Contents

Document 1

GAINING ABOUT ONE FOOT OF GROUND PER HOUR: SAPPING TOWARDS THE ENEMY’S LINES AND BLOWING UP A SECTION OF HIS TRENCHES. TO PREPARE FOR AN INFANTRY ADVANCE.

“These very interesting illustrations of the methods used by the Royal Engineers in sapping [trench digging] and mining operations should be studied in conjunction with Colonel F. N. Maude’s article...

… ‘When... fire-trenches get very near to one another, the problem arises how to make good a further advance without unnecessary loss of life... When a spot has been chosen in the trench for the intended advance, under cover of darkness, men rapidly shovel the earth of the parapet away, and the sapper starts digging from the face of the trench... leading straight for the enemy... The earth from the excavations is thrown always to the side from which the enemy’s fire comes, so in course of time a series of mounds, called “traverses,” are formed on the tongues of earth [see image labled B], etc., and other parapets arise on the sides from which the enemy’s fire can endanger the men at work. If the enemy is very much alive, the men work down to a full 6 ft. depth. If and when it slackens, the leader only goes down half the depth, working in a kneeling position—this is called a “kneeling sap” as soon as the enemy freshens up, the leader goes down to the full depth again. It is a very slow process, but it is very sure, and comparatively safe.’”

Document 2

Ten years ago the dropping of bombs from balloons was still considered an illegitimate form of warfare, involving danger to non-combatants, and was under the ban of the Geneva Convention. At the Hague Peace Conference the Germans refused to abstain from bomb-dropping, and other nations followed suit…

ACCURACY IN DROPPING BOMBS

The Zeppelins have elaborate bomb-dropping apparatus with which it should be theoretically possible to drop a bomb with great accuracy…

RAPID FIRING

The gun-recoil carriage, as the new invention was called, increases the rate of fire, since there is no delay in running up. The French were quick to develop this new feature, and set to work to make the rate of fire as high as possible... The French... did away with the cumbrous process of setting the fuse by hand, and introduced a machine which sets fuses as fast as the shell can be put into it...

The result of all these improvements is that the best quick-firing guns (on which the French gun is still reckoned) are capable of firing twenty-five rounds a minute.

Document 3

The latest engine of death to appear is appalling by its uncanny invincibleness... The British have put in the field the new tank tractors, so-called, and, as is the case with most of the new formidable machines, have enjoyed a large measure of success from its use.

…

… [T]he tractor, originally designed to meet some of the difficult problems of modern farming, [has] been turned into veritable land battleships by the ingenious English War Department heads, and have shown high effectiveness in the recent Somme drive.

The tractors... have been converted into armored land cruisers. They hurdle trenches, crawl over shell craters, and walk through forest unsalted by intense gun fire. With them the British have charged the trenches of the Germans and obtained signal advantages of positions, otherwise unattainable.

These land cruisers’ chief feature lies in their caterpillar tread… on five small-sized railroad wheels... [that]... never touch the ground... [and] run on infinitely jointed rails... [enclosed] in a wide, corrugated band... [that] goes around the wheels, and... forms a road upon which the tractor travels. The bands do not stick in mud and are not liable to find any obstacle to which they cannot adjust themselves and carry the tractor over.

… [T]he tractors can be stopped only by a direct hit from shells of considerable caliber... Big gun fire directed upon the tractors would imperil the lives of the soldiers whom it was attacking. Machine gun fire is, of course, useless against the ponderous caterpillars...

Document 4

Gas in Warfare
Besides killing men, gas serves greatly to reduce the efficiency of an army by causing it to work in gas masks, tends to create confusion in ranks and transport, and makes ground untenable under certain conditions. Many gases have been used and developments make it possible to apply all organic chemistry to this problem...

Chlorine Gas
The first gas used was chlorine and its greatest usefulness besides toxicity was in the complete surprise of the attack. That attack was a cloud of gas obtained by opening steel cylinders holding 40 lbs. of liquid gas placed one to a yard and allowing the contents to flow through lead pipes. The wind did the rest. The difficulty of attacking with any gas lies in the necessity of coordinating favorable meteorological conditions, gas concentration, surprise tactics and large supplies...

