Evening star., 1936-09-12

Continued From First Page)
role one year or 18 months service is
not sufficient to teach the young con-
scripts the art Of warfare.
Training Too Intensive.
IF We had not put soldiers in our
new barracks" said a high ranking
officer, I'VE would have had to make
them into insane asylums and f1ll
them with officers. Our field officers
were beginning to break down under
the strain. You simply cannot teach
men these days the intricacies of the
modern weapons in one year. The
men are overworked and learn moth
ing and the officers undergo such a
nervous strain that they are no good
for anything"
IL Months More Needed.
But, none the less, the new law
which was promulgated Immediately
after Germany agreed to place an
embargo on arms exports to the
Spanish rebels does give Germany in
peace time something like 100 divi-
sions at about 13,500 men each. To
make them ready for war it will take
the German general staff at least
another II months. The present force
of Germany is more than ample to
defend the borders of the country
against an attack of any possible
combination of powers, but it is not
quite sufficient for offensive purposes.
The aviation arm, which is said to
be between $500 to 5000 machines
strong, is the great enigma which
every military attache would like to
solve. 1t is known that the German
planes are not perfect. There have
been many accidents and hundreds OF
pilots have been killed-nobody got
excited about it; it's all in the game
because the construction Of the ma
chimes was too haSty and the motors
not perfect. The Germans are still
purchasing motors in Great Britain
and the United States and it is said
that in the last few months things
have improved substantially and every
thing will run smoothly henceforth.
The young officers, pilots and squad
ron leaders are good, but there still is
a great deficiency in the higher ranks
in the staff.
Naval Progress Slow.
The progress Of the navy has been
particularly slow. Destroyers launched
thrnn
to the wharfs at Kiel waiting for the
engines. 1t is true that the German
units are going to revolutionize naval
construction. For years German en-
gineerS have been working at new
types of ships and new engines. The
world will be surprised when the
latest German warships are ready,
but the German naval department
does not seem to be in hurry. The
present navy is sufficient to deal with
whatever naval forces the Soviets may
have. And for any other eventuality,
the navy department is in no hurry.
1t is proceeding methodically.
Hitler believes that it is matter
of political prophylaxis to destroy
the MOSCOW regime. He is fanatic on
the subject and no power in the world
can induce him to change his mind.
The generals agree with him on this
subject, for different reasons.
The mentality of the German Off
GERS has not changed since 1914. The
last war was merely lesson in STRAIT
egy for them. Student Wilhelm made
mistakes in his homework. His sue
cessors have taken up the same home
work, looked over the corrections in
red ink which the allied powers have
made on the thesis, and, having no.
ticed the errors, are now taking up
the same subject, but will avoid max
ing the same mistakes. One of the
fundamental mistakes which Student
Wilhelm made, they say, was to rush
headlong into war without having
properly prepared for it. The new
men of Germany realize that in order
to be successful they must defeat their
opponents piecemeal. The first op-