To drive home how enormously more horrible the next World War will be than its predecessor, Professor Haldane cited cold figures: «Between January 1917 and November 1918, German aeroplanes dropped 71 tons of bombs on England. These killed 837 people. . . . On March 16-19, 1938, 41 tons of bombs were dropped on Barcelona by German and Italian aeroplanes. They killed about 1,300 people.»
Thus, had the bombing of Barcelona continued at this maximum intensity for even one full week, both the total weight of bombs dropped and the total casualties in this city would have considerably exceeded what all England suffered in its worst 95 weeks of actual war. Measured thus coldly, the «horrors of bombing» have increased in 20 years nearly 10,000%.
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«The first air raids may not be on Central London at all but on the traffic jams around it,» warns Professor Haldane. «In Spain, at any rate, the German airmen seem to prefer to attack concentrated traffic, whether on wheel or on foot, rather than to bomb buildings, when they have the choice. … In Barcelona one dives for the nearest shelter, leaving one’s car in the street with the ignition key in place, so that it may be used by officials if necessary. … I would far rather be in Central London during a big air raid than in a traffic jam on the Barnet Bye-Pass or the Great West Road.»