Mustard Gas
Its effect upon the eyes is sometimes slow in manifesting itself but within a few hours blistering occurs while the membranes of the nostrils and throat are severely affected. The gas volatizes slowly and the vapor has the power to penetrate cloth and even leather...

In order to provide protection it is necessary to know what the gas is and its reactions with chemicals which may be used in masks... [I]t then becomes the chemists [sic] task to identify the gas in the laboratory and devise ways to neutralize it.

… [T]he chemist has done wonders in reducing the numbers of casualties and continues this good work.

Document 5

Nazi use of these fighter craft may be the beginning of a new chapter in aerial warfare. Allies are also using jet propelled planes.

Although developments in jet propulsion in the United States and Great Britain have been shrouded in wartime secrecy, it is an established fact that both countries have perfected jet propulsion planes. Allied j.p. planes have already been employed in this war in England against the flying bomb... Efforts to achieve supersonic speeds in the air have been intensified in this country since the early days of the war when our military intelligence learned of the plans of the Germans to use jet and rocket propulsion for various weapons.

…

The present jet propulsion engine, which eliminates the necessity for propellers, was originally of British design.... The engine was sent to this country for further development, and Mr. Whittle spent three months here working with American scientists to produce a jet power plant that is now being manufactured by General Electric in the United States for use in Allied j.p. planes.

The basic principle which underlies jet propulsion has been known since the days of Galileo and Isaac Newton. The present day jet power plant is a successful and ingenious application of one of Newton’s laws of motion—the law which says that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Document 6

The Interim Committee has asked us to report in some detail on the scope and program of future work in the field of atomic energy...

1. We are convinced that weapons quantitatively and qualitatively far more effective than now available will result from further work on these problems. This conviction is motivated... by specific projects to improve and multiply the existing weapons, and by... the super bomb.
2. We have been unable to devise or propose effective military countermeasures for atomic weapons... no military countermeasures will be found which will be adequately effective in preventing the delivery of atomic weapons.
3. We are not only unable to outline a program that would assure to this nation for the next decades hegemony in the field of atomic weapons... [or if] such hegemony... could protect us from the most terrible destruction.

The development, in the years to come, of more effective atomic weapons, would appear to be a most natural element in any national policy of maintaining our military forces at great strength; nevertheless we have grave doubts that this further development can contribute essentially or permanently to the prevention of war. We believe that the safety of this nation... cannot lie wholly or even primarily in its scientific or technical prowess. It can be based only on making future wars impossible. It is our unanimous and urgent recommendation to you that... all steps be taken, all necessary international arrangements be made, to this one end.

Document 7

August 18

THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

[Since nuclear weapons were used against Japan,] [w]ar has now become so terrible, so swift in its march and so indiscriminate in its cutting off of old and young alike, that the greater nations of the world must recoil with horror from the possibility of another major war, lest they court annihilation of whole populations...

[W]e are more concerned for the moment with the significance of the release of atomic energy in manageable fashion. This... is a landmark in the history of mankind—it marks the beginning of a new era, an era in which the quality of the work of men of science of the world will not only be of immense importance, but will also be acknowledged as such... [W]e would anticipate that they will be expected to take a share in the tasks of government, as they have done during the War, at the direct request of the ruling authority and with a conspicuous success which has been generally acknowledged and acclaimed... [T]hey must not allow their preoccupation with their particular interests to make them oblivious to their responsibilities as citizens of a world which in becoming increasingly dependent on their efforts, and they must maintain their high standard of integrity...

… We must now revert to the broader question of the grand strategy of scientific and technical development. The controlled release of atomic energy applied in the development of the atomic bomb emphasizes once more the importance of scientific research, and its significance for the progress of knowledge and for the material welfare of mankind...

… The possibilities for good or evil are of such magnitude that individuals cannot fairly be entrusted with their exploration; similarly, none but Governments are likely to be able to provide the continuous expenditure necessary for development...