Evening star., 1938-03-20
SERIOUS DEFECTS
|NCzECHDEFENSE
Republic Is Vulnerable to
Sudden Attack From
Germany.
BY IRA WOLFERT

NEW YORK. March 19 (NAN.A0.
in the Europe that is galloping of
to war in all directions at once.
Czechoslovakia. nation born in Pitts
burgh, Pa, and known here chiefly
through the trade mark on cheaper
crockery. has drawn the assignment
from the French military staff of
standing off one-fourth of the huge
German war machine
The union of Austria and Germany
makes this 'picture-book' nation S
assignment more difficult. Its mill
tary men concentrated on fortifying
the north and west, where Germany
lay. Today Germany lies on the south
as well, where the line of defense is
not so impregnable. and Czechoslo-
vakla, a tender, juicy nut whose meat
is strategic and material cit got 70
per cent of the industrial structure of
the old Austro- Hungarian empirel
trenbles in the still gaping jaws of
nut-craCker.
There never has been any Ques-
ton in the military mind that,
wherever the first blow in the next
war starts from, it Will land on Czecho-
vakla. The land of the Czechs and
Slovaks has been. ever since Roman
times, the military crossroads of the
continent.
Stage Set for Tragedy.
Thus the stage is set for tragedy
CzechoSloVakla, with the undeclared
war of the quick thrust in mind
drawing one-fourth of the burden of
stemming Germany. France assum-
ing one-half and Russia. separated
from the scene of other states the rest
The question is how adequately
Czechoslovakia. in face of the new
conditions, will be able to play its
ferocious role
Along CzeChoslovakla' S mountainous
frontiers Germany and Austria, def
nltely unfrlendly, stretch for 1850
miles, while Hungary, another COM
pletely unfriendly state. firm in the
German orbit. takes up another 500
miles. Poland, dictatorship which
has renamed sullen toward Czecho-
slovakia and the little entente, oc-
cupies about $50 miles of its frontier
Runanla, its only borderland friend
although there is no military treaty
between them, touches Czechoslovakia
for only 100 mountainous miles.
To guard these brlstling frontiers
Czechoslovakia has a standisg army
Of 100000 men and about 100000
Well-traned reserves. AS of August
1887, it had 566 front-line planes. The
flying school has an additional 14l
planes used for instruction. The bulk
OF these planes is of the light combat
variety, and there is a notorious def.
cheney in heavy bombers. Old Fokkers
and French Blochs are still lumber.
ing through the air in maneuvers over
CZechoslovakia
Army Well Equipped.
The army Is considered to be tht
best equipped of its size in Europe
owing to the presence within tn,
country's borders of the Skoda MUM.
tlons Works, one of the largest il
Europe and controller of 20 per cen
of the worlds arms traffic 1t wa.
Skoda which developed the Bren ma.
chine gun, adopted as the standard
for the British Army. But, like the
British who were killed by British
guns in the hands of Turks at CALI.
polls and the French who were killec
by French guns in the Riff, Czech.
will be killed by Skoda guns in tn,
next war. Germany and Austria have
been good customers.
lo orIo
and they have also supervised tn,
construction of system of sunke,
concrete forts, similar to the Maglno
line, about which more wild storie
have circulated than almost any othe
subject known to man. All that il
positively known about these pill boXe
is that they do not even approach s
complete encirclement of this long
narrow country. although they com
mand very effectively the q routes b,
which German Army could pene
trate.
For defense from air attack, tn,
country is naturally blessed. It has
only one large city Praha), of 8OO,.
600 inhabitants, and five cities O.
100000 inhabitants. One-third of it,
land Is covered with forests, in which
residents of towns and villages coulc
readily find shelter from air attacks
In addition, shelters ;re being con-
structed rapidly in all the cities, anc
Praha's landlords advertise flats com.
plete with gas shelters"
This is the strength of Czechoslo.
vakia. But it has many glaring weak
neses. The bulk of its industries. in.
cludlng Skoda's main plant at Pilsen
Is located along the German frontier
(ccryrisht. 1888. by the North Amer,, n
Newspaper Alliance Inc.)