~~
JT ‘HE possibilities of -war-

are more or less known. A
single atomic bomb of the
old type will kill fifty or a
hundred thousand people, and,
injure perhaps as many more,

A more powerful bomb such as
the hydrogen bomb would not kill
a hundred times as many people
if iff released a hundred times as

much energy.

The destructive power would be
far more concentrated at the cen-
ter, but would not cover a hun-
dred times the area.

It is therefore unlikely that such
Weapons would decide a war be-
tween countries like the Soviet
Union and the United States,
where dispersion is possible and
areas many hundred miles inland
are defensible.

They could, and would, devas-
tate a densely populated country
like England. \

We know much less about the

Possibilities of biological warfare, .

and Dr. Theodor Rosebury’s, very
Sane book on the subject, Peace
or Pestilence, Biological Warfare
And How to Avoid It, is welcome,
even though it is not as sensation-
al as its title suggests.

Trygve Lie said in 1948 that
“some of these weapons are prob-
ably potentially as destructive of
human life ‘as atomic weapons.”

"He may be right.

Dr, Rosebury was the
author of a report on the subject
submitted to the U.S. government
in 1942, and published in 1947.
Later he did research on the sub-
ject. - :

joint

He therefore cannot publish all

he knows, The fact that he opens
his book with the above quotation

from ‘Trygve Lie suggests that
Some of it is pretty bad.

Let no one blame him for under-

taking such work. We know from ~

recently published Soviet reports
that the Japanese had large labor-
atories of the same kind in Man-
Churia, where they did experi-
-Ments on prisoners, killing a num-
-ber, and that they used a plague
against the Chinese.

At Camp Detrick, the American
center, there were, rather remark-
ably, no human victims. All the
Cases of accidental infection were
cured, ‘

“The Americans would have been
Wrong not to investigate methods
Of defence against such weapons.
But such an investigation is bound
to be two-sided.

The worker on defence must ask
‘whether, say, a particular type of
Mask would give protection
against a parachute bomb liberat-
ing bacteria as spray.

To answer this question one
must make such a spray bomb. In
fact there is no doubt that some
formidable weapons were design-_
ed at Camp Detrick, though they
Were not used.

Weapons of biological warfare
fall under four headings. They
May be poisons, or living agents
of ‘infectious disease. And they
May be intended for use’ against
™en or against agricultural plants
and animals.

_ There is no doubt at all that a
fairly small bomb could liberate
enough bacteria or viruses in
Spray form to infect several hun-

fare with atomic bombs J

®

What danger
from

germ |

warfare?

By J. B. S. HALDANE
~OBR.S.

dred people, if it burst in a crowd-
ed area,

But then some high explosive
pombs killed several hundred. peo-
ple, though most of them kjlled
nobody. oh

The question is whether the dis-
ease would spread, and how far.

We have had in recent years,
outbreaks of a number of serious
and previously unknown air-
borne diseases, such as psittacosis,
a disease derived from parrots but
affecting human beings, and al-
though they have spread a little,
none have become epidemic.

Of course, if one could start
something like the epidemic influ-
enza of, 1918, a single bomb could
cause the deaths of millions of

people.

But such a disease would prob-
ably spread back to the side which
started it,

On paper, some poisons appear
very efficient. An ounce of the
toxin produced by Bacillus botu-

linus could kill the whole popula- |

tion of the United States, accord-
ing to some calculations, though
Rosebury thinks they are exagger-
ated. !

Even if they are true they prove
very little, A bullet weighing an
ounce can kill a man, so a ton
of such bullets can kill 36,000 men.

But in fact it takes about a
ton of bullets to kill one man. It
is no easier to get poisons than to
get bullets to just the place you
want them. — .

Animal diseases might cut off
most of our milk and meat supply,
but would hardly be decisive. I
personally believe that the most
dangerous weapon of all might be
plant diseases. .

One can work with a number
of different varieties of wheat,
and by crossing different strains
of rust, and by careful selection,
one might produce one. which is
infectious to almost all of them.

e@

T consider that it might be pos-
sible to halve the wheat produc-
tion of Britain and large areas
of Europe. The same could per-
haps be done for some other crops.

It would be far harder to hit
the U.S. or the USSR in this way,
just because they grow & far great-
er variety of crops.

Chemical poisons sprayed from
planes could wipe out crops over

1y wide areas, but would prob-
pestetie| be as effective as disease.

I personally regard famine as
a greater danger than pestilence
if biological warfare is used in
a future war. .

