Evening star., 1924-02-22
ny CONSTANTINE BROWN,


D&fly News
PARIS. France, January 20.-The
treaty of Versailles allows Germany
only seven artillery regiments and
an equal number of pioneer bat
talions. This shortcoming has been
met by attaching to each infantry
and cavalry regiment number of
artillery. engineer and flying corps
officers. Each German regiment has
at least one, and in most cases two
or three artillery captains and one or
two trained engineer officers, and
most of the infantry regiments have
, one or two ayiators. Since the mill
tary aviation was abolished and most
of the artillery and engineer regi-
ments Were suppressed, officers be-
longing to those units were sent to
various infantry and cavalry regi-
mentS.
The number of available soldiers in
Germany who fought in the great war
is conservatively estimated at 6.000,-
600. During the war Germany raised
12.000,O00 men. OF this number
3,0o0.oO0 We're either killed or perma,
rently dis "hled. 100000 are now
too old to fight. about another 1,000,-
600 are in the occupied or annexed
regions and the others are in Ger
many ready to answer the first call.
German Man Power.
Today Germany'S man power may
be summed up as follows: An official
army of 100000 men tnot including
the police force) as allowed by the
peace treaty; in less than three weeks
another 100000 men could be mobi-
lZed and supplied with the necessary
small arms and ammunition: about
5,5t0.OO0 men could be mobilized and
put in fighting trim in short time
ii the German government could de-
wise some means of supplying them
with war materiel.
But a modern war cannot be fought
With men alone. An army without
airplaneS and an unlimited number of
shells is useless. And there is no
doubt that the German army today is
lacking in necessary material to wage
war successfully against France. A
commission of disarmament is still in
Germany. This commission, which is
supposed to see that Germany is real
ly disarmed, is formed of French. Brit
ish, Italian and Belgian officers. The
British say the Germans are COM
pIetely disarned; the French claim
otherwise.
The Germans have the possibility of
obtaining guns either by purchasing
them abroad or by making them in
since the French occupied the Ruhr
and the Kfupp factories Germany'S
possibility cf making war material
has been pil. This. however, accord
ing to foreign and German experts,
is an error. Krupp was not so all
important for the German armament
as people were led to believe. In the
Guadrangle-Berlin. Dresden, Erfurt,
Hanover-there can be made at least
as many guns and other war material
~,
100000 men.
start New Factories.
During and especially since the war
small new factories have sprung up
rauidly in this district. According to
reliable report there are today in this
quadrangle at least $50 factories capa-
bile OF manufacturing everything from
rifles to tanks
No one factory makes a complete
arm. one makes the barrel. another
, makes the breech. q third makes
something else, and all the parts art.
assembled in four or five assembling
plants, the location OF which is kept
secret.
For the time being the output of
these factories is small, because they
do not want to rouse the suspicion of
the allies and also because they lack
raw material. But this quadrangle
Berlin. Dresden, Erfhrt, Hanover-is
so important in the eyes of the Ger
man military authorities that an Off
Ger of high rank stated that 1.-The last
drop of blood, of the German people
would be shed in defense OF that Sec
ton OF the country
Has Few Airplanes.
Garmany's greatest military handi-
cap is her deficient Aviation. Official
! " there are no military airplaneS
left in Germany. The government,
however, has managed to conceal Il
'ew fighting planes in Bavaria and
East Prussia.
This is quite true" former mil
itary aviator. now the head of a Ger
man airplane- manufacturing firm,
told me. I'VE might have ten or
fifteen machines, but, though / am
not a coward, / would not dare go up
in such machines. 1t would be sheer
folly. What is an out-of-date air
plane which has been buried for
years? Besides, what are fifteen or
twenty or even fifty airplanes against
Il thousand French planes?"
OF course, it is not difficult to trans
form commercial plane into a fight
ing plane if it was built with that
in view. But German civil aviation
boasts of no more than $50 machines
and lack of funds prevents that in
dustry from developing rapidly.
1t IS suggested. however that Ger