Preparing for War

An air raid drill brought apparatus ranging from a hook and ladder and eight ambulances to four garbage trucks, two snowplows, and a paddy wagon to Cambridge Common yesterday afternoon.

Over a hundred spectators tied up traffic on Garden Street to watch firemen, policemen, the Red Cross, and Cambridge city officials participate in the disaster drill. This mobilization of the Civilian Defense units followed Congressional recommendations to test the efficiency of such a practice in peacetime.

Only a few officers knew of the plans before the first alarm at 2:16 p.m. The fire trucks reached the scone in a minute and a half, but a Central Square policemen said it took their unit almost 20 minutes.

Martin F. Nolan, acting director of the Cambridge City Hospital termed the drill, "a simulated incident."