Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-01
FORGERY REVEALS
TRUE ARMY PACT
Franco-BeIgian Military Ac-
cord Is Not Secret Treaty,
However.
BY the Associated Press.

by the Associated FTeSS.
BRUSSELS, Belgium, April For
eign policies of the United States
and Great Britain, together with evacu-
alton of the Rhineland by France, Bel
GUM and England, received attention
in the diplomatic stir which followed
recent publication by a newspaper of
Utrecht, Holland, of forged secret
Franco Belgian military agreement"
The incident has passed so far as off,
cial discussion is concerned, but 1t served
to bring out the true military status
that exists between this country and
France.
Hinges on Close of War.
The whole thing goes back to the
close of the World War. President VIII
son made a suggestion aimed at guar
anteeing France, Belgium and England
against any future German aggression,
but the United States Government did
not follow this Subsequently Great
Britain refused to bind herself in a
similar engagement toward France and
Belgium.
These policies caused France and Bel
GUM to come to an understanding on
the subject, but they framed it with the
idea of meeting the limitations imposed
by the covenant of the League OF Ma
tionS and deposited at Geneva the eX-
changes by which this agreement was
ratified.
The whole agreement appears in a
paragraph of identically worded letters
which passed between Prime Minister
Delacroix and Paul Emile JanSon, min
lister of national defense of Belgium. on
the one hand, and President Millerand
of France on the other. The Belgian
letter to the French Presidnt said:
Aim Was to Enforce Security.
eve have the honor to inform your
excellency that the Belgian government
have given their agreement to the mill
tary accord, the text of which was
signed September Z, 1920, by Marshal
Foch, Gen. Maglinse, chief of staff Of
the Belgian army. and Gen. Buat, chief
of staff of the French army, acting in
behalf of their respective governments.
The aim of this agreement is to re-
inforce the guarantees for peace and
security that result from the League OF
Nations pact.
ut is a matter. of course, that the
sovereignty of both countries remains
intact, as to the military charges i'm
posed on the two respective countries
as we'll as to the appreciation, in every
case, of the realization of the eventualtty
in view of which the present accord Is
concluded"
Files Guarded
Like all agreements of this type, this
called for determination by the inter
ested military stats of the technical
problems that might arise. Every army
staff in the world has files Of such
plans. They are jealousy guarded, but
the eventual enemy always tries to dis
cover their contents, frequently by
means which are not in accordance
with fair play.
Before the war, for example. the
French, Belgian and English stats ex-
changed technical views. They became
known as the Barnardiston conven-
tons because of the name of the then
English military attache and when the
Germans in 1914 found them in the
Belgian archives, they used them IN
their propaganda campaign to demon
strate that Belgium had given up her
neutrality long before the war.
Yet the true 1920 Franco-Belgian
treaty had more than the usual amount
of publicity. AS late as January. 1928,
Gen. Gallet, chief of the Belgian stall,
discussed it before a legislative COM
mittee which was examining new law
dealing with military service, saying:
BeIgians Deny Secrecy.
January. 1880. when the second zone
of occupation in Germany will have
been evacuated, will see the whole OF
our eastern border open once more.
I'm the first days of mobilization the
Belgian covering forces concentrated
along the border will amount to six
divisions 100000 mem. The second
period corresponds with the arrival of
the first allied divisions to help our
own first line troops. The last stage
corresponds with concentration of the
six divisions of the active army, to-
gether with six Belgian reserve divisions
Of active and reserve troops"
Belgian authorities have all along
emphasized that the various publica-
tons of this agreement prove conclu-
sively that there is no secrecy about
Belgian determination to defend itself
against aggreSskn. They also point to
Ger Gallets statement as showing that
the mention of 100000 Belgian troops
in the Utrecht forgery was gross exag-
geration.