Evening star., 1949-12-11

and most of his tanks were out OF
commission.
This shows how much training
is necessary to familiarize the
ordinary French "poilu" with the
handling Of machines. Yet. the
. French say, the British, who suf-
fered less loss in manpower than
the French. are not willing to
provide more than two divisions
for Western European defense,
while France, bled white in two
World Wars, must provide the
bulk of the manpower.
French Hard to Convince
Moreover, the French say, in an
era when air power means so
1 much, France will have only the
leftovers of Americas munificence.
The bulk of American air equip
ment will go to the British and
they have said officially that only
10 per cent of the Royal Air Force
will be used on the continent.
And what is known and criticized
at the high military level seeps
down through the rank and file to
the French people. who fear that
the British will let them down
again as they did in 1910.
It is as difficult to convince a
Frenchman that the British will
be cooperative as it is to convince
them that the Western German
Republic could become their friend.
The Dutch have informed the
Fontainebleau general staff that
their contribution for Western de-
fense cannot exceed one brigade
(about ten thousand mem. Their
argument is that their main effort
has been in Indonesia, where they
have sent their best troops. Most
Of these have been under arms for
more than three years and cannot
be forced-in peacetime-to re-
main in the armed services.
Dutch Near Bankruptcy
| Moreover, they point out, they
are a practically bankrupt coun-
try. The British compelled them,
their spokesmen say, to devaluate
the form, which was hard cur
renE. In this manner one-fourth
of the wealth Of Holland was
wiped out.
Moreover, the new 1ndonesian
treaty-which the Dutch say was
rammed down their throats by
the United States and Britain
eventually will mean the loss Of
their entire empire in the Indian
Ocean. This will be the ruination
of most of those Netherlanders
who have even a modest estate,
since Java and Sumatra repre-
sented the real wealth of the
country. When these go-and it,
is impossible to convince any one
in the Netherlands that this will
not be the case in the next five
years-the Netherlands will be a
broken country.
"In order to stand by demo-
cratic principles" the Dutch say.
I'VE put up hopeless resistance to
Hitler's invading armies rather
than surrender. Our cities and
industries were destroyed. Now we
are on the point of being ruined
by the short-sighted Anglo -Ameri-
can view as to what constitutes
democratic principles"
This sentiment is so prevalent
in the Netherlands that there Is
no likelihood that they will offer
more than they have already in
formed the Fontainebleau staff
their contribution will be: One
brigade.
Across the Rhine, there are
$1,000 900 persons who are striv-
/ ing hard to win a place in the
sun by rehabilitating a devastated
economy. This population is hard
ened, not so much by its war ex-
periences-for the Germans are
warriors by nature and accept the
consequences of war-as by its
political relationships.
Gould Be United
There is every indication that
the Germans would like to turn
back the pages of history and
create a real bond of friendship
with their natural allies-France
and The Benelux countries. But
historic hatreds and suspicious
aroused by the hard-working
character of the Germans--com-
pei the French people to turn
their heads away and to refuse
the hand which the Germans
would like to extend.
Some far-seeing men in both
France and Germany are fully
aware that If the two nations
could be united-and this is the
best psychological time to bring
about such a union-not only
would they both rise as leaders IN
Europe, but they also would
create a military, political and
economic force which could save
Europe without depending ex-
clusively on American military
Intervention.
At the present time. one can
hear in Europe the warning: I'm
less you Americans come back IN
force with many divisions OF tanks
and a powerful air force. we can
] do nothing against the Russians.
This would not be necessary II
the German and French peoples
could be united.
i British contempt for French
fighting power: French suspicious
that the British cannot be counted
on and would "betray" them with
out hesitation; Dutch suspicious
] about all their wartime allies;
the distrust, hatred and suspicious
of the French for the Germans
and to lesser extent reciprocal
feeling on the part OF Western