POLAND'S PLANS.

CONTROL OF BALTIC. BLOCKADE OF FATHERLAND. FRANCE CAIXED SPONSOR. (By PAUL BEHNKE, Formerly Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy.) BERXIN, February 6. Before the war Germany was indisputably supreme in the Baltic, but the Versailles Treaty and the war itself completely altered this eituation. The German Navy has been deprived of its former strength, and Russia, which possessed a powerful navy prior to the war, also has lost her importance in that respect. When the Czarist regime collapsed, Finland, Eethonia, Latvia and Lithuania availed themselves of the opportunity for severing their connection with the Russian Empire, and declared their national independence.

The number Of these newly created Baltic States was further increased by Poland, which, at the instigation of France, obtained access to the sea by means of the so-called Polish Corridor, it being originally stipulated that she should use the ancient German city of Danzig, situated at the mouth of the Vistula Eiver, for the needs of her seaborne trade. Since, however, Danzig has been made semi-independent by receiving the status of a "free city," Poland has proceeded to create a seaport of her own in the immediate neighbourhood of Danzig on a part of the coast which before the war was German territory. Poland's object in creating , this rival port wae to make Danzig more inclined to fall in with her desire for the political incorporation of that city. Base For Polish Navy. In the course of a few years the port of Gdynia has become exceedingly important economically, and is also equipped to serve as a suitable base for the future Polish Navy. Huge amounts of capital, mostly advanced by France, Poland's, military ally, have been spent on this work. The result is that Poland has now at her disposal a highly efficient naval port capable of menacing the whole of the unprotected Baltic coast of Germany. By purchasing foreign warships and by giving orders to French yards for the building of destroyers and mine layers, eho is simultaneously providing the nucleus of a navy, the rapid development of which is ardently denaandod by the Nationalist sections of tho population, the ultimate aim being to establish Polish naval supremacy in the Baltic. Tliia programme is further supplemented by the alliance with France, under the terms of which the latter country is required to dispatch, in tho event of war, a powerful naval squadron to Gdynia for the purpose of using that port in connection with the blockadoof the enemy coant— which, in conformity with the Franco Polish Treaty, can only mean the German coast. German Fears. In order to make her naval base independent of foreign supplies, and also to inflict heavy damage on the port of Danzig, Poland has installed excellent facilities, for the transhipment of coal at Gdynia, diverting these coal transports from their natural routo down the Vistula to Danzig via the iiretnamed port. ,Th 6 funds for building the railway connecting tho Upper Silesian coal fields (formerly owned by Germany) with. Gdynia were also advanced by France, Poland giving in return farreaching military guarantees to that country. The present position, therefore, is that Germany is deprived of all her effective means of attack and defence, that her land and sea .frontiers in the east are open to aggressive action at any time, that Poland hae a land army of more than three million excellently armed troops, and that, under the provisions of the close military treaty between herself and France, she can always depend on that country's aid in any efforts she may make to menace the security of her western neighbour.— (N.A.N.A.)