THE XXth CENTURY142

1~Jl(1 calcium are effective in the treatment ofallergies only when injected, as the gastriojuices destrov their effectiveness when takenorally. ~'lIrtherprogress was made when West­ern medicine took over ephedrino, the effective~ubstance contained in the Chinese mil Inlangdrug, some twenty yeR.rii ago. This can betaken orally and thus makes the patient to a<:ortain extent independent of the doctor.

The study of the allergy problem has finally.~Iso revealed the inner mechanism of thisaffliction. We know today that the harmfulsub:itances-mainly protein products-togetherwith the antibodies of the organism form a newllubstanco, histamine, whieh causes the symp-

toms. In a healthy body, the mucous mem­brane of the small intestine produces a fermentwhich destroys the histamine constantly beingformed in the body. In the case of functionaldisturbances in the small intestine, however, orwhen there is &n unusually large supply ofhistamine, the body reacts to the hista.mine inthe form of &lIergi~. Meanwhile new medica­ments have appeared on I the market whichdestroy histamine and are manufactured, forexample. from the mucous membrane of thesmall intestine. That means that now, inaddition to desensitizing treatments. medicalscience hu at its command meana of attackingthe very root of the allergio diseases.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL WEAPON

By HELMUTH KUHRER

Tlu wa~!a~e in tk .kiu over Eafi A.ia M6 .'i",wlated i,~ttru' ill tAt fune.tioni"fJ of antiaircraf' a~tille",. The JoUowing arlicH cornu .from Ger'/Ulny. (I

cou"try with ureat ezperience in the de/erw. agaiMl hoItile bomber••

"IN 1914 we were stationed with ourantiballoon cannon near Baden.Baden,where we were entrusted with the de­fense of an airship hangar against

enemy air atta,cks. Whenever the approach ofenemy planes was reported, we ran from ourquarters to the village fire station, which hOllsedour cannon. One of us fetched the horses, whichwere hu.rriedly harnessed and mounted, andl·hen we I"Ushed off at a thundering gallop withour iron-rimmed wheels t.hrough the villagestreet to meet the enemy.. _ ,"

So runs the story of a German antiaircraftartillerist in the Great War. From the horse·drawn anti balloon cannon to the modern anti­aircraft batteries mounted on special railroadtruqks it is a far ory.

The earliest beginnings of the o.ntiairoro.ftcannon go back to the Franco-Prussian Warof 1870/71. To the besiegers of Paris, theballoons by mcans of which the French main­ta,ined communications with'lthe outer worldwere a source of annoyance. For the purposeof combating them, the Krupp works con­structed an anti balloon cannon with a calil~er

of 3.7 centimeters, mounted on a. four-wheeledcart. But the five cannons of the model wereunable to inflict I\ny damage on the balloons,whieh flew at an 1\ltitude of more than 1,000meters. AU the greater was the moral effectwhen tho German8 succeeded on November 12,1870, in 8hooting down a balloon flying ex­ceptionally low. From that day on, no moreballoons were sent up.

During the next 35 years no more interestWl\S shown in this new weapon. But by 1906

airships had become improved to such anextent - mainly through Count Zeppelin'sflights-that the War Ministry in Berlindeveloped an intere8t in the question of com­bating air ta.rgets. After experiments madewith field cannon8 along the COl\8t proved un­successful, a special 5-em antibo.l1oon cannonwas constructed, followed the next year by a6.5·em cannon. Here and there 8uch cannonswere used in the imperial maneuvers beforethe Great War. The experience gained inthese tests led t.o the demand for 32 7.5-cmcannons for the German peace-time nrmy.When war broke out in 1914, the GermanArmy had altogether 18 antiballoon cannonsat its disposal. A ridiculous number-yet noother country beside Germany possessed evena 8ingle antiaircraft call1on.

The Great War naturally entailed a rapiddevelopment of this new weapon. As theemphasis shifted from balloons and airships toairplanes, the demands placed upon the weap­on increased manifoldly. The name wasadapted to the changing target: the ant,i­balloon oannon became the antiaircraft cannonor Flugzeug-Abwel&r-Kano1le in German, whichW&8 shortened to the now so familiar "Fla.k."In the course of the four years of war, thecaliber of the heavy :Flak rose to 8.8 and1O.5-om. All the complioated auxiliary equip­ment oame into being: ijCarchlights, rangefinders, Bound-detecting apparatus. The muni­tion was also improved. The 18 AA-cannoDsa.t the outbreak of the war had grown by tileArmistice to 2,576 cannons, whieh were usedon all fronts.

