality wallpaper
and apply a coat of varnish to the paper. The
paper makes wooden walls, lath and plaster
walls, etc., draught-proof and gas-resisting.
2. Door frames, window frames and skirting
boards often shrink and warp and leave long
crevices. These crevices must be covered over.
3. Probably the cheapest method of covering the
crevices is to cut strips of newspaper some
three inches wide, put a fold or pleat in them
and paste the strips so as to make paper joins
between the floor and skirting board and the
door and window frames and walls.
The function of the pleat is to ensure that
the paper is not stretched tight; concussion
may shake the building and break paper that
was stretched tight.
Two thicknesses of paper are better and a
paste can be made of flour and water.
89
4. Wet blanket is a suitable medium for covering
over doors, windows and ventilators. The
author prefers the frames illustrated and des-
cribed in his book, Gas Alert, which, although
out of print, is to be found in many libraries.
5. If there is to be traffic into and out of a room,
two sets of blanket are necessary for the
entrance. For ordinary purposes they should
be four feet apart; for stretchers, ten feet
apart. The object of two blankets is to pre-
vent direct exposure of the room to the out-
side. A person, entering or leaving, re-adjusts
one blanket before he moves the other. The
space between the blankets is called an air-
lock.
‘How Many Persons will a Refuge Room Hold?
The occupants of a refuge room have to rely
on the imprisoned air, for, if the outside. air were
allowed to enter, it would bring in the gas with
it.
‘The imprisoned air soon becomes charged with
moisture from human breath and is heated by
human bodies. Under Australian conditions heat
and humidity are more important factors than the
oxygen content in limiting the number of persons
who can safely occupy a’ room. Heat and humidity
are progressive in their action.
Unfortunately, overseas official publications
differ as to the space required by one thousand
per cent. The original 13 cubic feet per person
90
per hour has grown to ISO cubic feet per person
per hour as a minimum, and, for long continued
occupation, filtration plants have to supply up to
450 cubic feet per person per hour.
Some European authorities think the British
figures somewhat generous, but Australian tem-
peratures are much higher. We will therefore
compromise and state the measurements in terms
of cubic feet as 1 50. That figure will, of course,
be reduced by the space occupied by the furnish—
ings and human bodies.
On a two-hour occupancy basis the result will
be:
Room di,;zcnsions in feet. No. of persons.
lOx 8x 8 2.
i2x lOx 10 4
18x 14x 12 10’
Note.—Persons on the third or higher floors of city
buildings could open up the windows within a quarter of
an hour of the end of the raid, notwithstanding that a
persistent gas bomb had landed near the building; whilst
the unfortunate occupants of the basement of the same
building would have to stay the full two hours and
probably much longer.
Equipment of Refuge Rooms
Authors have competed with one another in
piling up huge lists of articles that could be taken
into a refuge room and there is, no doubt, a reason
for each item, but I favour cutting the equipment
91
down to a bare minimum. The minimum, of
course, varies according to the tastes and ages of
the occupants and their ideas of comfort and
amusement.
The minimum requirements are:
Water for drinking, anti-fire and anti-blister
gas purposes and wetting the gas-proof
curtains.
Food, preferably tinned.
Thermos flask containing hot drink.
Bottles containing liquids, according to pre-
ference.
Sanitary convenience and screen where sexes
are mixed.
First-aid kit and chloride of lime; wide basin.
Electric torch and refill batteries.
Seating accommodation, table, cutlery, crockery,
tin opener and corkscrew.
\Vireless set.
Strips of paper, paste and surplus blankets to
repair damage.
Bucket filled with sand.
Recreational facilities, according to taste, but
no games which involve romping or violent
physical activity should be indulged in,
because exertion accelerates breathing and
more rapidly heats and exhausts the air.
In Australia no heating is required—turn off
radiator or hot water system.
Have no fires or lights other than electricity.
92
 Don’t smoke.
Don’t lie down on floor.
