Evening star., 1938-08-28
REICH WAR GAMES
BLOW T0FARM|NG
Long Maneuvers 0verrun
Land and Keep Men
From Fields.
By n. ], ]. SARGINT,

Great Britain and Czechoslovakia have
done their honest utmost to prevent
panic, 1t would be idle to deny that
the vast military movements started
in the middle Of the month In all
parts of Germany have aroused justi-
fiably deep disquiet from one end Of
Europe to the other.
Not only were three quarters OF q
million reservists called to the colors
but those conscripts whose service
normally would have ended in Sep
tember were informed that they wer.
to be retained in the army for an
indefinite period; civilian auxiliary
services. notably medical and nursing
units. were modified and. more strik-
ing than anything else. no male Ger
man under IS was allowed to leave
the country. On the material side
food, horses and automobiles were
requisitioned on the widest possible
scale.
These measures were unprecedented
in peacetime, and 50 is the period,
IL weeks. which, the German wal
office ofncially announced, these
maneuvers would occupy.
will Harm Farm Industry.
The dislocation which these warlike
measures produced in Germany Is
easy to imagine. but a point which
few have up to the present considered
is that the very length of these
maneuvers is going to have a serious
effect on Germany's agricultural in
dustry next year.
Modern maneuvers are usually Or
eanized to coincide with the end of
the harvest and before the autumn
work in the fields starts. This is nor
mally represented by a gap of about
three weeks. and. during those 20
days or so, the soldiers can overrun
the land with tanks and modern
machinery without doing any great
harm to next years crops, but, If
these maneuvers are going to last IL
weeks, it will mean holding up agri-
culture, with corresponding danger
OF collapse in the spring crops Of
1899.
Now, what. one asks oneself, is the
object of this immense disorganiza-
ton and this almost deafening rafting
of the saber? Three different answers
might be given.
Intimidation Policy Seen.
The extremists might say that Ger
many can only be making this effort
because she wants to settle the Czecho-
slovakians' hash once for all by the use
OF the mailed fist. Those who steer
middle course might call Germany's
policy one of intimidation-in other
words, a huge piece of blackmailing
bluff-while those who are least belli-
cose in their outlook might say that
Germany was looking ahead and was
preparing to meet any possible inter-
ference by the French government,
which might try to bring pressure
upon Germany to allow the Czecho-
slovak problem to be resolved in q
manner favored by the Quai d'Orsay
that is. to leave Czechoslovakia as she
is at present.
1t is difficult to say which of those
opinions Is most relatively correct,
but there is a situation in Central
Europe which 50 closely affects Ger
many that nobody can really under
stand the trend Of European affairs
unless he has the details of it clear
in his mind. Any dispute between
Germany on one side and France and
Great Britain on the other must in
evitably take into consideration that
broad strip of land which runs into
the heart of Germany and which is
the Bohemian half of Czechoslovakia
So long as that country is in existence
In its present state, it would be fatal
for Germany to undertake a war
like adventure against France and
her allies.
Czechs Can Mobilize Quickly.
The Czechoslovaks, who showed q
few weeks ago that their mobiliza ton
machine could produce 100 900 men
in six hours, can. under the admirable
training they received for years from
high French staff officers, mobilize
nearly million highly trained and
fully armed troops in a week. The
Czechoslovak air force would be an
ever-present threat to Saxony and
Bavaria, including Hitler's beloved
Munich. which could be reached In
30 minutes. Czechoslovakia has two
enormous ornaments plants at Skoda
where the wonderful heavy artillery
armaments are produced, and at
Wittkowitz.
Army stats estimate that the Ger.
mans would require at least q couple
of million men and 30 to 100 squad
rons of airplanes to bring about the
swift crushing of Czechoslovakia. This
is a policy which, whatever the fu-
ture may hold in store, Hitler would
not risk following at present, since
hostile action on his flanks and rear
might follow on any sudden operations
he might direct against Czechoslo-
vakia. In fact, without being a
prophet. it may perhaps be reasonable
to say that the checks and balances
existing in Central Europe would ap-
pear to cancel out aggressive action
on either side.
A hopeful sign in Europe has been
the complete detachment observed by
Italy. This writer has reason to be-
lieve that. when Marshal 1talo Balbo
visited Berlin two weeks ago, he ut.
tered words of restraint and corr
veyed in diplomatic language the
fact that Italy was not interested in
any conflict that might arise from
the question OF the future Of the
Sudeten Germans.
(Copyright, 1888, by Consolidated Press }
Roosevelt Is Sure