Evening star., 1935-04-14
GERMAN THREAT TOPPLES
FRENCH DEFENSE PLAN
Movement Of Troops to Border lndi-
Gates Collapse of Idea to
Encircle Reich.
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

days ago reporting that three
French corps had been moved
- to the Franco-Germa from
tier served as the occasion Of
no little speculation and discussion on
this side of the Atlantic. where this
STEP was naturally but inexactly iden-
tified as indicative of approaching
hostilities. Actually, at least so far
as France was concerned. it was quite
the opposite, since it demonstrated
that the French were contemplating
no offensive move
What happened was that the
French hign command at last sue
ceeded at what Marshal Petain and
many other only less famous French
soldiers have been trying to achieve
for at least year. Relying upon the
demilitarized zone established west of
the Rhine by the Treaty of Versailles
and upon the restrictions also placed
upon the size of German military
forces, French ministries have avoided
any large concentration of troops in
the east, although they have con-
structed the famous trench line from
Switzerland to Luxembourg.
This system Of Notifications is not,
however. continuous: several gaps are
left deliberately, like those in the pre-
war system which extended from Bel
fort to Verdun. Into these gaps the
Germans were, in effect, invited to
thrust their heads and encounter at
tack on both sides. That was what
happened to the Bavarian Crown
Prince in August and September, 1914,
when he tried to thrust through be-
tween Toul and Epinal and was
heavily repulsed in the gap of
Charmes."
Effectiveness Doubted.
In the main the old French system
was not truly tested because the Ger
mans took the Belgian route, only to
be beaten eventually at the Marne
Today the character of war has some
what changed and there is a growing
doubt in the French mind as to the
wisdom Of the gap" system, because
armies have become SO completely
mechanized and motorized that a sud-
den offensive might permit mobile
German force to thrust through one
OF the gaps and disorganize the whole
French defense and communication
system from the rear.
The French have, therefore, moved
up their best-trained forces to gar
rison the whole system of defenses
and to be prepared to deal with any
sudden raid by relatively small but
magnifcently trained and equipped
force. The French do not fear, natu-
rally, that Germany will use the new
army now to be created in any gran
diose operation this year or next, for
they know it will not be ready. They
do feel, however, that they have to be
prepared to deal with an operation by
Q force already in being and likely to
be co-ordinated with some huge gas
attack from the air.
Obviously, what the French believe
Is that war may come without even
recourse to the fashioned method
OF solemn declaration. They expect
that Germany will act presently with
out warning Henceforth it is for
them a possibility to be reckoned
with that at any moment joint
offensive of aircraft and motorized
ground forces Is literally approaching.
The troops who will occupy the frontier
defenses are being sent to the posts
they are expected to defend, because
the French government has at last
accepted the word of it's soldiers that
not only is a rush" attack possible,
but also that it might succeed unless
the forces necessary to repulse it are
always actually on the job.
War Is Expected.
Significant almost beyond all else
in these circumstances is the light it
casts upon the state of mind of gov
ernmentS and peoples all over Europe.
The expectation of war is universal.
There is q rush to ornaments in all
countries. But the conviction that
the inevitable war will come suddenly
by an act of premeditated but un-
heralded violence is just as general.
In 1914 war came more than month
after Serajevo and at least full week
during which diplomacy was publicly
and patiently trying to prevent Ca
tastrophe whose imminence was ap-
parent to all.
But no one in Europe expects that
war will come that way again. Few,
in fact, expect there will be any
declaration whatever. For, as Japan
has disclosed in the Manchurian af-
fair, the only important effect of
the Kellogg pact, designed to get
nations to renounce war as an in
strument of policy, was to persuade
countries to renounce declarations as
q prelude to aggression. What the
French, the Belgians, the Czechs, the
Austrians and the Italians see in
the future is a sudden attack on their
several frontiers, perhaps coming in
. moment Of apparent calm like the
period before Serajevo. perhaps in
the midst of a new crisis like that
attending the Austrian putsch last
Summer.
The result Is that all these countries
are going to keep their forces at
the frontiers, instead of scattered far
away among the remoter provinces.
ALI, too, while relying on the system
Of conscription to provide numbers,
are going to build themselves small
motorized and mechanical forces to
encounter the first thrust of Germany.
For If that first thrust got home,
then the whole mobilization and con-
centration of the country invaded
would be demoralized.
Screen Mobilization.
OF course, the primary mission of
frontier guards, covering troops" as
the French call them. is not to ad-
vance but to stand still. These troops
are intended to constitute a screen
behind which the great field armies
In effect, each country's finest-con-
centrate after having mobilized. In
August, 1914, both the French and
Germans were on guard against such
raids, then made by cavalry, which
would upset mobilization, but Ger
many attempted no raids, and the
French cavalry, exhausted in futile
were well nigh useless
when the German advance began.
Today observation will be largely
from the air, while as a fighting arm
tanks have replaced cavalry. Since,
however, German military defense has
been thrown back of the Rhine and
for the present the demilitarized zones
=. ~.,r+ Carooony will hove IN mo-