Trench Shelters. Cheaper Type
The Cheaper Type.—The author feels no
doubt that the best form of protection against all
types of weapons for the majority of people
living in garden suburbs, and for factory em-
ployees, where there is sufficient ground, is the
trench shelter; his second choice is the refuge
room within the house as already described.
Site.—The shelter should be so sited that there
is no danger of the occupants being entombed by
the debris from falling walls or chimneys. The
margin of safety is considered to be a distance
from nearby erections equal to at least half their
height; a trench should not come within ten feet
of a wall twenty feet high.
Depth of Trench.—The depth should be not
less than six feet six inches, or more than nine
feet.
Head Cover.—In 1939, most of the authorities
are agreed that the overhead cover should consist
substantially of the excavated material, properly
supported, of a thickness of between two and
three feet.
Strengthening ‘the Trench.—The walls need
support from within. In sandy soil, the material
for what are termed Crevetments~must be of such
a close consistency that the sand will not, in course
93
of time, ‘leak through’ and partly fill the trench;
second-hand roofing iron, or kerosene tins, cut out
and placed on the inside of the upright poles, are
suitable. In heavier soils, boards, tarred or oiled
to lengthen their life, will do. The upright poles
should be placed opposite each other and kept
apart top and bottom with cross-members so as
to form a box frame.
The Roof.—The immediate ceiling is formed
of good quality corrugated galvanized iron;
which has to carry part of the weight of the head
cover and to assist in making the trench gas-proof.
Ensrances.—T here should be two entrances,
entering the main trench at right angles; if there
be room, the entrances should be ramped rather
than stepped, and two gas-proof curtains should
be provided.
Drainage.—The place where the entrances
reach the ground level should be banked up a
few inches to prevent surface water flowing into
the trench. ,A surface drain a few inches deep
should surround the entire shelter. At the
bottom of each entrance and also in the middle
of the trench, there should be holes dug of suffi-
cient depth and width to permit the ordinary-size
bucket being inserted to dip out any water. The
holes should be suitably covered.
Widt/i.—The width of the trench should be
not more than four feet at the top and not less
than two feet six ‘at the bottom.
94
 Space for Occupants.—As the trench walls can
absorb more humidity and the cooling space per
person is much greater than in square rooms, 150
cubic feet is enough per person for two hours’
occupation.
The Expensive Type of Trench Shelter
Line the side walls with concrete, provide a
reinforced arched concrete roof at least four
inches thick and cover that over with excavated
material. Instal a gas filtration plant.
The trench can be much wider and better
equipped for comfort. It can have a proper floor
and comfortable seating accommodation and
luxuries added, according to taste and financial
resources.
Notes on the Protection Afforded by the Cheaper
Trench Shelter
The cheaper trench shelter gives complete
protection against metal splinters from high-
explosive bombs; it will keep out flying road
metal, bricks, glass, chunks of wood and other
kinds of debris fragments. It will prevent the
bomb, provided with the instantaneous percussion
fuse, from entering the trench. Wire netting,
stretched on poles, say, seven feet high, placed
above the trench would add to the protection
against the instantaneous type of bomb and would
not interfere substantially with the normal peace-
time use of the yard. To continue, it will give
95
 complete protection against gas, and there will
be nothing within it to burn.
The effects of transmitted shock will be less
‘severe in this type of shelter than in the type that
is deep down underground.
On the streets you can be injured by high-
explosive bombs, which fall half a mile away, and
by gas, which is liberated as far as ten miles away.
Please do keep off the streets and stay off them
until told that it is safe to come out again.
The worst type of bomb has to land within
fifty feet of your trench shelter and, if it does
so, it must have had your name and address
inscribed on it.
CONCLUSION
The alternatives are:
If, as a direct result of sheer neglect and the
total failure to take any precautions, loved ones
are injured for life, the persons responsible suffer
a life-long sense of shame and self-reproach.
But, if the persons responsible have taken such
precautions as are reasonably within their power,
then, even if accidents do happen, they have
nothing with which to reproach themselves.
In the meantime, they will be comforted by
the knowledge that they have contributed to
national security and have faithfully done their
bit.
ALL CLEAR
96
L~?A~\’
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