Local Air Defense

a system of defense measures taken by local authorities in order to protect the population and the national economy from enemy air attacks.

This type of protection was first implemented in World War I (1914–18). In the 1920’s and 1930’s local air defense systems were established in many European states. In the USSR the system of local air defense was organized on Oct. 4, 1932, as a centralized all-Union organization. Local air defense units were set up in big cities; at important industrial, transportation, and communications facilities; and in institutions, schools, and residential areas. Local air defense personnel carried out the great task of building shelters, training the population in protection from air and chemical attacks, and training large units for rescue and emergency repair and restoration work.

In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) local air defense measures were carried out on a vast scale, and defense units of various sizes were formed; these units disarmed a great number of air bombs and artillery shells, put out tens of thousands of fires and prevented many potential fires, restored hundreds of railroad bridges, prevented accidents, and rendered medical help to at-tack victims. In view of the development of nuclear weapons and missiles and the significant increase in the destructive capabilities of aviation and other means of warfare, the local air defense system in the USSR was transformed in 1961 into the civil defense system.