Evening star., 1939-07-16

There was anguish and terror, but no
panic. 1t was almost a year before
Franco finally entered the city.
Would it be any different" asks Wood
side, with London and Paris, Liverpool
and Lyons, Glasgow and Marseilles?
London and Paris might seem at first to
present bigger and more vulnerable tar
gets. But they are infinitely better de-
Tended than Barcelona, which was ap-
proachable without warning from the sea
and had wholly inadequate fighter and
anti-aircraft protection.
They have far-f1ung listening posts
Paris on the French frontiers and Lon
don's on the Belgian and Dutch borders,
out in the North Sea and all along the
English coast-to give the fighter craft
warning to get into the air. These fight
ers, on the British side at least, include
the finest and fastest types in the world,
the Hurricane, Spitfire and Defiant"
Land Forces Insufficient.
Granted, however, that the totali-
tarians could strike through the air as
planned. How could they consolidate
VIC CAA0Spo' lCIl SSllIldUe Jl1dL
odds of roughly to l are required for
domination in the field. Germany has
such an advantage over France alone
and obviously she would move against
that country and not England-if she
can count on every last man of her po-
tential allies Italy and Spain. But she
cannot count on them. Franco needs a
Ia forno of i,, ho hoo 80
a long and bitter civil war. Italy's fight
ing force is considered weak in its indus
trial support and morale. Much of it
will be required to guard frontiers and
colonial possessions - just as Germany
cannot leave her other borders un-
guarded
Italy probably would be of little help If
Germany decided once more to hit at
France across Holland and Belgium
Would these countries not hold up the
advance long enough to permit the Eng
lish to take the field? The Belgians did
it in 1914
1t there is little hope for the Germans
IN a quick war; their prospects are
hopeless in war of attrition. argue both
Woodside and Eliot. The Nazis them
selves admit this They would steadily
grow weaker while the powers of the
English and French increased The Ital-
ian economy is hard pressed even in
peace time to keep up the front of a
flrst-class nation, and Germany has been
on war basis for almost four years.
Further, the productivity of German
l9hnr iS 6pc1ininU 1,, IS
the strain Of recent years, and there is a
labor shortage that would become acute
when war began to drain men from fac
tories.
Below 1914 Strength.
Woodside and Eliot are in complete
agreement that the German Army of
the Third Reich is in no way to be COM
pared with that of William II, which had
been built steadily since 1871.
That army was organized in so divi-
sions of flrst-class troops. plus II cav
airy divisions. Behind these, ready for
mobilization, were 48 reserve divisions
and seven Ersatz divisions. And behind
these, for secondary duty, was the Land
Wehr, of l6 divisions In all, there were
1,75O,00O fully trained men plus a large
reservoir of partly trained
Today there are 80 divisions, compared
with 125, and they are by no means as
we'll differed, trained and equipped as
the 1914 war machine
The German Navy is far more efficient
that the army, Eliot says, but it does not
begin to be in the same class as either
the French or the British fleets; nor
would the Italian fotilla bring the bal
ance anywhere near even. At best the
German ships could hope only to prey
on allied commerce for time until run
down.