Without proper warning or defenses, there will be 50,000 dead in Ne wOrleans if an atom bomb hits here, an expert said yesterday.
And the city is probably on any potential enemy's list of important targets, he said.
The expert is Dr. Joseph Cohen, who was commanding officer of the medical corps in the European Theater of Operations, in charge of 21 major hospitals. He is a New Orleans physician and member of the Executives Club, which he addressed at a luncheon meeting at the Roosevelt.
Dr. Cohen attended high briefing sessions in Washington on the effects of atomic warfare and has lectured to military groups.
His observations about the danger to New Orleans were part of a general lecture on the known and
;he unknown elements of atomic warfare, now only five years "old."
THINKING CHANGING
"From the point of view of war potential,'* he said, "ours is a very mportant city. The potential enemy would like to put us oui of commission. That's one reason we should all get behind our leaders to organize a good defense."
At another point he said "the best defense is a good offense, as|n football. The best place to break up the play is to tackle the quarterback before he passes the bal to the halfback, and behind his own line."
Dr. Cohen said he had observed a "change in thinking" among highly placed military and diplo matic leaders in Washington sine 1949, tending more toward th idea of preventive warfare.
"Up until recently our thinkin was that we would never attacl anyone. Among highly placed peo pie in Washington—the Army, th Navy, the State Dept, and I talke to many—there wasn't a single individual who would have suggested we drop the bomb first. Lately there are some who think otherwise."
PICKS TARGET
Members asked if he thought an atomic attack would come in the form of a bomb burst in the river. Dr. Cohen said he did not agree. He said an air burst over cities did the greatest damage.
"I personally, if I were planning strategy, would select Canal and Rampart street," he said. "That way you'd get all medical installations—Charity Hospital, Tulane and LSU medical schools, the new vet-rans hospital, Hotel Dieu, parts f Touro and Baptist Hospitals— nd the maximum confusion and umber of fatalities would re-ult."
If a bomb strikes New Orleans," e said, "the doctors here couldn't ielp much. Most of us wouldn't ver know it had hit. Houston or Baton Rouge would have to come o our rescue."
He said it was foolish to talk of etting up blood banks and gauze nd dressing station here because he chances were these would be wiped out in a blast.
Dr. Cohen said that if the city had advance warning of a bombing attack, most of the 50,000 potential fatalities could probably be pre-vented, if the population had ex-pert defense training. But he said that under civilian control, the whole national defense program has seriously lagged.
He said it was a mistake to exclude the military from defense of civilian populations.
Dr. Cohen urged that this country build a ring of radar stations around all borders. Advance knowledge of only a few minutes enables populations to get the kind of emergency protection that prevents flash burns. Almost nothing can be done for those in a four-
square mile area under the blast, he said, if they are in the open. But three Japanese workmen in a tunnel at Hiroshima, right below the burst, survived uninjured, he said.
If a bomb run was made over the downtown area, he said, the safest thing would be to run into a big store and lie on the floor away from windows, said Dr. Cohen.
