FRENCH MAN-POWER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 296, 27 September 1935, Page 2

FRENCH MAN-POWER

GENERAL WEYGAND'S WARNING

Addressing the National Congress. of Reserve Officers in London last month, General Weygand said that, even when the lean period for man-power had passed, it would not be possible to return unconditionally to one-year army service.

There had been a thorough trial of that system, said General Weygand, which was quite acceptable in 1928, when the French Army was on the Rhine and the armament of the Power beyond the Rhine was not what it had since become. Now, said General Weygang, they could return to shorter service only if the education of French children were .changed- and made “national.” If the children were not taught what France was, and what was their duty toward, her, if they received neither physical nor moral culture, and if some sort of pre-military instruction were not substituted for the often an-ti-military education of the present day there could be no thought of reducing che period of service. They must hasten to change their education for the sake of France.

At the same congress General Preteiat said that exercises which were held last September had shown that, as the result of the one-year system, the French reserve wei'e no better trained than in 1914. They had shown lack of cohesion, lack of endurance, inability to march even short distances with light loads, and a general lack of keenness, while the cpinmanders of battalions and smaller unit.s had also shown lack of skill and authority. His conclusion was that at least three months special training would be needed to make these troops fit for battle. General Mauvjn, Minister of War, reassured his audience as to the state of the French Army, but showed that urgent measures were now necessary to put the country into a state of defence. “Since we are the neighbours of a whole people undler arms,” he said, “we must, before all else, improve our system of defence. We shall, therefore maintain and, if necessary, send to the frontier the effectives which are needed to work there and to keep a vigilant watch.”