And Britain, where the wheat
yields ‘per acre, though not per
man hour, is a good deal higher
than in most countries, would be
an ideal target.

One of the gravest dangers of.
‘biological warfare is this. At the

present time, American propagan-
dists may attribute any epidemic
anywhere to Soviet agents.

In the same way, medieval liars
attributed bubonic plague to Jew-
ish poisoners, and then proceeded
to burn Jews alive.

Mr. Walter Winchell,. the New

York, newspaper columnist, ac-
cused Russians of starting a
cholera epidemic in Egypt, and
Egyptians officially accused the
Israelis of spreading typhoid and
dysentery during the recent war.

If such a story were widely be-
lieved, it could be used as thé ex-
cuse for starting a third world
war or for “retaliation” by bio-
logical attacks on the enemy if
such a war had started.

Rosebury points out that slum
clearance is one of the better
forms of defence against biologi-
cal warfare. It is easier for a gov-
ernment to put the blame for an

epidemic on another state than to
clean up its own slums.

I may have underestimated the
dangers of ‘biological warfare,

though the estimates which I gave
in 1938 of the killing power of
bombs were not far out.

But like the dangers of atomic
bombs, they are specially great
for Britain, and the only sane pol-
icy for us seems to me to be to
keep out of a future world war.

Rosebury believes that the first
step should be an international
agreement not to use such meth-
ods.

He notes that the United States
has refused to ratify a pact not to
use bacteriological warfare,
though Britain and the Soviet
Union have done so.

It might have been well for
Britain had our government re-
quested the Americans to sign it
before we allowed them the use
of our aerodromes.

But he is convinced, and I fully
agree with him, that the only real
hope is not to stop some particu-
lar kind of war, but to stop all
kinds.

Readers may not agree with all
that he says about the Soviet
Union,

But they will agree with him on
the essential point that the United
States has nothing to fear from
the Soviet Union if only because
its people and their leaders know
far better than the Americans
what a new war would cost them.

I hope that Dr. Rosebury’s book
will be widely read.

It is af least a sign of the sanity -
of a large section of Americans
who are a long way from being
Reds, but realize that a new war
would be disastrous to their own
country. ef

PRISONERS EXPOSE U.S. PLOT

PHYONGYANG

Long-term preparations by the
_Syngman Rhee puppet govern-
ment in South Korea to start the
present civil war are exposed by

Han Su Hwan, a first lieuten-

of the South Korean puppet ar-
my, stated that last May all di-
visional commanders of the
South Korean army attended a
conference together with senior
regimental officers. At this con-
ference three means of attacking
North Korea were decided upon.
Preparations for the assault
were intensified in June follow-
ing orders unifying command of
the whole army.
- Meanwhile, two months had
elapsed after the usual period
when the troops on the border
line were relieved, while senior
officrs came ever more frequent-
ly to inspect the front line and
detailed communications ‘were
established with the rear head-
quarters. 3 :
United States Major Strachey
and six American advisers visit-
ed the Seventeenth Regiment to
place it on a wartime basis, and
the military headquarters advis-
ed the troops that “lost terri-
tory” north of the 38th parallel
had to be regained. Manchuria
was also named as an objective.
Immediately before the assault
was launched the unit was visit-
ed by United States military ob-
servers and the general atmo-
sphere was very strained. Leave
was cancelled and on June 25th
a “skilful assault” was ordered,
stated Lieut. Han Su Hwan. _
The first battalion of the 17th
Regiment pushed towards Byuk-

"Wew

two South Korean Officers cap- -
tured north of the 38th parallel.

ant of the Seventeenth Regiment -

ere | deceived’

aw

then met powerful counter-attacks
general retreat began.” _

sung and Kachun, and the third
battalion towards Hisuksan. The
second battalion at first was in
reserve. —

Penetrating several kilometres
the puppet forces met -powerful
counter-attacks, communications
broke down, the officers deserted
and a general retreat began.

Sergeant Hwan Tai, also of the
17th Regiment, corroborates the

above information. He pointed |

“We penetrated several kilometres north of the 38th parallel,
. .. our officers deserted and a

_ advisers had repeatedly told the

out that the American military

troops that they would easily
capture North Korea. During the
actual attacks the officers desert-
ed after telling the troops that
if they fell into the hands of the,
rere troops they would be

“I find all that I learned in the
‘Army of National Defence’ was
mere deception,” bitterly con-.
cluded Hwan Tai, ‘ es

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 21, 1950—PAGE