THREE DIMENSIONAL WEAPON

The Versailles Treaty put an end to thisnew weapon for Germany. The Reichswehrwas only allowed to keep a few cannonsmounted in the obsolete forts of Konigsbergin East Prussia. Nevertheless, officers andmen were trained at the Konigsberg cannonsand later organized into motorized detach­lUents of the Reichswehr. This was how thegap was bridged between the artillerists ofthe Great War and Germ'any's new Flak artil­lery, which !!inee April 1, 1935, has been in­corporated in the Air Force. Since the Ger·man engineer!! had not been idle either, andthe Reichswehr was in po88ession of modelsof the most modern aiming and firing equip­ment within ten years of the Armistice, thenew arm immediately found itself in po88e8­sion of excellent equipment, which has sincebeen further improved.

The new arm underwent its first test in theSpanish Civil War as part of the "CondorLegion." It was there that the hitherto un·excelled "S.S" wa~ also used for the first timeagainst tanks.

The mobility and adaptability of modernantiaircraft artillery have in the present warenabled it to carry out the most varied tasksin land, air, and naval fighting. Flak helpedin 1940 to crack the hardest nut,s in theMllginot Line. Flak defeated the dreaded '1' 34tank of the Soviets. Flak helped to destroythe cIOl.,e.packed waves of Boillhevist attack­ers. Flak protected the troops crossing theStrait of Mestlin8. Flak's deadly missilesreached many an enemy warship which care­Ie ly approached the coast. There are AAcom bat units, generally equipped with severalheavy guns protected against flank attacks01' low-level air att,acks with light cannons.Bdore Germany had brought out the Tigertank with its heavy weapons, the heavy }'lakwas part and parcel of the tank battles intho East. and in Africa. There was hardly atank immune to the smashing force of itsarmor-piercing shells.

Hut what is most familiar to the Germanpopulation is the antiaircraft artillery aroundevery German city. Everyone knows the FlaksoldicI'ii living outside the city in their greenbal'fa<:ks, the sinister-looking gun barrels, thelight gun emplacements on rooftops, the search·light positions and the crisscross of electricwires o\-er the fields. The barking detonationsof the shots, the whistling hiss of the shells,the thudding explosions of the charges in thesky-all these are familiar sounds in the grimconcert of air battles.

Tho attacking of air targets hl18 remainedt,he most important and at the same time byfar thc most difficult task of the antiaircraftartillery. The ground target is either im-

143

movable, or it moves in two directions more orless slowly and constantly. The air pilot,howe"er, has three dimension8 at his disposalin which he can move unhindered at the greatestpossible speed and with swift change of direc·tion. The darkness of night affords 'him addedprotection.

It needs no further explanation that to shootdown an airplane with a.rtillery from the groundis one of the most difficult problems known intechnical warfare. Anyone who has ever beenout shooting knows that he must aim slightlyahead of a bird in flight if he wants to hit it.And the calculation of this aimillg ahead-inrespect of altitude, direction, and distance-isthe alpha and omega of antiaircraft firing.Even the fast-moving AA shells require up tohalf a minute to reach planes at high altitudes.At a flying speed of 400 kilometers per bour(or no meters per second), this means that theshell has to be aimed 3.3 kilometers ahead!This, moreover, takes for granted that theplane does not change its altitude, its speed,or its direction. Should it change its altitude,it becomes necessary to aim ahead at the newaltitude too; should it change direction, thecurve must be taken into account; and if itshould change its speed, a,1I calculatiolls foraiming ahead must be adjusted accordingly.

Thus from the route of the plane underobservation, the route must bc calculated whidlthe plane is likely to take durillg the time theshell is rushing up. Should the pilot changehis direction even very slightly in anyone ofthe thrce dimensions, the shot will miss itstarget.

The Flak tackles these problems with t111~

utmost accuracy b)' mean of a complicatedautomatic calculating apparatull. A calcula­tion which, with the aid of logarithm tables andhigher mathematics, might perhaps be carrieuout within an hour for one point of the route,is carried out constantly for every instant ofthe plane's route by this automatic equipment.For every point at which the plane happens tobe, a target point is obtained by a combinatiollof the various factors affecting the aim. Whilethe binoculars attached to the calculator followthe target, the barrelB of the guns point farahead at the spot where the phme will beaccording to these calculations. At njgbl,when mist or clouds prevent the searchlight,.;from spotting the target, another apparatus illemployed which spots the invisible planes andin turn-but without optical aids-calculatesthe route they take.

The ca,nnona are connected with the calculllt­ing apparatus by cables and are directedelectrically. so that the 8,rtilleri!!ts at theirwheels and lenrs have only to follow t.ht·indicators exactly.