Evening star., 1932-09-11
By COUNT EBERHARD wEsTARP.
.N HE disarmament conference ano

TIME disarmament conference and
Germany's demand-not for
equality of ornaments. but for
i the same right on armaments-
have caused many discussions
about the actual strength of various
European armies. The proposals for
disa -Inament made so far seem to
prote that many people do not realize
how modern armies are to be set up
and that an army's peace strength
does not allow definice conclusions as
to the war preparations OF country
in ether words, that reduction Of the
peace strength in one way or the other
does not mean by itself disarmament.
The reason for this misconception is
that. the fundamental requirements for
a modern army are not well known
enough.
If it is said. for instance, that the
German soldier with q IL years active
service is of greater value in war
than the French conscript after one
years service, it is to be admitted that
this statement is perfectly correct. The
fact, however, that France has pre-
scribed such system to Germany that
she objected, so far at least, to any
change of it and that the French gov
ernm ent has not adopted the same sys-
tenn, shows conclusiveiy that the Ger
man professional system must have dis
advantages, in spite of the superiority
of the individual German soldier.
Mechanization of Armies.
Two factors have influenced the or
ganization of modern armies. One Is
the experience of the World War, un-
less q decision can be reached within
short time a war is bound to be-
come a war of exhaustion. God save
us from another war; but, first of all,
from a long one, in which again
masses will be put against masses and
which that country will win that is
finally less exhausted than her enc
mics, but anyway economically, hnan-
cially, morally as well as to its man
power. A ready army that can be
brought into action within a few days,
or even in a shorter time, that carries
the war into the enemy's country, is,
therefore, the first requirement.
The second factor is mechanization
and motorization of today's armies. The
technical service and the application
of machines on the battlefield require
better and longer training of each in
dividual. They require high quality in
the men. Longer active service, how"
ever, prohibits training of correspond.
| ing greater amount of recruits. Here
is the great problem that came up with
the establishment of modern armies
and which has always played more
or less important part in history. How
much of quality can be sacrificed in
| favor of quantity and reversedly? The
longer the service the better the train
| ing, the shorter the active service, the
greater the quantity of reservists.
Regardless of all minor differences
between modern armies, this problem
has been solved everywhere on the basis
of two classes of soldiers-the profess
sionals with longer active service and
the conscripts of the militia with a
short or periodical active service. The
longer service of the professionals Is to
satisfy the demand for quality, while
the shorter training of many reServists
is to meet the requirement Of quantity.
In all countries, therefore, which have
| freedom as to their elf-protection, the
army is, in the first place, training
school for the reservists, and in the
second place a reservoir for the pro-
| fessionalS.
Solution In France.
The organization of the French army
| IS to be considered as the best solution
Of quality against quantity and is,
therefore, to be described more in de-
tail as general example 1t consists
of the field army which is organized
for use in two waves. The first wave,
26 infantry divisions and five cavalry
| divisions, of which eight white divisions,
five colored divisions and the cavalry
divisions will be ready for action within
few hours and can be concentrated
, at the border after one or two days.
Six Of these divisions quartered along
the German frontier are in peace time
already almost on war strength.
Twenty reserve divisions to be estab-
lished within six or eight days would
form the second wave of the field army
In addition to those some colored di-
visions from North Africa may also be
used to reinforce the field army.
Under its protection the further mo-
bilization will be carried out, and it is
to be expected, that about 20 divisions
more might be organized in case of war
within about three weeks, so that within
this length of time about 10 Infantry
and 5 Cavalry divisions, 100000 white
and 100000 colored men, would be
| available with auxiliary troops and all
| necessary war equipment, which, of
course here ac uypll oc IN oil otbor