Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-01
OBSERVER REVEALS
BIG GERMAN ARMY
French Writer Declares Well
Trained Force Organized
by Gen. Won Seeckt.
BY PAUL SCOTT MowRER.

BY PAUL SCOTT MOwRER.
~ Radio to The Star.
PARIS. France, August IAN army
of fully trained, handsomely equipped
professional soldiers soc, 900 strong,
with an ardent spirit and organized for
o lightning offensive into enemy terri
tory If war occurs-such is the mill
tary power now at Germany's DISPOSE
ton, according to revelations in what
appears to be a carefully documented
article in the magazine Mercure de
France.
Although this article is anonymous, it
obviously was written by French oficer
having presumably full access to the
nles of the French general stan.
The story of how Gen. Won Seeckt,
former head of the Reichswehr, de-
liberately set out to get around the
treaty of Versailles and restore Ger
many to her high rank as military
power forms a remarkable tribute to
German skill and determination.
Best Type Of Army.
Gen. Won Seeckt's plan seemingly
reaches btllS yCdAs bOAlSAd-
ing thus with the allied evacuation of
the Rhineland. The revelations, If cor
roborated. will go far toward explaining
the mysteries both of Germany's under
standing with Russia and of Germany's
heavy-laden military budget.
THE allies" Gen. Won Seeckt de-
clared. have imposed upon Germany q
type of army best fitted for the next
war"
In other words, he thinks conscrip-
ton cumbersome and obsolete and pre-
fers highly trained professional army
The principal revelations OF the Mer-
cure article are as follows:
The German general staff, abolished
by the treaty Of Versailles, has been
completely reconstructed under other
names. The War College, also abol-
ished. has been reorganiZed and Is func-
tioning continually in secret bureaus
kriegspiel on maps and excursions to
frontier regions four times year.
Ex-oficers Organized.
Also $4,000 World War officers still
under SIS years of age have been or
ganizsd privately and receive continual
instruction from the staff.
The immediate mobilization strength
of the German army, according to the
Won Seeckt plan, is three armies, or
10 corps, including in all 20 divisions
of infantry and 10 of cavalry. Thus
there is a total of 5000 men, as
follows-1O00 900 Reichswehr, 10000
Schutzpolizei and 100000 Reichswehr
trained reserves.
Nearly all of these men have been
carefully selected by patriotic societies,
which have a personnel bureau in the
general staff building. They are i'm
hsrn <@y-1 anIl fTnn i'm rNf thRA
SchutZpoli0ei, with an ardent reaction
airy spirit, and are determined to re-
store Germany'S former frontiers soon
er or later.
Virtually all the Reichswehr and 81
per cent of the Schutzpolizei would full
ill special services such as cyclists, mo-
tor cyclists, telegraphers, signalers, arm
ored car personnel, engineers and am
bulance drivers. They are already fully
trained and equipped for this purpose.
Men Substituted.
The Reichswehr's reserves have been
obtained by secret subStitutions of men
under the same name. The treaty re-
quired l2-year enlistments, but 1t Is eS-
timated that 900 men have been
passed through the Reichswehr in the
last 10 years, after several years of
thorough training. These reserves
have been given government subsidies
and government jobs, so that little by
little their influence is permeating ali
the government departments.
Complete industrial mobilization has
been prepared, factories have been
widely subsidized and a gas service has
been secretly perfected
Each division has "a 3-inch guns and
IL 4-inch guns. BY secret agreement,
armored cars and heavy artillery have
been built for the German army in
Russia under German supervision and
these can be delivered at any time on
two weeks notice.
A large number of automobiles for
transport has been insured by SUBJ
sides to manufacturers for meeting
Army requirements in ordinary cars
Similarly aviation, which plays a large
part in the general STATS plans, will
be recruited from heavily subsidized
commercial services. The German staff
has abandoned the idea of specialized
planes and wants all aviation to be
interchangeable and available instantly
for scouting liaison, bombardment or
transporting men and munitions. Its
only requirement is that the planes as
far as possible must be all-metal, giving
armored protection to occupants from
enemy fire.
Strategic Roads Built.
Strategic roads have been built and
eight big airports have been established
along the Rhine opposite France and
Belgium.
According to the new German war
doctrine, mobilization would be ex-
tremely rapid and the entire army
would strike at once, not in long line,
but against a given point or points in
the enemy's territory, with the purpose
of penetrating quickly and disorganizing
the enemyS mobilization and breaking
his morale.
The infantry would smash through
and large bodies of cavalry would ex-
plot the opening. II strong resistance
was met, masses of airplanes dropping
bombs would replace the heavy artil-
lery. Troops would be transported by
automobile right onto the battlefield.
It would only take one hour for troop
trains to cross the demilitarized Rhine
land to the French frontier.
The way Germany is looking Is in
dicated to the author of the Mercure
article by the alleged fact that most of
Germany's military information serv-
ice has been working in France, where,
for example, most detailed information
has been sought regarding every factory
which might make war supplies so that
these could be promptly bombed.
The author concludes that the Ger
man Army right now is equal to the
best of European armies" and that Ger
many is getting ready for revenge"
Copyright, ls3o)