Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-07-05


Something is rotten in the state
Oenmark"-and now perhaps, in
nce. Not enough facts have
be out of that stricken country to
4 even shadowy opinion of what
ID. But, regardless of the I'M
bted superiority of the German
ngth in guns and equipment and
ing due regard to the crushing
ser of the new mechanical and
turized equipment, the collapse of
French resistance in SO short a
-s simply can't be explained ex-
by soft spots in the French
bmand.
Die territory over which this
ilong rout took place is unlike
by areas of campaign. It has
q path of conquest and a battle
End since the beginning of re-
fied history. Every hill and fold
ground is known. Its military
ngth or weakness proved over
over again, its features mapped
intimate detail, not only on pa
j but in the minds of every COM
tsnt officer in France. In this re-
tct it is more like a checkerboard
p battlefield. There could be
surprises of terrain"
Army Was Strong.
he French army, except in the
and as to some classes Of equip
flt, was very strong. In its COM
Enent of highly trained profess
pal soldiers, many with war ex-
Eience, it was much stronger than
German army.
Sme of our amateur military
nmentators say that the key to
4 puzzle is mistaken French re-
Zee on the fixed Notifications of
! Maginot line and that the cam
Ign proves such lines worthless.
n is wrong. There was no as
Elt here until that line was out
Eked and taken from the rear.
Germans built and successfully
FED on the somewhat different
Eifcations of the Siegfried line. It
tue that this aspect of the case
Fws a terrible blunder. But the
Eder was solely in relying on Bel
m and other nations to the north
leaving the left flank of that
bare to assault as the ''paunch
The purser's SOW"
!hen here is an added lesson for
tamong dozens of others in this
=. In this embarrassing, treaty
faking, lying world, no nation can
= its existence on any other or
anything but the strength of its
p right arm and the courage, uni
loyalty and devotion of its own
Eple.
Why the Collapse?
But, even with all that said, we
/ left still cropping for the cause
this complete collapse. For one
Pig, it shows the weakness of any
fnocracy not based on a two-party
stem. There were more than 20
rites in the Reichstag-and in
fne Hitler. There were several
France - and in came Hitler
Tough another and bloodier door.
at is a lesson for US. We still
Pain two parties, but one of them
E degenerated into group. Of
|ame pressure groups.
The principal cause of French
Eakness is beginning to seem to
its half-and-half division in both
army and its legislature between
Fen with Communist and men with
Fsc!st leanings. There is as yet
news of outright treachery but it
hard to explain the mushiness of
Fench defense on any other basis.
Columnar Poison.
There is third and false conclu-
fn for US that is being preached
some of my columnar colleagues,
d it is pure poison. 1t is that
Is war proves that democracies
mt work in war, with an implica-
% that we should forget this cleo
on, give autocratic authority to the
lwer-seeking group of incompe-
ats in Washington and perpetuate
epkins, Morgenthau, Perkins, and
les to stumble, tumble and blum
I us into war and they to run it
I US.
We proved in 1918 that our de-
ocracy could out-Hitler any Ger
an in war efficiency, but you've