OBSERVATION POSTS
THE CRITICAL YEARS, by General Baron Geyr von Schweppenburg; Allan Wingate. English price, 22/6. FPROM April, 1933, to October, 1937, General von Schweppenburg was the German military attaché in London, the first to hold that appointment since the 1914-18 war. From this observation post he sent frequent warnings to his chiefs in Germany about the strength of the British forces, especially in the air, and the strategic aims of the British General Staff. He made a trip to Egypt in 1937 "to find out as much as I could about the opposing strengths of the Italian and British forces in North Africa in case of war on the Western Frontier of Egypt." In Belgium, where he held an appointment similar to that in London, "it was my duty to learn all I could" about the country’s defence system, "upon which offensive operations by the Western Powers might be based." On a holiday in France he noted, and reported, that roads of strategic importance were being widened to serve both for aggression and. for defence. "He is careful to point out right at the start of his memoirs that a military attaché is not a spy; but he was a particularly shrewd observer and knew what to look for. However, Hitler had already made up his mind that Britain would not fight, and the attaché’s warning despatches and pessimistic appreciations made him unpopular, with the German Government. The war showed the truth in many of his predictions.
W.A.
G.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 728, 26 June 1953, Page 13
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250OBSERVATION POSTS New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 728, 26 June 1953, Page 13
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