ARMING FOR WAR.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4729, 25 July 1924, Page 4

ARMING FOR WAR.

SECBET PLANS OF GEBMAM. GRAVE FRENCH WARNING. ( By G. Ward Price, in the “Daily Mail.”) The articles recently published revealing the extent of the secret military preparations of Germany have received much attention in France. They have raised the urgent question of whether these armaments, organised by Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, arc sufficient to enable her to wage a war of aggression.

On this vital point 1 have been able, during a visit to Paris, to obtain an opinion of high authority. It may be read as faithfully representing the views held in the quarter best qualified to express a judgment, It embodies all the knowledge and observation of the military situation in Germany amassed since the armistice, Briefly, the survey of the situation with regard to Germany which I have received may be summarised ais follows : Germany is arming for war, and will continue to do so. The Allies cannot prevent her. Experience has proved that it is impossible to re--strain the activities or a big nation within its own borders.. What is possible with a Balkan State is impiacticable with Germany. THE VERSAILLES MISTAKE. The mistake of the Treaty of Versailles was that it based Allied security upon the maintenance of a degree of weakness in our defeated enemies. No control, by the League of Nations or any other body, can make that weakness permanent, especially with a nation of the resources and character of Germany. By the time .the controlling body is aware of the danger the Germans will be strbng enough to defy its authority. But Germany will never make war on the Allies so long as she is obliged to start hostilities upon her own territory ; that is to say, so long as the Allies hold the Rhine. “Is the German system of sparetime .training adequate for the purposes of modern war ?” 1 asked. The reply was : It provides all that is necessary. Present-day armies consist rather of armaments than of troops. The is the adjunct of the machine. The 4 men most familiar with machines, therefore, are the most apt to make good modern soldiers* Workmen in Krupp’s factory Who manufacture a gun are capable at short notice of being formed into a crew to serve it. Tn days of short-range battles and close fighting discipline of a kind made possible only by long training was indispensable. At present intelligence and familiarity with mechanical implements are all that is required. IF WE LEAVE THE RHINE. .

The highly-trained regular army and police of Germany are competent to supply the element of command ; the native skill of her workmen and

the warlike spirit infused into them by countless secret ® societies are enough ■. to provide rank and file of the fl'-st class. “Must the danger of a renewed German offensive be considered immediate, then ?” “It would become so the moment we renounced the guarantees which the Peace Treaties of 1919 gave us,” wa>s the answer. “While we are on the Rhine the Germans could start a fresh war only under the condition pf its being fought on their territory. But they know too well how terrible would be the destruction wrought by perfected weapons to take that chance. “That is why the Germans are at present straining every nerve to get the Allies out of the Rhineland at the earliest possible moment. The prospect of creating devastation bn their own territory gives them pause.

“Some people put-their trust in the fact that Germany can hardly possess at present big guns, aeroplanes, and tanks in large quantities.” I ventured.

“Six months after we have evacuated the Ruhr that lack will be fully repaired. In a few months from the beginning of the last war Britain transformed herself from a country of peaceful industry into one of the greatest munition manufacturing areas in the world. Germany could repeat that process on an infinitely larger scale and with infinitely greater speed. Her plans to that end are laid already.” CENTRAL EUROPE BLOCK. Even the retention of the guard of the Rhine by the Allies is not an absolute guarantee against the firut stage of German aggression, it was pointed out. The rearmed German nation may well determine, to try its new-cut teeth upon its neighbours to the east and south. The “corridor of Danzig,” barring off Germany from East Prussia, is temptation lying right at the Germans’ back door. “Remember,” I was told, “that from the Allied point of view Russia no longer exists. But for Russia, we should- have been overwhelmed in 1914. Now there is no, Russia to engage Germany in the rear.. That is why everything possible should be done to build up Poland, feeble in proportion though she must always be as a substitute.”

The danger is that by conquest or threat Poland, Lithuania, and Czeecbo-Slovakia may be forced into the enemy camp. It will then be easy for Germany to link up once more with Austria and Hungary, creating a united Central European block of 70,000,000 Germans as powerful and more vicious than before. “Easy-going illusions and vain confidence in the good intentions of the German- people will end .only in the sudden awakening to a war far moreterrible than the last.” Such is the warning given by one to whom high respect is due.

The technical ability of General von Seeckt, the German Commander-in-Chief, is fully realised by Frenchmen best equipped to judge of it. His silent, secret, persistent preparation of another army for Germany is re-

cognised as highly -efficient. And his task, 1 am told, is nearing completion. Against the danger one sure safeguard is urged.- It is the retention of an Allied garrison on the Rhine, supported by a solemn and public pledge among the Allied Governments to guarantee '‘nd defend each othei against any attempt by force to break down the frontiers the Peace Treaty has set up.