The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-02-21
Opportunity to take the advice Of the NaI counselors.
 Won BIomberg Paved Way

[ opportunity to Ldke LIlS dQf1CS OA the NaZ counselors.
 Won Blomberg Paved Way
 That opportunity came on Jan. 12.
 Field Marshal Werner Won Blom- berg, 59-year-old leader of the country's fighting forces, married a girl half his age. Her obscure so- cial background made her objec- tionable to many of the same offic- CTS whom Hitler had restored to service. It is a tradition that Ger man officers must obtain the con- sent of their superiors before mar rying and that consent is not forth coming unless the social background of the fiancee is acceptable.
 Blomberg did more than give brazen affront to that tradition. He compounded his offense against army caste by persuading Hitler to be a witness at the wedding without explaining the social background of the bride. The reaction of the army caste was swift and direct. Col.- Gen. Werner Won FritSch, then army commander in chief, protested to Hitler in behalf of his fellow offic- CTS.
 Hitler Became Angry
 Chagrined and angry at having been duped, Hitler accepted" the resignation of both Blomberg and Fritsch.
 Thus the Fuehrer seized upon such trivial thing as marriage to do what staunch Nazis had been asking him to do. Like the mar riage of the Duke of Windsor, Blomberg's wedding merely was a spark that started the fire on fuel accommodating for months.
 The shake-up in the diplomatic corps was designed to soften the blow for the army and possibly to obscure the main issues involved. However, it did bring Joachim Won Ribbentrop, an ardent Nazi, into the post of foreign minister.
 PICK UP 2
 Hitler further Softened the blow for the rank and file of the army by making himself supreme com- mander of the armed forces, con- fident that is personal prestige would absorb most of the criticism.
 Strategy Successful
 Every indication today is that Hitler's strategy has been successful and in accordance with the Nazi theology that all power should be oNx,oootvo fnd iy, 1,ie hopde haliavo that the NaZis now gradually will "unify" the higher army officers with the party regime and that there will be little opposition among the officers. Some observers believe this process will take more than a year, during which the officers who persist in disapproval, gradually will be eliminated.
 It should be remembered that the rank and file of the army already subscribe to Nazi ideas. The air force officers, in general, are Nazis. When the Nazis seized power, naval officers were given choice between retiring or going along with the party. Most of them went along. NO OIIlcerS FleO There is no reason to believe that | the army Shake-up has gone furth- CT than public announcements have indicated or that any officers fled the country.
 There is one paragraph in Hit ler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf", which explains the basic reason for the army purge:
 National Socialism imperiously demands the exclusive and unqual- flied recognition, as well as the com plete transformation of the whole of public life, in accordance with its view. It is therefore unable to toler- ate the co-existence of anything that represents past state of af- fairs"