HOW ABOUT CIVIL DEFENSE? - Vol. 3 - No. 5

Sep 21, 2026

A 1954 civil defense periodical article examines the likely realities of a Soviet atomic attack on the United States, arguing that vulnerability would mean rapid mass destruction of industrial and population centers. It discusses warnings and limitations in air defense, then analyzes what happens to bombed cities using historical examples such as Hamburg. The piece highlights fire storms, radiation-related consequences, and the threat of biological, chemical, and nerve-gas warfare, concluding with the need for practical civil defense planning and community preparedness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

HOW ABOUT CIVIL DEFENSE?

But have we?

What happens to bombed cities?

MARYGF Ve 上：LIorAI 5.32v Illustrations by Stuart Judd,Jr. AN AN CETROIT,MICHIGANPLEASEDONOT REM MOVE A Service of the Center forInformation on America,Washington,Connecticut. Vol.3,No.5 January,1954 # HOW ABOUTCIVIL DEFENSE? The ostrich is supposed to dodge threats of dangerby sticking its head in the sand.b Actually,it has far more sense than that. ## But have we? Federal Civil Defense Administrator Val Peterson,onthe basis of information available,says“...the Rus-th sians have the necessary airplanes and enough atomicsi bbombs to make a very effective attack upon the United States right now.”St What's likely,if an enemy attacks—he adds—willbe many Pearl Harbors in tremendous force,seekingb within twenty-four hours to knock out all great U.S.w industrial and population centers.in "At the present time,"Defense Administrator Petersongoes on,"the Air Force will tell you that it simply can-g not take effective measures to stop a mass Soviet attack.”n Later,perhaps,when there's been time for improvementL inin our air defenses,but not now. "The Air Force“—he continues—"says it cannot guar-aantee us any specific warning time.It could be up to fifteen minutes and it may be no warning at all."fi No wonder Senator Alexander Wiley,chairman ofthe Foreign Relations Committee,declares that our wideth open“...vulnerability to enemy atomic attack repre-osents the single gravest threat to America's security ins itits entire history." Maybe the attack will never comelet's hope andppray it doesn't. But such things have happened to us before—atPPearl Harbor. They could happen again. Can we afford to follow the supposed example ofththe ostrich—just because the subject strikes us as un-ppleasant? Can we afford to do little or nothing,when somecommon sense precautions might make all the dif-c feference in the world? What would each of us do right now if we heardoover the radio that the radar screen and ground ob-server corps had spotted atocking planes? Has our town,our school,our club,or place wherewe're meeting got an organized civil defense program,w wwith people trained and responsible for carrying it out? What would be the probable result of an“A”bombhhit in the general area in which we are living? What are we and our community prepared to doshldan“A”omb urst over a community neor oown? To check on ourselves,and to decide how informedand ready we are,let's examine the following pages.a ## What happens to bombed cities? Before the atomic age,during World War II,GermanPropaganda Minister Goebbels's private diary for July,1943,gives an account for Hamburg.Part of Goebbels'sjob was to conceal from the German people the realnature of disaster—but he could not conceal the factsfrom himself. "During the night we had the heaviest raid yet made....TheEnglish appeared over the city with eight hundred to a thousandbombers.Our anti-aircraft succeeded in shooting down only a veryfew·.· Kaufmann*gave me a first report on the effect ...He spokeof a catastrophe the extent of which simply staggers the imagination.A city of a million inhabitants has been destroyed in a manner un-paralleled in history.We are faced with problems that are almostimpossible of solution,...problems ...of which we had no con-ception even a few weeks ago." In the midst of the atomic age,t with the UnitedStates and Russia stockpiling atomic and hydrogenbombs,and with other nations—Britain,France,Brazil,India,Norway,Sweden—working on them too,Presi-dent Eisenhower,speaking before the General Assemblyof the United Nations last month,said this: "Atomic bombs today are more than twenty-five times as power-ful as the weapons with which the atomic age dawned,while hydrogenweapons are in the ranges of millions of tons of TNT equivalent.. Even a vast superiority in numbers of weapons,and a consequentcapability of devastating retaliation,is no preventive,of itself,againstthe fearful material damage an

FAQs

What concerns does the article raise about stopping a mass Soviet atomic attack?

It states that the Air Force cannot take effective measures to stop a mass Soviet attack and cannot guarantee specific warning time, which could leave preparation extremely limited.

What does the article say happens to bombed cities like Hamburg?

It describes catastrophic destruction in which raids can lead to citywide devastation, emphasizing how firestorms grow rapidly, with carbon monoxide and heat becoming major sources of casualties.

Besides nuclear weapons, what other warfare threats does the article mention?

It notes biological and chemical warfare and highlights that nerve gas could destroy people with suddenness while potentially leaving factories intact for an invading force.

Sep 21, 2026

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